rob_bell
Well-Known Member
Over the weekend I remapped my Hippo. This sounds very grand, like I am some kind of tuning guru, but no, I am just your standard luddite.
I wanted to experiment with my Hippo to see whether I could eek out a little more torque out of its 1.8 16 valve engines. 16 valve engines don't have the reputation for the best torque characteristics, but the engine generally has good low-end performance - perhaps because the ports are relatively small from being originally designed as a 1.1 and 1.4 litre.
As standard, the engine performs well enough, but feels very different from any other K-series car I have owned or driven: the engine only seemed to want to be rev'd to around 3.5k rpm before it would prefer you to change up a gear. This is strange because the K generally wants to rev out to the red line.
In my experience, the K tends to be over-fuelled as standard and tends to perform better running a little leaner and with a bit more ignition advance. I've messed about on MEMS1.9 as this ECU allows this tuning function that can be accessed via T4 or pscan diagnostic tools.
For MEMS3, this option is not available, but a complete re-map is much, much easier.
I therefore approached SAWS tuning who are quite happy to tune MEMS1.9, MEMS2J and MEMS3. In the past, this would have involved going to them or sending off your ECU for an exchange unit. However, now you can perform your own re-map using your own lap top if you have a pscan diagnostic box... which I do, so that makes things very easy.
I dropped Stephen at SAWS an email and got a verification code. I then downloaded the ECU's standard map and emailed this with the verification code/token. Stephen then emailed me back the remapped file.
I can do a step-by-step if folks are interested, but it was very straightforward. I think the map upload to MEMS took around 17 minutes and then the Hippo was ready for a test drive.
We're talking a relatively heavy car with not insignificant driveline losses here, but the engine response felt smoother, it pulled cleanly through the whole rev-range (like a K-series should!) and it pulls more cleanly from low-rpm. What the re-map hasn't done is to turn the Hippo into a sports car - but that was not the expectation. However, the changes have made for a more pleasurable driving experience and I think worth while.
Way too early to say what impact it has on fuel economy - so I shall be keeping an eye on this. And I hope to take the Hippo greenlaning/ offroading again soon to see how the old gal does...
I wanted to experiment with my Hippo to see whether I could eek out a little more torque out of its 1.8 16 valve engines. 16 valve engines don't have the reputation for the best torque characteristics, but the engine generally has good low-end performance - perhaps because the ports are relatively small from being originally designed as a 1.1 and 1.4 litre.
As standard, the engine performs well enough, but feels very different from any other K-series car I have owned or driven: the engine only seemed to want to be rev'd to around 3.5k rpm before it would prefer you to change up a gear. This is strange because the K generally wants to rev out to the red line.
In my experience, the K tends to be over-fuelled as standard and tends to perform better running a little leaner and with a bit more ignition advance. I've messed about on MEMS1.9 as this ECU allows this tuning function that can be accessed via T4 or pscan diagnostic tools.
For MEMS3, this option is not available, but a complete re-map is much, much easier.
I therefore approached SAWS tuning who are quite happy to tune MEMS1.9, MEMS2J and MEMS3. In the past, this would have involved going to them or sending off your ECU for an exchange unit. However, now you can perform your own re-map using your own lap top if you have a pscan diagnostic box... which I do, so that makes things very easy.
I dropped Stephen at SAWS an email and got a verification code. I then downloaded the ECU's standard map and emailed this with the verification code/token. Stephen then emailed me back the remapped file.
I can do a step-by-step if folks are interested, but it was very straightforward. I think the map upload to MEMS took around 17 minutes and then the Hippo was ready for a test drive.
We're talking a relatively heavy car with not insignificant driveline losses here, but the engine response felt smoother, it pulled cleanly through the whole rev-range (like a K-series should!) and it pulls more cleanly from low-rpm. What the re-map hasn't done is to turn the Hippo into a sports car - but that was not the expectation. However, the changes have made for a more pleasurable driving experience and I think worth while.
Way too early to say what impact it has on fuel economy - so I shall be keeping an eye on this. And I hope to take the Hippo greenlaning/ offroading again soon to see how the old gal does...
