Cooling chip 4.5?
Discussion
Thought I'd let you know of my recent experience with the cerb. I have always thought it was down on top end power, you guys describe the 4.5 as balistic at higher rev's...mines never felt ballistic just very fast. So I booked a trip to Austec on the rolling road for a check.
The first power run showed 302BHP flywheel....crap
suspected blocked cats...fitted de-cat pipes
second power run 310bhp flywheel ....still crap
checked cam timing as heads had recently been removed by specialist (not Austec) was 1 tooth out rectified cam timing.
Third power run showed 353bhp flywheel....much better but not great!
engine appeared not to rev well above 6500rpm.
Changed ECU chip as my original had been modified to make the fans come on earlier. now standard 4.5 TVR chip installed
Forth power run showed 383bhp...EXCELLENT, over the moon.
Drove the car home and the difference is unbelievable...the car is now as you guys describe...BALLISTIC.
Good guys at Autec, very friendly and willing to chat.
so beware of apparently simple ECU mods
The first power run showed 302BHP flywheel....crap
suspected blocked cats...fitted de-cat pipes
second power run 310bhp flywheel ....still crap
checked cam timing as heads had recently been removed by specialist (not Austec) was 1 tooth out rectified cam timing.
Third power run showed 353bhp flywheel....much better but not great!
engine appeared not to rev well above 6500rpm.
Changed ECU chip as my original had been modified to make the fans come on earlier. now standard 4.5 TVR chip installed
Forth power run showed 383bhp...EXCELLENT, over the moon.
Drove the car home and the difference is unbelievable...the car is now as you guys describe...BALLISTIC.
Good guys at Autec, very friendly and willing to chat.
so beware of apparently simple ECU mods
Generally these chips are great but they are generic and so as each car is different it might have a different map to the original non cooling chip.
My 2nd Cerb had a 'red rose' map as apparently it ran like a dog on the original mapping. So when I got a cooling chip Joolz ensured that he added the cooling to my existing map rather that to a generic one.
IMHO / AFAIK
Did you get a cooling map added to the latest ecu? I presume you have a cooling mod for a reason.
My 2nd Cerb had a 'red rose' map as apparently it ran like a dog on the original mapping. So when I got a cooling chip Joolz ensured that he added the cooling to my existing map rather that to a generic one.
IMHO / AFAIK
Did you get a cooling map added to the latest ecu? I presume you have a cooling mod for a reason.
I've only had the car 4 months and it was the previous owner who had the chip modded. I think it was a standard chip with only the cooling fan temp changed so that the fans came on at 90degrees.
Obviously something else had been corrupted in the programme when they changed the coolng fan parameter. Just goes to show that unless you have the proper means to test an engine after a mod, you never really know what is going on.
Obviously something else had been corrupted in the programme when they changed the coolng fan parameter. Just goes to show that unless you have the proper means to test an engine after a mod, you never really know what is going on.
hmm why do i smell something fishy going on here?
a car making std power on the cooling chip, then fit a STD non-cooling chip and it makes 30bhp more than it should be doing (383 is approaching bespoke remap territory for long induction 4.5s).
Please send me your cooling chip for me to look at the ignition and fuel maps, it's still yours so I hope you didn't let austec keep it .. I would like to see it, in fact even though you didn't buy it from me (the previous owner presumably did as I'm the only person selling them as far as I know) I will even buy it back from you at the current ebay price ..
a car making std power on the cooling chip, then fit a STD non-cooling chip and it makes 30bhp more than it should be doing (383 is approaching bespoke remap territory for long induction 4.5s).
Please send me your cooling chip for me to look at the ignition and fuel maps, it's still yours so I hope you didn't let austec keep it .. I would like to see it, in fact even though you didn't buy it from me (the previous owner presumably did as I'm the only person selling them as far as I know) I will even buy it back from you at the current ebay price ..
Hi Paul
Would be nice to chat and comnpare Austec dyno graphs, if you can make the Surrey TVRCC meet on the 23rd?
http://www.tvr-car-club.co.uk/regions/uk-seengland...
No need to be a member, just come along and chat at first!
But I knew I should have asked for my standard chip back when they re-mapped mine
On a serious note, apparently people have said there were at least five different 4.5 maps from the factory.
Which sort of says to me that each individual car should really have a one-to-one with a tuner, to really get the best out of these cars.
Which I think is what your experiance is telling us?
Steve
Would be nice to chat and comnpare Austec dyno graphs, if you can make the Surrey TVRCC meet on the 23rd?
http://www.tvr-car-club.co.uk/regions/uk-seengland...
No need to be a member, just come along and chat at first!
But I knew I should have asked for my standard chip back when they re-mapped mine
On a serious note, apparently people have said there were at least five different 4.5 maps from the factory.
Which sort of says to me that each individual car should really have a one-to-one with a tuner, to really get the best out of these cars.
Which I think is what your experiance is telling us?
Steve
Edited by VPower on Sunday 12th July 00:27
God I hate this, this is where the name and shame policy falls down.
To the OP, I'm glad your car is running better, it makes the whole TVR experience so much better
, but I hope that you don't always believe everything you are told, potentially you have two 'rival' TVR tuners, with a history on here (P'Heads).
I will personally vouch for Jools, he's made my car run sweeter than it ever has, and before anyone else chimes up, I've used Austec too. It's not in his best interest to offer an 'off the shelf' chip that actually downgrades your car, although understandably, if may not make as much on the rollers as a bespoke map, no two cars are ever the same.
So, OP, accept Jools very kind offer, get your money back (or the previous owner's money). Jools I offer my car for a back to back test of the chip.
Tim
To the OP, I'm glad your car is running better, it makes the whole TVR experience so much better
, but I hope that you don't always believe everything you are told, potentially you have two 'rival' TVR tuners, with a history on here (P'Heads).I will personally vouch for Jools, he's made my car run sweeter than it ever has, and before anyone else chimes up, I've used Austec too. It's not in his best interest to offer an 'off the shelf' chip that actually downgrades your car, although understandably, if may not make as much on the rollers as a bespoke map, no two cars are ever the same.
So, OP, accept Jools very kind offer, get your money back (or the previous owner's money). Jools I offer my car for a back to back test of the chip.
Tim
Hi guys, its a lengthy reply but please read if you are interested!
I'm fairly new to the TVR game. I started this thread to share a recent experience of MY Cerb ownership. Ive have had many performance cars and have always enjoyed tunning them and discussing issues.
I have no idea how many TVR chip modifying companies are out there offering cooling mods, so my intention is definatley not to name and shame. I presumed there would be dozens. I only said is was not Austec as I thought It was fair to point this out as the car was in their workshops.
The car was booked in for a power run. I thought the car did not pull well at higher revs and I certainly never heard the rev limiter buzzer going off. At 6500rpm it stopped pulling and become hesitant.
I never told Austec to much (they should be able to discover the problems themselves), other than I wanted to know the power the car was producing.
As I watched the car on the R.R. produced 302bhp and the graph showed a horrible dip at 6400rpm.
Austec suggested collasped cats, they removed them said they were OK offered to refit the originals or fit the silenced decats.
With the decats on it made no real difference. Again I watched it on the R.R.
Austec enquired about the history of the engine. I had in the history file a £3500.00 bill for a partly rebuilt engine (4K miles ago) the car has only done 32K. Both heads were skimmed, engine removed inspected and rebuilt. This was done by a Major TVR specialist.
I left the car with them as further investigations were needed.
They informed me the cam timing was out and that the car produced 353bhp when this was recified.
However, they pointed out that the car still did not rev cleanly. So he wanted to try a few more things
2hrs later they phoned me and said the car had a problem with the chip. They had fitted a "standard Factory chip" and the car was producing 383BHP.
The total bill for the work was 4hrs (£300.00), I was not charged for the chip and only charged for 1 rolling road session although it was on there at least 5 times. They even offered to refund the cost of the decats and put my cats back on FOC.
The car power delivery has been totally transformed. The highish power figure could possibly be down to the recently rebuilt engine with a higher CR due to the skimmed heads?
I have the "cooling" chip with me and would be willing to send it back for investigation. So please phone me Paul on 07711 894 968.
so there you are, did'nt mean to point the finger at anyone. Just thought it would create a interesting thread.
A1RAK
I'm fairly new to the TVR game. I started this thread to share a recent experience of MY Cerb ownership. Ive have had many performance cars and have always enjoyed tunning them and discussing issues.
I have no idea how many TVR chip modifying companies are out there offering cooling mods, so my intention is definatley not to name and shame. I presumed there would be dozens. I only said is was not Austec as I thought It was fair to point this out as the car was in their workshops.
The car was booked in for a power run. I thought the car did not pull well at higher revs and I certainly never heard the rev limiter buzzer going off. At 6500rpm it stopped pulling and become hesitant.
I never told Austec to much (they should be able to discover the problems themselves), other than I wanted to know the power the car was producing.
As I watched the car on the R.R. produced 302bhp and the graph showed a horrible dip at 6400rpm.
Austec suggested collasped cats, they removed them said they were OK offered to refit the originals or fit the silenced decats.
With the decats on it made no real difference. Again I watched it on the R.R.
Austec enquired about the history of the engine. I had in the history file a £3500.00 bill for a partly rebuilt engine (4K miles ago) the car has only done 32K. Both heads were skimmed, engine removed inspected and rebuilt. This was done by a Major TVR specialist.
I left the car with them as further investigations were needed.
They informed me the cam timing was out and that the car produced 353bhp when this was recified.
However, they pointed out that the car still did not rev cleanly. So he wanted to try a few more things
2hrs later they phoned me and said the car had a problem with the chip. They had fitted a "standard Factory chip" and the car was producing 383BHP.
The total bill for the work was 4hrs (£300.00), I was not charged for the chip and only charged for 1 rolling road session although it was on there at least 5 times. They even offered to refund the cost of the decats and put my cats back on FOC.
The car power delivery has been totally transformed. The highish power figure could possibly be down to the recently rebuilt engine with a higher CR due to the skimmed heads?
I have the "cooling" chip with me and would be willing to send it back for investigation. So please phone me Paul on 07711 894 968.
so there you are, did'nt mean to point the finger at anyone. Just thought it would create a interesting thread.
A1RAK
It sounds to me like your car behaved EXACTLY like a 4.5 on the cooling chip to me, unsurprising as we know the std mapping to be pants. I'm not surprised there's a dip at 6400rpm .. the long induction 4.5s have stopped make decent power long before then anyway! I also suspect that bearing in mind the rebuild and the skimmed heads that they fitted a std red rose chip instead, with more advance in it than the OE std 4.5 non red rose chip, in which case what you are describing is entirely believable, if they didnt then you have the most powerful stock 4.5 by over 20hp (363hp is the highest ive ever seen personally I think). A quick look through the archives will tell you 353hp from a 4.5 is very very good power (most make 330-340bhp!!) .. and 380+hp means something's non-standard.
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