Many modern vehicles are somewhat ‘under tuned’ from the factory. This provides a large safety factor on all components. This means that most of the engine parts are working at only around half of their potential.
The main reason for this is due to the fact that many car owners will not stick to the recommended service intervals. If you're planning to up the power of your engine, it's important that you maintain it properly.
Another clear cause for ‘under tuning’ a vehicle is to promote sales of future vehicles. If a manufacturer can improve the performance of their new vehicles year upon year, then it is likely that they will continue to sell their newest models and will continue to make profits.
As modern cars are equipped with an electronic control unit (ECU), it is possible for a ‘tuner’ to modify the data stored within it, and increase an engines performance safely. This is carried out in the same manner as the manufacturer would approach it if they were to ‘upgrade’ the power output of the vehicle.
All of our tuning has been thoroughly tested to ensure the safety and longevity of your engine. If more power is requested from an engine it is important that the service intervals are adhered to. This will help to prolong engine life. At HDI Tuning Ltd we recommend cutting the service intervals to around 6K miles, just for peace of mind. If you look after your car, it will look after you!
When developing a remap it is important to monitor and log engine running parameters using data logging equipment. Through this, it is possible to ensure the high pressure fuel system (fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, injectors, rail pressure sensor) and the turbo charger are able to operate as requested and calculated within the remap whilst remaining within safe limits.
It’s important not to inject too much fuel as this can raise Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) potentially causing damage to a turbo charger; all of our remaps are tested to ensure the EGT levels remain within safe limits.
It’s also important to be considerate towards a cars transmission, the rate at which torque is bought in and the maximum torque set is important. If you are worried you may have clutch problems it’s best to get in touch with us, generally we recommend fitting a new clutch if it is worn excessively, or alternatively we can produce limited torque remaps.
Continue reading: How can I get more power and also save some fuel?