Progress Thread: bruce_19

[bruce_19]

Well I thought it best I start this thread since I am planning on doing some investigation into how to improve MPG and performance.

I have a 1.4t Auto GTC
   
   

Now I have this car for the long hall so I will be taking my time and working on different combinations to see what works best.

My car is was only getting 27.2 over the first 3 weeks of owning the car. I have added some RedEx to a full tank and now I am getting 31 average.

So my list goes as follows:

Spark Plugs = Twin Spark and iridium both over a 2 week period and see which is best if any.
Air Filter = K&N Panel Filter, Pipercross Panel Filter and again 2 week trial period with each of the above spark plugs (I know it really wont have much of effect but every little helps).

Then a bit more research into exhausts to see who can supply one with a good history behind it and see where I can get one locally if possible. Again this will need to be road legal so will be a sports cat version. Again I will run this for 2 weeks then report back my findings.

Once the exhaust is done some research into the intercooler and see what it is capable of and then a possible replacement if not I will be replacing the plastic pipes with stainless and silicone joins anyway.

lastly will be looking into a remap or tuning box I have been done some reading online and some people are saying many good things about the tuning box and also some very good things about remapping with the right upgrades which hopefully the above will cover. As the car is still under warranty till October this will be the last thing done.

The above list was mainly started as I was looking for better fuel economy but being 6 miles away from the office its not too much of a concern but when I looked at the claimed stats for my car I am no where near them so just thought I would see if any of the above would help and if the above can improve MPG even slightly and give me better performance when my right foot gets heavy then so be it.

With being on Holiday In April like most people I wont be starting any of this till Mid May but thought I would put this up now and see what peoples thoughts are and if they have any ideas I could possibly try.

[mrtc]

sounds a cool plan, ive never seen a gtc in that colour before, looks lovely

[bruce_19]

Thanks,

I wasn't keen on the colour to begin with but it has really grown on me now.

[mrtc]

my other half bought a weird green coloured berlingo so he could fit a camping conversion in the boot,
we got the car has it was the right spec and really low milleage, but i hated the colour, i have to omit now i like it,
it kind of makes the car look abit army style that suits the camping conversion kit

[andy2174]

Car looks really good, I have never seen a GTC in that colour before either

Sounds like you have a good plan for modifcations

Be interested to hear how you get on with testing them, especially with an auto gearbox

[mrtc]

is it a conventional auto bo or can you go up and down gears manualy

[bruce_19]

I wanted red or white but they couldn't get me one as they sold really quick and this one was at the dealer so I took it.

You can go up and down manually if you want too but I choose to leave it in auto. I don't think the upgrade would put that much strain on the box as I think I would only get about 20-30hp max out of the above I have read online of people getting more but I wouldn't want any more

I have a berlingo van I'm gong to convert into a mini camper just need some small work done to it for its mot then it will get the inside sorted.

[mrtc]

www.amdro.co.uk
have a look at the boot jump, its abit costly but well made and awesome

[bruce_19]

That's too extreme for I would use it for anyway and they cost a fortune I have seen some home made ones on the berlingo forum.

[mrtc]

we use ours alot, on days out for a cuppa, bacon sandwiches, its awesome, also for some reason it helps the mpg when its in the boot

[bruce_19]

So I am just back from holiday and thought I better pull my finger out and start looking at spark plugs and panel filters as I start with the spark plug order on Friday and we will see how I get on with them from there.

I was also looking around at all the different options for engine tuning and it was on this forum and what people where saying about tuning boxes ect that got me looking more into other ways of tuning my car.

I searched to see if tuning boxes could give me good benefits and also came across peddle tuning boxes too which supposedly increase acceleration response so was wondering if people had any opinions on these?

Also after searching around for a while I decided to search for "can I tune a car with an auto gearbox" and I was surprised by what came up. Of course the likes of the VAG DSG box came up on most of the searches but there have been great results like faster gear changes which have lead to better mpg. Reading some of the information the gains are really impressive and I would assume if I could couple with either a tuning box and pedal or remap I would notice a difference or performance and mpg.

Of course the remap or box wont be happening until my warranty is out in November but between now and then I will be contacting the companies that are making the claims with the auto gearboxes remaps and seeing if they can do the remaps to the gearbox in my car.

[stigeye]

I would probably go for a remap than a tuning chip and peddle box as the latter two would probably cost more than the remap. The chip and the peddle box are meant to be good additions though and of course they are removable if you eventually decide to sell up and change cars.

[bruce_19]

Yeah that was kinda my thinking but I am looking to keep the car for a few years before I change and when I do change I think it would be to something with more power but still a Vauxhall possibly a VXR if the wife is in a good mood when I come to renew haha.

The tuning and pedal box are £558 but I can get the ecu remapped locally for less with live on the road tuning but if I was looking to get the gearbox done I would look to get it and the ecu done at the same time so some further investigating is required to find somewhere that can do it. I'm not fussed about traveling to get the job done as long as the company has a good proven track record I would drive down and stay for a couple of days if need be.

[sheppy1]

I have a pedal box which I had for about 2 years before I went for the bluefin remap and it's great at removing that turbo lag but doesn't add any more power.

The bluefin remap is great however... Car feels like a whole different beast now with thay on and it's totally custom and also removable at any time

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[stigeye]

At £500+ for chip and pedal box I would definitely get the car remapped professionally which will still be much cheaper.

[bruce_19]

I think a remap will be the way to go and I'm sure if I was getting both the ecu and gearbox done by the same people at the same time then I wouldn't be much off the £558 deal the DTUK are doing on the ecu and pedal box.

I have a few month to go before I decide what I'm doing and have the other things to get out of the way and I might even change plastic air pipes for stainless ones with silicone connections just to help keep the air as cold as possible when it gets to the engine.

Again I know this wont do anything but it will make the under bonnet look a bit better.

[bruce_19]

Just thought I would post up a little update as too where I am at.

2 weeks ago I fitted the Bosch Twin Spark Spark plugs and so far I have noticed an increase in MG of 0.5 mpg but I will be leaving these in for another 2 weeks as I want to get a true reading against normal.

My car was serviced before I collected it and had new standard ones in and they are like new as I had only done about 600 miles before fitting the new ones.

Tomorrow my first Air Filter arrives, Pipercross, but I wont fit this for another 2 weeks then run it for a month and see the difference.

[bruce_19]

Well that's my car just been picked up from the Vauxhall to get the paint work fixed.

The car had a scrape on it when I bought it and because I have been patient with them and not pushing to get it done they are going to fix all the paint defects there are only 3 or 4 marks needing done so they have agreed to fix them while its in

Also I couldn't resist and fitted the Pipercross air filter last night and the engine seems to rev more freely than before so watch this space to see if it make any moer difference in the next couple of weeks.

[Rusty2009]

Just keep any eye on the pipecross filters as they do seem to sag after a few months.

[bruce_19]

Will do Rusty thanks.

It is only in for a months trial then it will be switched out with a K&N Filter and I will see how each perform and use which one is best on my car.

[Shorty S91]

just keep an eye on the K&N filter aswell. I had one on my old car and the oil from the filter baked onto the MAF resistor element and I needed a new MAF. I would clean the MAF every few weeks to try and prevent this from happening

[Rusty2009]

just keep an eye on the K&N filter aswell. I had one on my old car and the oil from the filter baked onto the MAF resistor element and I needed a new MAF. I would clean the MAF every few weeks to try and prevent this from happening

I've not had any problems with my K&N filter it's been in almost 4yrs now.

[bruce_19]

I will be keeping an eye on the MAF anyway as typical in old Vauxhalls the MAF's have a tendency to be crap my mums Zafira is a classic example.

Well the car was in the garage yesterday so I have really driven the car yet but will be tonight so hopefully see if it make even a slight difference.

I got the passenger door of the car re-sprayed as it was scratched when I bought it and they also fixed the other marks as I wasn't hastling them to get it done.

[Shorty S91]

I've not had any problems with my K&N filter it's been in almost 4yrs now.

Think some of them are hit and miss when they have been oiled, seems to be mixed reviews on them. They are good filters and my engine an smoother and mpg was slightly better, that was the only downside for myself and I think ive just been unlucky but it was cheap enough for a new MAF at the time.

[bruce_19]

So I have been n contact with 5 different companies regarding the autobox to see if they are able to do any adjustment to them and I have had back 2 responses and 1 with dyno proof but not of my car. They have given me a Dyno with a gear change so you can see how quick it is and also one in forth gear from 1500rmp to 6500rmp so I could see the difference.

One companies response was only "it will work "so it didn't give me much confidence in them the website was poor anyway but to get that as for my answer was poor.

The company that has given me the dyno is Motor Mod and they are claiming the can do my cars auto box no problem as they have done some previous but they mostly deal with VAG boxes. They have said they can make the shift 50% quicker and it will also release a couple of house power only about 2-5 but hey its something but didn't bother me if it was zero.

The price for the ECUFlash is £299 they are not even claiming that it will increase fuel economy like others.

Do I think it might be worth a punt? Not too sure I will wait and see what others come back with.

Motor Mod have had a couple of write ups in mags and seem to be very happy sharing information and do other things like head units, cameras ect.

Anyway if I do get my bonus August I might just jive it a try.

[bruce_19]

Well I have been playing around with my OBD2 reader and got some 0-60 figures out of it which I can quite impressed with.
   
   

The first one was me just testing it to see if it worked which it did then the second was me seeing what the car do. I have to say the I was actually impressed .4 of a second quicker than Vauxhall claim.

The software I us it EOBD Facile Car Diagnostic Software.

The software is great I can scan for error code and clear them.

The software was £10.99 and the scanner was about the same and its been the best money I've spent.

I've used it on my cars for the past 4 years and I've used it to help friends and family diagnose there cars.

[andy2174]

Any chance of some links to the items please ?

[bruce_19]

This one for apple products

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM327-WiFi-OB...Sw2XFUkX3U

This one for Android.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM327-Vehicle...SwjVVV0aAK

The software is called EOBD Facile if you type that into the App store or Google play then it will find it. The basic download will let you read the error codes and check systems but if you pay the £10.99 you get access to more including clearing error codes.

I have used it on both Android and Apple products and it works great you do have to pay for the software but it is yours and update regularly.

At the moment I use it on my iPhone 6 and its great you can read the error codes and clear them check systems and like I done above performance tests.

[andy2174]

Excellent, thanks for that, will order it up and download the software

[bruce_19]

Its great software I use it whenever I can but the OBD can overheat if its left plugged in for a long period of time.

Its also great at saving money for you and friends if they have error problems. My mums Zafira has been in twice last year, without me knowing, and it cost her £70 to plug in the diagnostic to read the error code which I have been doing for her since.

She has a problem with the MAF of her car it can go for months without flashing up the error then it will do it twice in a week.

[marcus]

Haven't bought anything on eBay for days.... But I have now. Thanks

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Tonto]

Ahh I use this app but I'm too much of a Scrooge to buy full version haha. I like that you can do 0-60 times! What engine do you have?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Never mind I've just seen lol, I have the 2.0cdti 160 so be fun to see.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bruce_19]

I only paid for the full app because I was trading in a car and it went into limp mode when I was leaving to pick up the new car so needed the car sorted there and then.

Again it was an old Vauxhall and it was the MAF haha but that £10.99 probably saved me a lot of questions and possible loosing out on cash too. The garage put the key in the ignition to made use no error codes came up the said it would go to auction because it was high miles.

I will be using this to help track my progress I know its not exact and you will never get the exact same weather, temp ect but I have a base line and will see what happens when I change components.

That way I can check performance and economy post my outcome on here and if it helps people then great but I will know what works for my car and will have the proof to back it up.

[stigeye]

Look what's just turned up  

You've gotta keep up with the Jones's... ordered it on Thursday, came today so not bad turnaround.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221718071165?_...EBIDX%3AIT

[tucpal]

The iphone apps are not the best for obd2 stuff

[bruce_19]

I have been looking to see if I can find other apps but so far the facile is the best one so far.

@stigeye post up your 0-60 once you get a chance and see how it compares to the standard 0-60

[bruce_19]

Well I thought I better update this since I haven't for months haha. I haven't really had much time to do what I wanted to have done by now but kids come first getting time to do stuff to the car gets out in the back burner a lot. Mainly because the wife plans things and doesn't tell me till I get the overalls on to get stuck in to the car.

I put in a k&n but no difference to mpg or anything so knowing I could sell better than the pipercross so it been fitted in again.

As I said on my introduction I had to buy an auto due to an accident which happen on the 15th August last year and I can now happily say that just over a year I have been given a proper diagnosis and hopefully within the next year my knees will be back to full strength so I can go back to a manual.

Did I hear someone say vxr ?

Anyway since I've been told I could take a year or longer to rebuild the muscles the current auto is still a keeper.

So the car is out of warranty at the end of November so once Christmas is over I will be getting the gearbox remap but a peddle box might be on the cars next month depends on what happens overtime and work.