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Mk3 Focus ST TDCi - Spider Tuning Box


cgooderham94
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So I'm in love with my ST TDCi, but want a remap/tuning box for it. I'm well aware of the pros and cons of both and the bad reputation tuning boxes have, however, I have come across spider tuning and their tuning box appears to be like no other competitors out there. For those of you who will immediately jump on this and tell me its going to cause issues blah blah, just give it a proper look first. Many things strike me about the arachnid tuning box:

 

1) It is multi-channel like the highly renowned DTUK box and has an exceptional high computation rate meaning it doesn't just tell the engine to chuck more fuel in and boost the turbo, it actually reacts to the engines performance and is constantly tweaking itself

 

2) It doesn't just boost injector and turbo pressures like cheap and nasty boxes. It takes into consideration a lot more variables including air flow sensors, RPM, throttle position, engine temperatures and even the engine bay temperature to monitor air density etc to prevent over powering on cold starts

 

3) It has different six levels of power and torque delivery which is brilliant for myself as I'm regularly sitting on the motorway so some extra MPG wouldn't go a miss.

 

4) You get a touchpad controller to monitor the performance and change operating modes etc which is really useful rather than having to pop the bonnet and adjust the unit.

 

5) All of their units are built by themselves, sold by themselves and aftersales care is provided by themselves unlike cheap imported boxes which are just rebranded by 'tuning companies' with little or no aftercare.

 

6) It doesn't at all bypass or 'skip' the standard ECU health management and safety devices so the system is still able to monitor itself for issues.

 

7) They provide a 30% discount which I used from ford owners club

 

8) Their customer service is fantastic and they give direct answers to every question I've asked almost instantly. Whilst any companies website can be deceiving, they claim to take huge pride on all of their R&D and customer service and I don't feel that their great communication reflects a company that produces rubbish.

 

I have done loads of research and have considered super chips, DTUK and mountune, however, a lot has swayed me to the spider tuning box.

 

So.... I've bought one today and hope to fit it next week. Perhaps you guys can give this a look, go in with an open mind and let me know your thoughts, would be great to hear!

 

Here's their link... http://www.dieseltuning.co.uk

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when a companies web page has more marketing jargon then hard fact and detail you know somethings amiss.

for that kinda price why not just buy a Bluefin and be done with it, the ecu will know exactly what's going on and can adapt accordingly, take the marketing jargon out of the spider box and your left with, it intercepts signals and changes then either fooling the ecu or doing something the ecu isn't aware of.

 

 

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Well put Dee. I am a lover of tuning boxes But only on older diesel cars like the MG ZT I had. I wouldn't dream, now after much chatting with people, of Any tuning box on my 1.6 tdci. I wouldn't either go down the Bluefin route, £332 plus £132 to sort the ECU to accept/recognise the Bluefin, for such a small gain.

There have been great reviews on here about the Spider box. Please do let us know your experience of it when you've had it running a week cgood (give it a chance to learn your car and you).

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Got a spider fitted to mine, this is how the factory should have released the cars from new, sooo much smoother running, and pulls in 6th gear around town when i would have had to change down a couple of gears..Listen to the people who have them fitted, i did, and i dont regret it..

 

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5 hours ago, tazzman600 said:

Well put Dee. I am a lover of tuning boxes But only on older diesel cars like the MG ZT I had. I wouldn't dream, now after much chatting with people, of Any tuning box on my 1.6 tdci. I wouldn't either go down the Bluefin route, £332 plus £132 to sort the ECU to accept/recognise the Bluefin, for such a small gain.

There have been great reviews on here about the Spider box. Please do let us know your experience of it when you've had it running a week cgood (give it a chance to learn your car and you).

Yeah I definitely will, I've read a few good posts about people who own them, especially alfa romeo owners who seem to love them. I could read all the scaremongering until I fall asleep but a lot of these comments are made on unjustified claims. Yes, you could trash the engine/gearbox by thrashing the !Removed! off it. However, I believe if you treat the car well, you should be satisfied with the results. As for this spider box, I shall wait and see and will definitely give you guys a full review of it.

2 hours ago, rocket_111 said:

Got a spider fitted to mine, this is how the factory should have released the cars from new, sooo much smoother running, and pulls in 6th gear around town when i would have had to change down a couple of gears..Listen to the people who have them fitted, i did, and i dont regret it..

 

This is really reassuring to hear! What car have you got it running on? What are the gains they claimed for it? And are you using the new 'imode' performance box?

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2 hours ago, cgooderham94 said:

This is really reassuring to hear! What car have you got it running on? What are the gains they claimed for it? And are you using the new 'imode' performance box?

2015 Focus 1.0L titanium 125ps, In race mode it claims 163ps but i dont rag my car so i only use eco mode & fast4 mode, in fast4 mode it truly does pulls harder from 2000rpm.

I have the imode you can adjust on the move. 

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Just now, rocket_111 said:

2015 Focus 1.0L titanium 125ps, In race mode it claims 163ps but i dont rag my car so i only use eco mode & fast4 mode, in fast4 mode it truly does pulls harder from 2000rpm.

I have the imode you can adjust on the move. 

Oh brill, sounds promising for me. Whilst i'd take their figures with a pinch of salt, they claim 232PS for my ST TDCi, I'm excited yet slightly apprehensive too. Hopefully this will change once I've got it settled in. What is the touch controller like? Could you possibly post some photos of it, I'm interested in its size/quality etc.

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On 12 March 2016 at 8:18 PM, rocket_111 said:

2015 Focus 1.0L titanium 125ps, In race mode it claims 163ps but i dont rag my car so i only use eco mode & fast4 mode, in fast4 mode it truly does pulls harder from 2000rpm.

I have the imode you can adjust on the move. 

I received the box today. I haven't really had much chance to fit it yet, but by the looks of it, the instructions don't actually tell you the most suitable place to mount the actual box itself so I'm in need of a bit of advice if possible? Do you know what the two little sticky plastic squares are for? Where did you find was best place was to mount yours and what did you use to secure it? Cheers!

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Like the look of this... figures claim 146hp from my 1.6tdci 109hp and 330nm torque up from 240. Impressive if genuine!

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Have had the spider arachnid on my 115bhp 1.6 tdci for 12000 miles now. It isn't coming off ever. Fuel economy 5 mpg better even in FR4 setting. So much smoother and more drivable and the extra Torque is fantastic. Go for it, you wont be disappointed

Oh and its totally removable and undetectable by ford (unlike the Bluefin), and is constantly retuning so always correct for YOUR engine that day, unlike a fixed map that was correct for the car it was built on, on 1 particular day. Add a K&N or an exhaust and the Spider will retune to make best use of it. Its also sensitive to how you drive. When Mother in law was over and I was driving in taxi mode, my MPG shot up to over 70mpg!!!!!!!. On my own and heavy right foot, the power came back and I still get MPG well above standard

And it cant damage your car as it never takes the settings outside of the range originally set by Ford (can you guarantee your map doesn't do that!), It actually learns these values from your car in the first 10 miles or so after being fitted. Your car will drive very funny and horribly for a couple of miles, then by mile 10 start to feel better, by mile 30 your will notice the extra oomph and by mile 50 its should be tuned in and you can take it out of the ECO setting and learning mode and start working up the Fast Road settings. I had a grin on my face by mile 20 when I exited out of a roundabaout and suddenly the extra torque rammed in

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12 hours ago, cgooderham94 said:

I received the box today. I haven't really had much chance to fit it yet, but by the looks of it, the instructions don't actually tell you the most suitable place to mount the actual box itself so I'm in need of a bit of advice if possible? Do you know what the two little sticky plastic squares are for? Where did you find was best place was to mount yours and what did you use to secure it? Cheers!

The sticky squares are to go on the back of the controller to stick it where ever you want it. Mine sits on the lid of the fuse box, with the cable running around the rear of the battery out of the way

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10 hours ago, madmole said:

The sticky squares are to go on the back of the controller to stick it where ever you want it. Mine sits on the lid of the fuse box, with the cable running around the rear of the battery out of the way

So I tried fitting it today, followed all the instructions, started the engine and the service light comes on and about 5 seconds later it cuts the engine out. Did you have any issues or seek any technical advice from them when you fitted the box? Typical that their technical team isn't available at weekends!

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Somethings not right then! check your connections are fully home and that its in ECO mode. Mine was rough running for about 3 mins  while I let it sit there and idle. Don't rev or anything for the first few minutes

Yes I used their technical support as originally I had the wrong cable (Ford changed the plugs on the 1.6tdci in 2011, just to confuse folks). They were very quick to answer and very helpful, the technical guy even run to the post box with my cable while on the phone to catch that days post

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22 hours ago, MurdoD said:

Like the look of this... figures claim 146hp from my 1.6tdci 109hp and 330nm torque up from 240. Impressive if genuine!

pretty sure I read that the box is only designed for 280nm, with the dodgy dmf and a shed load more torque hitting the clutch plate, I think shoving 330nm through it all is a bit of a gamble

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Not sure about the 1.6 TDCI but the ST 2.0 TDCI is rated at 500nm so this shouldn't be too much of an issue. 

35 minutes ago, madmole said:

Somethings not right then! check your connections are fully home and that its in ECO mode. Mine was rough running for about 3 mins  while I let it sit there and idle. Don't rev or anything for the first few minutes

Yes I used their technical support as originally I had the wrong cable (Ford changed the plugs on the 1.6tdci in 2011, just to confuse folks). They were very quick to answer and very helpful, the technical guy even run to the post box with my cable while on the phone to catch that days post

I looked at one of their testing videos on youtube and you can see that the service light came on on the transporter they tested on and they also revved it quite a bit on idle. Mine seems to cut out because the revs falter, almost like it wanted to stall. Perhaps I should try holding on the throttle a little to keep the revs up?

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Worth a try with gentle throttle just to stop it stalling. After a min or so you should be good to let it go back to idle

 

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The design spec of the MTX75 used on the 1.6tdci is 280nm, there should be some tolerance but its just worth keeping in mind, the DMF isn't the best on this car either, my garage took mine up to 280 and wouldn't push any further with it for reliability reasons. each to their own but just worth keeping in mind before dialling it up to warp factor 9

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I would get a spider but i dont know which model i need to get. :-(

 

Jamie

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Ask them. Their customer support is very good. On their website they have one of those live chat things if its in office hours

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