Affordable tuning options.....
Discussion
Are there any?
I have a turbo petrol motor in standard tune, I'm planning on fitting a KnN filter soon, but I'm curious as to whether there are any affordable ECU mods that aren't complete crap and/or dangerous for your engine reliability?
I know, I know, you get what you pay for in life, but are there any positive experiences of tuning boxes at the lower end of the market? I'm not looking for mega power, just a modest power increase to make more of the car's potential.
Budget: under £200
I have a turbo petrol motor in standard tune, I'm planning on fitting a KnN filter soon, but I'm curious as to whether there are any affordable ECU mods that aren't complete crap and/or dangerous for your engine reliability?
I know, I know, you get what you pay for in life, but are there any positive experiences of tuning boxes at the lower end of the market? I'm not looking for mega power, just a modest power increase to make more of the car's potential.
Budget: under £200
Why do people still see a K&N filter as a worthwhile mod?
They have been known as a joke for as long as I've been into modifying cars, and no doubt plenty of time before that. There is no thought put into them. A simple bolt on filter will make F-all difference to performance. It might very well make you lose performance.
Buy a proper induction kit designed specifically for your car that moves the filter to a cooler area of the engine bay with a hose with as few joins as possible, one single hose/pipe is the best for this.
Bolting a cone in place of your cars standard airbox will do nothing for you except make more noise and suck in heat.
http://www.jbsautodesigns.co.uk/product/4052/twint...
It's a f
king lot of money but more like what I'm talking about (I've no idea if the above product is any good or not, i'm not into Audi tuning).
Why spend £200 on random bits and bobs that will do nothing? Save a bit, get something like that and notice a difference.
They have been known as a joke for as long as I've been into modifying cars, and no doubt plenty of time before that. There is no thought put into them. A simple bolt on filter will make F-all difference to performance. It might very well make you lose performance.
Buy a proper induction kit designed specifically for your car that moves the filter to a cooler area of the engine bay with a hose with as few joins as possible, one single hose/pipe is the best for this.
Bolting a cone in place of your cars standard airbox will do nothing for you except make more noise and suck in heat.
http://www.jbsautodesigns.co.uk/product/4052/twint...
It's a f
king lot of money but more like what I'm talking about (I've no idea if the above product is any good or not, i'm not into Audi tuning). Why spend £200 on random bits and bobs that will do nothing? Save a bit, get something like that and notice a difference.
Edited by MysteryLemon on Monday 27th January 09:55
As above, replacing the airbox with a cone filter type thing will probably reduce power, if it makes any difference at all. A cold-air induction kit might give a marginal increase. Simply changing the filter within the air-box will do very little either way; you might see marginal gains from freer flowing air but you're more likely to notice a slight reduction in lag than an increase in power.
The biggest gains are going to come from ECU mods. I think a decent mapping change will give you about 240bhp without a significant hit to economy or drivability; what it does to reliability is hard to say, but I'm not aware of any evidence of significant problems.
The biggest gains are going to come from ECU mods. I think a decent mapping change will give you about 240bhp without a significant hit to economy or drivability; what it does to reliability is hard to say, but I'm not aware of any evidence of significant problems.
Edited by kambites on Monday 27th January 10:13
MysteryLemon said:
Why do people still see a K&N filter as a worthwhile mod?
They have been known as a joke for as long as I've been into modifying cars, and no doubt plenty of time before that. There is no thought put into them. A simple bolt on filter will make F-all difference to performance. It might very well make you lose performance.
Buy a proper induction kit designed specifically for your car that moves the filter to a cooler area of the engine bay with a hose with as few joins as possible, one single hose/pipe is the best for this.
Bolting a cone in place of your cars standard airbox will do nothing for you except make more noise and suck in heat.
http://www.jbsautodesigns.co.uk/product/4052/twint...
It's a fking lot of money but more like what I'm talking about (I've no idea if the above product is any good or not, i'm not into Audi tuning).
Why spend £200 on random bits and bobs that will do nothing? Save a bit, get something like that and notice a difference.
They have been known as a joke for as long as I've been into modifying cars, and no doubt plenty of time before that. There is no thought put into them. A simple bolt on filter will make F-all difference to performance. It might very well make you lose performance.
Buy a proper induction kit designed specifically for your car that moves the filter to a cooler area of the engine bay with a hose with as few joins as possible, one single hose/pipe is the best for this.
Bolting a cone in place of your cars standard airbox will do nothing for you except make more noise and suck in heat.
http://www.jbsautodesigns.co.uk/product/4052/twint...
It's a f
king lot of money but more like what I'm talking about (I've no idea if the above product is any good or not, i'm not into Audi tuning). Why spend £200 on random bits and bobs that will do nothing? Save a bit, get something like that and notice a difference.
Edited by MysteryLemon on Monday 27th January 09:55
its funny how people with the least knowledge of a given subject have the strongest opinions.
I have and always will use K&N over any other filter.
MysteryLemon said:
Why do people still see a K&N filter as a worthwhile mod?
They have been known as a joke for as long as I've been into modifying cars, and no doubt plenty of time before that. There is no thought put into them. A simple bolt on filter will make F-all difference to performance. It might very well make you lose performance.
Buy a proper induction kit designed specifically for your car that moves the filter to a cooler area of the engine bay with a hose with as few joins as possible, one single hose/pipe is the best for this.
Bolting a cone in place of your cars standard airbox will do nothing for you except make more noise and suck in heat.
http://www.jbsautodesigns.co.uk/product/4052/twint...
It's a fking lot of money but more like what I'm talking about (I've no idea if the above product is any good or not, i'm not into Audi tuning).
Why spend £200 on random bits and bobs that will do nothing? Save a bit, get something like that and notice a difference.
On a turbo car, the reduction in pressure loss alone from an air filter will more than outweigh the negative aspect of pulling in a little more heat.They have been known as a joke for as long as I've been into modifying cars, and no doubt plenty of time before that. There is no thought put into them. A simple bolt on filter will make F-all difference to performance. It might very well make you lose performance.
Buy a proper induction kit designed specifically for your car that moves the filter to a cooler area of the engine bay with a hose with as few joins as possible, one single hose/pipe is the best for this.
Bolting a cone in place of your cars standard airbox will do nothing for you except make more noise and suck in heat.
http://www.jbsautodesigns.co.uk/product/4052/twint...
It's a f
king lot of money but more like what I'm talking about (I've no idea if the above product is any good or not, i'm not into Audi tuning). Why spend £200 on random bits and bobs that will do nothing? Save a bit, get something like that and notice a difference.
Edited by MysteryLemon on Monday 27th January 09:55
Reducing pre-compressor loss on forced induction cars is one of the easiest ways to bump power up and improve response.
That, and reducing exhaust back pressure.
N/A cars are a different kettle of fish as tuning lengths play a much larger part from the start of the intake tract to the inlet valve.
zeppelin101 said:
On a turbo car, the reduction in pressure loss alone from an air filter will more than outweigh the negative aspect of pulling in a little more heat.
Reducing pre-compressor loss on forced induction cars is one of the easiest ways to bump power up and improve response.
That, and reducing exhaust back pressure.
The one and only car I've tweaked a bit was my old Nissan 200sx.Reducing pre-compressor loss on forced induction cars is one of the easiest ways to bump power up and improve response.
That, and reducing exhaust back pressure.
K&N cone filter with a cold air feed + mongoose zorst
Just putting that on made the car hit the boost limiter/fuel cut off thingymajig so it does have an effect on some cars over and above making it sound shyte. I took the air filter off to stop it hitting the fuel cut out as I couldn't be arrised with further messing about with it.
filters are a funny old thing and sometimes you either have to just play with a couple of different types or go on recommendation to find the right one.
IMHO an "induction kit" can be as bad as some cone filters. case in point the K&N57i - what a load of rubbish.
Many of these are just a waste of cash adding nothing more to your motor than some additional induction noise which some will foolishly be led to believe is giving the impression the car is faster than before - its not its just noisier! (oh and you get a K&N sticker!) I would go for either a decent cone filter or a replacement performance panel filter in your original airbox. some people have been know to drill lots of holes in the intake side of the airbox but i cant speak from any experience as to whether this has any benefits or downsides.
I think some filters (like the 57i kits) can on certain applications lead to poor idling or hot start issues.
on this engine you might hear more turbo noise if you remove the airbox and plumbing and replace it with a cone filter especially between gear changes.
find somewhere that will custom map your car to match its existing spec.
The TFSi unit you have should be good for at least 25% more power, more even.
IMHO an "induction kit" can be as bad as some cone filters. case in point the K&N57i - what a load of rubbish.
Many of these are just a waste of cash adding nothing more to your motor than some additional induction noise which some will foolishly be led to believe is giving the impression the car is faster than before - its not its just noisier! (oh and you get a K&N sticker!) I would go for either a decent cone filter or a replacement performance panel filter in your original airbox. some people have been know to drill lots of holes in the intake side of the airbox but i cant speak from any experience as to whether this has any benefits or downsides.
I think some filters (like the 57i kits) can on certain applications lead to poor idling or hot start issues.
on this engine you might hear more turbo noise if you remove the airbox and plumbing and replace it with a cone filter especially between gear changes.
find somewhere that will custom map your car to match its existing spec.
The TFSi unit you have should be good for at least 25% more power, more even.
Edited by ToothbrushMan on Monday 27th January 10:35
RE Air Filters,
Are we saying the VAG group engineers with all of their resources have left easy power on the table by designing a poor intake?
Is the 197 intake the same as the higher performance variant? If so, it will probably be fine enough.
It would be easy to measure pressure drop on such an intake system. Find somewhere to tap in to in between the turbo and the air filter box and connect a vacuum gauge.
Are we saying the VAG group engineers with all of their resources have left easy power on the table by designing a poor intake?
Is the 197 intake the same as the higher performance variant? If so, it will probably be fine enough.
It would be easy to measure pressure drop on such an intake system. Find somewhere to tap in to in between the turbo and the air filter box and connect a vacuum gauge.
stevesingo said:
RE Air Filters,
Are we saying the VAG group engineers with all of their resources have left easy power on the table by designing a poor intake?
Is the 197 intake the same as the higher performance variant? If so, it will probably be fine enough.
It would be easy to measure pressure drop on such an intake system. Find somewhere to tap in to in between the turbo and the air filter box and connect a vacuum gauge.
The OEM system is designed to do a job, at a target pressure loss in order to meet the target performance. Are we saying the VAG group engineers with all of their resources have left easy power on the table by designing a poor intake?
Is the 197 intake the same as the higher performance variant? If so, it will probably be fine enough.
It would be easy to measure pressure drop on such an intake system. Find somewhere to tap in to in between the turbo and the air filter box and connect a vacuum gauge.
That isn't to say that it can't be improved in the aftermarket at some expense to the quality of the filtration.
Don't just assume that the OEM system is the best because the OEM designed it, they have NVH and packaging constraints to deal with. An open cone filter would never get past a premium OEMs NVH department, but it will offer less pressure drop.
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