Hi,

I want to improve the performance of my TE 3.0 Magna 5 sp. I would like to add computer chip and exhaust. Does anyone know who in Melbourne preferably SE suburbs who specializes in Magna's and can do this type of work.

Thanks

Welcome!
Exhaust is a great place to start!
But I honestly wouldnt worry about a chip unless you do a lot of other mods. Unichip and other ones like that seem to get very varied results and are not very popular and very expensive! Just do a search and you will see. Greddy fully programable replacement computers are heaps better but again not worth it without more mods.

Go for exhuast, extractors, CAI and handling mods and that should keep you happy for a while. Then you could do stuff like flowed TB, cams etc but you start getting into big bucks once you start working on the internals.
Sorry cant help on workshops...
Cheers
Pete

Welcome!
Exhaust is a great place to start!
But I honestly wouldnt worry about a chip unless you do a lot of other mods. Unichip and other ones like that seem to get very varied results and are not very popular and very expensive! Just do a search and you will see. Greddy fully programable replacement computers are heaps better but again not worth it without more mods.

Go for exhuast, extractors, CAI and handling mods and that should keep you happy for a while. Then you could do stuff like flowed TB, cams etc but you start getting into big bucks once you start working on the internals.
Sorry cant help on workshops...
Cheers
Pete


mate, that wasnt very helpful info at all.. where are you pulling your ideas from...

Firstly people have more gains from piggyback ecu's alone, than those other mods you mentioned put together (extractors, flowed TB, cai)...

Unichips are very popular and arent not expensive ($1200 fitted for a mod like that isnt expensive at all)

A greddy emanage is not a fully programable replacement computers, It is a piggyback just like the unichip...And as the for the greddy being heaps better? Not if his fitting it to a near stock car. The two units would probably see similar improvments

My opinion is from about 6 months or reading other peoples experiences with Unichip (on modified cars and stock) on this forum and talking multiple times to Unichip here in Adelaide. Some people got virtually no gains whatsoever, and the guy from Unichip himself told me it wasnt worth it unless i had other mods as magnas already have a reasonably good tune from factory.

Heres a quote from a post I made ages ago when I was doing my research:

Just been in contact with turbo tune in adelaide.

They have done a few 3.5ltr magnas with Unichips.
This is what they do:

1. Get a power run of your car stock.
2. You go away and get your exhaust done - 2.5" piping, muffler and extractors.
3. Another power run to measure the diff made by the exhaust.
4. Supply fit and tune Unichip
5. 3rd power run to determine final gains.

Cost: $1280 which include the 3 power runs, and supply, fit and tune of the chip.
He said most of the gains are made in the last 1500rpm (so from 4500-6000rpm) with around a 10kw gain @ the wheels. He said a small gain is made everywhere below that, but its only small.
So thats about $128/rwkw. Thats not including the cost of the exhaust system.

Hope this helps. He also said to get your exhaust and whatever else done first to get the max benefit.

Cheers
Pete

EDIT: Just rang MORPOWA as well. They wanted $1350 for the same thing, but they had only done 3.0ltr, and said it only produced a 5kw gain. He said it made the 3.0ltr a lot more drivable mid-range, but not much peak power increase.
But he reakoned that the unichip was probably the best piggy-back computer you could use as far as cost, ease of tuning and installing, and results go before going to a full replacement computer.


So if you got exhaust, extractors, flowed TB, CAI, you would hit the extra 10kw easliy, and prolly have a bit of spare cash from $1200. THEN the chip/computer is worth it.
And you would most likely find the people that have got that 10kw with the chips already had most/all of the above mods!

And if you read my post you would see that I already said the Greddy wasnt worth it without more mods! And Sorry bout the replacement computer bit, i stand corrected.

Cheers
Pete

So for the ignorant car person, what is flowed TB, CAI???

Thanks guys for the advice, looking at getting the exhaust done now :-)

Im not to good on the definition of a flowed TB.......so i won't explain it :P. CAI is Cold Air Intake.......i dont have anything special on mine, ive just run an 80mm pipe from the airbox down the front bumper, this is supposed to free up the intake syste by actually getting some air to the engine...not like the stock crappy air intakes.

Yeah CAI is just getting cold air from outside the engine bay into your air box.

TB is Throttle Body. If you do a search, you will find Ez Boy does these. The stock throttle body has a lip or a step in it, which he grinds out, removing the restriction and any turbulance that might cause. Basically creating a smoother path for the air to enter.

Cheers
Pete

FLOWED TB: ok if u take off u'r intake u will see there is a lip on the trottle body, when the butterfly opens up and air gets sucked in it hits that lip thus reducing the airflow. flowed TB means that lip is grinded down when i did this my fuel usage whent down .2L. i do this myself for $50 but it might be easier to get someone near u to do it though it'll cost more most likely.

on a side note in ya profile i saw a SSIR WTF is that

FLOWED TB: ok if u take off u'r intake u will see there is a lip on the trottle body, when the butterfly opens up and air gets sucked in it hits that lip thus reducing the airflow. flowed TB means that lip is grinded down when i did this my fuel usage whent down .2L. i do this myself for $50 but it might be easier to get someone near u to do it though it'll cost more most likely.

on a side note in ya profile i saw a SSIR WTF is that

maybe you just didn't put the foot down as much...how can you be sure that 200ML wasn't becuase you didn't rev the car as much or somethingorother

']maybe you just didn't put the foot down as much...how can you be sure that 200ML wasn't becuase you didn't rev the car as much or somethingorother

it was a dyno run and both times i floored it but it could have been contributed by a ton of things, i mean it could been the moons gravitational pull pulling on the peterol that held it back it coulda been that someone pissed in my gas tank hence not using peterol but piss. i'm just saying that when i did it it runs the 100km/L .2L less now every time untill i do something else to it

not exactly sure what an SSiR is, but seems its a dealer modification that was done to executives. Everything is colour coded, BSPM's Grille and Alloys and comes with 5 speed man. Looks much better after i had it lowered.

My opinion is from about 6 months or reading other peoples experiences with Unichip (on modified cars and stock) on this forum and talking multiple times to Unichip here in Adelaide. Some people got virtually no gains whatsoever, and the guy from Unichip himself told me it wasnt worth it unless i had other mods as magnas already have a reasonably good tune from factory.

Heres a quote from a post I made ages ago when I was doing my research:

Just been in contact with turbo tune in adelaide.

They have done a few 3.5ltr magnas with Unichips.
This is what they do:

1. Get a power run of your car stock.
2. You go away and get your exhaust done - 2.5" piping, muffler and extractors.
3. Another power run to measure the diff made by the exhaust.
4. Supply fit and tune Unichip
5. 3rd power run to determine final gains.

Cost: $1280 which include the 3 power runs, and supply, fit and tune of the chip.
He said most of the gains are made in the last 1500rpm (so from 4500-6000rpm) with around a 10kw gain @ the wheels. He said a small gain is made everywhere below that, but its only small.
So thats about $128/rwkw. Thats not including the cost of the exhaust system.

Hope this helps. He also said to get your exhaust and whatever else done first to get the max benefit.

Cheers
Pete

EDIT: Just rang MORPOWA as well. They wanted $1350 for the same thing, but they had only done 3.0ltr, and said it only produced a 5kw gain. He said it made the 3.0ltr a lot more drivable mid-range, but not much peak power increase.
But he reakoned that the unichip was probably the best piggy-back computer you could use as far as cost, ease of tuning and installing, and results go before going to a full replacement computer.


So if you got exhaust, extractors, flowed TB, CAI, you would hit the extra 10kw easliy, and prolly have a bit of spare cash from $1200. THEN the chip/computer is worth it.
And you would most likely find the people that have got that 10kw with the chips already had most/all of the above mods!

And if you read my post you would see that I already said the Greddy wasnt worth it without more mods! And Sorry bout the replacement computer bit, i stand corrected.

Cheers
Pete
Doesn't rwkw stand for rear wheel kw? How do you get that much from wheels that dont move lol.
A chip will always see gains over standard ECU's because you'll find that most ECU's are tuned for fuel economy, more so than for power. But you are right in saying that i wouldn't bother in doing a chip until you had some big mods under your belt, especially if you plan them as it costs quite abit to get the car re-tuned with each mod.

Unichips are very popular and arent not expensive ($1200 fitted for a mod like that isnt expensive at all)


Ill agree they are very popular on other brands of vehicle as you get a larger net result than adding 1 to a magna. Theres maybe a handful of magna's on this forum that have unichips..

Id hardly call a 10kw gain for $1200 as value for money.

I agree with Poita, spend your money on handling mods. You will see bigger benefits than wasting your money on piggyback chips that give you almost laughable kw gains for the price they cost..

Ill agree they are very popular on other brands of vehicle as you get a larger net result than adding 1 to a magna. Theres maybe a handful of magna's on this forum that have unichips..

Id hardly call a 10kw gain for $1200 as value for money.

I agree with Poita, spend your money on handling mods. You will see bigger benefits than wasting your money on piggyback chips that give you almost laughable kw gains for the price they cost..

The performance people said the same thing... they said (just cause Bain has one!) that the XR6 Turbos were great as they could get quite a bit of extra power, but magnas were already pretty well tuned.

:bowrofl: good find on my stuffup though M4DDOG!! yeah that should be fwkw :P

I've heard (I can't remember where from) that Unichips and the like work much better usually with turbocharged vehicles than those that are naturally aspirated. The reason for this is a greater change in the volume of air or something, and having more tuning points tuned correctly therefore gives a greater advantage. Thats why Xr6 Turbo's (and the upcoming Territory Turbo) receive a great boost from one.

A chip will always see gains over standard ECU's because you'll find that most ECU's are tuned for fuel economy, more so than for power.
Actually, it's quite the opposite. When a car is driven normally then the oxy sensor is used to run it around optimum. When you floor it a factory tune dumps more fuel in than needed. A dyno tune removes excess fuel and you gain economy and power at that loading.


I've heard (I can't remember where from) that Unichips and the like work much better usually with turbocharged vehicles than those that are naturally aspirated. The reason for this is a greater change in the volume of air or something, and having more tuning points tuned correctly therefore gives a greater advantage. Thats why Xr6 Turbo's (and the upcoming Territory Turbo) receive a great boost from one.
It's not just Unichips and that's pretty much the case for any boosted car.

Actually, it's quite the opposite. When a car is driven normally then the oxy sensor is used to run it around optimum. When you floor it a factory tune dumps more fuel in than needed. A dyno tune removes excess fuel and you gain economy and power at that loading.


True. In the XR6T's case you actually gain some fuel economy while adding around 60rwkw's... (From a $1400 custome edit)

True. In the XR6T's case you actually gain some fuel economy while adding around 60rwkw's... (From a $1400 custome edit)

So true bain.

My dads XR6T with 318Rwkws gets the same economy on trip (perhaps slightly better) as it did when standard and around town its about 1L/100kms worse than standard. I think thats a far trade off for an extra 125Kw's at the wheels over standard. :P

True. In the XR6T's case you actually gain some fuel economy while adding around 60rwkw's... (From a $1400 custome edit)
And is 6 times better than what you'd usually see from a Magna. But that's typical for NA.

It's not just Unichips and that's pretty much the case for any boosted car.
Yep thats exactly what I said :) lol, 'Unichips and the like', and I used the XR6 Turbo as the example as it was mentioned earlier. I guess I could have written it a bit clearer!

Actually, it's quite the opposite. When a car is driven normally then the oxy sensor is used to run it around optimum. When you floor it a factory tune dumps more fuel in than needed. A dyno tune removes excess fuel and you gain economy and power at that loading.
Is that true for the xr6t or just all cars?
I always thought magna's were tuned for fuel economy, my bad :redface: .

I think Magnas are tuned a little rich, as you can drop in slightly 'hotter' cams and it will still sope ok... correct me if Im wrong...

Yep thats exactly what I said :) lol, 'Unichips and the like', and I used the XR6 Turbo as the example as it was mentioned earlier. I guess I could have written it a bit clearer!
Not really. I could have readit it a lot better :D


Is that true for the xr6t or just all cars?
I always thought magna's were tuned for fuel economy, my bad :redface: .
Realistically, all cars. Bosted cars just naturally have heaps more potential.


I think Magnas are tuned a little rich, as you can drop in slightly 'hotter' cams and it will still sope ok... correct me if Im wrong...
All (EFI) cars generally run rich but only under full load. It's to help reduce engine temperatures to offset the point at which predetonation occurs. You should not find a car running lean because the engine will die.