Engine: T5/R BSR Stage 1

[doingitsideways]

Originally Posted by kevvydude

did you not need to upgrade the con rods at 300bhp ish .sure i read it on here a while ago.as they throw their rods ??

Not necessarily.

Again, it's all about power delivery. Even more so with an auto like in my case, as with an auto, the engine will tend to sit right on the torque curve more of the time.
A properly set up T5 should see 300 on standard rods.

What tends to bend rods first is too much boost, too low down.
Some more crude maps bring the boost in too early, making them feel really quick, but that's not necessarily a good thing.
Mine for example, still feels really laggy even though it's on the standard 16t so should boost quickly, but it's the ecu intentionally holding back the boost until it's safer at higher revs. It also holds back slightly in 1st and 2nd to look after the 'box a little.
Mine's been up the 1/4 mile a good few times now and I can pretty confidently say that with inferior mods/maps, it wouldn't have taken launch after launch like it has without leaving the gearbox and/or bottom end on the tarmac!

You could take a standard T5, whack a set of injectors in and plumb in an MBC, it would probably make about 280bhp, it's been done before many times, but not for long.

[02Anders]

Geeeez... with all this talk of bad maps and bent rods, you're kind of scaring me off the idea!! This is after all my daily and I need it to be reliable.
Perhaps best I stick to my standard 240HP...??

[doingitsideways]

Originally Posted by 02Anders

Geeeez... with all this talk of bad maps and bent rods, you're kind of scaring me off the idea!! This is after all my daily and I need it to be reliable.
Perhaps best I stick to my standard 240HP...??

No.
Just do your research across the forums and see who are highly regarded.

Personally, I recommend MTE, but others will have their own preference.

Chances of bending a rod with just an off the shelf map are very slim indeed.

[martin_r_smith]

It's normally the addition of a manual boost controller that results in bent rods.

[02Anders]

So spell it out for me - just because I'm that thick...
Are you saying that I should stay clear of the BSR remap?

[martin_r_smith]

I think the consensus is stick to a well known and proven remap. This isn't to say BSR is no good but there are more people with experience with the MTE map than the BSR around here and other forums and they speak highly of it. Tried and tested is always best in my opinion.

[don kalmar union]

The much vaunted Swedish written MTE calibrations that I have sold for many years will give you outputs of 275bhp with 420nm of torque.

If you replace the existing, standard exhaust system with a complete stainless sports system, with 100 cel cat etc., such as I offer from Ferrita in Sweden you will achieve 300bhp with 430nm.

Provided that the car is in good order and has been properly maintained you will achieve these outputs with little potential for harm.

I have had this excellent stuff on special offer at £345. You install it yourself without the need for travel by using MTE's unique Softloader interface to connect your car's OBD port to an XP or XP compatible laptop to make both an initial reading from which MTE assemble their calibrations through to installing that final work. I loan that Softloader against a fully returnable deposit of £155.

Best if you search both here and chez www.t5d5.org for comment on TME's work and that from BSR.....

Don.

[02Anders]

Thx Gents.

Martin, I see what you are saying. I am probably just effected by BSR being very popular back in Denmark where I come from...

Don, thx for chipping in here! Arguably you will of course be biased, but I'm good with that and I genuinely do appreciate your input. Your price certainly doesn't scare me, as it's only marginally more than what I can currently get the BSR stage 1 for. I'm going to have to ask the dumb questions, as I usually only work on classic cars from the 60's, so this sort of technology is all rather sci-fi for me.
OBD port...?? XP compatible...?? Uhmmm... I have an old Mac laptop. Will that do the job??
Hmmmm... perhaps I'd be better off just driving down to you with my C70, and paying you to smack on a quality downpipe, a 100 cel cat, a complete Ferrite exhaust and one of your MTE remaps...

[doingitsideways]

Nowt wrong with daft questions, we all have to learn somehow.
Better to ask than go in blind.

I forgot to say in my earlier post about my mods, that yours would respond a little differently due to the later ME7 management. Also, the different turbo characteristics.

Mine is held back by the turbo now and the cams need setting up properly, then another map, so may have painted a pessimistic picture of what gains to expect.
With my mods finely tuned and an 18t it should make 320bhp I reckon.

[02Anders]

Thx for the clarification mate!
In all honesty, I'm not even sure I want that much HP.
After all, as I already mentioned, it's a daily and I need both reliability and drivability. On top of that there's the high-ish mileage.
If I could just end up with something around 280 - 285 HP (real ones though!!), I would be well happy!