Month: December 2019

“Mahina hatak” “Walang lakas” are two phrases I hear a lot when people come to the shop. I usually separate these in two: the ones that think their car has no power and it’s just in the their heads and the ones that actually have something wrong with the car. The ratio is something like 30/70

Hence this is why we have a Dyno so that we can quantify how much power the car is making. Phrases like “hindi ganun takbo dati” doesn’t help. Obvious we have no before and after comparison so we wouldn’t know. With the Dyno we can see if the car is making the correct power or if the transmission is not transferring the power.

In the case of the Fortuner, a simple filter is often the cause of power loss, this little thing

This the manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor filter. And like every filter, this gets clogged with dirt. And when it gets clogged, the pressure that gets read by the MAP sensor gets smaller and smaller. So instead of 12psi, it’s only reading 7 or 8 psi, and thus the Ecu will take this input and output the amount of fuel commensurate to that pressure reading. Higher pressure means more fuel injected and thus more power, low pressure equals less fuel and obviously less power.

And the power loss isn’t drastic like malakas today and mahina tomorrow. It’s very very gradual over the span of months and years. And you won’t notice it in city traffic driving because at these low speeds, the engine isn’t making a lot of boost because the pedal you apply isn’t great also.

The most telling is that when you go on a long trip and you can’t seem to overtake that pesky tricycle in front or can’t climb the steep road even on full throttle.

And annoyingly enough, there will never be a check engine light warning you that something is wrong, because as far as the Ecu is concerned, everything is operating as it should and within parameters, with the sensor function and reading.

We’ve encountered many a Fortuner with this problem with casa maintenance records but no mention of this filter ever being replaced, all with the same complaint on why it has no power.

So this is the first thing we check before we do any tuning whatsoever and the way we do it is pretty low tech, simple take out the filter and blow into it, then we will know if it’s barado or not.

You should also get the original Toyota part and not the fake ones as we have the fake filters crack apart after boost goes through it.

Like this 3.0L Fortuner that made a baseline power of 145whp, not bad but the graph doesn’t look right, it’s too flat. Stock power graph should look like a hill with peak power at 3000-3500rpm. And as we suspected the boost is not correct also and so we replaced the filter and went from 145whp to 160whp without doing no nothing.

No with the boost correct and car making the correct power we now proceed to remap the ECU and the final output is a very impressive 201whp and 470 Nm of torque!

I get screenshots like this every so often from people wanting a second opinion on what to do with their cars, and a lot of these are dumb stupid ideas, like this guy.

Read his “recommendations” and let it sink in, as I explain the absurdity of what he’s peddling.

It’s actually pretty smart, starting off with a disclaimer, that it’s ideal to get a tune, which gives him blanket coverage for when people realize on why it doesn’t work.

All bolt ons and no modifications needed. Dude a bolt on is already a modification. He doesn’t know the difference between the two.

He goes on to say that more can be done. Well duh of course, sky’s the limit as long as you have money. And yes you will notice a difference. More on that later.

Let’s go through his list of “bolt ons”

A bigger throttle body from a Corolla Altis. Bigger throttle bodies have been a performance staple ever since the days of carb engines but this is DEFINITELY NOT a bolt on, as shown by his second line, Port Matched Intake Manifold.

The Vios manifold is PLASTIC, in order for make the hole bigger, you need to grind away the plastic and relocate the mounting holes for the throttle body, how the hell is this a bolt on??? Bolt on means that the part is installed and taken off with just screws and bolts, no damaging or alteration of the original parts. FAIL

Headers and full exhaust. I’ve covered this extensively in my other post about the different header types, short and long tube, and unless he has access to a Dyno to prove that whatever he does makes power and not lose it, well you just have to take his work for it, promise.

Lightened crank pulley. Yes this works, yes this adds power, he never did state how much. I’ll tell you 2-3hp at most.

Change to bigger injectors. This is monumentally stupid. The stock injectors of the Vios are more than enough to make the air fuel ratio rich as hell, up to the 11:1 range. And you never want that kind of AF in a non turbo engine. The only difference you’ll feel with this is the frequent trips to the gas station because sobrang lakas sa gas.

Lower final drive. This doesn’t add any power but does add response. The question is, at what price? To install a final drive, the whole transmission needs to be taken apart, plus you will screw up your odometer reading, and for manual cars, more shifting as the car can coast less which results in once again Mas Malakas sa gas kasi laging sumisibat sa konting tapak. There’s a very good reason why final drive changes are only done for racing cars and not street cars.

For an in-depth explanation of pros and cons of changing the final drive, here’s Engineering Explained

And it’s always a compromise on what you have currently depending if you get a lower or higher final drive: more sibat means lower speed per gear and top speed and and crappier mileage. Better economy equals crappier acceleration in every gear, but higher top speed.

And have you guys seen the prices on a set of final drive gear and shaft?

Baka Ma-heart attack kayo at $540, that still doesn’t included the labor or the brains to have one installed.

For a dude that “offers” transmission rebuild services, he doesn’t know how to make an intake. Hmmmmm I smell bullshit and horseshit. So K&N must have been scamming people for almost half a century because they sell nothing but filters and intakes.

Then again, he did say tuning is always ideal 🤦‍♂️ That’s his get out of jail free card for any problems that will happen.

And all you have is his word that works, no pictures, no actual car, and more importantly NO DYNO chart.

So if this guy wants to prove me wrong, by all means bring it and I’ll Dyno it for free, and let the whole Vios and car community know you are a class A Bullshitter

Another day another correction by us due to the stupidity and incompetence of another shop. The problem with these exhaust shops is that none of these morons know how an engine works. Watching the 4 stroke cycle in slow motion doesn’t make you an engineer, much less understand what firing order is or air fuel ratio.

Such is the misfortune of this Lancer EX who has the WRONG header design installed on his car. Note to exhaust shop, you’re suppose to pair 1-4 and 2-3 if you’re going to create a 4-2-1 header, NOT 1-2 and 3-4.

Not that is matters because the Lancer EX MUST have a 4-1 header design in order for the oxygen sensor to work and read properly. Splitting and pairing the exhaust the wrong way cause wrong readings and sure enough, when we put it on the Dyno, the air fuel ratio is in the 16:1 region, way too lean and also why it keeps throwing a check engine.

Left to right: Stock header, Dumb exhaust header, Hotpipes headers

Another mistake of the Dumb exhaust header is the lack of a flexible section to isolate engine vibration from the chassis, which led to the muffler vibrating wildly, Never mind that 2 of the 3 exhaust hangers are also missing.

On top of all, it’s just our luck that the ECU stopped communicating with the ETACS body module, no doubt due to the other shop not removing the battery while welding the muffler.

So after fixing the ECU, we asked for the stock exhaust components back, header, muffler, midpipe so that it will make trouble shooting easier. Once everything was up and running, we proceeded to do a baseline reading with the stock headers and exhaust, and it got us 110whp, which is the correct power figure for the 1.6L Lancer MT.

For shits and giggles, we put back Dumb exhaust’s header and dynoed again. Lo and behold! A big fat ZERO HORSEPOWER gain.

I really have no words. Ok maybe I do and they are F%#^ S%#* A$$¥}+?$ M@%@^

Putting our Hotpipes headers and what do you know? Instant 10hp gain without doing no nothing!

Well his aim was to have the car tuned because Dumb exhaust told him to do so in order to get rid of the check engine light.

Uh news flash asshole, the engine light is because of tuning, it’s because your work is a piece of dog shit.

So tune with Unichip we did and final power output is 140whp, up from 110whp stock.

Thin red line – Dumb Exhaust header

Thick red line – Stock header

Purple line – Hotpipes headers

Dark blue line – Unichip tuning

So yes, 30hp gain, no check engine, correct air fuel ratio and Hindi Malakas sa gas. All the things you want in a car.

#tanginakamilangtalagamagaling