ECU Upgrades

[xalfa]

Anyone have any opinion on whether to mod or not to mod the 9-5 Aero engine.

I've been way down the road of extensively modifying cars and the habit is hard to remove.

It's that phrase at the back of your mind - that's nice but what if it had a little more .... before you know it you've spent yet more money on your car..

Speedparts, can the 2.3t engine handle the hike in power? or should this be left alone? i average 20,000 miles a year.

I need reliability and driveability and also wouldn't like to lose on economy. - should i leave this alone?

[mr saabman]

should i leave this alone?
No! get it ordered :wink:
can the 2.3t engine handle the hike in power?
I was once told by one of the well known Saab tuners that a standard engine is strong enough to handle 400bhp,fuel econony and reliability are unchanged.The fuel economy only increases slightly when you are pressing hard all the time but at normal speeds it is meant to be improved over factory figures,I cannot vouch for this claim as I never drive normally :oops: :wink:

[murphwiz]

Depends how far you want to go...

around 300bhp seems a safe figure for driveability and reliability, much above that and you will be looking at replacing engine hardware to ensure relibility.
The fuel system tends to be good for around that figure without changes, providing you leave all saab safeguards intact and rely on saoftware to do its stuff you should be ok!
For a more custom setup, try http://www.maptun.com/index_for.php for instant plug and go, speedparts are hard to beat! :D

Good luck! :cheesy:

[XAAMOTTOMAAX]

By no means am I an expert, but the most popular method of tuning the aero engine seems to be changing the ECM. This also seems to be the quickest way to wear out the particulars of the engine. Sure the pistons can handle loads of power, but it will wear everything else out at an accelerated pace. However, the ECM is also by far the most cost effecient way to gain power. I'm not speaking from experience, but I've been trying to decide the best route to go in tuning my 2000 aero as well. Ive decided to go with simple "breathing" bolt ons which will give me a bit more power, a sportier sound, but keep reliabilty at stock levels.

[mr saabman]

This also seems to be the quickest way to wear out the particulars of the engine. Sure the pistons can handle loads of power, but it will wear everything else out at an accelerated pace.
Not so sure about this,The Saab engines are very strong in all departments this is how they are able to acheive such high mileages :)

[XAAMOTTOMAAX]

"Also any ECU upgrade will highlight weak points elsewhere in the car and accelerate their demise (eg. DI cartridges, rubber hoses, dump valves, PCV check valves). How many cars with what are initially thought to be faulty ECUs, have actually got good ECUs and faulty old components?"

Maybe "engine particulars" was a bad way to word it...

[murphwiz]

They won't weaout any quicker as such.... of course depending on how you drive! Redlining all the time will wear out any engine.
The items you mention are fairly well known 'weak' point on the saabs, an ECU upgrade will not accelerate thier wear, but will highlight a problem previously not apparent in the std tune, these items need to be in top condition to make the most of the ECU..

As a note, increasing the brerathing capacity and bolting bits on without upgradeing the ECU will have little effect on a T7 equipped car...
The ECU will always stick to it torque map... if you reach its targets any quicker due to your better breathing, T7 will account for this an retard higher up the scale.

[XAAMOTTOMAAX]

Good info to have Murph...Will the bolt ons give me better throttle response below 2k rpms? My main goal is to try and get rid of some of the lag.

[murphwiz]

Good info to have Murph...Will the bolt ons give me better throttle response below 2k rpms? My main goal is to try and get rid of some of the lag.

If all you want to do is reduce lag, then something like a bleed valve in line may help, but needs to be mounted inline to keep apc control

[XAAMOTTOMAAX]

Abbott shows HP increases for each product they sell. Are these increases in conjunction with an ECM change or are they rated based on use with the stock ECM?

[murphwiz]

Abbott shows HP increases for each product they sell. Are these increases in conjunction with an ECM change or are they rated based on use with the stock ECM?

Marketing figures...
They've certainly shown no proof of increases, and if my understanding of how T7 works is correct, its pretty impossible to get them.

[XAAMOTTOMAAX]

bummer....bad news Im glad I got.
Maybe I will have to reconsider getting the ECM. I guess there is no way to turn off the retard on the Trionic 7?

[murphwiz]

bummer....bad news Im glad I got.
Maybe I will have to reconsider getting the ECM. I guess there is no way to turn off the retard on the Trionic 7?

No thats its whole reason for being! :cheesy:

An ECU will give good reliable power, assuming your not going to sit at the redline 8 hours a day! :o
But that goes for any engine upgraded or not!
I work it out, for the price of abbotts intake delivery pipe, and airfilter mod, you can have an ECU with genuine results!
As you want to improve your lowdown response, you may want to spend a bit more and speak to maptun, as they will customise to your specific requirements!
Or get an upgrade ecu, and add some form of bleed valve/mbc, this will whenmounted correctly improve low speed spool up, but needs to be mounted inline with the apc system, this still gives the ecu full control of the upper boost!
Otherwise you'll run into the T7 'retardation' system again!

[XAAMOTTOMAAX]

Youre the man Murph! I guess I'm going to have to rethink my plan of attack.

[murphwiz]

Youre the man Murph! I guess I'm going to have to rethink my plan of attack.
Sorry didn't mean to dump on your plan.. :oops:
but having a bit more info can't do any harm :D