Tuning a standard SL500 306 bhp

[television]

Are you considering the bugatti Malc, let us know and I will have a test drive for you.

I would buy it and slip the engine into my SL I would let you try it.

 

[SL63 Mark]

I would buy it and slip the engine into my SL I would let you try it.

I think it's a "W16", so two V8s strapped together, so there may be some clearance issues on the bonnet. Should go nicely though.

 

[television]

I think it's a "W16", so two V8s strapped together, so there may be some clearance issues on the bonnet. Should go nicely though.

Wide body conversion ???

 

[LostKiwi]

Wide body conversion ???

I think more 'tall body' ....

 

[dreadlockdw]

Has anyone done this to their 113 engined SL As it stands it is 306bhp and torque of 460nm. with tuning you can get 326 bhp and 485nm torque, is it worth it ??.

On the subject of tuning I'm always surprised by the young lads near me that spend £1000's tuning their engines, only to find they then need to upgrade the transmission and brakes and suspension to cope with the increased power. It sems to me that they would often have been better just to get a car with a more powerful engine in the first place...

You young hot rodders...

 

[television]

On the subject of tuning I'm always surprised by the young lads near me that spend £1000's tuning their engines, only to find they then need to upgrade the transmission and brakes and suspension to cope with the increased power. It sems to me that they would often have been better just to get a car with a more powerful engine in the first place...

You young hot rodders...

I am only after a tiny little bit, and I will only get a tiny little bit.

 

[dreadlockdw]

I suppose that I (mistakenly?) trust MB to get the best compromise out of the power/reliability/longevity/emissions equations when the engine leaves the factory, and don't like to mess with that.

There's plenty of people who think otherwise, of course, and of all the forum members I'd expect you to know what you're doing...

 

[C350Carl]

On the subject of tuning I'm always surprised by the young lads near me that spend £1000's tuning their engines, only to find they then need to upgrade the transmission and brakes and suspension to cope with the increased power. It sems to me that they would often have been better just to get a car with a more powerful engine in the first place...



You young hot rodders...

Only on manual cars have I had to upgrade anything on the transmission and that was the clutch and DMF. Purely because the torque was now too much.

When I had the flappy paddle box in a later car that was fine with the power I was putting through it.

Suspension and brakes just makes good sense and they were the first things I upgraded before I remapped the car. As a wise man once told me. It's better to have more brakes than you need than need more brakes than you have.

Agree it's probably easier to buy a more powerful car in the first place. However sometimes a persons budget doesn't allow that.

For example i bought a 'Malcolm Spec' Octavia vRS DSG Estate (2.0 Petrol) new from the factory in 2011. I paid £22k for the car (well I didn't I paid less as I had 2 cars to trade in. But that was the invoice price of the car). I then spent just short of £5k tuning it.

Factory output
200ps
210lbft

Tuned output
358ps
387lbft

Show me an estate car that I can buy new for £27k with that power.

Even if you took the list price of the car to the spec I had (£29k) and added the tuning to make £34k. You would still not find a car with that power new.

Secondhand, yes an old RS4/M5 perhaps. But then it wouldn't return the same economy. And with a family for some that becomes important along with load space.

But I knew what I would need to do to the car in order to cope with the power output. Hence I always did the brakes and suspension first.

One of the other things you can do is 'remap your brain'. Get some tuition either from a police driving instructor (if you know any or want to become a member of RoSPA) or track tuition for car control and you can have a lot more fun than you realise.

 

[daveenty]

I suppose that I (mistakenly?) trust MB to get the best compromise out of the power/reliability/longevity/emissions equations when the engine leaves the factory, and don't like to mess with that.

This is exactly what it is upon leaving the factory, a compromise. Designed to run on all fuels in all temperatures under all conditions, so the guy in the middle/far East, will have virtually the same map as the guy in the frozen North of wherever. The solution to this is mapping, ideally on a Dyno, with various parameters being adjusted to suit the car and it's surroundings.

There's plenty of people who think otherwise, of course, and of all the forum members I'd expect you to know what you're doing...

Got a vague idea, though still doing it.

As for the transmission, they can stand an awful amount of extra power though mine is just starting to show a couple of little issues, possibly due to too much torque . I could possibly get away with an uprated valve body in it, but it will go to the US to have a fully rebuilt "bullet proof" transmission at the end of the year, which will hopefully sort that out. LSD is already done (Quaife) so no worries there.

The brakes are incredible on mine, so again no problem, though I will probably put some slightly harder pads in on the next change.

 

[dreadlockdw]

C350Carl and daveenty I wasn't dissing tuning completely - honest !

 

[C350Carl]

C350Carl and daveenty I wasn't dissing tuning completely - honest !

I wasn't having a go and apologies if it came across that way.

I was just highlighting the benefits of tuning from my experiences.

 

[daveenty]

Same as what Carl said.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Dave and Carl, now come on...like two naughty school boys there
Joking of course, interesting thread this has become and great for us to understand the spectrum of tuning available and the pros and cons. Malcolm is looking for a mild tuning to give a little more depth to an existing decent unit, whereas at the other end of the scale.....

 

[television]

92 post to get 15hp and 20Nm I am lost now, but I have learnt a lot

 

[daveenty]

92 post to get 15hp and 20Nm I am lost now, but I have learnt a lot

Yep, some interesting ideas, but I think Mic summed it up nicely in THIS POST, although as you said, not particularly cheap. I'll mention it to someone (Acid at MSL) next week to see what he can come up with

 

[television]

Yep, some interesting ideas, but I think Mic summed it up nicely in THIS POST, although as you said, not particularly cheap. I'll mention it to someone (Acid at MSL) next week to see what he can come up with

Thanks again Dave, but in a way its like flogging a dead horse

 

[V6Matty]

Yep, some interesting ideas, but I think Mic summed it up nicely in THIS POST, although as you said, not particularly cheap. I'll mention it to someone (Acid at MSL) next week to see what he can come up with

Think that big fish may be interested to do some testing now he can control the dyno pc without the worry of drop out Dave

 

[daveenty]

Think that big fish may be interested to do some testing now he can control the dyno pc without the worry of drop out Dave

He's also got his own set up a bit closer to us Matt. Was going to take mine up to him and also have a word with him about Malcolm's car.

ETA: Just texted him now.

 

[V6Matty]

He's also got his own set up a bit closer to us Matt. Was going to take mine up to him and also have a word with him about Malcolm's car.

ETA: Just texted him now.

Ah thought I'd heard something along those lines, could have been you that told me that actually? Anyway, look forward to heard your thoughts on the results.

 

[dreadlockdw]

I wasn't having a go and apologies if it came across that way.

I was just highlighting the benefits of tuning from my experiences.

Not at all offended by you or daveenty... and mega impressed by the power increase achieved with the Octavia!

If Malcolm comes up with something good and cheap in the way of M113 tuning I'll have to at least look at it as I have the same engine. I'll probably stay boringly standard though - it always seems powerful enough to me.