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performance boost for 4.2 petrol engine


bonjo
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I was wondering if it is possible to have the ECU remapped/ reflashed to gain some power, torque while improvong the mpg.

I know a lot of companies do turbo engines with either fuel but could not see one doing a straight petrol engine.

Anyone explored this potential?

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There is no scope for doing what you suggest with a naturally aspirated petrol engine.  With a turbo, it is possible to get higher boost, so more air through the engine, so more power.  BUT, the extra air requires extra fuel - too lean and the exhaust valves burn, or the exhaust manifold cracks, or.....

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Yes once turbo came along, it added a new dimension to modifying petrol engine. MAny failed because the affected engine components were not upgraded.

Now flashing/reprograming the ECU is becoming popular in the bike world for fuel injected engines.

The reasoning is that the ECU map provides a safe working environment for the engine across many countries in the world. Different temperatures, fuel grade and so on.

This is good from the manufacturer and owner. But if you can control the environment variables like fuel grade, then you can change the fueling & ignition maps for a better fuel.

From the replies, it looks like no one has explored this avenue (yet😊)

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36 minutes ago, bonjo said:

.... But if you can control the environment variables like fuel grade, then you can change the fueling & ignition maps for a better fuel.

I don't know about bikes, but car fuelling is managed by the ECU with reference to the O2 sensors, apart from transient conditions (i.e. closed loop control), so there is no scope for alteration there.  Timing is a matter of catering for various octane fuels, but in practice the knock sensor adjusts it, so it is usually as advanced as is prudent.  I'm doubtful there is much to gain.

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Cars sold into the IUK market are setup for UK conditions (minimum 95RON petrol etc) and there is little scope for extracting more power from a normally aspirated engine. However manufacturers have to balance performance against parameters such a fuel economy and driveability so it is possible, within narrow limits, to sacrifice one parameter to benefit another. Companies such as Superchips and Evolution have been chipping and remapping non-turbos for years (including Toyotas) but the best claims are never more than about 5% power improvement. There are a lot of bogus engine chips around which do no more than distort the output of the MAF so the engine over-fuels. A rich mixture will tend to improve performance but there are very significant downsides. Remapping can sometimes be good in solving an inherent problem - there is an issue, for example, with the driveability of the Fiat 500 1.2 at low speeds - it's possible to remap in order to smooth out this regime.

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Ian,

the ECU uses a lot of sensors around the car. O2, lambda (as you mentioned) aire temp, MAF, knock to name the few I know of; off course the road & engine speed.

gjnor,

your comments agree with what I know and frankly I am not thinking of great improvements. I will foloow up those 2 companies you mentioned see what they offer. Thanks

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