My performance upgrades, turbo tuner and my experiences.

[AndysR]

Since having the turbo tuner and various other bits and pieces done to the car in the summer of 2010 as described here.
http://www.vpcuk.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32017
I have received a number of PM’s all asking various questions about my experiences with the turbo tuner, what power I was hoping to achieve and why I chose the various items I chose.

I felt, like most, that it’s nice to get the response and interest in what I have done but there are times when I can’t access the forum for a few days. Some questions were very similar so I was going over the same thing and I also thought what about those that are curious but not enough to ask.

So I shall try to give a detailed analysis of what I’ve done and my experiences of the modifications nearly a year on. I have also separated each individual item so those interested in a particular area do not have to slog through the unnecessary parts..

The Turbo.

My turbo is a Turbo Technics hybrid of the Mitsubishi TD04-15G as found to be fitted by the factory on all 850 T5’s, T-5R’s and R auto models. Turbo Technics strip down the turbo to its component parts. They machine the compressor housing to allow the introduction of a larger compressor wheel as found to be fitted to the Garrett T28. They also install a screwed 360 degree thrust bearing and fit a stronger uprated wastegate actuator. Turbo Technics claim the turbo with its modifications is capable of reliably and efficiently providing boost pressures from between 14 and 22 p.s.i (1 to 1.50 bar) which has shown to provide power from between 250 and 320 bhp. The turbo was supplied on an exchange basis with my old unit and has a 2 year/24,000 mile warranty against defect.

So what have I found, why not just go for a larger turbo?
The benefit of fitting this modified turbo over the standard 15g is that by increasing the compressor wheel size, the intake side of the turbo, and not increasing the size of the exhaust wheel, the part which is propelled by the exhaust gases, there is little if no increase in turbo lag. Most who have fitted a larger turbo in the past to a car equipped initially with a smaller turbo will report that some increase in lag is noticeable. Sometimes this can be detrimental to the general drive of the car day to day and may not actually be of any benefit unless your constantly using the higher engine revs. Also by having the benefit of a larger compressor wheel airflow at higher rpm and higher boost levels will be improved, something the 15g and small turbo’s suffer with.
I am now able to run boost pressures of up to 1.4 bar and the turbo will hold these pressures efficiently and power does not tail off as much at the higher rpms as it would do running these pressures with a standard 15g.
For me this turbo suits my needs perfectly I have a standard engine with normal rods I am not a racing driver and my car is also an auto meaning first gear is quite leggy and therefore would suffer in the hands of a larger lagy turbo on pull away. Yes I like to open the car up down a slip road and progress to national speed limit with a brisk fashion but I don’t chase the car and I am not about to partake in a touring car championship. I chose this turbo because I felt it would be a nice subtle improvement on what I was used to. It came with a 2 year warranty which wasn’t something I could get on a second hand 15g or indeed even a new turbo from Volvo, a nice added bonus. I am sure ultimately that the a larger turbo like a 19T is the better turbo for higher boost, higher rpm and high hp instances but for general day to day and occasional squirt moments I think it certainly makes a worthy alternative for my uses.

Bosch green injectors (0280155968)

The Bosch 0280155968 also known more commonly in our circles as the green injectors found in the Volvo S60 and V70R 300 hp 2.5 20v. These injectors can supply 450cc’s/min @ 3 bar of fuel pressure meaning that the standard fuel pressure regulator can remain, quite pleased about that as it was virtually brand new Volvo item not a few months previous. They inject the fuel into the inlet in a “wide-cone” fashion, meaning they have more than one spray jet of fuel, four to be precise, rather than the single spray oranges as fitted to my car originally. The four spray configuration is better suited to the Volvo’s multivalve engine as it allows for a better fuel dispersal within the inlet and therefore better fuel/air mix in the cylinder due to the multiple air entry provided for by both inlet valves prior to compression and finally combustion.
That said they are above the requirements for the spec of my car. So why did I opt for these?
Well I knew I wanted to run higher boost levels with the Turbo Technics turbo and I know that the standard orange injectors, although in good serviceable condition as confirmed when cleaned by Jimathon, would probably struggle to supply the fuel required for the increased boost pressures safely. At the very least they would have been running at quite a high duty cycle, the period of time the injector is actually injecting for, so would be more prone to failure.
So knowing I needed to think about upgrading the injectors to something like the whites or preferably blues I set about looking. I managed to source a set of the greens for a good price and because the injector can supply a greater quantity of fuel in one shot I would have a nice low duty cycle. So quite simply the injectors would be working furthest away from their threshold when compared with the whites or blues under the same circumstances.
This means I am less likely to suffer a lean moment or a fuel supply fault through injector failure and I should benefit from a slightly more even combustion as well as get a more even distribution of heat on the piston crown. Although it’s difficult to prove that’s the case, or if combustion and heat distribution are even a problem in the first place, which I don’t think they are, but if it’s a .1 % improvement then it’s a bonus.
Another benefit of fitting the green injectors is that if I do go for a greater power level, meaning a greater fuel requirement, I won’t have to worry about renewing the injectors again unless I get to stupid levels which to be honest certainly isn’t going to happen.

JT Exhaust

The JT exhaust is a system which here in the UK until recently wasn’t very well known or heard of, at the time of enquiry I knew of only a couple of cars which had one fitted. More to the point I had only heard one car with a JT system fitted, which I might add I loved. The product range at JT is huge in as much as it helps to cater for a number of models and their retrospective variations. For example RHD, LHD, different turbo applications, with or with out sports cat, different levels of sport cat size, with or without the centre box bypass and very recently in mild steel or stainless steel.

So why did I change the exhaust?
I thought that with the turbo working harder it would be nice to ease its burden by reducing back pressure through increased flow and quite simply I wanted more noise. The Ferrita cat back system I had fitted at the time was a very well made system it provided a nice sporty note on the go but was quite quiet. However I wanted a bit more growl, the standard downpipe and cat are quite restrictive and being just a cat back system an improvement in power or flow wasn’t noticeable although was expected and not required at the time.
I did initially look into getting a Ferrita downpipe to match the existing Ferrita cat back system but I hate to say I was quite disappointed with Ferrita. I ordered a downpipe with sports cat to suit my fixed flange 15g, when it arrived it was an incorrectly packaged loose flange downpipe so no good. After checking for a suitable fixed flange it transpired they had none in stock and had no plans to manufacture one. If I wanted one I had to order 5 for them to make up a batch, despite the fact they had already incorrectly supplied the loose flange downpipe so I swiftly discarded my interest in obtaining one of these. So now I was on the look out for a complete system and downpipe, the reason for the full system is the Ferrita might be 3” at the turbo but it narrows to 2 ½” not long after the turbo to meet the cat back so is smaller in diameter than the OBX and JT downpipes.
I looked into getting one of OBX systems and yes they are cheap and come with both fixed and loose flange downpipes so I could have sold the loose flange downpipe, but they are designed to fit LHD vehicles. Also coming from America it would have taken a while for the order to be shipped, unless I wanted to pay more for quicker shipping. Then the downpipe would have had to be modified to fit around the steering rack/column of my RHD car. So that and the delay in arrival didn’t appeal to me, that said I have now seen one of these OBX systems they are of a good quality and certainly sound good. They may now cater for RHD vehicles and someone in the UK may stock them but at the time they didn’t. This led me onto the JT.
I was very impressed with the level of choices available, I could cater for my needs in one order, and the customer service was excellent. From ordering it arrived on my doorstep, well RT Mechanics doorstep, directly from Sweden within 5 days including the weekend in between. When it did arrive it was well packed, so suffered no transport damage, and was exactly as described on their website. I opted for a 200 cell downpipe, purely because it was recommend that this would be the best for the job at hand by Russ and Mark. I opted for the cat as I didn’t really want the hassle of fitting a cat every year for mot so 200 cell sports cat it was. I went for the two box system and also opted for the centre box bypass pipe in case I wanted it even louder. As it happens it’s plenty loud enough with the centre box in place and I understand with the centre box bypass pipe fitted it exceeds quite a few track day noise limitations and having now heard one without a cat and bypass fitted it really is very loud indeed.
The fit and finish are great and the sound is fantastic. I have promised a couple of people videos through PM so when the weather improves I shall get cracking with those. The link below is for a video I have already posted and I shall get some rolling videos at my next convenience.

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...t=100_2690.mp4

Turbo Tuner

So the Turbo Tuner, and this is probably the topic most will be interested in and the part which I love most about the recent work on the car.
Quite simply the way I understand, it is the step between Rica/MTE other “off the shelf” maps and a completely custom standalone management system. It quite simply allows you or a tuner to map your car to the specific specification you are running. I believe MTE offer a service where they will map the car for you but this involves time booking an event and can’t be done by either yourself or your preferred tuner whenever you like. I believe Rica can do the same but you need to send the ECU off to have this done so again not something you or a tuner can do.
So what can you do with the turbo tuner, well you can alter boost, fuel and ignition maps individually. You can set maximum boost tolerances at various rev ranges. You can alter the rev limiter having it as high as 8,000 rpm or as low as 4,800 rpm, the speed limiter can be set from 30 mph in 5 mph increments up to 160 or remove it completely. It’s a plug and play system so quite simply all you do is remove your existing engine ECU and replace it with the suitable turbo tuner ECU. It’s direct fit as it’s a modified standard ECU. This has allowed me to have the Bosch 0280155968 injectors fitted but provide the fuel at the level required for my spec. It allows the car to have an increase in boost pressures in the higher gears at higher RPM, but at the same time run slightly lower boost pressures at lower revs.
One thing that it has allowed me to over come is boost spike on gear change. Being an auto the gear change when accelerating occurs without lifting the throttle. This means that when the gear change occurs the load on the engine changes and the boost pressure will change as a result and can spike to a dangerous level when running much higher than standard boost pressures. It now means I run 0.2 bar more boost over my previous Rica when it counts but similar level at crucial times. Seeing the standard boost gauge horizontal really is something else and the extra pull the car provides under full boost is like the difference between a standard car and chipped car, it’s like the car has been chipped again! This can all be achieved without fitting fuel pressure regulators or boost controllers and is done with a very easy to understand software platform you download to a PC or Laptop. Mapping the Turbo Tuner can be done with the ECU in the car or out the car, it can even be done whilst driving the car, although obviously the driver isn’t the one who will be mapping. I understand the basics in car tuning and know what AFR means and what can happen when detonation and pinking occur. I also know and have seen what happens when you let someone who doesn’t know what they are doing map a car. I fit into that category, I understand the theory of mapping but I haven’t completed the practical so in the interests of being content without an expensive paper weight I used to call my engine I left the mapping to Russell Thompson and Mark Shead. To those who would consider a Turbo Tuner, and if you have anything over the standard simple exhaust and air filter modifications I would highly and strongly recommend you consider one, this is where you would need to decide which category you fit into. By being able to map car specific you will be able to achieve the best results for your needs and specification, no two cars are the same and that’s where the Turbo Tuner comes in, no off the shelf map can account for age, mileage and wear. You could even map the car to be fuel specific, either 95 Ron or higher by adjusting ignition advance and lowering boost pressures. Even though mine is now mapped I can, if I want to, adjust and tweak the map for future modifications or I can reduce the boost and fuel levels and make the car more economical if I wanted to.
Not that I need to as it’s actually better on fuel now than it’s ever been from the point when it was standard as I bought it.



Above is an image from one of the screens you would come across when mapping the car, not mine but an example screen. In this feature you can see how to adjust maximum permitted engine speed, road speed and boost pressures. I have also now had a read of the Turbo Tuner user guide which came with mine and I have to say it appears very well explained and I know that if there were any problems that the product support is very good. I haven’t had first hand experience of speaking to Adam but I know he helped out with a couple of queries whilst mine was being mapped and he was very quick to respond and for that I’ve never had a chance to say thank you, so thank you Adam.

Having recently had the car on a rolling road I was able to see that both boost level and afr readings are nice and consistent throughout the rev range something that is reflected in the way the power is delivered when looking at the power and torque graphs. Being an auto it is impossible to work out power loss through the transmission so I will never know the flywheel power output figure. The rolling road did manage to produce a figure but I’m not convinced of its accuracy so never quote it. The rolling road was more to check with how boost and afr levels behaved than it was about the power figure it produced.

Here is the boost and afr plots



Here are the torque and hp plots



There’s not much more to say really and I hope that helps to explain in a little more depth what I have done and why I made the choices I did. To be honest having read through this I know it’s long winded so apologies to those who now feel I owe you 15 minutes of your lives back… To those who still have questions please feel free to ask I really don’t mind.

[leet5r]

quality stuff m8 , thanks

[T5frankie]

good write up mate was thinking of getting one of these for mine, bet you have sore fingers now after all that typing lol

[siamblue]

Thanks for that Andy, i think a lot of people are scared of tuning the cars themselves, i would love too get one, but i don't want to be a guinea pig then have to admit defeat or worse still wreck my engine.
So i am going for a good quality ebc and keep my Rica custom map.. or maybe i should visit Rica for an upgrade in Holland..


Gary.

[LiamT4]

Cheers andy, very informative.

I have a question though, it sounds like your map drops boost slightly when changing gear (a good thing being an auto), do you also run lower boost in 1st and 2nd?

I know the cost of the TT, but could you give a rough number as to how much it then costs to take it to a company to get the actual mapping done.

When you bringing it to a 1/4mile mate, need to see it.

[deathrider311271]

its a shame they dont do this software for the ME7 cars, looks like a good bit of kit

[Alan M]

Nice write up Andy. The TT setup is a good go between compared to off the shelf maps and full standalone and with the prospective future addons it is a very good system to have and use. I can't recommend having th setup enough as for someone like me I'm always changing parts and needing adjustment to maps.

[t5_monkey]

fantastic write up will be printing this and *cough* reading it tonight before bed!!

[Jamest5r]

Nice one , i also would love a TT but just cant afford it at the min wonder if Adam does a monthy payment scheme? ,
Also as Liam has asked how much did the mapping roughly cost if you dont mind saying and where was it done?.

Cheers

[claymore]

Nice one , i also would love a TT but just cant afford it at the min wonder if Adam does a monthy payment scheme? ,
Also as Liam has asked how much did the mapping roughly cost if you dont mind saying and where was it done?.

Cheers

Mapping was done at RT Mechanics

[The Flying Moose]

Thanks for sharing this detailed write up Andy, have to admit I have only scanned it so far, definately some points worth noting. I too will be printing and reading in bed tonight.

[smithy]

turbotechnics also do a 18/19t upgrade using a 20g compressor wheel and over things for not much more than a recon turbo.that turbo would be good to see on the strip and on the rollers too.but i did like the t35hydrid they did for my v70 and i like the t38 hybrid that is on the 940 too with the resert cutout very nice.somebody on the forum has my t35 fitted to there car should be nice to see whatthat pushs at 1.7 bar.

[LiamT4]

turbotechnics also do a 18/19t upgrade using a 20g compressor wheel and over things for not much more than a recon turbo.that turbo would be good to see on the strip and on the rollers too.but i did like the t35hydrid they did for my v70 and i like the t38 hybrid that is on the 940 too with the resert cutout very nice.somebody on the forum has my t35 fitted to there car should be nice to see whatthat pushs at 1.7 bar.

How much do turbotechnics charge for their turbos?

[smithy]

How much do turbotechnics charge for their turbos?

ring them and speak to pete and tell him i sent you might help with a discount mate

[LiamT4]

ring them and speak to pete and tell him i sent you might help with a discount mate

Cheers mate.

[PHIL V70R]

top job mate put things right 4 me...

[bonelorry]

Mapping was done at RT Mechanics

Am i right in thinking it wasnt mapped by RT though and it was mapped by Mark from MA developments??

[AndysR]

good write up mate was thinking of getting one of these for mine, bet you have sore fingers now after all that typing lol

Thanks very much, I do alot of typing for work etc so it doesn't take too long to knock a few words together, well I say a few I knocked it back to 3,000 for ease of reading... lol

quality stuff m8 , thanks

No problem, I know you wanted some info so I am glad it came to good use.

Thanks for that Andy, i think a lot of people are scared of tuning the cars themselves, i would love too get one, but i don't want to be a guinea pig then have to admit defeat or worse still wreck my engine.
So i am going for a good quality ebc and keep my Rica custom map.. or maybe i should visit Rica for an upgrade in Holland..


Gary.

What ever your comfortable with, I think if you can find a suitable tuner then you shouldn't really have any worries tbh. But if you've already got a custom map taylored to your needs then I guess your need for the tt isn't as great.

Cheers andy, very informative.

I have a question though, it sounds like your map drops boost slightly when changing gear (a good thing being an auto), do you also run lower boost in 1st and 2nd?

I know the cost of the TT, but could you give a rough number as to how much it then costs to take it to a company to get the actual mapping done.

When you bringing it to a 1/4mile mate, need to see it.

Hi Liam, no problem. For 1st and 2nd gears boost level is programmed to a similar level as a standard off the shelf map at around 1.2 bar. For 3rd and 4th gears when the revs exceed a certain level the boost increases to just over 1.4 bar but is decreased just before the point of gear change from 3rd to 4th to protect from overboost through boost spiking under full throttle conditions. That said even in the lower gears the car seems so much more lively than when it was Rica'd but then that could be down to a combination of all the mod's being done at once, I am sure the downpipe and sports cat have helped.

Mapping isn't as expensive as you probably would imagine, obviously it depends on where you go, I'd say no more than a couple of hundred and a full tank of fuel should see the car set up provided no problems occur.

Yes yes you keep pestering me with these 1/4 invitations I shall get along to one at some point. I am actually quite interested to see what it will achieve, although being auto again I will be hampered on pull away. Perhaps we shall have a little run against each other auto vs. auto

Nice write up Andy. The TT setup is a good go between compared to off the shelf maps and full standalone and with the prospective future addons it is a very good system to have and use. I can't recommend having th setup enough as for someone like me I'm always changing parts and needing adjustment to maps.

Indeed Alan, it's a system that seems to have been greatly received overseas in America just not so here in the UK which is a shame as you say it is a great system.

its a shame they dont do this software for the ME7 cars, looks like a good bit of kit

Yes it is, I don't know whether they will do something for the ME7 cars at some stage, but I am guessing due to the extra complexity of the ME7 management this will increase the difficulting in adapting a system to work around it. Perhaps if there is eventually enough call someone will look into doing such a conversion...

Nice one , i also would love a TT but just cant afford it at the min wonder if Adam does a monthy payment scheme? ,
Also as Liam has asked how much did the mapping roughly cost if you dont mind saying and where was it done?.

Cheers

Hi James, get yourself a pound pot and start saving then lol. As I said above the mapping probably isn't as much as you would have thought...

[AndysR]

Am i right in thinking it wasnt mapped by RT though and it was mapped by Mark from MA developments??

Yes it was mapped by MA Developments, but was organised by RT's it was actually Russ who suggested Mark mapped the car.

[siamblue]

Well Andy, so much more has been done to the car now since i owned it, it is still on the 268whp map, it has so much more power than when i first owned the car, it all needs another map to gel it all in together.

Gary