An Efficient Stage ‘Zero’

[Yelbom15]

I know we speak of the quickest times and what stages we’re at but I’ve been thinking of just the factory tune. Just that but with every physical upgrade possible.

Is anyone rocking a fair share of upgrades but with the factory tune?

From what I’m told, none of these upgrades are worth it when not tuned but it has to be 10 times more efficient than stock components, no?

 

[XR650R]

Nothing wrong with the stock tune. You can go for other mods to make make it better, and it'll be better.

 

[Stkid93]

Let me start off by saying I’m still fairly new to this platform and there are others that will be far more knowledgeable than me. But I think I am able to answer this question.

this does vary platform to platform. I know on my srt4 neon I saw huge gains from installing and intake and exhaust even without tuning. But this was also a car made in 2005 and utilized a boost based tuning strategy. Thinfs are very different nowadays.

from what I understand the fist uses a load/torque targeting tune style. Meaning, the car will target a certain amount of load and torque based off the settings in the ecus load to torque tables and torque to load tables. What this means is the car will raise or lower boost pressure to meet these parameters. That is why you will see less boost in winter and more in the summer. Because the air is denser in the cold, the car doesn’t require as much boost to meet its desired load and torque.

what does this means for mods without tuning? Well if means it will do very little if you are already close to your desired load and torque. If ur tune allows for 250 ft lbs, and ur only making 230, then yes, the mods will allow you to make an additional 20 torque. If you take this same scenario and you’re already making 248 ft lbs. the mods will do very little as ur already at the desired torque targeted by the tune. Even if the mods increase the efficiency and power of the car. The car will not let itself exceed its load and torque settings. It will simply lower boost and such to bring the load and torque output back down to its desired levels.

a good example of this would be the Cobb otc maps that come on the accessport. I believe the stage 1 map targets 250 ft lbs of torque. So no matter what breathing mods you do, the car will not allow itself to go past 250 torque. That is what the car is set to make in perfect conditions.

So in the summer, it will raise boost to try to get to that 250 foot lb mark. And in winter it will lower boost to try to get to that 250 mark. The advantage of this is that you get relatively consistent power no matter the outside conditions. As the car is always try to meet its desired torque and load output (assuming it’s got good fuel, isn’t cutting timing etc)

 

[M-Sport fan]

I know we speak of the quickest times and what stages we’re at but I’ve been thinking of just the factory tune. Just that but with every physical upgrade possible.

Is anyone rocking a fair share of upgrades but with the factory tune?

From what I’m told, none of these upgrades are worth it when not tuned but it has to be 10 times more efficient than stock components, no?

IF you have easy access to E85 in your area, even on a pure factory stock tune, many have seen a small/slight performance increase just by using an E20 or so blend (don't go any higher on the factory tune).

This is especially true in the summer, and in a particularly hot locale (like yours).