Has anyone tuned ECU on 2.0L Golf?

[Golf88]

A company called super chip offer an 8kw gain for $550... Is it just me or is that a lot of money for not much gain?

I’m just thinking an extra 8 kw would put my 10yr old dub up to 93 kw… that’s not bad! But is that worth the $550 and on top of that how much fuel economy do I lose for that 8kw?

How much does ECU tuning usually change your use economy? To that point how much does it change your car in general?

final question does ECU tuning wreck your engine?

[h100vw]

What are you really expecting to get for your $550?

There's next to no power locked up in a 2 litre normally aspirated engine. If you are after VFM with flash tuning, you need to get something with a turbo.

It's not just about the increase in power but the improvement in drivability. What you would see is more area under the curve on a dyno graph.

The tuning won't damage anything.

Any loss in fuel consumption would be down to you driving the car differently.

Gavin

[fuzion]

A company called super chip offer an 8kw gain for $550... Is it just me or is that a lot of money for not much gain?

I’m just thinking an extra 8 kw would put my 10yr old dub up to 93 kw… that’s not bad! But is that worth the $550 and on top of that how much fuel economy do I lose for that 8kw?

How much does ECU tuning usually change your use economy? To that point how much does it change your car in general?

final question does ECU tuning wreck your engine?

your better off with head work/port work/and cams if anything .. leave the ecu for the last thing.

superchip = supercrap IMO. i have a fair few dyno graphs to prove bang for farked instead of bang for buck, harsh but reality as i wouldnt want someone to spend money and get nothing out of it.

[fuzion]

get in touch with Vince http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newf...ad.php?t=27134

he made some godo numbers for a 2.0 on the dyno last 2 times

[Treza360]

Chris (that's his username as well) on here also used to have a 2L with some headwork and all that kind of crazy stuff. Not sure of the numbers he put down but worth having a chat with him for what he did and the kind of money he spent.
Cheers,
Trent

[SoVeReIgN]

Don't bother wasting your time.

If you want a fast car, save your money for a fast car.

[blue_reality]

Check this out for an overview of chipping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLvvxMCUo5E

Not worth it at all on NA cars. The real benefit comes from boost and timing on turbo charged engines.

Also 8KW 'CLAIMED' increase would be the absolute maximum they EVER achieved to be able to advertise that.

To be honest I think the difference (if there was any) would be unnoticeable.

While making the above video we did a lot of research and interviews before we shot. A number of dyno mechanics told us that NA cars that came in for a dyno run after a chip upgrade had LOST power.

[Treza360]

Not worth it at all on NA cars. The real benefit comes from boost and timing on turbo charged engines.
Also 8KW 'CLAIMED' increase would be the absolute maximum they EVER achieved to be able to advertise that.
To be honest I think the difference (if there was any) would be unnoticeable.
While making the above video we did a lot of research and interviews before we shot. A number of dyno mechanics told us that NA cars that came in for a dyno run after a chip upgrade had LOST power.

It's not necessarily about power all the time though. The MkIV R32 has a power hole just below 3000rpm which only chipping can fix.
Yes power gains are only ever minimal but a lot of the time they improve driveability and give a much better power band across the entire rev range.
Cheers,
Trent

[Golf88]

Hey guys thanks for the advise, the feedback is this is going to be close to pointless.. not just in terms of KW but there just isnt much my NA 2.0 can give. maybe if the revo software was in WA i would do that, they claim to have gains of up to 16KW and its still around the $600 mark.

The whole thing isnt about tuning my car to be sporty but it would be good if i could get the power up to the level of todays 2.0 engines like the ford focus and mazda 3, they are both about 110KW. My last car was an 07 ford focus and the only thing the ford had on the golf was its power...

[Manaz]

Not worth it at all on NA cars.

I think that's a bit broad. There are *some* gains to be had through chipping, but not a lot of peak power. Improvements when chipping NA cars are generally down to economy and driveability - smoother power/torque curves and wider curves rather than higher ones (for a broader spread of power/torque.

I'm currently considering a Custom-Code tune of my Bora V6 4Motion. If I get it done, I plan on having it dynoed before and after, which should show where the improvements are.

What's almost certainly true is that chipping forced induction cars (turbo and super charged) tends to give greater gains.

[Spyda]

The whole thing isnt about tuning my car to be sporty but it would be good if i could get the power up to the level of todays 2.0 engines like the ford focus and mazda 3, they are both about 110KW. My last car was an 07 ford focus and the only thing the ford had on the golf was its power...

Thats because they have more valves mate.

[blue_reality]

I think that's a bit broad. There are *some* gains to be had through chipping, but not a lot of peak power. Improvements when chipping NA cars are generally down to economy and driveability - smoother power/torque curves and wider curves rather than higher ones (for a broader spread of power/torque.

I'm currently considering a Custom-Code tune of my Bora V6 4Motion. If I get it done, I plan on having it dynoed before and after, which should show where the improvements are.

What's almost certainly true is that chipping forced induction cars (turbo and super charged) tends to give greater gains.

You're right. I should clarify that I think an off the shelf/ebay option, for power gains will give bare minimum results on most NA cars.

We played with a MK5 R32 that had been chipped and it was seeing some noticeable improvement down low but obviously nowhere near the 30% increases turbo'd engines were getting.

[Manaz]

You're right. I should clarify that I think an off the shelf/ebay option, for power gains will give bare minimum results on most NA cars.

We played with a MK5 R32 that had been chipped and it was seeing some noticeable improvement down low but obviously nowhere near the 30% increases turbo'd engines were getting.

I'd probably trust people like APR, GIAC, Custom-Code, etc, to give you what they say you'll get - they don't make spectacular claims, and they seem to have the research and development behind them that I wouldn't be concerned with potential damage to my car.

Some of the stuff you see on eBay is pure shonk. It would be amusing to see a Mighty Mods episode dedicated to such clearly shonky kit actually - the electric superchargers which are no more than 12v computer fans, and some of the ~$60 for 20% extra power/torque devices which seem to just intercept and adjust ECU signals based on a static standardised map - of course you'd need a beater of a car to do it on, since I reckon some of them could potentially be damaging to the car...

[D3bb4]

The whole thing isnt about tuning my car to be sporty but it would be good if i could get the power up to the level of todays 2.0 engines like the ford focus and mazda 3, they are both about 110KW. My last car was an 07 ford focus and the only thing the ford had on the golf was its power...

Nissan SR20's n/a have been making 110kw since early 90s. Pity VW decided to release a car in late 90s with a primitive and restricted SOHC motor in it.

Speak to Seb/bug_racer about making it more driveable and mroe responsive, as he's done it before. 2L can be modified to keep up with a stock GTi.

[Manaz]

Nissan SR20's n/a have been making 110kw since early 90s. Pity VW decided to release a car in late 90s with a primitive and restricted SOHC motor in it.

Peak power isn't everything. DOHC can be useful, but it's not the be-all and end-all of performance, and there are certainly reasons why an engine manufacturer would stick with SOHC (reduced costs, reduced complexity, etc) over DOHC when DOHC may not give significant advantages for the expected usage.