Engine Management

ECUs        DIAGNOSTICS       STEINBAUER TUNING BOXES       THROTTLE BODIES

Please note we can also arrange remapping (chip tuning) via the OBD diagnostic port and on some trickier cars remap via chip removal / jump

Engine Management - a basic guide

With the advanced technology at our disposal nowadays carburettors are almost a thing of the past. Fuel injection comes in many shapes and sizes but in every case there is some form of computer deciding how much fuel to inject and when. It is the optimisation of this management combined with improvements in gas flow that to a large extent mean that a set of racing carburettors are no longer the favoured option.

The majority of production cars use some kind on plenum multipoint injection system. The plenum system allied to a single throttle body gives good mid range torque and low speed flexibility. They are usually well designed enough to enable a fair degree of tuning to release more power at the top end of the rev range. More often than not the biggest challenge is the current engine management system. If you have an airflow meter of some kind your computer will automatically provide more fuel in response to greater airflow. How much it can stand is the question. In Fuel Pumps we discussed fuel flow requirement. We know that the injectors will probably be able to flow up to 20% more fuel, so assuming we install other components (cylinder head, camshaft, exhaust) a 20% power gain keeping standard injection is probably realistic. You then reach a crossroads, either you can remap the existing system and stick with the plenum or you can replace the existing management and upgrade the injectors and keep the manifold. Some event regulations actually state the original induction system must be kept, but that the ECU can be changed. Approximately a 20-50% increase in power should be achievable with N.A engines and more with turbos keeping the existing manifold. Beyond this if your regulations allow throttle bodies are the way to go.

Fuel Injection