Thinking of buying a TMC box for my 1.2TSI 105. Does anybody have any experience?

Thanks

they were a popular company with the fiat guys (when I had the GP) always got good reviews... I'm thinking of one for the vRS I like the idea of having something I can remove and leave no trace

a lot about tuning boxs on seatcupranet.com and most will say the only way is a remap and these things are waist of money. Looking foward to what other say.

they just do it a different way, by simply changing the inputs to the ECU... on the fiat forums, they never quite gave the ultimate power of remaps, but all worked really well !

Hi, Audi guys love them aswell nothing but gd things to say so might deff be sumit to think about :think::think:

Would be interested to see response on anyone whom has one of these and if they work.

Would be interested to see response on anyone whom has one of these and if they work.

well they definatley work properly.. , on the fiat forums, the 130bhp punto guys tnded to RR at 170-175 with one of these on

edit: these are their figures for the vRs..

KW PS NM K

Standard: 132 180 250

Tuned: 158 215 300

how do they get around encryptions etc, the guys remapping take ages to do get around it, and most put weeks of R&D into it.

Im just dubious as to how much R&D thery put into their box, or which ebay seller they buy their maps from. you have seen all the issues the 1.4TSI has been having

Its quite a simple concept actuall.. there is no need to crack incriptin, because the ECU is left totally unmolested! thats why its undetectable, the ECU runs exactly as it normally would, the box is , in itself an ECU, and alters the signals travelling too and from the ECU and the engine hardware..

from their site..

The second method is to use an external plug in Tuning Box , these units connect into the existing wiring of the vehicle generally using original manufacturers connectors , a control unit (Tuning Box) is then attached which can over-ride the signals coming from the cars ECU and alter them to allow the injectors or common rail to inject more fuel at certain times and increase turbo pressure to keep the air/fuel ratio correct.

These units are generally connected to either the fuel injectors or to the pressure sensor on the injection systems common rail (the common rail is a thin cylinder close to the injectors which holds the fuel at high pressure before feeding it to the injectors) and also to the pressure sensor of the turbo charger allowing us to increase turbo pressure to match the increased fuel.

me again: its like a piggyback ecu, running its own map to interupt and alter the standard settings.

from their site again..

A digital tuning unit has a microprocessor controlled computer board inside which is programmed with specific parameters for each individual vehicle to obtain the maximum performance without reaching the safety cut off limits set by the manufacturer, each unit is set up on a dynamometer so the results can be accurately measured , the digital unit will also not function until the accelerator pedal is pressed beyond a certain point at which you are demanding extra power , this means that no extra fuel is being added at idle and the extra fuel being injected is reduced again when the engine approaches maximum revs to avoid damage , put simply the digital unit is carefully designed using the latest technology to achieve the maximum performance safely from each individual make and model of vehicle, also the parameters in the digital tuning kit are hard programmed into the control chip so they can never alter over time or temperature.

so, if it alters signals it 'could' in the event of an over/under fuel, over/under boost, timing issue etc alter a signal to the ECU, resulting in the ECU thinking everything is alright, when in fact they could be over limits, but the ECU wouldnt be able to alter anything as its been tricked.

Wander if they did loads of logging on the road and dyno to get the optimum/safest settings for it etc

so, if it alters signals it 'could' in the event of an over/under fuel, over/under boost, timing issue etc alter a signal to the ECU, resulting in the ECU thinking everything is alright, when in fact they could be over limits, but the ECU wouldnt be able to alter anything as its been tricked.

Wander if they did loads of logging on the road and dyno to get the optimum/safest settings for it etc

well they set them up on RR'ds... the programs will alter a percentage of a signal using an algorythm, so if an overboost comes in ect, it will be passed through to the ECU..... thats how I'd do it anyway.. I'm sure the programmers have safety systems in place.... as the bumph says, designed to work within manufacturers safety limits, sure it would cut if it went outside set peramiters..

none of them ever caused a failure on any of the fiats (although some (I'll not mention the names) tuners did map them too far and blow turbos... they were running circa 190bhp (from the 130) though, not 170....)

install vid for 1.4 TSi engine

seems pretty straight forward to fit. someone should take a brave pill and get one

i dont care how 'undetecable' this is im sure a dealer wouldnt replace the engine under warranty if one of these boxes blew it up, even if it was removed after.

seems pretty straight forward to fit. someone should take a brave pill and get one

I may....

Does look pretty simple to fit, a little concerned as to what temps the box can withstand being in the engine bay...

i dont care how 'undetecable' this is im sure a dealer wouldnt replace the engine under warranty if one of these boxes blew it up, even if it was removed after.

people always worry about this, but it rarely happens, and engine or turbo that blows is usually due to an inherant fault anyway. (and would blow if it was modded or not) there is alot of publicity due to the fact that that sort of story gets onto the websites and owners clubs alot...

I've never blown up any of mine, and I have increased the power on most of the cars I've owned, and i generally do alot of miles.. previous car (the fiat) was mapped at 4,000 miles, and I ran it witout any failure to 107k

on the mark I vRS I had I even ran one of those nasty cheap "resistor" mods, that do have massively bad publicity, because they just make the engine overfuel, and I ran it for 80k witout issues (the EGR valve gunged up at 60k, but then alot of them did anyway, modded or not!)

modern engines are very tough.

modern engines maybe tough but as janner has said before there has been enough engine failures in the ibizas. for the risk of blowing the engine and paying anywhere up to a few k to fix it, the £150 on top of this box for a custom map is well worth it in my eyes.

i understand you only ever hear the bad stories but i dont no a single person, other than you now, thats ever had luck with these sort of boxes.

if they were so amazing everyone would go this route rarther than remapping as its cheaper and undectable.

how does it account for any other mods such as intakes or exhausts??

modern engines maybe tough but as janner has said before there has been enough engine failures in the ibizas. for the risk of blowing the engine and paying anywhere up to a few k to fix it, the £150 on top of this box for a custom map is well worth it in my eyes.

i understand you only ever hear the bad stories but i dont no a single person, other than you now, thats ever had luck with these sort of boxes.

if they were so amazing everyone would go this route rarther than remapping as its cheaper and undectable.

how does it account for any other mods such as intakes or exhausts??

Tuning boxes are very big in the Vauxhall scene, a lot of diesel astra's run these. I remember being in a 1.9 CDTI with a DTUK Red Box installed and it was lightning quick compared to standard

turbos on vauxhalls are almost like consumables. Maybe they had tuning boxes

Tuning boxes are very big in the Vauxhall scene, a lot of diesel astra's run these. I remember being in a 1.9 CDTI with a DTUK Red Box installed and it was lightning quick compared to standard

i dont care how fast it will make the car go, its how fast can it go without blowing it up.

i dont care how fast it will make the car go, its how fast can it go without blowing it up.

But that could in theory happen with a map.

i dont care how fast it will make the car go, its how fast can it go without blowing it up.

why are you obsessed with these boxes blowing things up? I have bever ever heard of it happenening with any more frequency than a remap (Infact on the fiat forums, its never happened as far as i know, but has happened often with maps) they are as safe as a remap, in my opinion more safe, as they are often more conservative..

But that could in theory happen with a map.

indeed, just the same thing, a computer program altering how the ecu operates, if you are that worried about your engine blowing, you wouldn't modify

tbh its hard not to agree with that

Im just not a fan of them tbh as i think a GOOD remap will alter a great deal more parameters to ensure everything works in harmony and at its optimum in comparison. But a crap or cheap remap wil be just as bad if not worse.

When it comes to tuning people look at two things normally ; How cheap is it and which gives the best figures. What they should be looking at is:

who offers the best map in turn of longevity,

1-realistic and slightly reserved figures, doesnt go hunting for the highest figures, but with a smooth sustainable power delievery thats tractable and mechanically sympathetic on the running gear.

2-reasonably priced, which doesnt mean cheapest, nor most expensive.

3-carries out extensive R&D on cars and their map developments,

4-has alot of positive reviews, but most importantly an excellent aftersales support.

A downside i do see is, with remaps we have seen it many times how some car s react completely different to others, i.e. some cars are fine, yet another with identical map and mods will have flats spots, but a quick retune will solve that. Also things like exhausts and intercoolers will not be catered for with this tuning box. So whats the deal if it slightly out of tune with your car and not others.

Also before you remap your car, a good tuner worth his salt will log the car before hand fpr faults and log it after to see if faults have arisen. None of that with the tuning box

Edited 1 August, 201114 yr by janner_Sy

tbh its hard not to agree with that

Im just not a fan of them tbh as i think a GOOD remap will alter a great deal more parameters to ensure everything works in harmony and at its optimum in comparison. But a crap or cheap remap wil be just as bad if not worse.

When it comes to tuning people look at two things normally ; How cheap is it and which gives the best figures. What they should be looking at is:

who offers the best map in turn of longevity,

1-realistic and slightly reserved figures, doesnt go hunting for the highest figures, but with a smooth sustainable power delievery thats tractable and mechanically sympathetic on the running gear.

2-reasonably priced, which doesnt mean cheapest, nor most expensive.

3-carries out extensive R&D on cars and their map developments,

4-has alot of positive reviews, but most importantly an excellent aftersales support.

A downside i do see is, with remaps we have seen it many times how some car s react completely different to others, i.e. some cars are fine, yet another with identical map and mods will have flats spots, but a quick retune will solve that. Also things like exhausts and intercoolers will not be catered for with this tuning box. So whats the deal if it slightly out of tune with your car and not others.

Also before you remap your car, a good tuner worth his salt will log the car before hand fpr faults and log it after to see if faults have arisen. None of that with the tuning box

absolutley.. with a custom map it can be tuned to suit other mods, and the specific car, like your map have nice accross the range power without worrying about headline figures, be tuned to your specific exhaust ect ect..

the way to think about these digital boxes, is as a generic remap in a box, lower power figures , not tunable to the specific mods, but just as safe, cheaper, and removable without trace.