http://www.weg.c o.za
thatbut even that’s nowdone
viaflash.”
Does onesize fitall?
Alot ofthe smallerchip-tuning
companies usesimplersyste ms
thatdon’t connect to various
functionsin avehicle’sECU,
therefore only optimisingone
aspectand withoutspecific
tuning.Thesearecalledplug-
and-playboxes,which youplug
into your car’sOBD port. These
off-the-shelf itemscould,for
example,beaddingmorefuel in
aturbodieselengine,but because
it’s notbeen optimised properly
at differen tRPMsand under
load ,taking differentparameters
and scenarios in to account, you
can make more power, butyou
don’t know at whatcost,because
the entireprocess itself isn’t
being optimised.
Youwill pr obablyfeel
adifference,but youdon’t get
the full tuning experienceand
possiblebenefitsinperformance
andefficiency.And youwillstart
experiencing problemssooner
or la ter, because themapshave
to be so general that there’sno
waytheycouldbesafetouse for
aprolonged period of time.Howmuchcan youpushyour
engine with ECUtuning?
Using an example,Cornel says
thatona110kW2,2 ℓfour-
cylinderturbodiesel motor,they
can cantake it upto a130 kW
base afterfindingout where
the exhaustgastemperatures
startsgettingtoohigh by using
dynamometer sensors.
Using thebuilt-in timers on the
moderniteration oftheUnichip,
they couldofferatotalof1 60 kWOPTIMISATION.Tuningcan
extractpeak performance
fromyour engine,eveninstock
form, and isamust ifyou’ve
added modifications.for10or15seconds ,befor ethe
temperaturesevenremotelyget
highand the system automatically
dialsthepower down.Just like
thesortofoverboost function
thatsomemanufacturers offer
from thefactory.Does each vehicle get specific
attention whentuning?
“OnToyota’snew GD-6for
example,you mightbeable to
get awaywith makingspecific
adjustmentsfrom theget-go,
basedon the 20or 30 vehicles
thatmighthavecomeintothe
workshop beforethatspecific
one.But to usethe example of
the old 3.0D-4D enginefound
in the previous generation of
Hilux models andFortuners,
many of th ose vehicles nowhave
in excess of 200000 km on the
odometerand that’s where you
really needto star tbeing careful,”
Cornel st ates.Eachmotor differs from new,
and over 10years or moreand
all that mileage,the differences
becomemorepronounced.Whatabout the normally
aspirat ed stuff?
Older normally aspirated
towing vehicles,such as a3.0 V6
MitsubishiColt would be long
outofwarrant ybynow anyway,
so they’re re latively safetotinker
with, andthat’swherehardware
upgradeslike afree-flowing
exhaust systemcome highly
recommended.
“With an olderengine,from
say15to20years ago,wecan
generally safely takeawayabout
5% of thefuel becausequite
alot of th eoldermotors ranrich
mixtures .Ifyou’regoingto add
more aggressiv ecamshaftsand
abigger exhaust, thenit’scrucial
to have your vehicle tunedto
properly takeadvantageof >go! Drive&CampMay2019| 109