Hi Guys,

 

I'm still new on here, but trying to get more of a concrete feel for reliability/longevity of the 1.4 Twincharger under the multiple states of tuning that can be achieved.  Having raised this in another thread and having been pointed to the number of high profile contributors to the forum who have tuned -> had issues -> sold or detuned. 

 

I have been unable to find a thread which would bring together a register of Briskoda members running the 1.4TSI in any state of (engine) tuning above stock who are doing so completely trouble free.

 

My hope is this can give a little light to those of us who fancy doing some modding to our cars but have been put off by some of the negative experiences.

 

Equally I am not blind to the fact this engine can be highly strung and has given many members issues, this is in no way intended to encourage people to carry out work on their cars which could lead to reduced reliability/damage/worst of all big financial outlay for repairs. 

 

I would therefore like to suggest that rather than have this become overly argumentative or filled with a lot of subjective bantering we try and keep this positive constructive and more than anything let's try and collect some facts across as many members as we can:

 

Along the lines of

 

Year of reg

Engine Mods carried out

Gains (if known)

What the car has been used for - daily driver or 1/4 mile and track

Issues before Mods (if any)

Issues after Mods (if any)

Mileage pre-tune

Mileage post-tune

 

Maybe in doing this you can help me come to some conclusions on whether the 1.4 twin should never be tuned/can go to stage 1 relatively safely/stage 2 and see if there are any themes in what particular tuning has shown to give the most issues.

 

Lastly, I did my utmost to try and find a comparable thread before posting this, if I didn't do my job and something exists, please advise and post a link.

 

Thanks

 

Mark

Hi Mark,

I have had mine remapped, details as below -

 

Year of reg - 2010

Engine Mods carried out - stage 1 remap (P-Torque)

Gains (if known) - Now 211bhp and 219 lb/ft

What the car has been used for - daily driver

Issues before Mods (if any) - none

Issues after Mods (if any) - none

Mileage pre-tune - 9000

Mileage post-tune - 8000

 

I bought mine secondhand (12 months old).

It used to have a high (ish) oil consumption ( 500ml per 1000 miles), but after the second annual service, that dropped off to now almost negligible in the last 6 months/4000 miles.

I use the car every day for commuting to and from work (approx. 15 mile round trip) and do regularly give it full throttle acceleration maxing out in the lower gears. 

Love the car and the surprise I give the Audi/BMW/Porsche drivers when they TRY to overtake me...

Hi Mark,

I have had mine remapped, details as below -

 

Year of reg - 2010

Engine Mods carried out - stage 1 remap (P-Torque)

Gains (if known) - Now 211bhp and 219 lb/ft

What the car has been used for - daily driver

Issues before Mods (if any) - none

Issues after Mods (if any) - none

Mileage pre-tune - 9000

Mileage post-tune - 8000

 

I bought mine secondhand (12 months old).

It used to have a high (ish) oil consumption ( 500ml per 1000 miles), but after the second annual service, that dropped off to now almost negligible in the last 6 months/4000 miles.

I use the car every day for commuting to and from work (approx. 15 mile round trip) and do regularly give it full throttle acceleration maxing out in the lower gears. 

Love the car and the surprise I give the Audi/BMW/Porsche drivers when they TRY to overtake me...

Brilliant, thanks Fossy, spot on reply.

 

Let's see if we can get some more.

Any more for any more?

A wee problem on putting your mods on open forums is you need to have that Modified Insurance with everything declared,

which most have. So are insured for the tuned car.

Because Forums are checked by Companies and Individuals.

 

Then you are either accepting that you have modified and are fine with no Manufacturers Warranty even if the car is within Warranty.

Or the car is out of Warranty and you are doing as you please.

 

george

Thanks George,

I understand, I guess as I wouldn't consider not declaring any mods I carried out to my insurer, I had expected that there would be plenty of people in a fully covered position who would have no issue declaring what work they had done.

I was actually surprised that when I enquired with my insurer, most common mods would have minimal impact, but obviously we all have different circumstances.

I also forget that many cars are still in warranty which many will not want to void, reduce.

I still believe there must be a good number of cars out there running declared mods.

We will see.

Year of reg 2011

Engine Mods carried out - TMC Tuning Box, ITG Maxogen CAI kit

Other mods - Whiteline Rear Anti-roll bar

Gains (if known) - definitely pulls harder- haven't RR'd it yet, handling is now superb when the bar is set on hardest.

What the car has been used for - daily driver

Issues before Mods None

Issues after Mods None

Mileage pre-tune 9700

Mileage post-tune 9980

Year of reg 2011

Stage 1 apr map,forge intercooler,cda induction kit,forge dump valve,middle silencer removed,whiteline anti roll bar and h&r springs

Not sure on gains(needs to be rr) handles well and goes like stink.

No issues before or after mods

10000 before mods

Now on 25000 still no issues

Thanks Wibb, Jonah2986, great to see some more trouble free tuned cars

Before I sold the Fabia...

 

 

Year of reg 2010

Engine Mods carried out TMC box and induction kit

Gains (if known) Probably about 210hp.

What the car has been used for - daily driver (was)

Issues before Mods (if any) - engine problem, faulty cable - repaired

Issues after Mods (if any) - engine failure, failed piston rings, brand new engine.

Mileage pre-tune - unknown

Mileage post-tune - unknown

Just wondering if we have anyone out there in the Briskie community running a Stage 2 setup on their MKII Fabia vRS

Before I sold the Fabia...

 

Issues after Mods (if any) - engine failure, failed piston rings, brand new engine.

I can't imagine what on earth could have persuaded you to sell the Fabia

Just wondering if we have anyone out there in the Briskie community running a Stage 2 setup on their MKII Fabia vRS

 

My car ran a stage 2 Shark performance, a stage 2 (custom) Jabbasport and a Stage 2 APR.  What you after?

My car ran a stage 2 Shark performance, a stage 2 (custom) Jabbasport and a Stage 2 APR.  What you after?

 

Hi Sy,

 

I'm looking at the APR Stage II map as a post-christmas project once the worst of the weather is out of the way and Christmas is paid for etc.

 

I got very respectable gains at Stage I from APR and looking at their online graphs the lift in BHP and TQ going Stage II seems pretty modest for the investment.  In fact the latest maps suggest 200bhp for Stage I and 210bhp for Stage II.  This is really confusing as to what map I got from Awesome GTI as my car Dyno'd at 213bhp when i was there.  Have APR scaled back there mapping due to a lack of faith in the engine? Did I get a stage II loaded (v doubtful) and if I wanted to Stage II and push more power, do I need to go custom.

 

Now given that I am not overly interested in spending money just to get a noisier exhaust as that's just not my thing (will want something well resonated) I'm just a little unsure whether the outlay is worth it to go Stage II even.

 

I don't know how long you ran at Stage II for before you bolted on the LOBA but I was also interested to hear how the cars at Stage II run long term as mine is liable a keeper and is my daily drive.

 

On a side note, I posted a thread on the LOBA with a link to a lad on SCN who is having some development work done on the LO270 to try and alleviate the misfire issue.  Am watching with interest as he will also have a spare LO270 for sale soon.

There are a few ways to look at stage 2.  Looking at gains is the least favourable as £/bhp is not in the same league as stage 1.

 

That said Stage 2 cars will run cooler Exhaust Gas Temperatures which is a very good thing.  the power delivery will widen substantially.  People misconstrue it with not feeling as urgent as with a stage 1 style map but thsats purely because the power stays in for longer rather than dropping off and giving the impression of a hihge surge of power.

 

APR dont quote massive figures as other tuners do, this means you will very nearly always make or surpass the quoted figures.  Others tend to quote high to make their sales but ultimately the cars rarely every reach such figures.  Have they de-tuned the software?  i dont know, I ran it before and after my LOBA was fited/removed.  Its certainly alot faster than a stage 1 setup, with an IC/Intake/TBE you would be looking at 220-230hp easily.  Also just because your car made 213Hp @Awesome, it doenst mean that was accurate.  Awesomes dyno does give bigger figures compared to APRs dyno in MK.  Provided you use the same dyno to log your gains id be confident ou will see a decent delta between your two maps.

 

As fpr the LOBA work, i wouldnt pay any attention.  It wasnt the turbo that was the cause or issue.  Its the valve train and and exhaust side of the head that is the restriction.  As said before, i really wouldnt reccommend stage 3, as you then end up in my boots and like multiple other people, spending thousands on other mods trying to make it all work to justify the initial outlay.  

 

Also regarding exhausts, i never ran a CAT back exhaust on my car even at stage 3 becuase i hate loud cars.  I just run the downpipe(which is where all the gains are) with the stage 1/2 software. Resut is all the power gains of a full TBE, but without the extra noise and saving me £500!  If the tuners tell you to buy a cat back, just ignore them!

Edited 17 December, 201312 yr by vRSy

Hi Sy,

 

thanks for the input, I understand what you say about APR and I looked long and hard into where i would spend my money before selecting an APR map so fully onboard with the comments.  So don't misunderstand me I appreciate what APR do in terms of development spend and I love having cruise stalk map switching but my point is more that I would be dissapointed to go Stage II and not be plumbing for 230bhp as a target, the overall benefits I am sold on, better delivery, increased torque and ultimately and even more driveable quick little car.

 

I do believe though that APR have actually downgraded the claims on their maps online, in fact just checking now the Awesome GTI site has the original APR Stage I map graph still up which claims up to 212bhp so my car pretty well hit this exactly albeit with an ITG Maxogen supporting.  on www.goapr.com this has now been lowered to 200bhp.  Looks like they have backed off their maps and the stage II claims now mirror my achieved Stage I power.

 

I have the before and after Dyno's from Awesome which you have seen, I fancy the bhp came out on the money but the torque read a shade high, which I believe their rollers are known for.

 

Equally from past conversations with your goodself I will certainly be looking for a downpipe with race cat as my preferred option (can't decat due to MOT.)

 

The Stage III will always have my interest so will keep coming back to Briskie for a reality check, I can't help it, but if I can go for a healthy 230bhp stage 2 then I would be a happy bunny.

Just looked at that thread.  Lucifer is on his second LOBA iirc.  Its already been back for repairs and failed again for the same issue.  he has had nightmare after nightmare with his car, but now his issue is that he has spent so much time and money on it that he has to see it through.  Id wager if you ask him he would recommend against it!  I also see he is having his head ported etc to free up the exhast side to minimise back pressure!  This was the next step for me just to achieve the LOBAs stated output!

 

As said before, I have no idea if APR have backed off their software, you would have to ask them, however, if they have maybe there is a reason for it!

Just looked at that thread.  Lucifer is on his second LOBA iirc.  Its already been back for repairs and failed again for the same issue.  he has had nightmare after nightmare with his car, but now his issue is that he has spent so much time and money on it that he has to see it through.  Id wager if you ask him he would recommend against it!  I also see he is having his head ported etc to free up the exhast side to minimise back pressure!  This was the next step for me just to achieve the LOBAs stated output!

 

As said before, I have no idea if APR have backed off their software, you would have to ask them, however, if they have maybe there is a reason for it!

Yup, again, have done my reading on his engine build, rebuild and build again   I do feel for him and how much he has put into the car, but it doesn't mean that there aren't things to be learned for others too.  In my thread linking to this I did say it's very much a wait watch and see situation.

 

APR have certainly either backed off the software or perhaps have lowered the stated claims as they now have two graphs out in the market for Stage I.  One at 200bhp and another at 212bhp.  There may well be a very good reason for this, be that reliability or customers cars not hitting the peak figures for whatever reason.

 

To date my car is using next to no oil, is very reliable at Stage I, gives better mpg, I feel it does achieve a solid 210bhp+ and is at the least dyno proven to have gained 30bhp peak going stage I.  More than anything it would be a little dissapointing if I can't at least step up to a Stage II setup and use APR as my remap of choice to release some more power.

Note: have e-mailed the main man at APR to ask the question, will update if responds

Has anyone installed LOBA270  or a similar hybrid?
What acceleration dynamics can be expected?

Now the dynamics of acceleration looks something like this(without seats and the spare wheel).
I would like faster

On ‎21‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 08:57, RailOS said:

Has anyone installed LOBA270  or a similar hybrid?
What acceleration dynamics can be expected?

Now the dynamics of acceleration looks something like this(without seats and the spare wheel).
I would like faster

 

I believe the best available hybrid to buy at the moment is the "360rs" by RTMG - Performance.