Tuning box

[daz_vrs]

i was thinking about getting a tuning box for my fabia vrs and was wondering on peoples opinion on this item....http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TDI-TUNING-BOX-TDI-PD-AUDI-SEAT-GALAXY-VW-SKODA_W0QQitemZ8028594964QQcategoryZ32094QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[HellFire]

Looks like a nice unit. There are so many debates involving tuning boxes against remaps etc, just do a search and you'll see what I mean.

The 1 main point which I always say against a tuning box is:

Do you want to put a £60 (cheaper in some cases) on a £11,000 car? Personally I opted to spend a little more for that peace of mind.

I do think they are excellent however, I ran one on my TDCi Mondeo and achieved a 40 BHP gain (Top Gear Performance rolling road in Doncaster), was 131 BHP without the box. Smoked like a pub though.

[Mike VRS]

I guess Im in the same shoes as you, I get the car shortly and once run in, I was intending on putting abox on it, I've been pricing tuning boxes etc. for the last few weeks, but along with that i've been reading with great interest peoples own personal reports on both subjects and have since come to the conclusion that a remap may be best for my car, I based this on the fuelling issues with the box in that it only adjusts the fuelling and not the boost etc. and therefore I deemed a remap to be a better choice as it addresses more than just the fueling, Do a bit of research before you purchase, I found many topics on both from this website and other members home pages, There was one that was most helpful and if I can find it il post the link, But at the end of the day, go with what suits you best, you can always remove it if it doesn't turn out right

[ScoobyChris]

I ran a

[mikejay]

i wouldnt get any but a dragon mate. i had one and it was fantastic. sold it because i was short of cash, but i want another now!!

[HellFire]

i ran a dragon digital tuning box one off with the over-fuelling set to max. gave 40 bhp gains on my mondeo tdci on an indipendant rr as stated above.

in retrospect it did smoke a LOT though and I wouldnt get anything bar a remap now (knackered my engine in the end). Once bitten twice shy.

Which is why I am a firm believer in remaps, they adjust for fuel & boost and most are specific to your car.

[johnjohnhealy]

I didn't think re-maps altered boost at all either?

I run a Dragon box and have now covered in excess of 90k miles, no problems whatsoever, engine still in rude health and so long as your sensible with the settings (i.e. not slam straight up to max) you should see gains that basically match any remap and in some cases exceed them. one 130PD owner on here has his proven at nearly 180bhp i believe, on a dragon box that isn't set at the max.

Oh and mine actually smokes LESS than the car did when standard on all the settings (well - I had to try max for a bit just to see!!)

[JBS Auto Design]

The problem is on the rolling roads is the lottery that you get.

Could have done with a before and after rolling road.

Some rolling roads can read over 20bhp out.

If this is so then it would make any mod including the Green Cotton Filter look good.

But I do agree with if you have just spent £11k ish on a car do you really want to put a £30.00 gadget on it and possibly run it way way too rich cause loads of smoke just to get some extra bhp.

If you go the full hog and get a remap you get something better for your money.

As for tuning boxes I have seen a car with one on that lost 1 or 2 bhp no gains losses!although not much it still had losses.

We took it off as the owner never even knew it was there.

We have had MANY rolling road days and have seen quitre alot of tuning examples.

I have a book in my reception with some in.

It is worth a look.

Oh and the Rolling Road is coming on fine and could be 3 to 4 weeks off now.

Thank you for listening me

Sarah

[daz_vrs]

from what i gather its a mixed opinion so ill do both. ill try out this tuning box while i put the pennies aside for the one click.

cheers

daz

[Jules59]

from what i gather its a mixed opinion so ill do both. ill try out this tuning box while i put the pennies aside for the one click.

cheers

daz

Daz

So how did it go with that tuning box ?

Jules

[daz_vrs]

its not that bad. feels like its got more power and pulls right round the revs. feels stronger more in 3rd and 4th than it was before. unfortunatly ive got nothing to compare it to to see how much more power its got but it leaves my mates vts standing. a bit more smoke but i was expecting that.

daz

[VRStu]

Thats a silly price mate!!

The direct supplier is - http://www.mal-electronics.com/html/englisch.html

or his ebay shop is - http://stores.ebay.de/mal-electronics-com_VAG-Audi-VW-Seat-Skoda_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQftidZ2QQtZkm

However be warned they aren't the best quality. The one I took apart was a Mal-Electronics one. I don't suppose they are any worse than the others but you shouldn't be paying any more than £15 - £20 for it. You will notice an improvement and as Chris says he had good service from his.

Here are the details from the one I took apart - www.fabia-vrs.com/briskoda/PDBox.zip

[daz_vrs]

well ive bought it now. it looks the same as the one ive bought. i only chose that unit over the others and wasnt bothered with the cost due to it not giving engine fault codes. its usually the case you find this info after you buy the product!

cheers anyway

daz

[johnjohnhealy]

I dont really see what the difference is between a decent tuning box (e.g.Dragon digital) and most re-maps apart from the obvious lack of physical product with the re-map.

Most re-maps are generic to the engine as are tuning box's and not tailored to each individual vehicle, neither product affects boost to my knowledge so I dont really see how a re-map can give any more power than a tuning box?

Obviously you can have a re-map done for your particular vehicle and set up on rolling road but the normal type of re-map that most have (one click etc) aren't really any different to a tuning box as far as I can see.

The tuning box is also half the price of most re-maps which I dont understand, they must have the same amount of development time put into them and come with hardware, so really a re-map which gives you no physical hardware should be lots cheaper?

[ScoobyChris]

Most re-maps are generic to the engine as are tuning box's and not tailored to each individual vehicle, neither product affects boost to my knowledge so I dont really see how a re-map can give any more power than a tuning box?

Remaps do affect boost - that's their main advantage over a tuning box

Chris

[johnjohnhealy]

Ahh, I see. could be considered a dis-advantage if you value your turbo's longevity though!! not that you should be worrying about that if your tuning your car anyway, decreased life is a byproduct of any tuning really!!

I'm sure they dont all affect bosst levels though?

[JBS Auto Design]

I dont really see what the difference is between a decent tuning box (e.g.Dragon digital) and most re-maps apart from the obvious lack of physical product with the re-map.

Most re-maps are generic to the engine as are tuning box's and not tailored to each individual vehicle' date=' neither product affects boost to my knowledge so I dont really see how a re-map can give any more power than a tuning box?

Obviously you can have a re-map done for your particular vehicle and set up on rolling road but the normal type of re-map that most have (one click etc) aren't really any different to a tuning box as far as I can see.

The tuning box is also half the price of most re-maps which I dont understand, they must have the same amount of development time put into them and come with hardware, so really a re-map which gives you no physical hardware should be lots cheaper?[/quote']

We remap cars and I do know that with the same engine code on the same year there could be around a dozen different ECU`s with each ECU there could be about 5 different reads.

This means that in 1 year there could be quite a few varients.

Now with a Custom-Code remap (I dont know about others) these are taken in to account.

Does this happen with tuning boxes?

Is the car given a full diagnostic check before and after this has been fitted?

These are all things to be taken in to account when looking at mods.

Sarah

[johnjohnhealy]

We remap cars and I do know that with the same engine code on the same year there could be around a dozen different ECU`s with each ECU there could be about 5 different reads.

This means that in 1 year there could be quite a few varients.

Now with a Custom-Code remap (I dont know about others) these are taken in to account.

Does this happen with tuning boxes?

Is the car given a full diagnostic check before and after this has been fitted?

These are all things to be taken in to account when looking at mods.

Sarah

But you would be replacing whatever info is in the ECU with your own mapping anyway so it is irrelavant what was on it before hand? I also dont really buy that about the ECU's i'm afraid.

Unless you are selling re-maps that are individually tailored to each car on a rolling road then really there is no difference between the two types of tuning (aside from the ones which control boost too) they both replace the standard map with their own generic map to that engine, I really cant see how such prices can be justified for re-maps when a similar amount of R&D must go into tuning box's aswell, obviously you will defend the re-map (and i'm not slagging them, just bringing up what I believe to be a valid point) because you sell them, and i'm sure they are very profitable for you, after all once you've bought hardware and the code the only costs to you are labour!!

[rongagain]

I have blurb for a Tunit box, which they seem to advertise all over the place.

But expensive at around

[marcusfordus]

You think that's dear, have a look at mine

http://www.pbox.cc

at £468.83 it makes a re-map seem cheap, good job mine was bought the 2nd hand route.

I would like to see how it performs in comparison to a JBS re-map, anyone had or driven both ?

[JBS Auto Design]

It is the issue with the fact that there are MANY different versions with the ECU`s.

This means that for say the Fabia vRS engine )ASZ) there are loads of ECU`s with different reads.

This means for that car there are a number of different codes for these.

We do not replace the info on the ECU , but just add.

Then the remap can be returned to standard.

When we do a Custom-Code complete to the car and the modifications that are done we do not do these on the rolling road.

We do all of that on the actual road.

There are things like bends on the road that you cannot take in to account on rolling roads.

So there is plenty of work when we do remaps.

There is also the back up that you get with remaps.

But then there is Heinz beans and Tesco Value.

So the choice is down to the customer.

We will be having our rolling road days soon so then we will be able to show you the difference in tuning.

I also have some rolling road printouts in the reception area with some different remaps on if people want to call in and have a look.

It is all aimed to assist people.

Hope this helps

Sarah

[HellFire]

johnjohnhealy, sorry but there is a very big difference between a cheap tuning box and a remap, a decent tuning box will cost you nearly as much as a remap and wont give you anywhere near the results.

It's not just about peak bhp, it's about the delivery. and a tuning box will just empahise the current spikes. a remap will change the delivery, alter boost to compensate and make it smoke less, alter fuel ratio, works in tamden with other mods, and everything sarah says above.

do not get a tuning box on a 10k car, save up a few more months it won't kill you, or splash out on a credit card and spend £400-£500 and get it done RIGHT.

[ScoobyChris]

It's not just about peak bhp, it's about the delivery. and a tuning box will just empahise the current spikes

A digital box has it's own map and can smooth out spikes in the car's power delivery, but it can only do this by overfuelling.

Yes, a remap is the proper solution, BUT not everyone can afford 4-500 quid and also it's not so easy to return to standard should you drop the car in for servicing or warranty work I also like the fact I can sell a tuning box and make back the bulk of my outlay, which makes the cost of ownership significantly less than a remap

Most of the reputable tuning boxes have significant R&D done on them and work within safe parameters and you should have no qualms about putting them on a 10k car Remember that not many tuners offer a warranty either and when they're pushing components to their limits that's when you could really do with one!

Btw, how is your clutch/gearbox :P;)

Chris

[HellFire]

clutch/gearbox is fine.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

Complete contradiction here but as you know I ran a tuning box on my 10k mondeo with good results, however I am MUCH more impressed with a remap, and wish I had done this to begin with but unfortunately at the time there weren't many tuners out there for the TDCi, it was literally a choice between a superchip (pap), unichip (way too expensive £1000) and a tuning box £300.

[b1ackb1rd]

I'm happy to have paid a mere £20 for my tuning box via these very pages. I have had engine remaps before (3 of them) on other cars, and it always gets up my

ar5e that I have to let the remap go when I sell the car.

When it comes time to sell the Fabia I shall remove my tuning box and fit it to my next VAG diesel with a big grin on my face