3 replies to this topic

[fastgp]

is the PPC tuning device that Viva and EST sells all it cracked up to be? i want to and some performance to my car and was wondering if i have this would i need to get a custom tune after my mods or would just be able to tune myself? my car is 99v70xc

[Fudge_Brownie]

Depends on these "mods", so please elaborate on what you are looking to do to your car. For example, are we talking about a cat-back exhaust and an air filter, or are you shooting for a larger turbo?

Tip, people around here generally refer to the PPC device as a "RICA tune" or simply "RICA". The PPC device is what is used to install the tune to the 99+ ECU's. Pre-99, it is still a RICA tune, just the method of installing the tune is different (soldered on to the ECU)

There is a non-stop debate on who is the best 'tuner', so asking is RICA better than company X is well discussed so please search the forum for more info there. But to answer your question on a generic scale, many members find great gains from a higher psi tune provided by companies such as RICA. For modifications like a larger turbo, getting a tune matched to your set up from a tuner like RICA is important to keep your AFR's (air to fuel ratio) in check and realize the most gains while maintaining a margin of safety.

So basically... yes.

[fastgp]

oh ok. i was just really wondering if it was justifiable so spend that amount of money on a single perfromance item. truthfully with my car having a LPT motor i was just gonna do a turbo-back exhuast and a custom intake and if i have enough a front mount or drop in intercooler upgrade. if i were just to do the upgrades stated would i even need a tune? i just want a lil more pep in my step

[Fudge_Brownie]

fastgp, on 13 November 2009 - 05:12 PM, said:

oh ok. i was just really wondering if it was justifiable so spend that amount of money on a single perfromance item. truthfully with my car having a LPT motor i was just gonna do a turbo-back exhuast and a custom intake and if i have enough a front mount or drop in intercooler upgrade. if i were just to do the upgrades stated would i even need a tune? i just want a lil more pep in my step

A tune is seen as quite the bang-for-the-buck, and an easy upgrade. But more importantly, you'll want to do it at the same time as your mentioned upgrades (To eliminate costs of "retuning" to accommodate upgrades). Otherwise you can do the tune now, perform the upgrades later, and have the PPC re-programmed to match at an upgrade rate, $100-$150? The larger downpipe will require a tune specific to the larger DP, or you'll run rich, negating the benefit from the higher flow pipes. Some might argue otherwise, but you might want to have your ECU tuned for the IC upgrade as well since the idea behind a more efficient IC is to lower charge temperature. That being said, I'm pretty sure many of the members here with an upgraded IC did not adjust their tune for it. Whether their IC yielded zero gains, the gain was negligible, they just run slightly leaner, or some other factor is up to you to decide.

As for your LPT, check out member AceS70. He has a pretty powerful stock bottom end LPT and has well documented his build over time including several dyno sheets. IIRC, somewhere around 270whp. Use Find Topics on the left side and see what you can find.