Remapping my car's ECU

ashleymp777

Evening all

Can anyone recommend somewhere in se england thatd remap ecu on my 61 plate 2.0 petrol Ford Focus?

Thanks

A

newbie_biker

I'll look into it for you, I have a few friends who love that sort of thing.

Oh and btw I just bought me a brand new Yeti ARC frame, nice to meet another Yeti owner.

miss notax

Ask on Pistonheads - you'll get hundreds of answers

anthdci

does it have a turbo? If not then unless you have done expensive engine mods such as throttle bodies or cams then there is absolutely no point in remapping, you wont get any advantage.

Team4Luke

agree with Anthdci, if it is just a petrol 2.0 which it will be then unless you have done a substantial amount of mods then a remap will not be worth the money. There are companies out there that offer various ECU flashing/piggy back updates on basis of improving economy but again save your money.
It is petrol then you can add a full air intake system, tubular manifold, sports Cat and full stainless system and again you will not need a remap, it will run much much better and improved driveability and some extra BHP, a remap for that would help further maker better gains.
Remapping best left for adding cams, headwork and beyond.
Hope that helps

allthegearnoidea

as the othrs hav said, there is Very little poinbt in remapping your car unless its been signifiantly modded engine wise, Most the rempping tales are from deisels as the are set to less than Maximum power to preserve componant life, (clutch's turbo0's etc.) just a simple remap on yours if a N/A 2l petrol Might release 7-10 brake, bt you wont notice it at all for normal driving, the increase in your insurance premium will outweigh the benefit from the remap! even if you put on an induction kit, a full stainless system and manifold, you'd be lucky to see much greater gains than 10 brake!
your much better off learning how to drive the car within its limits in a safe environment than looking to remap it, learn its limits, what it feels like when its about to break away and what to do when it does, far better than releasing a few bhp IMO! ;-)

ashleymp777

Thanks all very much for your honnest responses. Seems very much as though its a waste of time. Will spend the money more wisely on bike pars.

Take care

Ash

Team4Luke

probably the best value for money mod that would see the car feel sharper and reduce the restrictive standard air box making the engine breathe better which will improve MPG as well would be an induction kit, K&N do one for the petrol focus 2.0, buy some seperate cold air feeds if not supplied, looking at £80+, these last a lifetime and can be washed too, usually the best and first mod you should make to any Ford. Also will get some nice induction roars too. I run a custom K&N with fully enclosed system from inlet feed straight into filter.

allthegearnoidea

I remember the artical in MaxPower back in the 90's when they back to back rolling roaded an XR3i with All the different types of filter/induction kits available at the time, None of them gave an increase! 2-3bhp Loss over the Std set up! The closest to std figure came from a replacement element filter in the Standard airbox!

Modern engines are designed to run optimallly for longevity, the only time they restrict the cars is to create a larger gap between models! Most notably being on the mk2 saxo vtr, restricted the exhaust to drop the power to 90bhp so the 120bhp vts felt Much better, a Simple manifold and system swap would free 10 brake straight out!

anthdci

true, and you wouldn't really notice 10bhp. No point in changing the air filter on a modern engine, unless your wanting to do some serious engine work.

Team4Luke

allthegearnoidea wrote:

I remember the artical in MaxPower back in the 90's when they back to back rolling roaded an XR3i with All the different types of filter/induction kits available at the time, None of them gave an increase! 2-3bhp Loss over the Std set up! The closest to std figure came from a replacement element filter in the Standard airbox!

Modern engines are designed to run optimallly for longevity, the only time they restrict the cars is to create a larger gap between models! Most notably being on the mk2 saxo vtr, restricted the exhaust to drop the power to 90bhp so the 120bhp vts felt Much better, a Simple manifold and system swap would free 10 brake straight out!

rolling roads are not consistent whatsoever nor are repeated runs. Not about the actual if any BHP increase, it's about improving the driveability of what power you have around the rev band. Fords are notorious for channel tunnel like lengths of air intake, ever so restrictive and often come with resonator boxes too. Adding a free flow K&N will make a very noticeable difference to how it feels and probably aid MPG too regardless whether it will or not make any BHP gains. Not certain what ECU a 61 focus has or whether it has adaptive tables, might be little to old, you need to add these mods then run the car and let the ECU learn a little which they can do.
Don't think the old XR3i injection system could cope with an air filter mod, can't remember was it early single point injection ? and rubbish CVH engine too.
OP, simply go on a Focus forum, all the info will be available for you as it's an easy and common mod to make.
I'm not an expert of Focus, but am a Ford fanatic and run a Stage 3 tuned ST.

allthegearnoidea

Al^st certainly single point inj and the cvh rattle box! ;-)
Am not a ford man, I went the french side after the obligatory mini's! 309gti and bx16v

paul_mck

you could throw 2k at that and not end up hugely faster.

if you want a faster car sell it and buy something quicker just. VXR astra, Focus ST something like that.

Team4Luke

allthegearnoidea wrote:

Al^st certainly single point inj and the cvh rattle box! ;-)
Am not a ford man, I went the french side after the obligatory mini's! 309gti and bx16v

CVH rattle box - love it

Team4Luke

paul_mck wrote:

you could throw 2k at that and not end up hugely faster.

if you want a faster car sell it and buy something quicker just. VXR astra, Focus ST something like that.

OP hasn't specified his reasoning, yes if you want much faster just buy a much faster car, not much you can do with N/A unless throw lots of money at engine work, but you can make some simple mods that will liven them up and help with how well they drive and some MPG gains too, all about getting the air in and out much more efficiently.
Some of us just prefer the car we have and modify that, I did, cost me around £3300 for just another 50bhp on a N/A car and now it's something entirely different and worlds better than factory standard and I don't regret spending the money I did. Can get as bad as the bikin mods................ :roll:

Briggo

The induction kits does hardly anything except perhaps make it sound a bit more grunty, from experience (boy racer days) and numerous investigations that have been done on them over the years, I never saw anything to say the MPG was increased, if setup correctly throttle may be altered. I remember reading a few reports in how the standard breather was far better than any aftermarket on certain cars. If setup badly the aftermarket kits can have adverse effects on the cars performance.

For a petrol na engine there's few inexpensive jobs that make a difference.

Chipping/mapping a non turbo car is verging on pointless.

However my BMW diesel that I had remapped was an entirely different car and made substantial gains in torque and bhp, it also became more pleasurable to drive as the engine wasn't worked as hard.

Team4Luke

Briggo wrote:

The induction kits does hardly anything except perhaps make it sound a bit more grunty, from experience (boy racer days) and numerous investigations that have been done on them over the years, I never saw anything to say the MPG was increased, if setup correctly throttle may be altered. I remember reading a few reports in how the standard breather was far better than any aftermarket on certain cars. If setup badly the aftermarket kits can have adverse effects on the cars performance.

For a petrol na engine there's few inexpensive jobs that make a difference.

Chipping/mapping a non turbo car is verging on pointless.

However my BMW diesel that I had remapped was an entirely different car and made substantial gains in torque and bhp, it also became more pleasurable to drive as the engine wasn't worked as hard.

no your wrong, take a look at the standard factory air intake pipe work on a Ford, and added resonator boxes (two on mine before they were removed), of which double back on themselves so as to actually fit in the bay, the main filter box itself is huge but just for looks, filled a large box with everything that came off my car. Modern ECU can adapt a little to small changes, throttle response is sharper meaning less heavy foot needed, improving the engine breathing is good for it's life and aids MPG, aftermarket filters like K&N last a lifetime and can be cleaned and re-oiled with a service kit thus long term a good investment.

Sorry wrong again, yes massive benefits from doing mapping on turbo/diesel but n/a can also benefit as well especially with internal engine work, mine has been remapped three times to accomodate all three stages of tune i went through, I didn't get a further 50bhp from just bolt on parts alone, below is what I am running.

Fully enclosed CAIS (closed air induction system)
4:1 tubular manifold
200cell (legal) sports cat
full stainless CLF exhaust system
Piper High lift cams
IE4 alloy cast custom inlet (again the Ford factory inlet with an internal throttle body is so restrictive)

paul_mck

the cams are prob making the most of the difference there mate, and cams usually come at a sacrifice of poor idle etc.

I always found the best test for an induction kit was not when you fitted it but when you took it out. They do tend to sharpen things out a bit but generally not worth the expense.

Team4Luke

paul_mck wrote:

the cams are prob making the most of the difference there mate, and cams usually come at a sacrifice of poor idle etc.

I always found the best test for an induction kit was not when you fitted it but when you took it out. They do tend to sharpen things out a bit but generally not worth the expense.

Cams have given me more top end and more continuous power all way to a new red line of 7200rpm, there is no let off anywhere, have also recovered low down torque back from the previous stage of tune with the custom inlet, before without there was a noticeable loss low down, but not know, have instant pick up in any gear at any speed. Cams alone will give hardly any increase in BHP, all about the mapping work. Idles fantastic, yes has that lumpy sound with the engine rocking everso slightly and great tunes from the tailpipe at tickover, however been mapped to take into account of this and now idles around 1000rpm hovering nicely whereas standard car was well below this. Starts up great everytime, idles high for a few secs then settles, all in the mapping work.

All done by http://www.mountune.com/

stubs

Instead of spending thousands on tuning a Focus why not sell the car and buy something thats faster. I mean you could spend 20 grand and it will still be a repmobile. For 6 grand you can get something oldish but sporty and well looked after like Nissan 300 twin turbo that will blow any Focus into the weeds. I really regret selling my 350 GT automatic but it was about as practical as a bucket with a hole in it when it came to MTB transport.

Briggo

stubs wrote:

Instead of spending thousands on tuning a Focus why not sell the car and buy something thats faster. I mean you could spend 20 grand and it will still be a repmobile. For 6 grand you can get something oldish but sporty and well looked after like Nissan 300 twin turbo that will blow any Focus into the weeds. I really regret selling my 350 GT automatic but it was about as practical as a bucket with a hole in it when it came to MTB transport.

He seems to like to waste cash, not to mention slightly dillusional.

Team4Luke

Briggo wrote:

stubs wrote:

Instead of spending thousands on tuning a Focus why not sell the car and buy something thats faster. I mean you could spend 20 grand and it will still be a repmobile. For 6 grand you can get something oldish but sporty and well looked after like Nissan 300 twin turbo that will blow any Focus into the weeds. I really regret selling my 350 GT automatic but it was about as practical as a bucket with a hole in it when it came to MTB transport.

He seems to like to waste cash, not to mention slightly dillusional.

really depends if you keep you cars for long periods, if you do then some mild tuning is money well spent, an aftermarket stainless exhaust system will last a lifetime unlike replacements from local kwikFitters, aftermarket filters again last a lifetime and can be cleaned whereas your local dealer will charge you £50 to fit a panel filter.

stubs

Team4Luke wrote:

Briggo wrote:

stubs wrote:

Instead of spending thousands on tuning a Focus why not sell the car and buy something thats faster. I mean you could spend 20 grand and it will still be a repmobile. For 6 grand you can get something oldish but sporty and well looked after like Nissan 300 twin turbo that will blow any Focus into the weeds. I really regret selling my 350 GT automatic but it was about as practical as a bucket with a hole in it when it came to MTB transport.

He seems to like to waste cash, not to mention slightly dillusional.

really depends if you keep you cars for long periods, if you do then some mild tuning is money well spent, an aftermarket stainless exhaust system will last a lifetime unlike replacements from local kwikFitters, aftermarket filters again last a lifetime and can be cleaned whereas your local dealer will charge you £50 to fit a panel filter.

A stainless exhaust isnt a cheap option, exactly how many exhausts do you go through I havent bought an exhaust pipe for years. If you need a dealer to fit an air filter then you shouldnt be allowed near sharp implements.

paul_mck

I don't need sram red on my bike any more than that lad needs a stainless exhaust but I want it and love it

stubs

paul_mck wrote:

I don't need sram red on my bike any more than that lad needs a stainless exhaust but I want it and love it

I would love it as well but no one needs to justify it on cost grounds. Hell if I still had my Nissan 350z I would be drooling over stainless exhausts and ECU chips.

The Rookie

Forgetting of course that most new cars have had stainless exhausts since about 1993, just low grade stainless that shows surface rust.

sanchez89

allthegearnoidea wrote:

Modern engines are designed to run optimallly for longevity, the only time they restrict the cars is to create a larger gap between models! Most notably being on the mk2 saxo vtr, restricted the exhaust to drop the power to 90bhp so the 120bhp vts felt Much better, a Simple manifold and system swap would free 10 brake straight out!

the fact that there are an 8 extra valves in a VTS also might help explain the increased 'feeling'

paul_mck

the vtr had 16v too, 8 were in the boot tho :P