VX220 Turbo Health Check

We had a VX220 Turbo booked in the other week as the customer had reported that the car seemed to be holding back on track. He thought it might be a fuelling issue and asked us to carry out a health check on the rolling road, datalog the ecu to see what the current map was doing and report back.

The car was running a ‘Stage 2’ ecu remap and has a full 2.5″ exhaust system. After our initial datalogging rolling road session we received a bit of a shock when we plotted the results ……..

VX220 Power Graph. VX220 with 2.5" Exhaust and  ECU Remap
VX220 with 2.5" Exhaust and ECU Remap. Expected Power 240 bhp

A ‘250 bhp’ car (or so we were informed) was producing 201 bhp, had a huge hole in the power and torque at 4,100 rpm and from the datalog showed 12 degrees of Knock Retard (ignition timing being pulled out by the ecu) from 4,200 rpm to 6,200 rpm. This explained why the car was holding back at higher end rpm. This car really should have been producing somewhere around 235-240 bhp with a correctly optimised ecu remap.

Following the fitment of a new VXR turbo, uprated injectors (for fuelling safety) and an enlarged 80mm air flow meter (much more stable than the standard 70mm air flow meter) we set about carrying out a custom remap and set up on our rolling road.

The Results……….

VX220 with Milltek 2.5" Exhaust, VXR Turbo, Injectors, 80mm AFM and Courtenay ECU Bespoke Remap
VX220 with Milltek 2.5" Exhaust, VXR Turbo, Injectors, 80mm AFM and Courtenay ECU Bespoke Remap

As you can see, a massive improvement everywhere, right across the board. And the revised mapping showed no Knock Retard whatsoever meaning it is absolutely safe in all circumstances.

So what does this prove? It proves that unless a car is checked and data logged properly on a rolling road you never know what you a getting from a remap.

And here is the final graph showing the before and after results……

VX220 Turbo - Before and After
VX220 Turbo showing before and after results

Quote a difference we are pleased to say. And we are sure you will agree which remap you would rather have in your car’s ecu.

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