sunstorm
Well-Known Member
Hi guys,
thought I'd gradually blog some of the thoughts down before I forget the milestone moments:wavey:
I put on the box on Saturday 18/08/2012 after agreeing to be a guinea pig for the Monster Custom Map Tuning Box. As commented in another thread, I requested for a "Faster than Sonata Cab from Traffic lights" tune.
ie I want to be able to pull away quickly if needed from 0-60km/h and mainly concentrate on low end torque. I wanted daily usable torque as this is fairly important to me and generic even power up on the mid to high bands up to 4000rpm for the moments I'm on the NSHW and just want to burn some rubber up.
Initial impressions on the stock 118i which I'm driving are:
1. Nice smooth linear acceleration
2. Hugely unemotional drive - there was seldom a feeling of excitement. The engine does what it does very well and propels you up to speed quickly but it lacks that pulling feeling I so enjoyed in my last ride.
3. Not very evident turbo lag
Day 1:1345hrs
Installation was completed and I was pleased with the result. The Monster guys found a very discrete corner in the engine bay to mount the box and the connectors were neatly tucked.
Upon driving it out for the first time from the workshop, my butt felt noticeable increase in torque. The increase was not rapture filled unfortunately but more of a gentle pulling evident from move off in idle. Throttle response appears to have improved although I did not put in a Throttle Controller. (Btw, if anybody is interested, i have a brand new Pivot3 to let go!)
The drive home was smooth with no experience of any jerkiness and there was definitely definitely an increase in power on all the rpm ranges. I became more light footed as I wanted to drive the same way to see if I can hit some savings in FC. Overall, the car became a slightly more aggressive ride and the low end torque definitely was greatly improved.
Day 2: Sunday
Plan: Take a drive up the NSHW to try out the tuning box :sneaky:
Lo and behold the difference a night makes! The characteristics of the car from cold start changed overnight. When I switched on the engine in the afternoon, the engine was growling slightly louder than usual and there is a sense of great eagerness to rev. A slight drawback I noticed from tuned cars appeared in the 118i. A slight very low vibration. A sign that the tune has started to adapt.
I took off towards Tuas and I must say, 0-60km/h was nice! No real opportunities for me to try with a Sonata cab presented itself but safe to say, I'm confident of at least giving them a hard time from 0-60km/h. Boost was obviously higher on all ranges and I struggled to keep to 80km/h along the most painful stretch of the way on the AYE towards Tuas Checkpoint. (don play play ah, I pay more than $450 there already!)
Once past the Causeway and first toll gates into the NSHW, I WOT the ride easily to 220km/h, testing the various power bands. I did find some flat spots but the overall experience was highly satisfying.
1. The ride remained very linear in terms of acceleration after the low end power band (My request)
2. It is FUN to WOT the car now!!!! Yay!!!!
3. The increase in boost from the low end very effectively removed any small trace of turbo lag I detected
What Next?
I will dyno the ride with Monster to find the flat spots I felt while driving up the NSHW and cure those via their custom map
Stay tuned for more updates when I have more to share!
thought I'd gradually blog some of the thoughts down before I forget the milestone moments:wavey:
I put on the box on Saturday 18/08/2012 after agreeing to be a guinea pig for the Monster Custom Map Tuning Box. As commented in another thread, I requested for a "Faster than Sonata Cab from Traffic lights" tune.
ie I want to be able to pull away quickly if needed from 0-60km/h and mainly concentrate on low end torque. I wanted daily usable torque as this is fairly important to me and generic even power up on the mid to high bands up to 4000rpm for the moments I'm on the NSHW and just want to burn some rubber up.
Initial impressions on the stock 118i which I'm driving are:
1. Nice smooth linear acceleration
2. Hugely unemotional drive - there was seldom a feeling of excitement. The engine does what it does very well and propels you up to speed quickly but it lacks that pulling feeling I so enjoyed in my last ride.
3. Not very evident turbo lag
Day 1:1345hrs
Installation was completed and I was pleased with the result. The Monster guys found a very discrete corner in the engine bay to mount the box and the connectors were neatly tucked.
Upon driving it out for the first time from the workshop, my butt felt noticeable increase in torque. The increase was not rapture filled unfortunately but more of a gentle pulling evident from move off in idle. Throttle response appears to have improved although I did not put in a Throttle Controller. (Btw, if anybody is interested, i have a brand new Pivot3 to let go!)
The drive home was smooth with no experience of any jerkiness and there was definitely definitely an increase in power on all the rpm ranges. I became more light footed as I wanted to drive the same way to see if I can hit some savings in FC. Overall, the car became a slightly more aggressive ride and the low end torque definitely was greatly improved.
Day 2: Sunday
Plan: Take a drive up the NSHW to try out the tuning box :sneaky:
Lo and behold the difference a night makes! The characteristics of the car from cold start changed overnight. When I switched on the engine in the afternoon, the engine was growling slightly louder than usual and there is a sense of great eagerness to rev. A slight drawback I noticed from tuned cars appeared in the 118i. A slight very low vibration. A sign that the tune has started to adapt.
I took off towards Tuas and I must say, 0-60km/h was nice! No real opportunities for me to try with a Sonata cab presented itself but safe to say, I'm confident of at least giving them a hard time from 0-60km/h. Boost was obviously higher on all ranges and I struggled to keep to 80km/h along the most painful stretch of the way on the AYE towards Tuas Checkpoint. (don play play ah, I pay more than $450 there already!)
Once past the Causeway and first toll gates into the NSHW, I WOT the ride easily to 220km/h, testing the various power bands. I did find some flat spots but the overall experience was highly satisfying.
1. The ride remained very linear in terms of acceleration after the low end power band (My request)
2. It is FUN to WOT the car now!!!! Yay!!!!
3. The increase in boost from the low end very effectively removed any small trace of turbo lag I detected
What Next?
I will dyno the ride with Monster to find the flat spots I felt while driving up the NSHW and cure those via their custom map
Stay tuned for more updates when I have more to share!
The car was pushed hard and I'm satisfied.
