ECU remapping

Hi,

After getting mentions elsewhere on this board, I decided to bite the bullet and throw some money at Angel Tuning to get my 2.0JTD Ulysse remapped.

I'd previously set aside some cash to get a tow-bar fitted to the car, but as my dealer did this for free (as a result of my order getting massively delayed last year), the money set aside was burning a hole, and this seemed like a good way to use some of it.

For tax reasons (my car is a company car and I have a funded company fuel card also, and do a lot of private mileage), I chose the lowest of the low engine-wise on my Ulysse, and although initial performance of the 2.0JTD isn't particularly bad, it does lack some 'get up and go', particularly at motorway cruising speeds. It's also a bit sluggish to respond in city traffic.

So, given that Angel Tuning offer a 7-day no quibble money-back guarantee, I decided to give them a go.

After some re-scheduling of the work (the guy who does it got hit by chicken-pox at the time we were to have done this), I finally popped in to see them yesterday.

They do other cars also, and as I arrived, they were just finishing off on an Alfa 2.4 litre saloon. I had a sit in the back as they took this for a post-upgrade test, and it was like being in a race-car (I went very green, and not just because I was jealous!).

Anyway - they took a reading from my car (takes 5-10 minutes max), sent it off to the people who do the analysis and ECU remap programming, and within a few minutes we had back a 'standard' upgrade map to put on my car (total about 20 minutes).

We then took it for a test-drive. At this stage, they kept quiet about exactly what had been done, as they wanted to see what I thought first (I was the first 2.0JTD Ulysse that they had done)!

My humble 2.0 Ulysse had been transformed. It had power to pull away quickly on demand at all 'legal' speeds. Initial impressions were it was like a different car.

I drove it home (about 70 miles), and had a little fun testing it out with some motorway driving and also some non-motorway driving, however it was the tale-end of the evening rush-hour, so apart from noting that the car was now a lot more responsive, I really didn't have much of a chance to form an initial view. Having said that, at one point, I was driving along a dual-carriageway, slightly up-hill, away from a set of lights; in front of me was someone in a little Lotus Elise. He was showing off and roared away from the lights. I floored the Ulysse and he was unable to leave me behind! He gave up after about a mile! :-)

Today was the first real test with the new map - I had a trip from Dudley to Central London and back - motorway and city driving. The journey started early (too early), but meant that the roads were clear! I decided to risk it and try a top-speed test! I was able to get an extra 15mph over my previous best (I won't say more about that just in case), and more importantly, at 80-90, there was still a reasonable level of acceleration when needed (whereas previously it would have been slow to pick up any further speed).

As for town/city driving, having that extra power on tap immediately when needed (rather than waiting for the car to get going a bit) made reacting so sudden changes in the traffic so much easier.

Also, I noticed no notable change in fuel economy for the journey (one I make a lot)!

In a nutshell, I'm impressed. My 2.0JTD now behaves much more like a 2.4!

I asked them what they did do, and they basically took the 2.0JTD (rated at 109bhp) up to about 140bhp, although there is potential for more out of this engine.

As a company, Angel Tuning are small, but have some impressive credentials and technical backing, and they know what they are doing. They also seem genuinely interested in the results of their work, and as for their approach to customer service, I can't fault them!

Watch this space for an update as I put the car through its paces over the next week!

John :-)

Way to go John - impressive indeed.

Hopefully my 2.2JTD will be read this weekend, or if not due to other reasons, then very soon! I am now very excited by it all.

Be interesting to see what other adventures you get up to in the meantime ;)

Of course, the one thing to keep in mind is that the Ulysse is a heavy car, so the results (whilst good) aren't going to be comparable to doing the same exercise on a smaller car. Don't expect rocket-like performance after the change! :D

interesting. mine's a 2litre petrol and personally i feel the grunt is quite adequate, as all i need to do is switch to the tiptronic, flick down a gear (or two) and away it goes.

does all others with petrol versions feel the same, i wonder? is this typical of a diesel power plant, where the pull (torque) is high but the max power delivery suffers somewhat?

btw, is there remapping opportunities for the ulysses petrol heads too?

enjoy your newfound power, guys and happy (+safe) driving...

From what they told me, they can do petrol engines also, but the results are less significant. :)

Check their web site out (http://www.angeltuning.co.uk).

Car still performing well a week on from the tuning - no problems seen so far, and unless I need to put my foot down to get the extra power, it's not easy to tell anything has changed (which is good when the wife borrows the car).

John

Angel Tuning do not promote the use of vehicles above the legal lim..... oh what the hell :D, that Ulysse is one superb car - when I grow up I wouldn't mind one ;)

Alfa Romeo 156 2.4 JTD (210BHP)
Fiat Punto JTD (130BHP)
Fiat Barchetta

http://www.angeltuning.co.uk
http://www.bravo-guide.co.uk THE Fiat Bravo site

.... and it's only a 2.0JTD. I'd love to hear what can be done with a 2.2!!!:p

By sloppy driving, he means not thrashing the nuts off a customers car and taking 3000 miles off the tyres ;)

John is quite right though as on a perfect road surface with someone used to the clutch and the vehicle, the times would come down considerably, but those figures give an excellent indication of what a remap can do, as the same driver (i.e. yours sloppily) did each run on the same stretch of road in the same conditions.

On the official figures, they are actually done on on a chassis dyno tester, which then calculates the 0-60 based on the weight of 2 average people, 1/2 a tank of fuel and a small amount of luggage. What is doesnt take account of is two people like John and myself and a bumpy road :D

Still, very impressive figures for a big car!!

Alfa Romeo 156 2.4 JTD (210BHP)
Fiat Punto JTD (130BHP)
Fiat Barchetta

http://www.angeltuning.co.uk
http://www.bravo-guide.co.uk THE Fiat Bravo site

Hi,

With figures like that I wish I had bought the 2.0 diesel auto and got the fuel economy and performance.

Hopefully they are going to get some extra kit for tuning the petrol version.

Andy

Hi,

At last managed to find time to nab the car from the wife for a few hours - going off to see Nige next Saturday morning - he has 2 maps ready and waiting to be installed and road-tested!

And I have the balance of Easter to try it all out. Feedback on here as soon as I get back.

Stuart

Cool - will be interested to hear what they can do with the 2.2JTD!

Sounds really good JK, especially as mine will be a 2.0JTD.
I noticed you said there was no noticeable change in fuel economy, especially as you were driving it hard. What about if you go back to driving it normally, have you noticed any change in the economy? a question for the angel tuning guys I suppose - will the mapping help the fuel economy at all, or is it just about getting more power/acceleration etc. out of the engine?

OK - so if you constantly drive it hard, I suspect you might notice a slight reduction in economy. If driven 'sensibly' all the time I would expect it to be slightly better.

To be honest, as mine is a company car with a company fuel card, I tend not to pay too much attention to the MPG figures - I've just noticed that my average range hasn't changed unless I'm driving hard the whole time, in which case I'm loosing about 20-30 miles per tank over what I used to see, but if you're going to drive like that the whole time, fuel economy is probably not the most important thing on your mind!

The remap is more about getting better power/acceleration out of the engine.

Following on from my own personal discussions with the angel boys, if you actually drive the car normally, you should get a better fuel consumption.
Obviously, when you are playing with the car, consumption will go down, but that will be the case whether it has been mapped or not. Overall, I think the overall fuel economy will increase, unless you drive like a nutter all the time!!!!!

Roll on Saturday - game on!

Stu