A Little Bit About Remaps: Pete's Automotive


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When I bought the V-Cross, I knew this is one vehicle which would require a build up and remap was one of things this vehicle is apt, 134 bhp from a 2.5 litre engine sounds puny.No prizes for guessing why the land cruisers last forever, big brawny but under tuned engines giving it a very very long life!

So when i started researching on remaps, there were so many options right from boxes which fool the ECU to full fledged remapping, My need was really simple, i need a conservative remap of around 20% and not a piggyback box - the market is full of dealers and vendors claiming whatever number that comes to their mind. After speaking to a few(wont take names) , i realized the whole game is mine is bigger than you! Its a crazy thing people with no technical knowledge whatsoever claiming 40-50% improvement - i needed someone sane here and who knows his stuff!

I had my trysts with remaps in the UK and was fairly comfortable with the process including blowing head gaskets. Most tools available operate on a similar principal, some are for novice users , some require fairly dense grey cells.

Some of the commonly seen tools are :-

Alientech
Haltech
WinOLS
swifttec
etc etc the list is very long with so many cheap clones available too which you should stay away from!

Alientech is probably the most common tool seen and also popularly referred as Kess V2 - most tuners in India use this. And in most cases barring few its used in a master-slave mode. Slaves can only read and write and do not have any capability to actually tune, Tuning is done remotely using a different software by a experienced tuner and he sends the the tuned file to the slave operator.
In case Alientech suite they have Kess V2 (slave software) and other items like K-TAG, ECU Titanium, Power gate 3. ECU Titanium is the key software which actually gives the ability for an experienced tuner to tune and change parameters across injection, turbo pressure, advance, torque, limiters etc etc. The parameters available for tuning vary based on the manufacturer and vehicle. Only the most experienced tuner should touch this aspect. Be extremely careful of new players who cite major improvements along with a complimentary bust engine(and not just the engine) eventually.

Coming back to why I chose Pete's it was simply his attitude towards safety - he has been oldest around in India when it comes to tuning with nearly 13 years experience. He/his team came across as someone who would rather not do it than risk a car and cares a donkeys arse about running the power/torque rat race which is pretty common amidst tuners (no not generalizing , they are other good ones too!)!
He knows his stuff well when coming to this side of the business and apart of tuning they have many other competencies including supercharging, stage 2/stage 3 upgrades etc. The thing which impressed me the most was the passion with which they conduct this business - i probably shouldn't call it a business but more of a enthusiast who has this as his key hobby! Prices are pretty reasonable and look out for festive offers !

Imagine supercharging an R8 and M3 - what a job to have ! Yes they have done it. Their list is pretty exhaustive with over 5000 successful remaps done across various cars right from your daily hatchbacks to exotic super cars! The most commonly remapped car for Pete's is a VW Polo 1.2 TSI and 1.5 TDI. The list of cars/manufacturers can be checked here - if yours doesnt exist here, dont hesitate to drop them a mail - if it can be done they will do it!

Taking the liberty to post a few items from their website, they are probably the only one in the country who are looking to open a tuning/detailing academy! They also conduct a Super Sunday event highlighting Super cars etc , there is one upcoming on the 13/14th january at Kochi - more details on their FB page!

“Pete’s Automotive Products Pvt Limited” started in January, 2005 to fill the gap in the Indian Automotive Industry. The Indian market did not have any good tuning products and we combined forces with Europe’s leading tuning box manufacturer PSI-Motorsport, Belgium to bring to the Indian customer a mature, safe and advanced diesel-tuning product. Later we ventured into Detailing with Chemical Guys and Smartwax.

We also are the authorized distributors of Bilstein Shock absorbers-Germany, H&R-Germany, Milltek Sport Exhaust systems-UK, Supersprint-Italy, Forge Motorsport Performance Parts-UK, Quaife-UK, TAROX-Italy, Green Cotton Filters-France, Powerflex-UK, SPEC clutches-USA, JBS Auto designs-UK, Custom Code UK, Smart Wax-USA etc dealing with performance & detailing parts for Automobiles

We have recently tied up with Alientech, Italy to distribute tuning equipment in the country and we are also in the process of setting up the country’s first Tuning & Detailing Academy. Stay tuned for the best the world has to offer.

Today we have more than 40 agents/dealers/franchisees around the country and we are in the process of increasing our presence in the coming months.
About Peter

The man behind Pete’s. He is the heart and soul of Pete’s. Pete’s was set up in January 2005, due to his passion and dream to bring to India what the rest of the world has. He is also involved in the hospitality, construction and confectionery businesses.
 
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Re: A little bit about remaps : Pete's Automotive

Typically the Kess V2 gives 4 options :-

ID - To read and identify the ECU type
Reading - To read the existing map (stock or otherwise)
Writing - To write a tuned map
Recovery - To restore or recover from failure (god help mode!)

Here is a video to know more , also plenty available to google in the internet :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAUffOMGI2E

Typically most tuners use Kess V2 and do the above operations - the master tuner will usually send the file that has the modified tune. In case of alientech the master tuners typically use ECM Titanium.
Here is a video to know more about it :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaWqjuyUUGc

The whole process involves first IDing the ECU and then reading the existing stock map file(in this case done by Pete's dealer), then sending this to the master tuner(Pete's and his tie up across master tuners - 5 to be very specific) who sends you back the tuned file which needs to be written using the Kess V2 software back to the ECU. The process of watching the writing back part on the ECU guarantees stomach butterflies.

Here are some of the photos taking during my remapping process in the Pajero Sport and Isuzu Vcross - ill write about the differences noticed in those respective threads once i have experienced it enough and conclusively. My initial reaction is extremely positive and butter smooth!



Connect the laptop with Kess V2 software via the OBD port to the vehicle, needless to say the most important thing is to make sure the laptop is stable and plugged to the supply with a good battery as well!

IMG_20170917_154732.jpg

IMG_20170915_161340.jpg

Reading the ECU

IMG_20170915_161336.jpg

Selecting the car type/ECU

kess-v2-kit-master-version-software.jpg

IMG_20170915_161405.jpg

Finally writing back the ECU with the tuned remap file

IMG_20170918_210743.jpg

IMG_20170915_175008.jpg

IMG_20170918_205030.jpg

At this point you can start breathing again!

IMG_20170915_175752.jpg


The process of remapping can vary from an hour to over 4-5 hrs depending on the type of vehicle/ECU - i heard the Fiat ECUs generate a big file and take a lot of time! The key however is to do this patiently and without making mistakes, you dont want to use the recovery mode ideally(some experiments end up there though)!

My Little Disclaimer :- Please do this only after you do your research, the word warranty should not be used on this post [lol]!
 
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Great write up! I got my friend's Polo GT TSi remapped from Pete's and we went for Pete's just for the same reason you have mentioned: a safe power upgrade. Also partly because they had a steal offer :P But yes it transforms the car and with a catback exhaust, that car is the ideal daily driver for me. In fact, I drive it more than him and love the in gear accelerations. Though there are a lot of good and reliable tuners now, Pete's has the history and I guess that tilts it towards him.
 
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@Iron Rock,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge to the forum. Do they also dyno before and after the tuning? Wondering how much power benefit your VCross was able to reach?
 
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@Iron Rock,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge to the forum. Do they also dyno before and after the tuning? Wondering how much power benefit your VCross was able to reach?
I have stayed away from dynos this time - my experience in the past tell me at best they are good reference points and variations seen between machines itself is 10-15% sometimes even more. For an upgrade which is theortically 20-25% range see no point doing it honestly.

In theory though the vcross map gives me about 25% more and PS 20% more - I trust the tuner here.

Great write up! I got my friend's Polo GT TSi remapped from Pete's and we went for Pete's just for the same reason you have mentioned: a safe power upgrade. Also partly because they had a steal offer :P But yes it transforms the car and with a catback exhaust, that car is the ideal daily driver for me. In fact, I drive it more than him and love the in gear accelerations. Though there are a lot of good and reliable tuners now, Pete's has the history and I guess that tilts it towards him.
True the man is an absolute gem of a guy! I will trust him for his maps and his safety record.
 
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I have stayed away from dynos this time - my experience in the past tell me at best they are good reference points and variations seen between machines itself is 10-15% sometimes even more. For an upgrade which is theortically 20-25% range see no point doing it honestly.
Yea, I learned a little bit about it just before reading your thread (link below). I assumed you (or Pete's) would have done a dyno just out of curiosity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxf8QlSNPoQ
 
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Thanks prabhagar glad you posted this, I was once in a funny situation with a tuner boasting numbers and the best part was when a stock car was dynoed it showed more numbers than what the manufacturer advertised :)

So sometimes numbers need to be taken as reference points rather than accuracy, if you are doing incremental updates over a period of time with trial and error/ experiments these things make some sense
 
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