ECU Remap for GT3 MKII

[Mark_H]

I have been looking into possible remaps for my GT3 MKII, and talking to companies such as AMD, DMS and REVO.

They generally claim an increase of around 20bhp, which seemingly makes the car noticeably quicker and punchier out of the corners. The engine allegedly feels freer revving.

Has anybody gone down the route of purely an ECU remap? If so which company have they used and any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Incidentally my preference after speaking to the different companies was DMS - spoke to Rob the owner for over an hour, very nice and knowledgeable guy.

Cheers,

Mark

[DanH]

My general opinion of remapping NA engines is that it won't work and is thus pointless. It will also stuff you on resale as its blows away the Porsche warranty, and any chance of reinstating one if you have let yours lapse.

Maybe the GT3 engine is different as the race cars can rev to 10k, but if all its doing is boosting the rev limit, you are accepting the increased wear and risk this brings.

Have a look at the Manthey upgrades as they seem seem to be reasonably respected for GT3s. I think you'll find they do a lot more work than changing the chip to get the extra power out!

[roshambo]

I had my C4S modified in this manner - taking it from standard 320 to around 340bhp. In all honesty I only noticed a very very small difference high up the rev range - it felt a tiny bit more urgent in the top 2k. I actually would have struggled to say which car was modified if I drove that and a standard car back to back.

Ro.

[sundeep]

have you tried a few bottles of Millers ?

not the beer, but the octane boost !

yes seriously... works wonders on track days !

[vixpy1]

Best mod i've come across for the GT3 is the Milltek sports exhaust.

Out of the the remaps, I'd go for the AMD one.

[DaGinge]

With a MkII I would say the best mod you could do would be to convert to the single-mass flywheel/clutch arrangement as found in the Mk1 CS and RS - will make the engine rev a lot more freely and will certainly feel like at least 10bhp quicker. On the Mk1 it was responsible for the CS being 0.3s quicker to 60 than the comfort.

[JPF40]

Although I don't own a GT3, yet. I'd have to say forget the ecu re-map. A lighter weight flywheel and clutch is the way to go.

You'll gain from the following:

Increased BHP.
Better braking/less rotating inertia etc
and less engine wear.

Tilton do awesome lightweight carbon clutch and billet flywheel. It'll be costly, but very effective.

As already mentioned, fuel will make a difference. A proper racing fuel watered down with Optimax will increase bhp.

[DanH]

JPF40 said:

Although I don't own a GT3, yet. I'd have to say forget the ecu re-map. A lighter weight flywheel and clutch is the way to go. You'll gain from the following: Increased BHP. Better braking/less rotating inertia etc and less engine wear. Tilton do awesome lightweight carbon clutch and billet flywheel. It'll be costly, but very effective. As already mentioned, fuel will make a difference. A proper racing fuel watered down with Optimax will increase bhp.

It'll make it a pig to drive in traffic though!

Have a look at the Manthey conversion if you want proper engine work done to tap more power. I think they can get you 410 bhp. Its pricey though, but to be honest thats reassuring as NA tuning ought to be expensive if its done properly!

>> Edited by DanH on Tuesday 28th June 09:21

[Mark_H]

I was talking to the tuners re a remap for a diesel that I intend buying for everday - got talking about cars, and discovered they all do remaps for the GT3s. So when they say they can get you 20+bhp, more torque and wider power bound for £900 and the Manthey conversion gets around 40bhp for a few thousand pounds, it seems like good value.

As I am having a JRZ suspension and front brembo floating discs etc. put onto the car next week, any serious expenditure will have to wait for a while!

Thanks for the replies!

Mark

[DanH]

Turbo diesels are trivial to tune as you can just up the boost a tad. Tuning an already very highly tuned engine without FI isn't at all easy and normally involves moving rev limits, changing cams (impacting low speed torque) and reinforcing all the parts that may now fail due to the extra stress of this. Sometimes the engine even becomes slower for road usage as changing cams tends to make them peakier - fine if you are on track and always in the right gear, not so fine day to day.

I know people who've 'chipped' other NA cars and got nothing back powerwise apart from it running roughly. I even had a chat with Gavan Kerhsaw of lotus about it and he didn't think much of them either.

I hope I've put you off

[Mark_H]

I think it's fair to say, you have!

Cheers,

Mark

[vixpy1]

Mark_H said:

I think it's fair to say, you have! Cheers, Mark

Go for the Miltek exhuast, A GT3 Mk2 put 394bhp out with one on on the rollers, the standard ones put out 382bhp on the rollers.

[johnny senna]

Hi Mark,

I have just read a couple of the old threads about your GT3. Did you get the suspension done? If so, which system did you end up with? JRZ?

Did you ever come along to a Fastrakdays event to sample the various GT3s there, eg Glenn's Manthey'd car or one of the several JRZ'd GT3RSs?

If you have a ride in Glenn's car you will know what 410 BHP feels like compared to your own 380 BHP and then you can decide if that's worth the money or not. I suspect you won't think an extra 10-20 BHP from a re-map is worth it. I wouldn't bother with a simple re-map on a GT3, but I may well go for a Manthey K410 engine conversion on a GT3 if I could afford it.

[johnfm]

JPF40 said:

Although I don't own a GT3, yet. I'd have to say forget the ecu re-map. A lighter weight flywheel and clutch is the way to go. You'll gain from the following: Increased BHP. Better braking/less rotating inertia etc and less engine wear. Tilton do awesome lightweight carbon clutch and billet flywheel. It'll be costly, but very effective. As already mentioned, fuel will make a difference. A proper racing fuel watered down with Optimax will increase bhp.

I'd love to hear how a lightweight flywheel will increase the BHP output of an internal combustion engine....

How on earth does a lighter flywheel aid braking (ignoring the insignificant overall weight reduction of the car..)

[DoctorD]

Mark_H said:

I have been looking into possible remaps for my GT3 MKII, and talking to companies such as AMD, DMS and REVO. They generally claim an increase of around 20bhp, which seemingly makes the car noticeably quicker and punchier out of the corners. The engine allegedly feels freer revving. Has anybody gone down the route of purely an ECU remap? If so which company have they used and any thoughts would be much appreciated. Incidentally my preference after speaking to the different companies was DMS - spoke to Rob the owner for over an hour, very nice and knowledgeable guy. Cheers, Mark

He He! and you told me off for upgrading the exhaust on my CSL (seeking out that extra 10bhp which you'd never notice).

Try spending a little more money on driver tuition!.... (eek, take cover!)

Steve

[DanH]

Lighter flywheel helps you through the revs quicker though which improves acceleration. At least thats my understanding. It also makes it harder to drive on the road as it won't keep revs as long when you lift off.

I'm hugely sceptical of all apparent gains claimed from performance air filters & exhausts. The whole market is built on a solid foundation of bullshit! (imho)

[johnfm]

DanH said:

Lighter flywheel helps you through the revs quicker though which improves acceleration. At least thats my understanding. It also makes it harder to drive on the road as it won't keep revs as long when you lift off. I'm hugely sceptical of all apparent gains claimed from performance air filters & exhausts. The whole market is built on a solid foundation of bullshit! (imho)

Dan

I'm aware of the benefits of reducing rotating mass - but it doesn't create power, nor does it aid braking...

[Mark_H]

DoctorD said:

Mark_H said: I have been looking into possible remaps for my GT3 MKII, and talking to companies such as AMD, DMS and REVO. They generally claim an increase of around 20bhp, which seemingly makes the car noticeably quicker and punchier out of the corners. The engine allegedly feels freer revving. Has anybody gone down the route of purely an ECU remap? If so which company have they used and any thoughts would be much appreciated. Incidentally my preference after speaking to the different companies was DMS - spoke to Rob the owner for over an hour, very nice and knowledgeable guy. Cheers, Mark He He! and you told me off for upgrading the exhaust on my CSL (seeking out that extra 10bhp which you'd never notice). Try spending a little more money on driver tuition!.... (eek, take cover!) Steve

Bugger! I might have known you would have spotted this! Anyway, I have decided against it, so there!!

[silver993tt]

johnfm said:

DanH said: Lighter flywheel helps you through the revs quicker though which improves acceleration. At least thats my understanding. It also makes it harder to drive on the road as it won't keep revs as long when you lift off. I'm hugely sceptical of all apparent gains claimed from performance air filters & exhausts. The whole market is built on a solid foundation of bullshit! (imho) Dan I'm aware of the benefits of reducing rotating mass - but it doesn't create power, nor does it aid braking...

Well, it doesn't create power but it absorbs less of the existing power spinning up that heavier flywheel. That leaves more of the existing power available to eventually drive the wheels. It's a small amount but still a bit more where it counts.

[Mark_H]

johnny senna said:

Hi Mark, I have just read a couple of the old threads about your GT3. Did you get the suspension done? If so, which system did you end up with? JRZ? Did you ever come along to a Fastrakdays event to sample the various GT3s there, eg Glenn's Manthey'd car or one of the several JRZ'd GT3RSs? If you have a ride in Glenn's car you will know what 410 BHP feels like compared to your own 380 BHP and then you can decide if that's worth the money or not. I suspect you won't think an extra 10-20 BHP from a re-map is worth it. I wouldn't bother with a simple re-map on a GT3, but I may well go for a Manthey K410 engine conversion on a GT3 if I could afford it.

Hi Johnny,

The GT3 goes into Parr on Monday to have JRZ, Brembo floating discs (front only), full geo setup (same as Steve Rance), Pads, brake fluid etc.

Yes I did go to the Fastrack evening at Bedford a few weeks ago. Had a ride in Glenn's Manthey'd car and Steve's JRZ - for me the JRZ felt more suited to my driving and not too dissimilar to my old 964 rs cs - just with a lot more power!!

Re the extra power - as DoctorD has alluded to I am not generally a fan of after market power mods, such as exhaust, ecu chipping etc, as the power gains are marginal, especially for the money, which would be far better spent on driver training, which will benefit far more. Unless of course you have natural talent like myself!! The only reason I started considering a remap for the GT3 was that the tuners I spoke to mentioned it… and I got hooked. For a diesel it is a no brainer – 40bhp and more torque for £500!

To be honest I can’t really comment on the performance difference between Glenn’s car and mine, as I was concentrating more on the handling. Realistically you really need to drive the cars back to back to notice the real difference. Also I haven't had mine long enough to comment really. The Manthey’d upgrade is something I may consider in future, once the setup of the car is sorted and I have done a number of track days, and only then if I feel like I need more power.

Cheers,

Mark