alleggerita

Just had my Evo IX MR converted to speed density by English Racing. Car - apart from suspension mods, ACD flash and TRE-diff - has basic bolt-ons: Tanabe turboback, 100 cel cat, ETS intercooler and pipes, K&N cone filter.

I had always disliked the part-throttle drivability of my Evo, the popping and hiccups as a result of the diverter valve/BOV messing up the mixture - has stock diverter valve. This made it very difficult to drive the car smoothly unless one added throttle and boost all the time.

After the tune, the car is butter smooth at all rpm and easily drivable at light throttle at 2000rpm on the freeway without boost, something it could never do without hiccups before. It now has throttle adjustability in corners which is very enjoyable for fast road use.

You can still hear the diverter valve doing its thing, albeit less frequently – but it no longer affects mixture/drivability. Throttle response is greatly improved – you can actually get the car to do precisely what you want at any given time.

Fuel consumption is improved thus far. Previous fuel consumption was 19mpg on average with a range of 25mpg to 15mpg. The 25mpg was driving behind somebody at speed limit on the freeway. Fuel consumption has improved to 20mpg average thus far. During the return journey on the same freeway behind the same guy it was 27mpg, likely reflecting the ability to stay out of boost more easily when not needed. When needed, power is there more instantly with turbine-like smoothness.

Only downside of the smoothness when the car is warmed up is decreased warm-up drivability – this was a downside pointed out by ER prior to the tune. It drives similar to an old Weber carbureted car during warm-up for those of you who still know what that is – you need to feather/add throttle a little bit and you need to slip the clutch a bit when you first get going. Biggest challenge is when car has been in the hot sun for the whole day and engine is cold. This quickly disappears but may be an issue for some.

Power is up a bit – about 10hp but that effect is negligible compared to the total smoothness of the car once warmed up. Anyway - after ACD reflash and 12-plate diff - another game changer as far as modifications are concerned

twabtoxer

iTrader: (39)

Awesome to hear! Been thinking about doing this...

rich3389

iTrader: (1)

I am running sd on my ix also, but with Tom's (tscomptuning) tune car runs smoother all around with no cold engine side effects.

alleggerita

I guess the challenge is out for Aaron

Fireescape

Not to say bad things about English Racing as I have never delt with them in any way but Tom at TSComp's speed density tune on my car, with the big R2 cams and black turbo, is butter smooth. I use to have heaps of part throttle buck and such but that's all gone now and unless you just start the car and go the cold driveability is better too. i just let my car idle for maybe a minute and normally don't drive until the gauge starts to move.

alleggerita

My comments referred to just starting the car and go. If you let it idle just a bit, no fuzz at all.

sparky

iTrader: (1)

Wow, the mention about the Webers on cold start-up driving brings back long forgotten memories for me. All my old BMW 2002's with dual DCOE's had that farty cold driving thing. Especially the bigger carbs (45mm & 48mm) when fitted with largest venturis and main jets. When you first cranked it you just barely cracked the throttle open then keep the throttle barely cracked during cold idle, and really feather the throttle after getting under way.... It was even more pronounced when running the long velocity stacks and a 326* cam. It's wierd that someone else remembers this. Great analogy though. LOL

JohnBradley

iTrader: (30)

alleggerita,

Glad to hear that the car feels good and you are enjoying it since getting it back.

Fireescape,

Where do you think all the baseline stuff for Tom came from?

General-

The cold start and low temp warm up running is hard to do since I get a car when its already warmed up generally. In this case I had the car for one morning for a cold start test and got it as close as I can but to do it right the car would have to sit for multiple mornings for me to get the data correlated and make sure the MAF comp vs coolant is proper for each car. I can get it 85% there but the last 15 is something more difficult without multiple days to play with the car.

I also never move any car till coolant is 130* by which point the problem doesnt exist. Habit from built motors but it helps stock motors as well.

Fireescape

No idea, is this meant to be common knowledge?

You shouldn't take me saying that my tune from Tom works well as some kind of go at English Racing. Like I said I have never delt with or had any tunes from from them. I'm sure their tunes are just fine. With that in mind I feel that the baseline stuff isn't the issue, it's more to do with the fine tuning, which you have already alluded to.

codgi

iTrader: (22)

JohnBradley works at English Racing (ER). Your relatively new so you may not know that they were one of the first shops really doing SD and gave a lot of the early information to the rest of the community. A lot of the other folks you see doing SD now base their work on what ER (and other early adopters) learnt and shared.

alleggerita

Update: A while ago got the tune just slightly richened up at ER. No more cold antics. Like stock now. Win-win.

tscompusa

iTrader: (31)

No baseline stuff ever came from anyone else that I use in regards to custom mapping. I stick to what I learn based off feedback from my personal car & customers cars.

I also only typically use tephra v7 stuff and 3D SD for other applications that need it (older evos & dsm's).

The only thing similar would be the map calibration table, which is a simple 2d table with load control which is normally 1:1 ratio, but I adjust it similar to others to change load resolution.

I've never purchased a SD map from anyone. I taught myself 100%. Just wanted to make that clear in here.