Tuning racechip.de pro on 165MJ

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Tuning racechip.de pro on 165MJ

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I just thought I would write about my experience with adding a tuning box from racechip.de. At first I wanted a remap but I couldnt find anyone close to who could remap the 165MJ, only the 150 :( I ordered the box yesterday afternoon around 2pm and it arrives 10am this morning all the way from Germany. Great delivery.

I installed the box onto the engine within a few minutes. I started up the Bravo and gave it 5 minutes to warm up then took it for a quick spin around some A roads. The box seems to have made quite a big difference in terms of power and throttle response. The car pulls much better/faster in all gears.

This is not my first time remapping or using tuning boxes. I had a TMC box on my Abarth, Red Dot Racing remap on my Bravo 150MJ, Tuning box on my Lexus IS220d. This seems to by far have made the biggest difference. Comparing it with the Red Dot Racing remap on the 150MJ the car is more responsive then that and it feels as though there is more power (could be down to the weight difference of the engine maybe) The 150MJ was remapped up to 201bhp. Racechip.de claim to boost the Bravo 165 up to 212bhp =. Although I have no way of checking the figures yet it sure feels like it. Im driving up to London and back over the weekend and will be testing the fuel economy to see if that has made any difference. I have done 8000 miles since buying my Bravo and have averaged 48mpg. It could be a lot better then that but I must admit to being quite heavy footed.

So far though I am very impressed. It cost E230 and was around £50 cheaper then the remap I had done and £150 cheaper then the TMC box.
 
That page shows remaps not tuning boxes. What I said still stands; you cannot get increased economy by something that over-fuels.
 
"Absolute guff, if its a tuning box its over-fuelling the engine to get the power, you cant over fuel and get increased economy that's just madness."

That's exactly how they work and I wouldn't expect to see any gains in MPG with told resistor in box lol.
 
i think you will find modern tuning boxes are more than just a resistor in a box but i wont waste time trying to argue

Doesn't matter what's in it, are you honestly trying to say that over-fuelling an engine leads to increased economy? Really? What next magnets round your fuel line to get better economy? Healing crystals in the glove box to improve engine reliability! :bang:

I would like to see what my 165 would be like at 200bhp but I don't fancy the new clutch bill. I suspect I am too old and set in my ways... :)
 
Doesn't matter what's in it, are you honestly trying to say that over-fuelling an engine leads to increased economy? Really? What next magnets round your fuel line to get better economy? Healing crystals in the glove box to improve engine reliability! :bang:

I would like to see what my 165 would be like at 200bhp but I don't fancy the new clutch bill. I suspect I am too old and set in my ways... :)

cars are detuned for marketing reasons and to allow for crappy fuel and crappy drivers. and to pass noise tests!

tuning a turbo car basically restores the power that the car is naturally capable of, it is not about overfuelling in fact the air fuel ratio is optimised with fuel matched to the increased boost level

with a tuned car the torque is stronger at lower revs hence you can accelerate up to speed more easily and quickly, establishing a cruise quicker and without having to use high revs

lots of people understand this and buy into it, equally there are lots of skeptics

as long as you dont launch the car on full boost you wont put extra stress on the clutch and drivetrain, once moving there is a lot less interia

hope this makes sense
 
Doesn't matter what's in it, are you honestly trying to say that over-fuelling an engine leads to increased economy? Really? What next magnets round your fuel line to get better economy? Healing crystals in the glove box to improve engine reliability! :bang:

I would like to see what my 165 would be like at 200bhp but I don't fancy the new clutch bill. I suspect I am too old and set in my ways... :)


A tuning box is like a remap except that it's not permanent and can be reverted to stock by simply removing it.

If you have no clue what a remap is, you can look it up on google, it's not what you think it is.

The clutch on the bravo can take that extra power, many people here have remaped to over 180hp without a problem.
 
A tuning box is like a remap except that it's not permanent and can be reverted to stock by simply removing it.

If you have no clue what a remap is, you can look it up on google, it's not what you think it is.

The clutch on the bravo can take that extra power, many people here have remaped to over 180hp without a problem.


Sorry but a "tuning box" is nothing like a re-map. All the box does is trick the ECU into adding more fuel, more boost by making the ECU think it's colder than it really is etc. A re-map is where you change injection time, smoke limiters, fuel maps, boost limiters and so on it's nothing like the tuning box.
 
Sorry but a "tuning box" is nothing like a re-map. All the box does is trick the ECU into adding more fuel, more boost by making the ECU think it's colder than it really is etc. A re-map is where you change injection time, smoke limiters, fuel maps, boost limiters and so on it's nothing like the tuning box.

You're talking about the old method of plugging a resistor and some scammers selling it inside a bigger box to make it looks like a complicated device, we are talking about modern tunning boxes such as TMC.

From TMC website: "most of our units use multi channel technology, this allows us to control not only fuelling but also turbo pressure"
 
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These threads always seem to end up this way lol. I have had tuning boxes/ maps on my last 4 cars and it has never caused a problem. I actually bought my 150mj already remapped from fiat themselves and they were advertising it themselves as having 200bhp. I am sure the car can Handle the extra power but just like any car it the way you drive.

I'm in London now. Done around 100 miles on the box now and still loving every minute. It's too early to tell about fuel economy but my trip B average went up 2mpgs already and te last time it was reset was 3000 miles ago. The car is very noticeably smoother. I can pootle along at 30 in 5th gear with litterely zero revs and when you step on the gas the car instantly pulls away.
 
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You're talking about the old method of plugging a resistor and some scammers selling it inside a bigger box to make it looks like a complicated device, we are talking about modern tunning boxes such as TMC.

From TMC website: "most of our units use multi channel technology, this allows us to control not only fuelling but also turbo pressure"


No mate I'm talking about any "tuning box" you guys just get suckered in with the blurb on the website. Yes it will up boost pressure and fuelling has I already said by tricking the ECU.

The box don't upload maps the only way it can adjust fuel pressure/turbo pressure is by fooling with the sensor outputs. Yes it looks more advanced than just a resistor in a box but it is principally the same.
 
This debate derived from an economy + power comment.

I had a TMC kit on my Bravo for about a year and I can tell you for a fact that I did Average MPG tests before and after the box was on and it got better by about 4 - 5mpg when driving SENSIBLY with the box ON.
 
this is an independent graph of a tmc box on a BMW N20 2.0 T engine, tmc box is the only mod. note how its has smoothed out the lines

2.jpg
 
I dont trust them,
because how can every single Car in the world running at diffrent atmospheres and temperatures require the exact same tweaks in the map?
No car is the same, all need specific alterations, if you think loads of sensors on the car and each one could be reading slightly different to the next "identical" car?
What happens is they take a random Bravo for example somewhere in the world remap it, put it into a box and sell it on.
Also tune boxes don't take into account exhausts/intakes(filters) you might of changed.
And the worst kind of "boxes", the increased response people generally feel is the sensitivity adjustment in the Fly by wire throttle increased, boost increase is tricking the ECU into false or lower boost readings.

A true remap takes all the conditions and loads then they adjust everything around this data,
Hence my car Remapped was night and day,
it pulls in 6th like it used to in 3rd, i drove down doing 43mpg and drove back doing 57.2mpg, less stress on the engine because its set up truly for the car.
It's crazy i had £50 of diesel in my tank did a 400mile round trip wife did 4trips to work and we STILL have more than 1/4 of a tank left, and by doing the maths i get 100miles more now per fill up.
 
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