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Hi all,
Just wondered on thoughts for putting a manual boost control on my auto vr4 6a13tt Galant?
Car is completely std, will upping boost to 12psi cause any issues and do you recommend a hi flo panel filter for std airbox?
Would i need to change exhaust?
I'm just trying to get a little more out of it without changing alot?
Many Thanks
Mayday
Boost should be fine at that level. No need to change anything else but next on the list should be exhaust and intercooler.
It is possible to get the ecu remapped with raised boost. That should have more effect than just a boost controller.
Hi Jamie,
Whilst a mechanical boost controller is a simple way to get a little bit of extra grunt, you do need to be careful with such an approach.
You will very likely hit "fuel cut", which is where the ECU believes too much air is being consumed by the engine, and it is not programmed to put enough fuel in, so it cuts all power for a second or so.
Where this occurs will vary with ambient temperature.
Ideally, you want to adjust the fuelling at the same time. Pop along to our Rolling Road day in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and you can stick your car on the rollers for 30 minutes have have a basic tune done, which will release much more power, and in a safer way, and you won't even need to buy anything!
I would definitely recommend a good panel filter, I have an HKS triple layer foam one in my Legnum. But, even a new OEM paper filter will be better than an aftermarket cone type filter, due to the way that the intake works.
Thanks for the info guys,
So the best plan would be to buy a manual speed controller and guage and have it fitted then put on rolling road to tune?
whats the difference between the rolling road tune to a remap or are they the same thing?
Also with the boost controller would a de-cat pipe help? can't afford new exhaust just yet but will have to be done at some point as front pipe need changing soon!
Just to clarify i'm not out to get the most out of the engine but am willing to spend a bit to get a small amount of power increase without effecting the reliability.
Any info or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks again.
Mayday
You can forgo the manual boost controller if you have the ECU remapped - the way the ECU uses the existing boost solenoid will change, giving you more power, as well as doing it in a much safer and more controlled way.
What age is your VR-4, and where do you live? If you remove the small panel by the driver's feet in the centre console, you will see some ECUs, is the top-most one with 4 green plastic plugs metal cased or plastic cased? This will let us know what else can be done to your ECU, and who is able to do it!
I would get boost gauge, intake filter, intercooler and exhaust sorted first, forget a manual boost controller for now, and then get it on a rolling road for a tune/remap once you have done all your mods. This will be by far the most efficient use of money!
Get a new downpipe from @fassi1, as they're great!
Whilst many people have put a decat pipe on, I used to have one... but the hassle of changing it every year for MOT got too much, so I just run with one permanently now!
OR - for a very quick "woohoo a bit more power" a cheap mechanical boost controller and the boost gauge, and do a bit of tweaking to avoid fuel cut.
Thank you!
Sorry about all the questions as this my first performance car and I have had to learn a lot about maintaining this car properly!
I'll have a look tomorrow at the ecu, do you know the rough cost of a inter cooler and pipes? And a remap of the ecu?
The Exhaust system I would like to keep the noise level down as the traffic cops round here are terrible!
Do you have any suggestions on a exhaust system that's not to loud but open enough for what I wanna do?
I live in Lowestoft on East coast, I am planning on coming up for the Nottingham meet as long as I can have the Saturday off work!
The car I bought off a work colleague who has owned from new, it's one of the 200 uk ralliart galant vr4 TT auto with 67k on the clock year 2000
Has been meticulously serviced every year regardless of mileage!
The only thing coming up for replacement is the Ayc fluid again!
Hope this info helps!
Thanks again
Hi Jamie,
As the others have said, it's not worth bothering with a MBC (Manual Boost Controller) unless you're just after a cheap minor performance increase, using an MBC (and an aftermarket EBC aka Electronic Boost Controller) takes away some of the ECUs ability to limit (or prevent) damage if there's a problem. The risk outweighs the small benefits.
Providing the car is well looked after (and the stock boost solenoid hasn't burnt out, which is a common fault, replacement here), an ECU remap will happily get you good power and, more importantly, very good torque gains (more overtaking power).
If you just did the ECU tune as-is, you'd probably see 15-20% more torque coming on a lot sooner, however with the below modifications you could see up to 50% more torque and a serious grin on your face.
These are listed in the order you should do them in (as each one requires the previous);
- De-cat pipe - £35
- Good panel filter - £27
- 6x Iridium BKR7EIX Spark Plugs - £49.27
- Intercooler kit - £161.52
- 600x300x76mm Intercooler - £82
- RE45-76-63 Elbow - £31.72
- RE90-76-63 Elbow - £26.06
- MUR36 Clamp - £5.23 each (2 required)
- MUR44 Clamp - £5.64 each (2 required)
- Fuelling kit - £217
- Fassi1 downpipes - Circa £300 (Unsure of his current pricing, check with him)
Total: £790
With a remap (and a presumed healthy car as mentioned earlier), normally you'll see the following gains;
Stage 1: Mods 1-3: 290 HP and 300 Ft/Lbs Torque
Stage 2: Mods 1-5: 320 HP and 330 Ft/Lbs Torque
Stage 3: Mods 1-6: 330 HP and 350 Ft/Lbs Torque
After each stage is complete (you can do multiple in one go), you'll need an ECU remap to unlock the gains, depending on how much time your car needs (every car is different) you're looking at roughly between £150-£200 tuning on a dyno (those are based on my rates including dyno hire), and presuming you need to replace your boost solenoid you're looking at circa £1k all in.
It may seem like a lot at first but the gains are more than worth it, these cars respond very well to bolt-on bits and a tune;
Stage 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yULWLvpvz8s
Stage 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEXtceMpz4g
The volume won't be as loud as above, it's the mid and back boxes that determine that.
Both those videos were made to demo things other than the remaps but you can get a feel of performance from them. If your ECU is black cased instead of metal (if it's a 2000, it's very likely it is) you can have anti-lag and launch control too ;)
@foxdie post above should be stick on top or even on first page.
Great stuff rep on its way.
So your saying come may when we are at area 52 my car could make up to as much as 350hp as I will have my upgraded turbos on .only thing I'm short on making it stage 3 is fuel regulator .would it make too much difference @foxdie
Thanks for the feedback @adaxo and @Confused - it means a lot :)
@paulbonner84 well, there's 2 issues I can foresee here;
Firstly, would a regulator make a difference? It depends entirely on the fuel pump behind it and the condition of the stock FPR; the stock fuel pressure regulator is renowned for not being able to hold a higher fuel pressure from an uprated pump, this would manifest itself as running rich under light loads. This can be tuned back out by leaning it out under cruise, but if for whatever reason the fuel pressure regulator or fuel pump gave out then you risk running the car lean.
There's also peace of mind, a good fuel pressure regulator will last years and you can easily adjust the pressure if it drifts. The adjustment is easy; warm up the car, pop off the vac hose going to the intake elbow, adjust the pressure (usually via a nipple) so it's 3.0 bar / 43.5 PSI, then reattach the vac hose and the pressure should drop a little. Job done :thumbsup:
Secondly, the stock VR-4 injectors are considered good up until around 340-350 HP, at these levels you'll be running the injectors past their safe maximum duty cycle (80%). If you want more I'd start looking at some injectors, I believe SARD 63516 injectors are the ones people go for.
If you opt not to upgrade the injectors, sure you'll be limited to around 350 HP, but you'll hopefully be making a lot more power and torque earlier on as they'll hopefully be flowing colder, denser air as they won't be struggling as much :)
thanks for the info @foxdie and great right up