Pug106 Engine Tuning (ECU Modifications)

The ECU (Engine Control Unit) controls all the ignition timing, fueling settings and would have been setup in the factory with economy, reliability and drivability coming long before performance.

By re-programming it, the settings can be altered to produce more power from the engine it controls.

Chip Upgrades and Remapping

Modern uprated ECU chips, from the likes of Superchips or BBR-GTi can improve the drivability and torque curve all the way through the revs. It should not effect the fuel economy or reliability in a major way and due to the way they are setup, but they are pre-programmed and are therefore wont give the optimum gain.

One of the problems with the standard chip, is that the settings it control are designed to be used on all of the engines that the manufacturer produces, and therefore has to have built in safety margins as all engines, even if of the same design, will be slightly different.

This problem is not cured with performance chips, as yet again, these chips, although designed more for performance than fuel economy, are designed to fit in any ECU of any particular model. Again, they are not designed specifically for the one particular engine in your car and therefore must cater for the slight differences between the different engines.

A positive feature of chips, is the ability to raise the rev limiter to a more powerful level. On some cars the rev limiter has been set to come in quite low in the rev range, e.g. : 6000 revs/min, so by raising this to a slightly higher, yet not dangerous, level, e.g. : 7200 revs/min, then more power can be reached and performance is therefore increased.

The only way you can get the optimum performance from any engine is to have the engine management completely remapped for that specific engine.

ECU Replacements

Weber Alpha Engine Management System

To obtain maximum performance from your cars engine you really need to get it on a rolling road and have the ignition and fueling setup perfectly to match the other components of the engine, but as the standard systems are not programmable, a new system must be installed to store the new settings.

There are 3 options here.

Firstly is the chipping method as discussed above, but these are usually not remappable, although remappable chips are available which will do the job.

Secondly are piggy-back units which are basically plugged in to override some of the settings of the standard system. However, because the complete original ECU system is still in place, some controls, such as the rev limit, will be fixed at the manufacturers setting.

Lastly, and the most effective, is a complete new programmable engine management system, which once fitted, will offer complete control over the engine and all the settings that control it.

On modified cars, ECU remapping can give great results, making the car more refined, yet maximising the benefits from all the other modifications, giving the absolute optimum performance for the specification available.

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