[amit_mechengg]

Review: Wolfmoto Switchable Remaps


I have been driving a Linea MJD since three years now. Have done lots of DIYs and permutation combinations of oils and have taken utmost care of my car.
Fiat India has always helped me smile with the amazing service they have given me over the period of ownership.
I mostly drive in the city with a daily commute of 60 kms. I have always loved the linea in stock form too , but the city drivability is the questionable area for many when it comes to Fiat Multijets, Punto and the Linea.

True – The 1st and 2nd gears are short, before the exhaust gases build up enough to give a full spool to the turbo we are forced to change gear or sometimes hit the brake again and back to square one. This gives a feeling of lag, even if the engine revs nothing revolutionary happens and this is kind of irritating when you are on the boil to reach your destination as soon as possible.
Over the period I tested few tuning boxes – I wont name any, please, I don’t want controversies, to overcome the above problem. I got good power and push in the upper ends of the revs, but to be frank I hated the car more with tuning boxes. Reason – drivability was hampered totally and secondly my 10% of the so called knowledge in the automobiles and technical areas were ringing alarms in my mind and heart too that the working of tuning boxes is not even 1% correct.

Tuning boxes just drop the voltages across the common rail sensor to fool ECU to supply more fuel. The second type of tuning boxes fool both Rail pressure sensor as well as MAP sensor.
The whole idea of tuning boxes is to fool and fool. But these manufacturers rob our money to build cheap resistors and cheap IC based boxes which cost peanuts to manufacture, but they cost us a bomb.
I am not saying this based on just on hands experience, but I have enough substantial proofs after extensive logging to showcase that the factory parameters are exceeded which is harmful to the engines. I know some people might debate that I have run lacs of kms with boxes and nothing happened to my car etc etc. but then I would just say that they have a goodluck.

Ok coming back to the topic one fine day thanks to Mathew Josephs, I saw a facebook post of switchable remaps. I dint read further on how the driving experience was etc etc. I just mailed the Wolfteam guys with some simple questions. To my surprise I got a quick reply and I was amazed to see perfect answers to all my questions that too 100% technically correct. Most of the tuners ( I wont mention names) failed this very basic test and gave me vague buttery answers which I would never buy. If there is something fishy I sense it immediately. I start hearing noises “ Gol maal hai bhai gol maal hai”

Then I replied them back with few more questions about the switch etc. Immediately I received a call from Aadarsh who is the implementing partner with Rajiv who is the main brain behind all this who cracked the concept of switchable maps.
http://nefariousmotorsports.com/foru...p?topic=1556.0

I bombarded Aadarsh with detail technical questions and requirements after which he said “Hold on Amit, better you speak to Rajiv directly “
Before I could call Rajiv I got a call from him. We had a talk for about 1 hour and the best thing I immediately noticed about Rajiv was his transparency. He never intended to do this commercially. It was just his passion and utilization of free time to explore the ECUs, maps and other stuffs. He did all this as a part of DIY on his Skoda 1.8 TSI. Then he did it on Aadarsh’s swift and then it kind of went viral.

From my talks with Rajiv I found out that he is technically very sound, a patient listener and welcome to ideas and information from others. Only a down to earth person with Zero ego does this. He respects other tuners, doesn’t utter a single bad word about them and refrains from commenting on their work too.

By now I had a very good experience on the MJD engines due to all the investigations and DIY I keep doing so I shared a few critical points on the MJD and especially the working of the VGT loop on the linea and punto90 hp. Rajiv promised me to take care of all the things I was very particular about, not only the performance but mainly the drivability and safety of the engine.

The first read on my linea failed, we all got a bit nervous, but soon realized that it was the laptop issue. Rajiv took out the ECU and then hooked it to his BDM rig and took the read in flat 2 minutes. He immediately pushed the changes, the switchable maps while I was seeing his work.
We connected the ECU and checked if the switches of the maps was working properly in the standstill car. Then we cranked the engine and realized all was fine.
I took the car on a good spin with the ECU scanned hooked in to ensure that the max rail pressure and the boost set by factory do not exceed. I was immediately impressed with the smoothness, the low turbo lag and the way the car was responding to just small taps on the accelerator. One this immediately came to my mind “ Now that’s what I call a performance”

I dint show much joy to Rajiv who was sitting in the co-driver’s seat with laptop. I kept revving to max, changing gear and ripping to max and kept asking the values to Rajiv. This was with full five people on board and with AC on. This was the worst case testing scenario. Not even a single time, I repeat not even a single time the rail pressure and other critical parameters went above the factory limits. Wow, I am enjoying power without worrying about the health and safety of the engine now.

Even if the factory limits are not crossed I am very particular about the EGT( Exhaust Gas Temperature). We have no equipment to test this currently, so in the most powerful map tuner has recommended not to keep the accelerator floored for more than 30-40 seconds on expressway at high rpms.
We are planning to log the EGT as well when my equipment arrives.

We also don’t know how much is the increase in BHP or how much is the increase in the Torque. But my BUTT Dyno says there is good amount of increase. Well for me the figures don’t matter at all. What I emphasize upon is the performance, the drivability and the safety of the engine. A tuning box claims 112 bhp and 240nm torque. But the drivability sucks on them and then way the power comes is totally rubbish.

The very most important thing which we wanted was to delete the EGR, the EGR causes lots of soot inside the intake. Till date no tuner was confident that he can completely shut the EGR on Linea. According to them they tried doing that and errors cropped up after driving 20-25 kms.
The next flash that Rajiv did on my car was with EGR deleted. While the other cars were remapped I took my car for a long drive to check if error comes up. In 63 kms of testing I dint get any sort of error. This was the most happiest moment in the whole exercise. I congratulated Rajiv for cracking this one.
Meanwhile Punto 75 hp was ready for testing. God we were totally shocked to see the 75 hp transform into such a mean machine. The lag is gone, car behaves like VGT and climbs the flyovers with full load in 5th gear. The throttle response is so good. I started loving Punto more than my linea. Agile and quick.

Coming back to the Switchable maps here is what we got.
Map 1. Stock mode.
Map 2. Economy mode. Acts like stock in lower ends, car doesn’t pull to top end ( good as valet mode or to make your friends and relatives to drive your car in this mode J)
Map 3. City mode, less lag moderate power, efficiency not reduced, drivability vastly improved
Map 4. City Highway mode, good power, zippy, builds revs quickly, minimal gear changes required, smooth – this is my favorite map
Map 5. High power – crazy mode, MJD turns into a beast. This is for the racer boys. I bet no similar segment car can beat you in this. This map comes with few warnings from the tuner.

There is a shift on fly with got along with the above 5 maps. As soon as you hit 4100 rpm in any but stock map you directly jump to the most powerful map. This is a very handy feature when you want to race anyone or overtake in a zippy.

I have given further requirements to Rajiv to enable map changes while the engine is on via some of the Canbus buttons. He will be looking into this.
I want to sincerely thanks WOLFMOTO Team, Rajiv, his brother Haari and Aadarsh for working with us day and night without hesitation.
I wish them all the best for future endeavors.

[Jimmy_u]

Originally Posted by amit_mechengg

Review: Wolfmoto Switchable Remaps

.

Hi amit_mechengg,

Congrats.

This is good stuff. I was contemplating purchasing a resale punto/Linea such that I can remap It and use it as a Daily drive.

Would Appreciate you sharing details continuously on this forum as it would benefit many like me who have such queries.I have read most of the remap thread on our forum and the common though always on my mind was how can the FGT performance be remapped v/s a VGT .

Hope I can request you for a quick ride once I finalize my decision and procure the Italian Steed.

Cheers
Jimmy

[amit_mechengg]

Originally Posted by Jimmy_u

Hi amit_mechengg,

Congrats.

This is good stuff. I was contemplating purchasing a resale punto/Linea such that I can remap It and use it as a Daily drive.

Would Appreciate you sharing details continuously on this forum as it would benefit many like me who have such queries.I have read most of the remap thread on our forum and the common though always on my mind was how can the FGT performance be remapped v/s a VGT .

Hope I can request you for a quick ride once I finalize my decision and procure the Italian Steed.

Cheers
Jimmy

The Fiat MJD is a very capable machine. The VGT is a very mod friendly engine and one can tune it in many different avatars. Its a revv friendly engine.

We tested my car by dragging with the linea TJET three times. The MJD beats the TJET by atleast 3-4 car lengths.
What more do you want?? Very soon i am going to do a VBOX/Dyno test. I have a gut feeling that the 0-100 is coming under 11 seconds approx.

The drivability in the city has changed totally. You feel as if you are driving a light maruti with a peppy petrol engine.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by amit_mechengg

We tested my car by dragging with the linea TJET three times. The MJD beats the TJET by atleast 3-4 car lengths.
What more do you want?? Very soon i am going to do a VBOX/Dyno test. I have a gut feeling that the 0-100 is coming under 11 seconds approx.

Good work. I'm really looking forward to the dyno run. I had done dyno run for the RD box dual channel box earlier, and I'm really looking forward to the improved low end performance in this remap.

Better than the TJet!!! I'm glued to this thread. Come on... Please let the figures speak now.

PS- You can use the graph from my thread if you need comparison. We had done it on our own without manufacturer assistance. Hence I don't think it should be a controversy.

[Digital Vampire]

Good review...Well written Amit!

We tested my car by dragging with the linea TJET three times. The MJD beats the TJET by atleast 3-4 car lengths.

A TJET beating 1.3L MJD is something to look out for!

Very soon I am going to do a VBOX/Dyno test. I have a gut feeling that the 0-100 is coming under 11 seconds approx.

No offence, but I really doubt whether a 1.3L remapped MJD can beat the 10.2s 0-100 that the TJET manages. Even if it doesn't beat a TJET, an under 11 second run would be impressive enough. Looking forward to the VBOX figures. Please make sure that the tests are done on a level surface.

[amit_mechengg]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Good work. I'm really looking forward to the dyno run. I had done dyno run for the RD box dual channel box earlier, and I'm really looking forward to the improved low end performance in this remap.

Better than the TJet!!! I'm glued to this thread. Come on... Please let the figures speak now.

PS- You can use the graph from my thread if you need comparison. We had done it on our own without manufacturer assistance. Hence I don't think it should be a controversy.

Having tested the same box earlier i can say that there is a vast difference in drivability, especially city drive. The way the car drives and responses to the throttle with a tuning box and a proper remap is way apart.

Originally Posted by Digital Vampire

No offence, but I really doubt whether a 1.3L remapped MJD can beat the 10.2s 0-100 that the TJET manages. Looking forward to the VBOX figures. Please make sure the tests are done on a level surface.

Well even i dont know the timings as of now. Also we tested from 10kmph onwards. And i can confidently say that the MJD beats TJET while on the move.

We all stand by the fact that the 1st gear and the bulk (1395 kgs - tested on a digital weigh bridge) kills the 0-100 timings, but there is one chart in the quantitative analysis of sedans thread where even the stock in gear accelerations of the linea MJD are better than bigger powered petrol / diesel sedans too.

[IshaanIan]

I too heard about Wolfmoto on the FMC page, WOW faster than a T-Jet?

Really looking forward to some more details and figures. Makes me wonder how much faster they would be able to make a T-Jet go

Glued to this thread now.

[amit_mechengg]

There is a video on their FB page, Swift doing 0-100 in under 10 seconds.

[F150]

So now we have one more option for remap along with Petes and ToT.

The claims are tall, would love to see the results of a dyno run.

There is a photo of a linea marked as TEST MULE on their FB page, is that yours ?

What is the cost of the remap ?
I am still wondering about the concept of switchable maps. Would love see some pics on how it is done.

Congratulations !!

[DRIV3R]

The FIATs came with BOSCH ECUs for the initial batch. They had very limited ROM memory, I guess something around 512KB.

But the current crop, from 2010 onwards, have Magneti Marelli ECUs, which has around 2.5MB of ROM space IIRC. So, this gives to opportunity to save 4 maps.

Coming to the switching part, I guess Amit has already explained. Switch can be made when car is idle and ignition on, by just tapping the A pedal. The temperature guage is programmed to indicate which map is selected.

On the fly, the switch is programmed to happen when the car touches 4100 rpm, though the switch is to the 4th map only, which is the most powerful.

[tabrez]

absolutely Fantastic Amit,
a Linea MJD in the vicinity of a T-Jet !! The only reason I backed off from buying the Linea MJD was the added weight was bogging down the same state of tune of the engine as in Punto 90bhp. Hence, chose Punto over it's bigger cousin. But still yet, the conservation ECU doesn't allow us to explore the complete potentials of the chassis & not to mention, the in-city driveability leaves lot to be desired.

Few questions I hope you don't mind answering

1. What do you actually mean by EGR deleted ? Don't emission norms compel EGR ?
2. Which of the above map allows you to completely do away with EGR ?
3. How did you ensure that EGR was completely deleted ?
4. With EGR gone, has your FE inch'ed north ?
5. How do you switch between maps ?
6. Cost of this exercise ? Is this a lifetime charge, similar to the business model at Tune-O-Tronics ?
They would allow for further tuning/recalibration up until the point customer is satisfied with his map

[amiya.c]

Congrats Amit for this wonderfull upgrade on your Car. Punto and Linea are in desperate need of this low end torque for the city rides.

I knew about ECU remaps and have got one for my Fiesta Classic from T-O-T but the funda of switchable maps is new to me, in fact what I know is that the switchable maps/settings come with the tuning boxes. I actually read your post couple of times to understand as to from where the other maps are coming from, what I understood is the other maps are stored in the ECU itself and get enabled when you hit a certain rpm.
I can relate this to the self adapting ECU feature, that is, the ECU creates it's own new maps based on the throttle responses received. For example, if after a proper warm up I have a sedate drive for some kms, say 10, then it responds like it had adapted for it, it shows little hesitation to cross 2300 rpm or 2500 rpm and asks me to upshift early. I get maximum mileage in this type of running. Whereas if I press the throttle for a while beyond 2500rpm to 3000rpm a new beast gets born. Then even the low end torque increases and on slightest of push the car jumps like a beast. It accelerates all the way to 3200-3300 rpm easily from 2nd gear onwards.
I am new to all this stuff and this is my understanding now. I f I recall then Siddharth (from T-O-T) also told me that the ECU will adapt to your driving style every now and then. So are these switchable maps related to the ECU adapting to our driving style?

[ghodlur]

@Amit,

Congratulations on the remapping. Both the Fiat beauties might be behavings like beasts in the guise of beauty. Would be particularly more interested in knowing about the success in the Punto. I might PM you whenever I drop in at Pune to just have a first hand look at the car.

So now the maps cant be switched on the go, right? & Wolf team is looking at providing options to do so in future? I mean most of the times we would be in City map but would need to switch the City +highway map at an instant. Has the BHP of the Punto increased & by what values?

Any pics to validate the maps?

[Born2Slow]

Here is a video on how the switch is indicated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=S4oW7jhy8xQ

[schakravarthy]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

The FIATs came with BOSCH ECUs for the initial batch. They had very limited ROM memory, I guess something around 512KB.

But the current crop, from 2010 onwards, have Magneti Marelli ECUs, which has around 2.5MB of ROM space IIRC. So, this gives to opportunity to save 4 maps.

I own a first batch Punto, a 2009 model to be precise. So, does that mean I can't have switchable maps?

Are the ECUs interchangable. Forgive me if you find my question stupid. I was just wondering, what if my car's ECU gets damaged accidentaly? Which type of ECU will I be given as a spare? If it's a type 2, then will I be able to procure a spare right now and get switchable maps on it?