17 replies to this topic

[ShinyAndy]

Right first things first here.. No I did not get this free, No my car wasn't a development mule, Yes I will comment warts 'n all on any problems, No I don't get any kick back on future sales, Yes I was in the right place at the right time.

03 plate with 26K miles on the clock and totally standard apart from suicide pads all round. Made 212bhp on the rollers which was pretty impressive and it always did feel quick to me compared to others. What it did have though was vomit inducing lurches when you took your foot off the throttle, the huge Vauxhall designed flatspot around 3500rpm, horrible surge and hesitation when driving at part throttle and the usual flat as a pancake off the bottom with gradual improvement in power until you hit 3500 then a hole then it eventually picked up and flew.

In summary: Made the gf sick everytime I drove down country roads and unless you drove at full throttle everywhere (pretty tricky on corners) then you had to put up with a rollercoaster power delivery

JT took my car Tuesday night to get it remapped. Now my understanding of these maps are that they were originally developed by Superchips and have been running them on loads of cars (mainly in Europe). JT has been involved with the development of these maps for the last 5 months or so. So a combination of Superchips experience, the maps developed by JT for AMD and some new improvements to part throttle response (done on the road) has led to this creation. According to JT (not seen proof yet) the car made 240bhp'ish, this is from just a remap - no other mods at all. His first impressions after driving were that it was much quicker and a lot smoother

Unfortunately it chucked it down with rain last night and so wasn't able to commit 100% to proving the map, but in fact I think this was a blessing as it meant I *had* to use part throttle most of the time. First impressions were impressive, from cold and in traffic the car behaved perfectly, no lumpy idle.. no jerkiness.. no over revving.. just like driving a Corsa. Got onto the M4 and instantly impressed by the lack of flatspot at 3500 and blown away by the extra torque that meant no need to drop it down to 4th to nip past the slower cars. Tried the throttle in various positions and not once did it hesitate, surge, stumble or complain.. just held its speed smoothly. Strangely the car seemed to accelerate just as quickly at part throttle as it did at full throttle but that could've been my imagination either way I guess that means better MPG +

Eventually managed to get off the godforsaken motorways and found some B roads at the back of Windsor, roads were very wet so meant I had to really play with the throttle and not drive flat out everywhere. Now this is where the map really comes into its own.. totally gobsmacked, gone has all the jerkiness when you come off the throttle, gone have all the flatspots and gone has the zero bottom end that reminded me so much of driving a turbo diesel ! Frighteningly quick now although can tell the revs are being strangled by the restrictive standard exhaust and cats. Throttle response is NA in nature now, the revs don't drop when you come off the throttle and then when you go back onto it the power is so smooth and linear its hard to think you're in a turbo. Nice touch is that when you do nail it and use all the revs there's a real shove in the back at 5K that then launches you to the limiter and you need to be ready to change gear quick ! By this point the girlfriend would've been asking me to pull over so she could remove the contents of her stomach that had been churning away for the last 30 minutes, she was fine so to me it's worth every penny !!

Really tried to find fault in the map, to the point of sticking it in 5th gear at about 1500rpm and then trying all kinds of throttle positions to find holes. Once in 50ish miles and trying hard did it stumble on me at about 2300 in 5th at around 50% throttle but I couldn't recreate that (have fed that info back to JT just in case)

So in summary: If, like me, you like to drive the turbo like a NA (and why wouldn't you) and like to play with the throttle and expect smooth linear response that just makes driving round corners a breeze then get it done NOW. If you live your life a 1/4mile at a time and drive everywhere with your foot nailed to the floor then I don't think you'd notice much difference

[walkes]

I want one.. How much?

[ShinyAndy]

http://www.vx220.org...=ST&f=2&t=24748

[Dave]

Great report Shiny..... I must admit my T has a bit of a "whoooosh and go" throws you in your seat and your off. Smoother acceleration would be a +. always worries me a bit on twisty stuff that you've got to treat the throttle/turbo with respect in case the back end goes. Dave Has JT got a stage one car to try and where is Uxbridge?

[TurboTomato]

Good write up mate Sounds like just what I need - hate the jerkiness under part throttle, laggy response, surge of revs when I lift off to change gear, 3500rpm canyon etc. If I keep the turbot then I will have this done for sure

[garyk220]

Nice report Andy. Can't say I noticed the part throttle problems on my standard car, but I can imagine each car will respond differently. The massive change in mid range torque is very nice though A very wet and slippy Anglesey track last September was a great test for the remap, and part throttle control was a breeze in those conditions. If John has managed to improve on his AMD maps, then they must be very good

[Smiler]

sounds good... whats next ? why is the N/A map cheaper? if its just a re-map of the ECu ?

[MikeS]

Suppose I'd best get round to doing a full report on my TMS S2 NA now

[Smiler]

that would me most helpful sir

[MikeS]

that would me most helpful sir

Better had be, took me long enough

[TurboTomato]

Ok, I have also had the TMS Stage one as well, and here are my thoughts: Mine was the first car to have a TMS S1 that had the 'timbo' airbox. JT was not happy when he did the remap as he thought it was way down on power compared to a near identical car he had done an hour earlier, and that one had a standard airbox. He said it was missing loads of low down torque compared to it, and suggested I go back to a standard airbox and get back to him if the car still feels sluggish Anyhow I goes on my way back down the M4 to Wales for the weekend and have a play around - car is far far better under partial throttle openings, far more controllable. No more hit-brick-wall style jerkiness off the throttle, no flat spot to speak of and stronger pull, but not the full 240bhps worth I would say at that point. However under certain throttle openings (when you can really hear it suck through the airbox) I could get it to judder if I lifted off. Then when I got over the Severn bridge and into Wales and I start throwing it around, the AMM starts throwing a wobbly. Misfiring very slightly to begin with and then if I kept my foot in would continue to misfire until the engine light started flashing and then came on solid at which point the engine was permanently missing. Pulling over and turning the ignition off and back on again seemed to cure it but it kept on coming back. So I called JT and we agreed that it was almost certainly the airbox and the AMM not agreeing with the map - the AMM is the weak link and a very fickle little thing! Anyway to his credit John allowed me to stop in on his house on the way back from Wales - at 9pm on a Sunday evening - and we mapped it back to standard. I managed to get a standard airbox from my dealer for £65 and that also inlcuded a new air filter (current one was almost black ) so I fitted that on Monday afternoon Wednesday afternoon I took it back to JT's and he put the remap back on. Wow, what a difference! First thing you notice is (as Andy said and I mentioned earlier) the far better throttle response and lack of lumps when using partial throttle openings. Again as I left it began to rain so I was being careful, but when the opportunity arose and I had a chance to put my foot down - woooooooooaaaahh! You now get an even bigger slug of torque low down and the biggest difference I would say is that then pulls cleanly, smoothly and strongly all the way to the red line without any horrid flat spots (particularly prominent on my car previously). 2nd gear is now silly quick (careful on roundabouts!!) and 3rd is just devastating for overtaking and fast A road blatting. It honestly felt as if I was in a gear lower each time I put my foot down, I was having to check which gear I was in Downsides? Well none really - my car is still not running 100% ok, very occassionally misfiring (a la AMM), and was initially hiccuping slightly when accelerating full throttle at very low revs in a high gear, but that seems to have gone now, be it from my different driving style or the car getting used to the map. The first problem is very likely to be just my own AMM on the way out so do not let that put you off at all To summarise - hugely improved throttle feeling, much better under partial openings, much stronger pull initially and throughout the rev range, no flat spot..... I could go on. The car now feels like it should have done when it came out of the factory - and that is not faint praise. I get that silly smile now every time I come out of a corner in 2nd gear . You will not spend £400 better on a VXT (just get rid of your Timbo airbox ) Paul

[Timbo]

I would just like to itterate (spelling) that out of all the people with Turbo's and running a "Timbo airbox mod", that the only people having problems are using a TMS map, infact as far as i know only TT (at this moment). Now i cant answer why and i dont think it matters really, they just dont get on. I know for a fact that other cars mine included are still running with the airbox mod and an amd map with no problems. Personnally i think its just that TT has a sh*t car

[TurboTomato]

*whispers* Well it turns out it may have not been the airbox after all After a couple of trips back to the dealer (and keeping on mentioning the letters 'AMM') they were convince it was a sparking problem, not an AMM one. So they changed the sparkplugs, the mechanic reckoned the original ones were badly corroded. This improved things, but mainly because they also mapped the car back to standard But within a day it was misfiring again, just nowhere near as badly So it went in end of last week and they changed the DIS pack (fancy term for ignition coil afaik) and since then it's been fine (touch wood). The remap was put back on Tuesday afternoon and it feels great

[Timbo]

Im not going to say a word

[Smiler]

bout 3??? told ya so... glad it sorted

[PaulS]

I am happy to support all the positive comments. I had Thorneys Stage 1 remap done a coup;e of weeks ago. Intial throttle response is better on light applications of the pedal. The engine seems more torquey, and definitely more power when you floor it. Have not got any figures yet but mpg does not seem any different, may even be better. I will post mpg up when I test it. Very happy PaulS.

[ECM]

I've had the TMS stage one map put onto my VXT and having given the thing a good 'test' I'm very happy with it My biggest likes so far have been the improvement in throttle response that Andy mentions in his original post and the added 'go' that seems to be the most fun when sampled in 4th gear Overall - money well spent

[eddo]

Just had stage one fitted to my vxt,GREAT It is even better than i expected,worth every penny. I called Thorneys last night and it was fitted this morning,thanks John. Ed