barrie w Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Good morning. I wonder if anyone out there could offer some advice ? I've been thinking of fitting a tuning box to my 2.8 fiat motor home. It runs well but I'm thinking of towing a car & the extra claimed grunt & fuel economy would be useful. Do they really match up to the published claims ? Are there any to avoid ? Are the cheaper units as advertised from Italy etc on ebay worth a look ? I was talking to a chap at Brighton CC site the other week who was fitting one at the time. I should have asked for his number to get an update on performance after a few miles. Any advise or comment would be appreciated. Thanks. Barrie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthur49 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Hi Barrie Before I retired in 2003 we looked at equipping our company vehicles with these 'units'. We came to the view that if the claimed improvements were to be believed, and the cost of installation so (relatively) small, why didn't manufacturers fit them as standard? We therefore decided against as they were "too good to be true"? Arthur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
messerschmitt owner Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 arthur49 - 2009-08-20 2:28 PM Hi Barrie Before I retired in 2003 we looked at equipping our company vehicles with these 'units'. We came to the view that if the claimed improvements were to be believed, and the cost of installation so (relatively) small, why didn't manufacturers fit them as standard? We therefore decided against as they were "too good to be true"? Arthur the manufacturers have to design the vehicles to operate under the existing rules, regulations and tax regimes. Many cars and vans are electronically strangled at birth to satisfy the requirements of the countries they are being sold in. One could use the same argument about a set of webber carburettors and a pancake filter. These boxes and (indeed) remaps which change the software of the ecu do indeed give the power and torque increases stated. I have a remap on my 80bhp smart roadster and its power has been pushed up to 115bhp as a result (and dyno-ed at that too). A recent trip along the autobahn saw 124mph on the gps, two up, and with luggage on the boot rack (110mph as standard), as well as a 0-60 time which fell from 10.9s to 9s too. Fuel consumption on my hilly route to work on what would be classed as extra urban is 54.4mpg on a regular basis (as against the manufacturer's claimed 55mpg). I find the 156bhp on my Merc to be sufficient but if I wanted to, I would have no hesitation in getting a 'chipping' box or a remap to push it to 195bhp. It makes sense that if the engine uses less power to maintain the same speed (because the torque has been improved by 30%) it will use less fuel. However, using the extra performance on a regular basis normally results in a lowering of fuel consumption as well as of engine life. However, none of us motorhome users drive at 90+, do we? I'd recommend one and do believe that they are the cheapest way to boost performance in a petrol car and for a diesel to improve economy and engine life as the engine requires less use of the loud pedal to move the bulk it has to shift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 The man that everyone on the Ford Transit Forum mentions as knowing his stuff is Martin at: http://www.vantuner.co.uk/ (he does Fiats as well). Ford Transit Forum: http://fordtransit.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorquingOfCatsUK Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 This is quite a big subject but purely in terms of the selection of tuning modules, it's worth exercising caution when looking at cheaper examples- they are cheap for a reason. There is huge variation in specification & build quality between superficially very similar products. 'Tuning boxes' which promise big performance gains for little money are invariably very basic in their construction leading to (at least) unreliability & a short service life. Even externally impressive products are often decidedly sub-standard internally. When examining the tuning module market, it's worth asking a few questions:- 1/ Is it fully digital? 2/ Is it adjustable? 3/ Does the harness use OEM connectors? 4/ Is it multi-profile? (Allowing transfer between vehicles- a good multi-profile module will cover most of the motorhome engine range) 5/ Are the tracks & contacts gold plated? (for reliability) 6/ Has it been properly tested (on a dyno) for assessment of performance gains? 7/ Does it carry a proper guarantee & warranty? A high quality digital tuning module will deliver genuine performance gains including fuel economy, the enhanced torque is the principal feature & really has to be experienced. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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