I know that having a place like WMS put your car on a dyno in order to develop a custom tune is the best way to go....period. But for those of us who don't have the luxury of having a Mini "performance" shop anywhere close, how do the "canned" tunes compare? I know that Way has their "Remote Tuning Module" you can buy, and they will email you a canned tune for it.....but what kind of results should you except compared from that compared to a custom tune?

For those of you who have installed the canned tunes, what do you think? If I could get better throttle response, and some more midrange power and torque...I would be more than happy.

 

I had Way put a canned tune on my old '02 MCS. Worked great. That was with a 15% pulley and CAI. A full Stage I setup will include an exhaust. Let the person know what you have so they know which canned tune to install. If you do more, such as a head and/or cam, custom tuning on the dyno will be better (especially since you will probably need 440cc or larger injectors, and a tune is mandatory for your MINI to even run with them).

 

Great! Thanks the kind of info I was looking for. Sounds like you had great luck with it. I think the 380 injectors would be good for right now, but a smaller pulley compared to the current JCM pulley might be a good mod before a tune.

 

Yes I did. You can use the stock injectors for the Stage I setup, but 380cc JCWs would not hurt, either. You can throw them in before the tune and still run OK.

 

I've had great results with Bytetronik FA. You might check with them on their service.

 

im thinking about going this rout also. i would love to get a dyno tune from jan but it seems to be difficult to get him over to the east coast for a tuning day. so ill probably save up and get his flash tool with one of his tunes on it. it wont be perfect but it will be a lot better then what i got

 

The FAQ section will have some answers that you're looking for:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...883-post1.html

 

I have a canned tune and have no idea if its close to what I need or not. How much can a tune be off by that cannot be compensated for by the self adjusting parameters? Is a canned tune a good start without having tested it on a dyno with wideband? Does the ECU compensate dramatically for fuel trims, pinging and what not? I dont have any Check engine lights flashing...

 

Well, a good start would be to see if the new "canned tune" feels any stronger than the stock tune. Does it feel like it's making more power or less?

Other than that......is it doing anything weird? What brand of tune is it?

 

Well Ive never had a another tune. This is an old RMW tune and I keep missing the bus to get a dyno tune. Ive given up trying to chase down the next tune and am wondering if my tune is good enough. If it isnt, I would like the Mynes bytronics so that I can tune at my leisure. If it is good enough then I will keep driving it. It just seems to be very moody. somedays its slow and sometimes it kicks me back in my seat. My mechanic says if it runs good, then it runs good. Just want to be safe.

 

Canned tunes are just that, a canned package made to fit a variety of cars. The difference comes in who and how the tune is done. When we do our canned tune the goal is not to give you a million HP as that can't safely be done since we won't know exactly what you a/f is. So when we do a canned quicktune our goal is got improve drivability, smoothness, and give you a few HP. That way you and I both know it is safe and mods can continued to be added without fear of going lean and damaging you engine.

 

When you do remote tunes, do you take into account current mods? (for example, I have an intake and exhaust, might add headers, etc.) or do you have a few canned tunes that you know are safe regardless and give gains that you send out?

 

Remote tunes are completely different than a canned tune, a remote tune "is" a custom tune, the only difference is that the tuner is not physiclly standing there, the tuner still collects real time data from your car, wheather it be on the street or on a dyno, and makes the adjustments accordingly, so "all" of your mods and the effect they have on your engine are naturally/automaticly taken into account.

To add to what Way was saying, the most important thing about a canned tune is where you get it from, face it a canned tune is "best guess" and thats why, a tuner will take a list of your mods and look back at past expierience and knowledge and say" I know that these parts 'normally' have this effect" and make adjustments accordingly, but because of the "every engine is different" scenario, you can't exactly "dial in" the tune. Of course this is also where a canned tune from the wrong person can get you into trouble and/or have little or no effect.

 

How many dyno runs does it usulaly take to get everything adjusted "right"? I found a place locally that has a dyno, and will do a dyno run with a/f mixture readings for about $60.

I know you have to do a base dyno run...then send off the info to who ever you bought the tune from and let them make adjustments. Then after they adjust your tune and you reload it....you do another dyno run.....and so on and so forth. How many pulls does it usually take to get it right? If you are talking 5-6 dyno runs on multiple days to get it right...that starts really adding up $$$$.

 

Most if not all shops will charge you an hourly rate for using the dyno to tune, whether it's a remote situation or they're tuning, simply because you can never tell how long it will take, on avg. 3-5 pulls should do it.

 

Thanks for the info, BlwnAway I think there is actually a dyno in town.

 

Just wanted to add: a Custom Remote Mapping is when your tuner has actual data feedback from the car from the map adjustments. As you're well aware, Mark, AFR is just one of the components... there are lot of other things that affects the final outcome of the tune.

As has been stated many times, the primary purpose of a custom tune is to make all the upgraded components run at their optimal level - safely and smoothly. HP increase is just a by-product as a result of this process.

Since all of the R53's are 'old' cars now (well, older and no longer produced), and some with a lot of miles, we have helped customers narrow down some of their mechanical problems during the course of a Remote Mapping. Data Logs will tell us your car's boost level is low, sensors going out, boost leaks or other mechanical issues.