[JKen_0115]

Hey, I need your advice and suggestion on my situation. I have been running Sport Tuner with Race setting over months and finally installed CTS turbo intake, CSF intercooler and Fabspeed Catted DP. After I picked up the car this afternoon, I was stuck in the heavy traffic over 1.5 hours. Then I did the first full throttle after that, honestly I didn't feel strong power increased, a bit quicker but no whole lot. So I'm wondering the situation because the open intake causing the heat soak? Or it's about ECU has to take the time to learn the whole new setup? I only drove 25-30 miles in the traffic after picked up the shop.

Any advice and suggestion would be appreciated! BTW, the intake is very noisy though but it seems like causing a bit lag during the gear change..trying to describe the situation but the overall is not very smooth of power delivery after those part installed. Really want to figure out what I should do next.

[GreyF87]

Maybe sport tuner is the problem.....

[Nezil]

I'm not sure what you were expecting... I'm no expert, but my understanding is the following:

• CTS Turbo Intake - For looks and sound only; no performance benefit
• CSF Intercooler - Helps to keep IAT down, which prevents timing pull in hot weather and if you're driving the car hard; no direct performance benefit, and may increase turbo lag slightly
• Fabspeed Catted Downpipe - Reduces exhaust gas temperatures, and is claimed by some to give a performance bump, and by others to not really make any difference

In any case, the Sport Tuner will have given you much more of a performance benefit than all of these bolt ons combined, even though it's not exactly 'refined'.

If you want to get the most out of your choice of bolt ons, you'll need a custom tune from one of the platforms that supports that (BM3 or MHD). To be honest though, if you go with an OTS tune from one of these, or from some of the other OTS flash tuners like VF, you'll probably not be disappointed.

[JKen_0115]

Originally Posted by Nezil

I'm not sure what you were expecting... I'm no expert, but my understanding is the following:

• CTS Turbo Intake - For looks and sound only; no performance benefit
• CSF Intercooler - Helps to keep IAT down, which prevents timing pull in hot weather and if you're driving the car hard; no direct performance benefit, and may increase turbo lag slightly
• Fabspeed Catted Downpipe - Reduces exhaust gas temperatures, and is claimed by some to give a performance bump, and by others to not really make any difference

In any case, the Sport Tuner will have given you much more of a performance benefit than all of these bolt ons combined, even though it's not exactly 'refined'.

If you want to get the most out of your choice of bolt ons, you'll need a custom tune from one of the platforms that supports that (BM3 or MHD). To be honest though, if you go with an OTS tune from one of these, or from some of the other OTS flash tuners like VF, you'll probably not be disappointed.

Thank you, probably I need to start thinking about OTS in order to get all benefits from those item installed.

[SeanWRT]

TMAP based piggyback is type of the thing to give you the strongest perception of power bump especially on partial throttle and at low to middle rpm ranges. DP/IC/Intake makes power easier to achieve, but much less of a sensation (comparatively speaking) you will get from them.

Lag is from intercooler. More precisely it's the throttle response that's effected, the air has to fill up and go thru bigger space of IC before fill your 6 cylinders. You will feel it the most on street/traffic where most of time turbo is off boost. Turbo is a pre IC thing and is not laggier. Instead it spools only quicker thanks to the less restrictive downpipe.

Rough/hesitant/laggy shift is also an inherent nature of piggyback, especially TMAP only type. DME need to first adjust boost to match RPM in up/down shifting. And DME need extra time for fighting with conflicted signal from additive boost target, where all the roughness, hesitation and lagginess come from. When downpipe added to the mix, TB, WG and DV will be very busy.

You'll be fine though. To make things easier without compromising power, my recommendation is to dial back to +3 or +2. Trust me your peak power will be the same, stock turbo can't handle piggyback target from 4k5 up anyway. Only down low torque surge will be less, but you already have too much of it.

[JKen_0115]

Originally Posted by SeanWRT

TMAP based piggyback is type of the thing to give you the strongest perception of power bump especially on partial throttle and at low to middle rpm ranges. DP/IC/Intake makes power easier to achieve, but much less of a sensation (comparatively speaking) you will get from them.

Lag is from intercooler. More precisely it's the throttle response that's effected, the air has to fill up and go thru bigger space of IC before fill your 6 cylinders. You will feel it the most on street/traffic where most of time turbo is off boost. Turbo is a pre IC thing and is not laggier. Instead it spools only quicker thanks to the less restrictive downpipe.

Rough/hesitant/laggy shift is also an inherent nature of piggyback, especially TMAP only type. DME need to first adjust boost to match RPM in up/down shifting. And DME need extra time for fighting with conflicted signal from additive boost target, where all the roughness, hesitation and lagginess come from. When downpipe added to the mix, TB, WG and DV will be very busy.

You'll be fine though. To make things easier without compromising power, my recommendation is to dial back to +3 or +2. Trust me your peak power will be the same, stock turbo can't handle piggyback target from 4k5 up anyway. Only down low torque surge will be less, but you already have too much of it.

Thanks Sean, you pointed out the several great point which I wish I have thought about them before all the installation. Since I don't track the car and only street use, will you suggest me to change IC or moving piggyback to Flash tune(BM3)? I need the power increase anyway even I'm using on the street only, but I do really need to remove those hesitation and lagging as well as the other point you mentioned to be improved.

[David1]

Change the setting of the sport tuner one level down (the one that is 3 PSI) and the car will run better.

[JKen_0115]

Originally Posted by David1

Change the setting of the sport tuner one level down (the one that is 3 PSI) and the car will run better.

Thanks David, I'm going to try that and I believe it will help since I'm more looking for the smooth power delivery, I definitely felt the power slightly drop after 5K RPM when I ran at race mode. BTW, would you suggest for a flash tune based on current setup? Or swap the IC?