The Mito Project

[spresv]

Evening all

I decided to do a little write-up on my mates Mito. It started out life as an 155 bhp model, the equivalent of a Veloce trim in the UK. Nick, the owner of the car, being a spirited young alfista () wanted more out of his car, so he went out in search of a remap. First he did a dyno run on his car, being bog standard apart from a sporty air filter.

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/8452/001gvs.jpg

The car in standard form gave 165bhp and 153lbft. Not bad, considering it was supposed to be around 155bhp.

All right then, off to find a quality remap. After a bit of research, the task would be carried out by Black Angels (Petko, aka KGB in here). Nick chose the less extreme map of the two Petko had to offer (so he wouldn't have to fill with V-power racing all the time). So, the car was mapped and after a while, it went on the rollers again.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...fter_remap.jpg

So, 162bhp (yes, whichever way you see it, that is less) and 160lbft of torque. When we asked Petko what was going on here, he was adamant that it was our fault, or the dyno operators fault or both. Although he was not entirely convincing, we had to give him the benefit of a doubt, and we followed the instructions to what he insisted would be a correct measurement to the letter. Despite that, the result was exactly the same.

But Nick was still unhappy with the mods on his car (well, obviously). He was considering a bigger turbo setup, but none of the local tuners was able to get serious, sustained and reliable power from the Mito. As a result, an urban legend was created among the alfisti community and the mito owners themselves, that the hardware on the car, and especially the stock turbo, is not at all capable of producing any sort power whatsoever, and if you were brave enough to try, you would soon be collecting bits of your turbo etc from the bumper of the car that was unfortunate enough to be behind you. So, all that, plus a couple of failed bigger turbo projects from fellow mito owners, made him a bit sceptical, to say the least.

And then we contacted Gus from Alfatune (ALFA TUNER). We soon came to realise that he has done his fair share of research (actually, the equivalent of many people's fair share, combined ) on the Mito ECU. We had a proper chat with him in person, and it was more than enough to convince Nick that he was the man.

So he bit the bullet and installed a bigger turbo, a new intake, bigger injectors, a bigger intercooler and a full turboback exhaust. After that, Gus and Adie (from AHM) came in Athens for a tuning session on the dyno. They worked their magic, and after a few runs, the results were absolutely amazing.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c..._after_Gus.jpg

Nick wanted the car to be as safe as possible with the bigger turbo and stock internals, so the map was made a bit conservative with that, and the generaly hot climate of Greece, in mind. So, as you can see, it easily made 215bhp and 205lbft on the crank, on 1.3bar overboost. The final map had the pressure up a bit to 1.4 bar, but a delay with the guys tying to find the dyno didn't leave us any time to test that final map on the rollers. They said that it must hit 225-230 at 1.4 bar. They also both reckoned that the turbo had a lot more to give, and that there was definitely potential for more power, but they decided to play it safe and stress the internals as little as they could. Plus, Nick was proper chuffed with the car as it was.

On the road, it is even more amazing. Before, it had some silly spikes in power somewhere between 2500 and 3500, it went a bit up and down and ultimately it started to fall progressively, starting from 4k rpm. Reaching 5200rpm, the boost had plummeted, and there was no point revving any more, you had to change up. Now it's absolutely electric. The pressure build up is completely linear and smooth, and at about 3600 revs the boost really hits you and the car goes nuts, all the way to 6000 revs, with no loss of power whatsoever. And if you want to just drive around town, it becomes completely docile, and because the turbo doesn't spool from so low down, it's more economical as well!

The project was a complete success then, all thanks to Gus and Adie (top blokes, by the way). I've uploaded a couple of pictures of the engine bay and the car itself, and i'll see to it to upload a video of fly-bys etc soon.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...h_DSC_3724.jpg http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...h_DSC_3723.jpg

Thanks for reading!

[Clogz]

Congrats!

Those are some seriously good gains!
Gus told me he had some good results on the Mito and Fiat 500 abarth.

Good to see you got the car sorted by a professional in the end!

[spresv]

Thanks a lot! Professional indeed.

Oh, and another thing. Before all the upgrade bits went in, Gus asked us to do a run with AFR. The bloke running the dyno after the run, without asking a single thing, came up to me and said "i bet you any money it's not on stock map". It was running on 13.3 AFR, which is borderline dangerously lean for a turbo car. Now, of course, it runs at about 12.3, which is much more turbo-correct and much much safer.

[wo0dy]

sounds intresting, does alfa tuner do this as a package now, anyone know the cost

[Maor Bracha]

Could you specify what turbo did you use?

[ALFA TUNER]

Originally Posted by wo0dy

sounds intresting, does alfa tuner do this as a package now, anyone know the cost

Why don't you give us a call?

[spresv]

Just an update, the car has featured on the leading Greek tuning magazine, Power Techniques. The overall tone of the road test was very positive, and the tester was very impressed withz the upgrades.

Power Magazine OnLine

Here's a link with a short description and some photos. I would upload the whole article, but i doubt anyone will understand Greek

[996]

Originally Posted by spresv

Just an update, the car has featured on the leading Greek tuning magazine, Power Techniques. The overall tone of the road test was very positive, and the tester was very impressed withz the upgrades.

Power Magazine OnLine

Here's a link with a short description and some photos. I would upload the whole article, but i doubt anyone will understand Greek

It makes for great reading when translated into English by Google
There's orgies and all sorts going on

[Singularity]

Sounds like a lot of fun that MiTo.

Having gone from a re-map to an Alfatune re-map it's unbelievable the difference a proper expert can make!

[kgb]

@Spresv,

Why did you skip the whole story which is on alfisti.gr forum and it is really interesting one :-))))) I know why... :-)))

For the rest of us the story is here..(it is in Greek, some is in english...and I think you need a registration to be able to see the thread)
Alfisti Forum

Good luck and all the best Spresv (whoever you are)

[Guili]

Nice to see people finaly playing with the Turbo Alfa's. All other manufacturers with turbo hatches have done this already and its time for us to catch up!!!