xr2john

I've been reading up on this quite a lot lately and from my research it doesn't look or sound actually that hard. I'm not the most computer literate but I think I've got my head round it so my question is who else has gave it a bash and how did you get on?

Jay,

iTrader: (4)

I have done most of my own stuff and tbh I'd you are not really up on it and understand exactly what your doing it's not cost effective and that amount of time it takes to its easier to get a tuner to do it

gcfcos

I know a chap who maps his own stuff, he builds a lot of obscure projects from bits of many cars but doesn't have very much money so everything is done himself with a laptop. He's a bus and coach mechanic and electrician and very very clever with electronics to the point he could earn a fortune in another field but when it comes to expensive machinery like a cosworth where someone has just spent like £10k on an engine and other bits u would only want the best guys in the business doing that

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

I semi mapped my own saph a few years back as it was running Omex and the interface is easy to use. I was only mapping on the fuel table as the map we put on it to get it running was from my mates car so a slightly different spec and was over fueling everywhere - so before it got booked in for professional mapping i went took out loads of fuel in the table and it was running much better as a result. Funnily enough i wasnt that impressed with the mapper when he was doing it and could hear it detting its tits off so had a pop at him. Engine didnt last long after that mapping session and the car has been parked up ever since.

Need to find someone else to map it this time.

Cossie Sammins

I do 100%

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

I think mapping is very interesting and it would be cool if people could explain how to map a car.

Adam-M

Think self mapping is really popular in America

Caddyshack

The guy in Guildford, Ben, does lessons but I will leave it to the pro's myself...especially on a turbo car.

stevieturbo

So cant use a computer, cant build an engine..dont know how one works, and dont know efi systems....not really off to a good start.

However....you also seem to fall into the same category as a lot of so called professional tuners.

Is it hard ? You could debate that all day long.

I'm sure a heart surgeon doesnt find what they do every day hard, although at least there is some sort of regulation so incompetent fools arent allowed to do it

And both can cause the death destruction of their patient if you get it wrong.

Problem with how easy or hard it may be....depends entirely on what is trying to be tuned and at what level. There are some fools out there that think a "map" is just a single fuel table for example. And that was from someone claiming they do it for a living.
People like that shouldnt be allowed anywhere near a paying customer, or indeed a car.

So is it hard ? it depends on dozens of variables.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Imagine giving them a modern 2016 onwards Bosch system with 64 fuel tables, 64 Spark tables, 64 speed density tables and well over 100'000 tables and switchpoints all together. LOL

Oh ... And you cant do it live!

Aftermarket stuff however is of course far far easier. But still requires the guy on the keyboard to know what to do, and why to do it. Perhaps more importantly, he needs to know why NOT to do some seemingly beneficial stuff.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

The user interface on some modern ECU's does make it look very easy to map.

I found it relatviely easy to get on with using Omex 600 but then i was only editing one fuel table and most of that was taking fuel out as it was chucking too much in. Had some good fun doing that and would defo like to learn more

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

It can be great fun mate. Personally I derive far more mapping pleasure from making a badly mapped car run nicely than I do giving it more power.

Its far more rewarding to get the throttle response, cruising and idling side of things nice than it is looking for horsepower.

Adam-M

You must love your job then stu with the amount of cossies you'll get in running shite on a generic chip, mines included lol!

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

i was quite enjoying mapping it to go to the other side of slough and not drink a 1/4 tank in the process

Adam-M

Attracted some attention this thread, seen Stuart MSD, James Autodynamix, Mark shead and tony turbosystems all viewing, probably laughing right enough

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Tunings not as fun as it used to be mate.
Modern stuff is far more of a headache to perfect if you want to retain all the safety systems and torque control.

Most big names just disable them all and convert operation back to old school pre programmed boost. Understandable in many ways, but not ideal.

Since buying the Focus RS MK3 I think we have probably spent well in excess of 5000 man hours just learning "roughly" how the ECU works.

We have spent many thousands in new dataloggers and systems that will talk to it and port out the proprietary data that we need to datalog it and modify it correctly and maintain some semblance of open throttle, and then comes the time when you start comanding more torque and are just waiting for something to break... LOL

When your done.... you sell a £499 remap that is then sucked straight out of teh OBD port for every tuner to use.
They havent the foggiest idea how the calibration works, but they can now do exactly the same conversion we offer. But it cost us thousands of ££'s, thousands of hours, blood sweat and tears... of yeah, and we had to buy a brand new car too!

Cossie tuning was soooooo easy.

Caddyshack

It was interesting to see Mark map a car as he had a specific sized copper tube on a certain part of the engine and was listening for detonation (I think). Bit of old school to go with the lap top....no use in me listening as it would have melted the engine before I knew what I was listening for.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

home made det cans are awesome and so cheap lol but have a great benefit. No good if you are deaf tho

Jay,

iTrader: (4)

And the by product of a car thats badly mapped to a correctly mapped car is more power often enough lol

Mark Shead

I have about 1k worth of the modern electric knock sensing equipment in the draw at work if you want to buy it lol.

Mark

Caddyshack

Yeah, I will use it on my home made rolling road if I can just find a way to stop the toilet rolls squashing under the weight of the car.

I still would not know what to look for

Caddyshack

Yeah, I am a bit deaf....might save me on the cost of sound proofing in the long run though. My hearing has the exact damage caused by Night Clubs....funny that being a child of the RAVE generation. It was fun at the time though.

Caddyshack

It's easy Jay, you turn the button marked boost up to Big, some times it is a slider....I don't think there is much more too it other than wind up other tuners.

Jay,

iTrader: (4)

Tbh your not far off lol on some software it is just moving torque limits ect lol

xr2john

Wow this thread has fairly opened a can of worms for sure. I've never claimed I would be any good but it's just something I would really like to try and learn. Not for any commercial gain but more for the satisfaction of doing it all myself.

Caddyshack

It is certain;y a skill I would like to have but I would personally prefer to learn to tog weld and use a lathe.....and bed Jennifer Anniston or Helen Skelton

gcfcos

Fair play for asking mate. I remember a guy who had a homemade Zetec turbo mk2 xr2, he built it himself and fitted aftermarket management and mapped it himself, he used to bring it to our
Local meet and nothing even the stupid power skylines could keep up with it. Just a clever lad

stevieturbo

Even if you can hear, if you dont know what you're listening for....they're still pointless.

Again, it all comes down to experience and ability.

gcfcos

We had a fairly expensive listening kit at a dealers I used to work at. They were rather bemused when I pulled out a long reach screwdriver and stuck my ear to it. One of the other guys took 20 mins to set all this gear up and took me 20 seconds to get the old screwdriver out. Can't beat experience with things

Caddyshack

I'm like that with women, some guys make love for hours, I am so skilled they hardly knew I was there.

gcfcos

Ah hah hah hah awesome.



Pull my nighty back down when you've finished



Lol

gjh

There are some courses at uni's and colleges in engine mapping and tuning now, no idea how good they are but could be worth looking into if you want to learn?

xr2john

That's the thing,some people pick it up really quickly. I'm 1 of those people! I've taught myself plenty of different skills over the years,not just to do with cars but with property too. Turned myself into a plasterer after watching a few videos on you tube,I can tile,wall paper and paint.and pretty much everything else and then my neighbor gave me a 5 minute crash course on welding and that was a new skill which I took to like a duck to water. I'm just one of those practical people who seems to be good with his hands. I just want to learn as much as I can in this short life we have

gcfcos

Is there anything online that u can study mate? Is it for a project u have in mind?

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

Agreed mate but i had a mate sitting with me who is experienced and also had the wideband afr gauge.

Guinnless

Bloody hell! Obviously there's no way to prevent this otherwise you would have done so.
I presume you'd know it's your map from the checksum ? Difficult to proceed with a copyright claim ?

Araldite in the OBD port would sort it

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

Doubt the tuners can do much as back in the day who copied all the ford chips - it was the tuners

Mark Shead

https://www.efi101.com/
You have this. I can't say how good it is but can teach you the basics.

Mark

costina

iTrader: (1)

You have had a secs chip too then Jay😂

costina

iTrader: (1)

I have always been very interested in mapping but tbh cannot get my head around it.
I just stick with setting them up correctly and leave the mapping to the pros.