A Question About Engine Remapping

[PPKing]

Hi all,

In the near future I plan on having my engine remapped by 'AmD Tuning' in Essex which will provide a 13bhp increase.

However, a Mountune MP140 upgrade is an option that I would like to consider maybe in a years time or so. For the MP140 I understand that Mountune also remaps the engine. So the silly question, would this be a problem if it had already been remapped before via AmD?

If I was to get remapped by AmD, and have the rear diffuser + cat-back exhaust system from Mountune, would it even be worth the Mp140 in the end anyway?

Sorry for some more dumb questions :)

Cheers

Paul

[b1g_dav3]

You can remap as many times as you want.

Wouldn't be point in the Mountune, you'd have lost warranty and that's the only advantage. May as well not bother and just do other bits.

[FOCA]

AMD has a good reputation in tuning circles, they can offer a "custom" remap with rolling road before/ after (with printouts) and may even roat test your car to check for problems etc

this option is expensive, though (used to be upto £500-600)

its better to get all the "phisical" modifications first,(exhaust inlet etc) then the custom remap can be "setup"/ "tailored" to optomise these modifications

If you get one remap from one place, then another from elsewhere, the 1st one will be overwritten/ deleted, so you would be paying twice for the same thing or "throwing away" the money spent on the 1st one

More cost- effective to think ahead/ choose one and stick with it

With Mountune being Fords" official tuners, as you know the warranty is still valid, also a Mountune kit may enhance/ hold the cars value better (or not reduce the value? - not my area of expertise) than "third party" modifications when you go to sell, so may be worth spending a little bit more for Mountune

Because you have a NA (naturally asperated) car, you don't get such big gains or it costs more to tune than (petrol or diesel) turbo cars,

But the full mp140 kit will give you a noticably improvement (the change from 9.9secs to 8.9 to 60mph does not sound much, but is a lot)

You can buy the Mountune kit in stages and it may be better sticking with that than other performance parts/ remappers, on balance, in my opinion

With the full Mountune kit costing about £1400 (not including fitting) for 20Hp, the Superchips Bluefin remap looks good value at £200 for a 13Hp (+ 16NM) gain (though you get a new catback exhaust from Mountune with he MP140kit - personally i would wait till the old exhaust falls off!)

thinking aloud, you could mix-n-match eg the K+N + Mountune pipe, with the Bluefin Remap not as much power as the full 140 kit but not that far off and a lot cheaper (Superchips Bluefin are easy to fit/ remove and insurance friendly too)

Those are all good questions :)

[PPKing]

Thanks for a great reply.

AmD offer a remap for the zetec s which is £299 fitted providing a 13BhP increase. I guess the reason im more swaying towards a remap is that I am after more performance than the noise which is why I opted to have a Mountune induction kit fitted tomorrow instead of the J1 or pipercross, plus this is also a step for the 140 should I choose that option. Shame Mountune don't just offer a remap as a full Mountune exhaust system along with everything else will raise the noise level some what which is the only thing that is making it a hard decision for me

[PPKing]

Here's a tricky one... Bluefin superchip for £199, or AmD tuning remap for £299?

[FOCA]

Well the Superchips Blufin remap claims the same 13bhp gain as the AMD remap

The Blufin is a whole £100 cheaper than the AMD, so if you plan to buy/ fit the full Mountune kit in the future, i would go with that, the Blufin can be ordered online, and delivered to your door and you install it yourself, the handset acts as a handy code reader, and you can transfer the Bluefin map free of charge in the 1st year (or sell it to someone else) (so it would still be worth something- the AMD map cannot be transfered to another car (as far as i am aware) and would be over-whitten/ lost if another (re)map is installed (eg the Mountune one)) it has been known that maps have been over-written be Ford dealers during services when installing software updates, some tuners will re-install their remap free-of-charge if this happens

The beauty of the Bluefin remap is it can be un-installed before sending a car in for servicing etc and re-installed afterwards, you can un-install the Blufin "performance" (re)map, and switch it with your original "stock" map, you may wish to do this (temporarily) for many reasons, driving on snow/ ice, lending you rar to friends/ family (not me!) getting your car valerted etc they call this a VALET mode on high- performance cars with this facility

One of the things that is said about the Bluefin remap is it is a "generic" not "custom" and only suitable for stock/ near stock engines, and "custom" remaps - but often so- called "custom" remaps are just generic maps that are bought online and installed by some remappers

here is my experience of bluefin/ Superchips -

I run a Mk3 Mondeo diesel, heavily performance modified, i had a DTUK digital tuning box fitted, with custom remote adjustment, it was set for maximum power/ acceleration, along with the adjustable electronic boost controller

I (finally) bought a secondhand Bluefin for my car and installed it, the engine revved much better at the top end/ at high revs but i was missing low down grunt, (with the tuning box the engine pulled from 1k, very strongly, probably 400Nm kind of strongly) this was missing - i reinstalled the tuning box (with the Blufin map still installed) the car really "shifted" now but still not as much bottom eng grunt as with just the tuning box alone (even with if turned up)

I spoke to Superchips and they uplaoded my map onto thier server to work on, (you connect the Bluefin handset to your pc via USB) they did a revised map with my Modifications (80mm CAIS, gas-flowed airbox, resonator bypass, drag-racing intercooler with waterspray, digital electronic adjustable 2 stage 120PSI boost controller, heatwrapped downpipe/ 2-1/2" decat, - straight-through exhaust, total EGR delete )

When i asked them about the loss of botton end they explained this was to reduce smoke (iw was probably to protect the transmission too) i explained that i was not unduly concerned about a little smoke as i have the EGR removed and a straight-through exhaust (carbon build-up due to smoke is less of a problem) and i did not want the "ultimate power" compromised to reduce smoke, but no unnessesary smoke more than is required for "ultimate power"

Ofen remappers reduce the low-down torque on diesels/ powerful cars, to protect the transmission (some mk3 diesels are restricted in 1st and 2nd for this reason) i explained to Superchips i did not want the map destricted in any way as i have a strengthened transmission (carbon fiber/kevlar clutch with 1/3rd stronger clamping force HD backplate, solid flywheel - no DMF to break)

I downloaded the revised remap a coulpe of days later, it took 3 minites to install on my car apart from at really low revs, there is more power everywhere the engine picks up well and is very strong in the midrange, and better at the "top end" (its a turbodiesel :) ) than the tuning box alone The car is very fast now

Superchips did all this even though i had bought the Bluefin second-hand (they will do this within 12 months of original "new" purchase or a full paid "reset" as far as im aware) I am probably not one of their "usual" customers - mostly the mods on a mk3 diesel are decat/ exhaust and bigger IC, and thats it, before the remap - they were very helpful with me.

Seems like im a bit Superchips Bluefin "fan" but a AMD one is good too, they can do a "Tailiored" remap taking mods into consideration, and do a before/ after dyno printout (to show your mates/ post up on forums) and may even road test your car to check for problems etc

On balance you are probably better going for the Superchips Bluefin, (especially if you are installing the Mountune kit in the future), if you were going for a different exhaust etc (not Mountune - thats expensive!) a full custom remap with dyno runs etc (from eg AMD) after the phisical mods would probably get the best gains.

A bit of an "epic" post (in size anyway) :)

[b1g_dav3]

I vote Pumaspeed over Mountune really unless you want the name. £400 cheaper from Pumaspeed, or same price for one with an RS style rear bumper trim. Fitting is £200 (doesn't say how much for Ford). Only problem is, Mountune is round the corner, whereas Pumaspeed are a good couple of hours off.

[iNath]

Pumaspeed get slated on ZSOC, mainly for customer service (lack of) and prices.