Thread: Timing Maps for Tuning

Been reading and digesting a lot of info from this thread. Awesome Thread!!!
New to engine tuning and just recently installed a nistune board on my ecu. The ECU I had before was a JUN ecu which had a daughter board as well so it was a easy pull out JUN board and plug in Nistune board.

I have a completely stock GTi-R sr20det with JWT S3 and Gt2871R turbo(max boost 18psi) and z32 Maf
I have been slowly working on the timing map to smooth some areas out and so far so good. I have no Dyno to tune on so it is all street tuning. I am looking more for Low-Mid range power/torque and up high to be a safe tune.

So far I like the setup and response but I feel there is room for improvement. I know a new billet turbo would do the trick but I am not ready to spend out on a new turbo.

Let me know what you all think

Motor: Gti-R SR20DET (Stock)
Mods: Custom turbo outlet w/screamer pipe, 3" exhaust, FMIC, JWT S3, GT2871R
Max Safe Boost:18
Octane:93
Dyno WHP:?
Safe or Tuned Map:Tuned

Timing Map:

You're running quite a bit of timing down low, do you have a graph of your boost pressure vs rpm?

Does nistune let you do logs? If so you can do 2-4th gear runs on a straight road and plop it into Virtual Dyno to get some good baseline numbers.

I'll post an example of how virtual dyno looks like in my next reply with my tuned map.

Sub'd

135k G20 Roller Rocker - GT28r

Motor: 135k Mile SR20DE Roller Rocker 9.5cr
Mods: Gt28r, Avenir T25 Turbo Manifold, 3" Exhaust, Low Port Intake Manifold, VE Valve Springs, FMIC, 3" WAI
Max Safe Boost: 15psi
Octane: Shell 93
Dyno WHP: 243whp / 234ft-lbs @10psi peak
Safe or Tuned Map: Tuned Map

Timing Map: Please note the approximate PSI ranges are listed in red above the MAF Load scales:


Virtual Dyno Graph to show AFR, Boost, and Power Curve

Hopefully the pic works, just did this run today but i dont have a boost signal in the ecu. At peak power boost does spike up to 22psi then drops to 18

I can see why your running so much timing down low, looks like you are full boosting at 5200rpm which means needing more timing until you spool up. Here is what I would do, fire up a 2D graph, that 3D graph is useless and doesn't show you any real spikes. Go column by column to smooth the timing, then go row by row to smooth it more. This will make your power delivery much more linear.

Here is an example from my 2005 Legacy GT Timing map. The first map is based on the stock Legacy GT map that I tweaked here and there for my downpipe and other mods. Second map is me taking couple hours to smooth out the X and Y axis as much as possible. The difference is a much smoother operating motor and more overall power.


Also, I would knock the smoothing down to 2 or 3, it helps reduce some of the spikiness. Generally you want to have no more then 10whp loss between smoothing 1 and smoothing 6. If it is more then 10whp difference then your road or run is not good.


Next I'll share a little timing tuning advice that I use to find Maximum Best Torque (MBT), I like to think of it as minimum best timing, because less more when it comes to timing. Once you have your timing map smoothed, take that tune and subtract 2* of timing across the whole map.

Go find a good straight road and do 3 WOT runs to heat soak all the components, since your first 3 pulls will make more power then following pulls. Now that your car is warmed up, do two or three pulls with your base tune. Now upload your -2* map, go to the same road and do two or three pulls in same gear and make sure you start on the same parts of the road.

Open those logs with Virtual Dyno, see if -2* map lost power compared to the base map, if it did, add timing in 2* increments until you stop gaining power then subtract 2* for safety. Now If your power stayed the same on the -2* map, you are past MBT and need to reduce timing further. Keep on reducing timing till you start loosing power, don't be surprised if you gain power when you reduce timing!

Most likely you will not get power increase or decrease across the whole range, this is where you morph the two timing maps together, which will net you power gains across the whole range vs the base map.

I use this method for tuning any mods I do now, even tuning the fuel map would require a different timing map. Just make sure to be safe when doing this on the street.