The best engine tune advice

Firstly, lets understand that this article is written about EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) and Engine Management. And more accurately, it's about programmable or performance fuel injection. This is not so relevant to factory fuel injection, where the word "tuneup" may mean to check the sparkplugs and airfilter.This article is about programmable fuel injection and engine management systems that allow the engine to be tuned for both maximum power, but also great drivability and fuel economy.There are some obvious things like, how much power does the engine make, how much torque does the engine make. They are the easy ones. But often, there are less important than many people realize.

We are involved in tuning cars almost every day. And although engine power and torque are obviously important, there is one thing that almost all customers want from their engine and vehicle.Drivability.That's it.While power and torque are very important, in the end most people are most impressed when a car drives well.For most customers there is nothing more disappointing, or frustrating than a car that doesn't start well, doesn't idle and doesn't drive well for the 90 of the time, many cars are driven in traffic, or at least driven below 90% throttle.That is why, when we are doing a tune on a car, we generally ask to have the car for 5 days.On the first day, the car arrives and the engine bay is checked over to ensure there is nothing that looks like a potential hazard later on, both in terms of incorrectly fitted hoses, lines, throttles, etc. But also in terms of safety. Since, if anything falls off an engine while it is running flat out on the dyno, there is always the potential for disaster.We also make sure the person doing the tuning has a good understanding of what the customer wants to achieve in this tuning session. If the car is a daily driver, fuel economy may be of high importance. But if the car is a 1/ 4 mile stomer, then there are other factors to consider. This is discussed at some length with the owner of the car before the engine is tuned.Once the pre-dyno checks are completed on day 1, day 2 is dyno day. Depending on the original state of tune, what modifications have been done to the vehicle, and how highly modified the engine is, the amount of time required on the dyno can vary greatly from 1-2 hours, up to several hours. Your dyno operator will probably be able to give you some indication of the number of hours your tune should take, so long as everything on your engine is working together properly.If, for example, you have modified your turbo, but not increased the amount of fuel your fuel system can deliver. In this case there may be a point at which the fuel delivery is maxed out, and no matter what the tuner does, he/ she can not get any more fuel delivered into the engine.At this point, the tuner should stop the dyno tune, and report the situation to you, with one or two suggestions on the course of action required to get past this problem. The solution may be larger injectors, or an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. Experience will allow the tuner make the most appropriate suggestions.Day 3, is cold start day. Once the engine is tuned for maximum power and torque, it is time to start tuning the starting fuel and transient fuelling. We want to start the engine cold and see how it reacts to throttle movement. This can be a tricky time, as the fuel and ignition maps work in conjunction with the temperature compensations, and the acceleration enrichment adjustable values.Day 4, cold start and hot start day. Once again, cold starts in the morning followed by warm and hot starts, as well as some cold and hot driving. EFI systems should be checked for correct tune at all operating conditions.Since everyone drives differently, it is a good idea (if possible) for someone beside the tuner to take the car for a drive with the tuner in the passenger seat. Everyone drives differently to everyone else, so try to have the car driven by at least 1 person other than the tuner before delivering it to the customer.If the tuner is happy with the car at this point, he usually calls the customer to let the customer know that his car should be ready to be picked up the following afternoon.Day 5, is final cold start day. One more cold start and immediate cold driving to make sure everything is optimized for the first couple of minutes of driving.

How to change a non turbo car to be better than a turbo car

When it comes to increase the speed of the car, turbochargers are the best solution to give you an adrenaline rush. Turbocharger increases the speed of the vehicle by compressing the air that enters the engine. Nevertheless, in doing so, much amount of air is permitted to enter the engine and thereby enabling more fuel consumption for enhanced energy. Through this procedure, the cylinders of the cars will yield extra power resulting faster acceleration. However, this high pressure results in the heating of engine. Due to this, the turbocharger may need more cooling occasionally since they are prone to high heat. The turbo cars have the benefit of producing more power over the non-turbo cars. The turbo cars are small and can be fit within a four cylinder as well. Most importantly, the turbo cars offer amazing power that can be achieved only by large engines.

The turbo car comes with several disadvantages, if it is not fitted correctly and the oversized turbocharger employed, it may have no effect or very little effect on boosting. In place of providing powerful engine boost, the car with turbocharger might respond very poorly or slowly to acceleration. The turbocharger also incorporates a turbo lag that is inconvenient while racing, so it is essential to attain maximum performance timing with turbo car. One major drawback of the turbo cars is its cost involved for the installation of a turbo kit. In addition, turbo kit is complex in installing and you might require learning little bit for engineering for installing it correctly at one go.
The turbo cars are faster as compared to the non-turbo cars, but the choice of installing a turbo kit in the car one should seriously think over before installing the greddy turbo kit in the car because installing one is not a simple task. Get well acquainted with the installation of the turbo kit so that it is worth every penny of your money. If you are sure that you will be able to maintain the turbo car, then get a turbo kit and get it installed in your car. However always remember that driving the car at fast speed does not mean that you can compromise safety, if you have a turbo car, drive safely and follow all the road safety norms.

Fitting and selecting a sports silencer to your car.

One of the most popular modifications around is the sports back box or silencer.
If you are after more information on the performance aspects of a sports exhaust then you will need our tuning article.

This article will focus purely on the cosmetic benefits and considerations when fitting a sports silencer.

It seems as far as silencers are concerned that bigger is better. This can be detrimental to the power output of the engine but as we promised to stick to the visual aspects here we will not labour the point.

Big bores usually require that the rear bumper be cut. This should be done neatly and properly finished and smoothed off. Some bumpers are quite thin and you would then want to build up around the hole.

Heat is a big problems and you should ensure that there is sufficient space around the exhaust to avoid contact with the bumper. At best you might end up with an unpleasant vibration but in a worst case scenario you can end up with scorching and melting due to the heat.

The best solution to these problems are to cut a good sized gap around the exhaust and then fit a metal shield or plate to cope with the additional heat.
Some drivers opt to drop their silencer lower than the bumper but this can easily get snagged on road humps, bumps and potholes and is more prone to vibration. Keep the exhaust mounts fairly tight and use rubber mounts, these dampen the shock and noise a little and allow the exhaust to expand as it gets warmer.

There are of course a number of legal restrictions. Generally speaking the bigger the bore the deeper and louder the exhaust note will be. Most countries have laws preventing the use of loud exhausts. In the UK you also have to ensure that the exhaust does not stick out further than the outermost edge of the rear bumper.

There are certainly plenty of tailpipe designs to choose from. The best looking exhaust have a nice shiny chrome finish which although fairly resistant to corrosion and soiling will still need to be kept clean. Some of our members use standard household metal polish on a regular basis to keep their exhaust in shiny condition.

Rolled exhausts and those with a branding stamp look great and you often have a choice of shape from square, oval to triangular and round. Then you need to decide if your car will look better with a twin pipe or single pipe and on some vehicles you may want a second exhaust pipe from the opposite edge of the rear bumper to balance it out.

Internal construction of the sound deadening will also affect the noise and many Japanese exhausts give a very distinctive rasp.
Before you go out and buy an exhaust purely for aesthetic appeal we strongly urge you to consider the performance and nuisance implications of fitting a massive silencer.

Drifting a Car

Arts of getting a car to go sideways in a delicate balance, and one which requires a great deal of skill and concentration. We shall assume that you have a suitably equipped and tuned RWD car that is drift ready with a locked rear diff. Never ever attempt to drift on a street or in a public area!!! Many clubs and tracks offer a safe venue for drift practice.

We will cover the most popular drift techniques which generally will combine together to create the other techniques. By learning a few methods you can combine them to match your personal style, the car setup and meet the track and apex conditions with the perfect drift. The better you get the faster you can drift.

Some techniques only really become effective at fast speeds. These techniques in particular should not be attempted unless you have attained an intuitive level of drift control at slower speeds and can control the cars direction as well as holding a drift.

Power over - Using the throttle to cause a power surge causing the rear wheels to lose traction. Pressing hard on the throttle will cause the wheels to spin faster than the travel of the car and this loss of traction effectively causes the rear of the car to go light. If you are already steering into a bend the back will go wide, if you are travelling straight a steering motion will start the drift.

Feint - Steering into the corner first and as the car is just about to settle into the bend a flick of the wrist in the other direction will upset the cars traction causing the rear to brake free. The Scandinavian flick as popularised in the world of rally is a very similar technique. Using a feint technique it is possible to drift a front wheel drive car if you have enough speed. It is possible to drift a car using the inertia of the car caused by deceleration into a bend without using the Feint.

Clutch Kick - dipping the clutch to disengage the drive then reapplying it suddenly. The aim here is to use the different engine to road speed (either higher or sometimes lower) to initiate an over steer skid which can be held in a drift. You will need a meaty clutch for this and often the drivetrain, gearbox or diff will prematurely fail.

Handbrake - Sometimes, depending on speed and the apex of the bend, drifters may use the handbrake to initiate the drift, and as such it is a useful way to break the rear traction, saving the clutch and drivetrain. A drifter will combine this with the other methods described to catch and continue a drift otherwise the car will slow up or spin out. This is also what the FWD kids do in supermarket car parks which is not cool and not drifting - the aim is for a sustained drift.
So now the rear of the car is running wide we need to keep it balanced. The key here is to use gentle and progressive controls. Steering motions need to be fluid rather than jerky. Throttle application likewise also needs to be progressive and steady.

This is what distinguishes a pro from an ameteur and the feel only comes from hours of practice. It will become second nature.

To stop an over steer skid you steer into the direction of the rear skid, to make it worse you steer the other way. (ie: If the rear slides out to the left, you have steer to the left in order to catch this and prevent a spin or steer to the right to make it worse and create a spin!) In drifting you want to maintain the fine balance between over steer and running straight.
What if you overcook it and the car spins? Stay calm and do not panic. The car will generally complete a 180 degree turn and come to a stop. When the car has lost its speed be quick to apply the brake to prevent the car rolling into a barrier or worse still another driver. The holy grail of drifting is a long "driftlock" - being able to hold a steady drift vector for as long as possible at a fast pace. The greater the angle and faster the drift the more points are awarded. In car GPS measures the angle and speed of drift and allows an easily judgeable benchmark for practice runs. Most competitions have judges who award points on speed, style and angle of drift.

Lowering a car

A lowered car is the best looking car ever- removing the huge tractor like gap between the top of the wheel and the arches.

On tracks lower is better for handling providing the track is fairly flat and smooth.
Manufacturers have to take speed bumps, uneven road surface, passenger comfort and road noise into consideration when setting up a cars suspension.

Most production cars have soft comfortable suspension that does little to maximise handling and driving experience. Track cars are set up for driver preference and style so there perfect setting is not just different for each model of car it is also a subjective thing.

If you have lowered the front of your car with a bodykit you will not be able to go quite as low on the suspension or you will quickly grind the front skirt on pavements, speed bumps and even ramps.

The new Ferrari raises the nose cone electronically to avoid this issue. You could add a grinding plate of rubber, or metal to the bottom edge to preserve the plastic - you get to replace the grinding plate instead of the whole front apron.

Common mistakes. Going through the 'chavsandtarts' car part catalogue and buying a suspension kit that lowers the car 50mm and expecting this to be the perfect set up. Most kits are very general in nature and imply that they can be fitted to all models in a cars range.

Different engine weights, wheel sizes and car weights need different suspension characteristics. If you go too low you risk grinding the tyres in the wheelarch requiring a rolling of the arches (making them bigger by folding the metal underneath) you also risk damaging the drive shaft and gearbox if the angle from the final drive to wheel hub is wrong.

Ride Height adjustmentCars look good when slammed to the ground. You reduce your ground clearance and can cause problems with tyres rubbing in the wheelarches. Remember that roads have speed bumps and instead of slowing a lowered car down they will grab the sump and rip off the bottom of the engine and most of your front skirt. For most road cars I would not recommend going lower than 35mm for hot hatches which tend to have uprated suspension I recommend just 30mm.

you have changed the wheel size then these tolerances could be much lower a car fitted with standard suspension and 17” rims would be OK but if you lower it as well you may get all manner of problems.

The aim should always be to improve handling and appearance and with the car being lower there will be less air going under the car and this can help with stability.
Remember lower springs should be fitted to matched shocks and just cutting the springs is really bad idea – you are asking a piece of metal designed to a tolerance to work effectively with a big chunk of its structure missing.

Performance Engines Cooling Electronic Water Pump

For a performance engine please never underestimate the need for enough cooling. All water cooled cars work on the principle of water being pumped around the engine and then to a radiator where it releases the heat.
Most water pumps are mechanical and run off the crank.

This creates 2 drawbacks:-
Firstly water is pumped in proportion to the engine speed. So if you have been driving hard and then suddenly go slow the water is being pumped more slowly and the engine takes much longer to cool down.
Next, the water pumps exert a pull on the crank. They are usually fairly bulky and take a fair amount of force to turn the impeller. Power loses to the water pump alone have been recorded to be as high as 17 bhp on a 170bhp engine.

Long used in motorsport an electric water pump is able to address both of these issues. It must be noted that the extra current it draws will create pull on the alternator in a similar way to the air conditioning unit. The electric water pump will come as a kit with the main pump and a controller. The more sophisticated controllers allow you to select an operating temperature for the engine from within the car.

The benefit of a water pump is that the water is circulated in direct proportion to temperature. The hotter the water then the faster it is pumped round the engine and this will assist with cooling. It also means that the pump is only running when it is actually required allowing the engine to warm up quickly and maintain an optimum operating temperature.

You will need to remove the existing water pump impeller and the thermostat as your electric water pump will replace these. Removal of the entire water pump is not absolutely necessary; indeed keeping the belt pulley in place will mean you do not have to get a new belt fitted.

A big benefit of an electric water pump is the fact that you can easily select the operating temperature of your car. Setting the temperature lower will mean the engine produces more power and setting it higher will improve the engines economy.
Sitting in traffic will no longer mean the engine reaches dangerous levels and the cooling fan on the radiator will have less work to do due to the faster cycling of the engine coolant around the engine.

Fitting an electric water pump is very straightforward, but as every car's cooling system varies we cannot give specifics here. The pump will usually fit inline near the switch that operates the flow through the radiator. You will typically have to cut a hose and fit the water pump inline and then wire this into the car's ignition circuit.

Depending upon your settings you could even let the water pump run when the car is stationary allowing it to continue to cool the engine when it is turned off.

Engine Swap & Transplan, Cost Effective

If there is adequate space in the engine bay any engine can be made to work in any car although in most cases the work involved is prohibitive to say the least. In an ambitious project you would have to strip the car to a shell and create custom drive train, create a custom gearbox and make a one off loom to cope along with a totally new engine computer.

So if someone asks "can I fit an AAA engine in my BBB car", the answer is yes but you should really be asking is it affordable and practical.

Generally speaking look at engines from the same manufacturer and preferably from the same model as these are usually mated to the same gearbox ranges and engine mounts are available off the shelf saving the time and effort of creating custom engine mounts yourself.

Often high performance saloon engines will fit into smaller family or shopping car derivatives from the same manufacturer.

When swapping in an engine which has twice the power of the current one you should also look at replacing the gearbox. Firstly the gearing will be so low you will not be able to fully exploit the top end of the engine and secondly you are likely to shred the current gearbox as it was not built for the power you are putting through it.

Your first task is to ask around and see if and engine swap has been done before on your stock car and donor engine combination. Our forum is a great way to meet other owners who have done or are considering the same engine swap as you.

Find out first what is involved in your chosen project as these are rarely just drop in replacements and usually need an engine management upgrade and new wiring loom with many engine swaps needing different engine mounts and an amount of custom work such as shorter drive shafts.

Set yourself a budget, add another 50% for unexpected work and start looking around for your donor engine. If you can avoid one which has been sitting around for months you will avoid the need to rebuild the engine and there will be little corrosion which has built up.

Engine bay space is often at a premium and you can always relocate the battery and some of the engine electrics to the boot if you are very tight for space.

(When engines are left without coolant and engine oil for more than a few days corrosion can be a real problem especially around the core plugs). When stripping down an engine always replace the cylinder head bolts and rod bolts but there is no need to replace the main bearing cap bolts with new ones. it is also worth replacing the core plugs (which pop out when the engine freezes) when you have the engine out of the car and you should take the opportunity to replace these with new parts.

Whenever you fit an engine to a car I would recommend stripping it down first, inspecting and replacing worn parts, and rebuilding it to ensure that it is reliable. You should aim at a minimum to replace the core plugs, head gasket and cylinder head bolts.

While the head is off you also get an opportunity to inspect the engine for damage and can decide in advance whether more extensive engine work is required or cost effective - usually for the extra cost involved you will save yourself a great deal of hassle later on dealing with component failures.

When you have a stripped down engine you have a fantastic opportunity for tuning and can save a small fortune if you get all of the engine modifications done at the same time so look into engine balancing, fitting larger valves, gas flowed machined head, crank lightening and even a lighter flywheel and clutch.

Most of these will involve a great deal of man hours stripping and rebuilding the engine again should you decide to do these at a later date. Replacing the oil pump, water pump and fuel pump is also a good idea at this stage as a failure can be catastrophic undoing the work you have done and requiring another rebuild.

With the new engine fitted check all of the leads pipes and hoses are connected, there should not be any exposed connections. when you are satisfied start the engine and let it run for a few seconds. Check the engine for leaks and look at the oil level and pressure, water level and look on the ground for leaks.

An engine will usually take a few hundred miles to properly bed in so keep the revs down and watch the temperature gauge and oil pressure gauge constantly. If you have stripped down the engine and fitted new pistons and rings run in the engine afterwards carefully.

The run in drive should be with low rev & high stress driving such as hills and acceleration, changing the oil and filter after 200 miles and then after 500 miles and 3000 miles to get rid of the metal fragments that will collect in the oil and prematurely wear the engine. (Do not use any oil additives in this run in period or for the first 9000 miles as these will stop the bedding in process.)