Increased power without consequences

[LiquidVX]

I was originally writing a reply with a question then I realized maybe it should have its own thread.

BeeVenom asked about a chip in another thread which he found to be a scam.

My question is; are there any legitimate companies that can remap the ECU for our engines?

Ideally I am looking for increased performance without significantly shortening the lifespan of other components. I come from building turbo cars and really have no experience with superchargers. Solid heads and remapping the ECU were a must for my turbo cars. If I am able to find a supercharger should I take these precautions to prevent lean conditions and detonation, or is the pressure low enough to not worry about it?

Scenario 2 is where I do not find a supercharger and just go with cold air intake and dual exhaust front to back. In this scenario I think modifying the ECU would still have benefits.

Has anyone DYNOed the results of my second scenario, and if so what was the gains?

[Triathlete]

I think in previous discussions it was found that Isuzu did a pretty good job in mapping our ECU's and there was a not room for very much improvement (someone correct me if I am wrong). There were a few people who looked into this in the past.
As far as dual exhaust...IF done right it can give a HP boost. If done incorrectly it can cause HP decrease. The VX is not set up to well for a true cold air intake. You can open it up so that it breaths a little better though.
I am sure the power junkies will pitch in here shortly.

[Marlin]

The concept of getting a money worth it gain without risk of damaging components is not realistic. No pain, no gain. You may get a few out of intake and exhaust, but as Billy said, the intake is pretty good. if you look at where the suction is, its actually in the wheel well outside the engine compartment. Short of a ram air, I cannot see the difference. I have the Injen intake, I don't know if its faster or not, but it sounds a lot cooler

[Mile High VX]

I put a K&N on my Accord that picks up in front of the driver side wheel well along with custom dual exhaust. Gave me another 30 HP, but it reduced my gas mileage by 5 mpg as well (and this was after I quit enjoying the sound of the new flow)...

[Ldub]

My question is; are there any legitimate companies that can remap the ECU for our engines?

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...ight=HP+heaven

http://hpheaven.street-directory.com.au/

[LiquidVX]

Excellent. So it seems keeping it naturally aspirated and giving it a free flow exhaust is the way to go. Thanks guys.

[Ldub]

Here is a power programmer from Jet...says for Accura, but we all know what motor they mean when they refer to 6VE1...

Don't know a thing about it, just throwin' it out there...

http://www.familycar.com/store/?Ntt=...ammer&oes=true

[blacksambo]

Any power increase = lower gas mileage. Power=reduced efficiency. End of story. That's what engineering is all about. Heck engineers don't even need proof of concept to earn a patent. Said differently, they worked it a long time ago.

[Moncha]

We've even had members (Mainly Tone, God Bless Him!) try to polish and go as far as ceramic coat his intake manifold to improve in-flow. I've seen ceramic coated exhaust, exhausts with minimal bends, duals set up different ways, different mufflers, different tips, different cats, no cats, just about anything you could imagine, it's been done. Results were verified by actual and 1/4 times with computations while being hooked to equipment dyno not just by how it feels or the "Butt Dyno" and guess what, Isuzu got it right. There was very little improvement without major sacrifice in economy.

The best power improvement was/is (if you ever find a kit again) the Supercharger. But again, the economy goes out the door.

The end result is, the VX is what it is.

[blacksambo]

We've even had members (Mainly Tone, God Bless Him!) try to polish and go as far as ceramic coat his intake manifold to improve in-flow. I've seen ceramic coated exhaust, exhausts with minimal bends, duals set up different ways, different mufflers, different tips, different cats, no cats, just about anything you could imagine, it's been done. Results were verified by actual and 1/4 times with computations while being hooked to equipment dyno not just by how it feels or the "Butt Dyno" and guess what, Isuzu got it right. There was very little improvement without major sacrifice in economy.

The best power improvement was/is (if you ever find a kit again) the Supercharger. But again, the economy goes out the door.

The end result is, the VX is what it is.

Well said!

[Chopper]

short of an entire driveline transplant....we're stuck with the anemic wheezy setup we have.....we're only 120bhp and about 100 torques away from state of the art.....for a modern 4 banger (boosted) or a 3litre normally aspirated six pot engine.....a 1984 engine hooked to a 1978 transmission at least the body looks kinda cool

[Marlin]

Any power increase = lower gas mileage. Power=reduced efficiency. End of story. That's what engineering is all about. Heck engineers don't even need proof of concept to earn a patent. Said differently, they worked it a long time ago.

Hmm, not 100% true. Maximum power transfer actually occurs at 50% efficiency. Most large engines/motors are designed for 50% efficiency in order to achieve max power transfer. Engines such as this monster:http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/emma-maersk-engine/

[blacksambo]

short of an entire driveline transplant....we're stuck with the anemic wheezy setup we have.....we're only 120bhp and about 100 torques away from state of the art.....for a modern 4 banger (boosted) or a 3litre normally aspirated six pot engine.....a 1984 engine hooked to a 1978 transmission at least the body looks kinda cool

Well, you've got to remember the VX is technically more than 27 years old. And maybe older than that, since the edition hit the Tokyo Auto Show in 1993, and it had to be on the drawing board before that. Enjoy your VX like the venerable antique it is.

[vt_maverick]

2010 - 1993 = 17

[Gussie2000]

Isuzu is probably the only japanese automarker that never were eager to produce high performance vehicules.

With the exception of couple of cars Isuzu wasn't into the high performance market like other jap automarkers such as toyota,honda & nissan.

I always considered that with such outstanding SUV isuzu also had to drop into the VX an unique engine & not this 3.5L. Period