Here you find the answers to frequently asked questions.

What is chiptuning and why do we do it?
What is a CPU and what does it do?
Why is the constructor not doing this?
What is the fuelconsumption after tuning?
Does my car wear off faster?
Can I do this on a new car?
Are there any other adjustments needed?
Is the tuning tracable?
How long does it take to tune my car and can I wait for it?
Why is a powerbox sometimes bad for the engine of my car?
What is horsepower and torque?
Do I need a powerbench to see if a tuning really works?
Can I do tuning on a LPG car?






What is chiptuning and why do we do it?
Chiptuning is the rewriting of the motormanagement computerprogram to give the car more power and torque. This program controls and uses the total engine commands like injection-amounts, airmass, ignition-timing etc. By changing those threedimensional mappings we can give the car more power and torque. First of all of course we do it for drivingfun, then also for the fact that a car with more torque reacts better in traffic situations and last but not least the car will consome less fuel.
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What is a CPU and what does it do?
All new engines nowadays are controlled by a CPU or motormanagement computer system. Those computers steer the engine and at the same time control all functions of that engine. They change the injection and turbopressure and timing at the correct circumstances and balast. Those are written in so called mappings. They are threedimensional mappings as shown on the left picture. By rewriting those we can make the car more powerful or less powerful.
What is important is that the CPU keeps its function and keeps controlling the engine.
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Why is the constructor not doing this?
Carmanufacturers sometimes don't have a choice. They are tied up in the international emission laws and these are higher in some countries. Also some manufactures downtune some topmodels only by adjusting the software and without changing any mechanical parts, this only to put different powered versions on the market. It's logical that the powergain of those cars after chiptuning is enormeous. In some countries cars are downtuned only to be more (tax)attractive for the market.
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What is the fuelconsumption after tuning?
Because the engine becomes more powerful, it will have to deliver less 'energy' to move the same weight and therefore under normal circumstances the car will consume less fuel. Why do we say then 'under normal circumstances' ? Well … that's because when you would drive that car on full power all the time it will take more fuel.
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Does my car wear off faster?
Because we always keep the tuning within limits, the engine will not wear out more quickly then normal. Only by extreme usage will there be a difference.
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Can I do this on a new car?
Of course you can tune a new car, but … we don't advise to do so because in a new assembled engine there are still tensions present and the engine makes a higher temperature. So first we drive the car for 3 or 4 thousand miles and then we tune.
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Are there any other adjustments needed?
No … in principle there is no adjustment needed on the car. What we advise is the replacement of the airfilter by a more free model airfilter, which will increase the performance.
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Is the tuning tracable?
Most cars built after the year 2000 can be reprogrammed directly into the CPU and therefore it will not be possible to just see that the car is chipped, because the OBDII diagnostics software hasn't changed. The only software rewritten is the software of the motormanagement system, such as ignition timing, injection mappings etc… Mostly it's the customers fault when the tuning gets exposed - the customer leaves the papers from the chiptuning in his car and the police finds them after an accident … or the customer talks about his tuned car.
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How long does it take to tune my car and can I wait for it?
A normal chiptuning takes up to two hours to perform depending on the cartype and model, so during this little time period the customer waits with a coffee or a fresh beverage and … with the full explanation about what is going on !!
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Why is a powerbox sometimes bad for the engine of my car?
In some powerbox systems it's only the fuelpressure that is raised uncontrolled … Of course they give more injection but … if this is too high and not controlled the pressure raises in the highest point of the piston's action-stroke and the temperature rises quite high. There are cases known of melted pistontops due to this ! That's why in racecars they use custom made pistons in special materials to cope with this problem. The bad news is that this problem doesn't occur directly but after quite some time, and then it's mostly too late …. the damage is done.
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What is horsepower and torque?
Power:
A force is expressed in Newton. One needs 1 Newton to accelerate 1 kg every second with 1 m/s. With an acceleration gain of 1 m/s during every second we are talking of an acceleration of 1 m/s².
This is expressed in Newton [N].

Couple:
The power with which the crank shaft rotates, multiplied with the crank shaft radius, determines the couple. An elevated couple can be obtained by a long stroke-engine or by creating an increased combustion pressure above our piston.
This is expressed in Newtonmeter [NM].

Labour:br> We speak of executed labour when we've moved a certain mass over a certain distance. Each time we have to move something and need to use force to do so, we have executed labour. The labour is bigger when the mass is substantial.br> This is expressed in Newtonmeter[NM] or in Joule [J].

Performance:
A performance is the quantity of labour produced during a certain time.
This is expressed in Watt [W] or in Joule per second [J/s].
1 KW = 1,359 H.P.
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Do I need a powerbench to see if a tuning really works?
Most common powerbenches are from the acceleration type and only measure the speeding of a certain mass in a certain time. Those powerbenches are cheaper than their more expensive brothers. All depends here on the originality of the car. From the moment you change a wheel on the car …. the measurements are not accurate anymore. The easiest is to test the car yourself and drive it, let the engine make about 1600 RPM in third gear and accelerate up to 4500 RPM and then measure the difference. You'll probably already feel the difference just driving the car !!!
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Can I do tuning on a LPG car?
Tuning a car on LPG is possible but most of the time there are small profits in power to be made and the tuning is therefore too expensive.
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