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1,782 Posts
Soooo...
In the past I went down the route of exhaust systems, remaps and induction kits, all to a lot of expense. This time around however, after just getting a mortgage I decided not to go down this route and keep costs low but still wanting the most out of my car. I went for a GQV as i love the looks however the performance is a bit behind with other hatches, which is why I wanted a bit more.
After a fair bit of researching and negotiating with various companies I went for a spider tuning box,
The Spider Diesel tuning system.
There are various reasons I went for these including great reviews from other forums (being very popular on the BMW forums), being able to organise a great forum price, and the ability to transfer it to any car in the future as it learns your car, only requiring a new harness for your next car.
Once I got the code via email for the forum price i ordered there and then (11am). By lunchtime the next day it arrived at my door which i was very happy about. A point to note here is that at the forum price you don't get the pretty little box as advertised on their web site, it comes in standard packaging. If you ask me, to save £75 I'm more then happy with this as the box would just end up holding junk around the house. The unit itself is nice looking and is solid. The harness using OEM connectors and is finished well. There are two settings on the box to change, boost (power) and RPM. Im still not 100% sure what the rpm setting does I just left it on the reccomended setting. Both dials are in Hexidecimal however to keep things simple there are 16 levels to change on each.
Having never installed one of these before I was a bit worried. The instructions are ok, and it does come with a colour picture of an actual GQV engine bay showing the actual ports. The port at the back, in the middle (not sure what its called lol) is a real pain to get out. What I did was remove the sensor with a T20 bit and remove the whole thing. This allowed me to easily remove the connector. I highly recommend you do this as its much easier. The connection on the right is easy, even for me! The next thing was where to secure the box. The unit comes with cable ties but if you ask me these look a bit bodge. What I did was took a trip to halfords and got some heavy duty velcro.
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
I then deemed the best place to secure it was on top of the battery. There is plenty of clearence from the bonnet and it fits in nice and snug.
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
There are clear instructions but you need to wait 3 mins after turning off car and removing key before unplugging stuff from the engine.
Once connected all nice what I then did was go for the 50 mile drive to let the box learn the car. Some people have said this is all lies but I can assure you this happens. The cars characteristics defiantly change during the 50 miles. Again it says, but don't go above 4k RMP during this first 50 miles, this should all be done at the recommended settings, 7 (boost) and 15 (RPM). Once I did this like a school boy i whacked the boost up to full and went for a drive. almost immediately the EML light appeared and the car overboosted and said no.... Got onto the live chat to spider and they said to remove the box and do some error free drives until the fault clears. This however would have taken ages so I went and bought a OBD device for £40 and it worked a charm.
So then I refitted the box at slightly lower settings, 6, 15 and covered another 50 miles and no problems. After this point I set the boost slightly higher to 7 and went for a drive. The box had really made a big difference. When the turbo spools at 2500 rpm there is a real kickback into your chair, rather then the smooth progression before. This carry's on all the way to red line pretty much gets rid (mostly anyway) on the power drop off at 5k.
I then had to drive from Southampton to Belfast which is a good 250 miles. I did this as an economy run staying at about 60mph and achieved 42 mph. During this time i may have did a few boost runs
so econ could have been slightly better.
Once I got to belfast I clicked up another boost setting and its now running at level 8 boost. Did a bit of a drive and cant make the EML come back on, even boosting hard in 6th starting at 40mph. After covering about 300 miles since installation the box has got better and I feel now it has learnt my car. The car has completely changed and is now proper quick. Will be taking it around the ulster gp circuit later with my mate on his ninja 600. When in my mito he defiantly had the legs on me, however now I think its going to be pretty close.
I wont be going above level 8 boost as the turbo is considerably louder and the car is much faster so anymore might be a bit to hard wearing. If however I go to a dyno day ill give it a test then, with my OBD at the ready is the EML comes on. My prediction is the car is at about 265 - 280 bhp. I say this only because my mates cupra R is 280 (dyno proven) and it feels as quick as that. However im not that fussed about figures but what I can say for a fact is that the box has exceeded my expectations and really impressed me.
Spider has been good. Quick delivery, good product and good live chat help, however dont expect any feedback or help at the weekend.
If there are any other questions just ask, but if your bored of the performance of your GQV but dont want to worry about remaps, exhausts and loosing warranty, get yourself one of these and remove it if you get any problems before heading to the dealers lol...
Cheers
Si
In the past I went down the route of exhaust systems, remaps and induction kits, all to a lot of expense. This time around however, after just getting a mortgage I decided not to go down this route and keep costs low but still wanting the most out of my car. I went for a GQV as i love the looks however the performance is a bit behind with other hatches, which is why I wanted a bit more.
After a fair bit of researching and negotiating with various companies I went for a spider tuning box,
The Spider Diesel tuning system.
There are various reasons I went for these including great reviews from other forums (being very popular on the BMW forums), being able to organise a great forum price, and the ability to transfer it to any car in the future as it learns your car, only requiring a new harness for your next car.
Once I got the code via email for the forum price i ordered there and then (11am). By lunchtime the next day it arrived at my door which i was very happy about. A point to note here is that at the forum price you don't get the pretty little box as advertised on their web site, it comes in standard packaging. If you ask me, to save £75 I'm more then happy with this as the box would just end up holding junk around the house. The unit itself is nice looking and is solid. The harness using OEM connectors and is finished well. There are two settings on the box to change, boost (power) and RPM. Im still not 100% sure what the rpm setting does I just left it on the reccomended setting. Both dials are in Hexidecimal however to keep things simple there are 16 levels to change on each.
Having never installed one of these before I was a bit worried. The instructions are ok, and it does come with a colour picture of an actual GQV engine bay showing the actual ports. The port at the back, in the middle (not sure what its called lol) is a real pain to get out. What I did was remove the sensor with a T20 bit and remove the whole thing. This allowed me to easily remove the connector. I highly recommend you do this as its much easier. The connection on the right is easy, even for me! The next thing was where to secure the box. The unit comes with cable ties but if you ask me these look a bit bodge. What I did was took a trip to halfords and got some heavy duty velcro.
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
I then deemed the best place to secure it was on top of the battery. There is plenty of clearence from the bonnet and it fits in nice and snug.
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
There are clear instructions but you need to wait 3 mins after turning off car and removing key before unplugging stuff from the engine.
Once connected all nice what I then did was go for the 50 mile drive to let the box learn the car. Some people have said this is all lies but I can assure you this happens. The cars characteristics defiantly change during the 50 miles. Again it says, but don't go above 4k RMP during this first 50 miles, this should all be done at the recommended settings, 7 (boost) and 15 (RPM). Once I did this like a school boy i whacked the boost up to full and went for a drive. almost immediately the EML light appeared and the car overboosted and said no.... Got onto the live chat to spider and they said to remove the box and do some error free drives until the fault clears. This however would have taken ages so I went and bought a OBD device for £40 and it worked a charm.
So then I refitted the box at slightly lower settings, 6, 15 and covered another 50 miles and no problems. After this point I set the boost slightly higher to 7 and went for a drive. The box had really made a big difference. When the turbo spools at 2500 rpm there is a real kickback into your chair, rather then the smooth progression before. This carry's on all the way to red line pretty much gets rid (mostly anyway) on the power drop off at 5k.
I then had to drive from Southampton to Belfast which is a good 250 miles. I did this as an economy run staying at about 60mph and achieved 42 mph. During this time i may have did a few boost runs
so econ could have been slightly better.Once I got to belfast I clicked up another boost setting and its now running at level 8 boost. Did a bit of a drive and cant make the EML come back on, even boosting hard in 6th starting at 40mph. After covering about 300 miles since installation the box has got better and I feel now it has learnt my car. The car has completely changed and is now proper quick. Will be taking it around the ulster gp circuit later with my mate on his ninja 600. When in my mito he defiantly had the legs on me, however now I think its going to be pretty close.
I wont be going above level 8 boost as the turbo is considerably louder and the car is much faster so anymore might be a bit to hard wearing. If however I go to a dyno day ill give it a test then, with my OBD at the ready is the EML comes on. My prediction is the car is at about 265 - 280 bhp. I say this only because my mates cupra R is 280 (dyno proven) and it feels as quick as that. However im not that fussed about figures but what I can say for a fact is that the box has exceeded my expectations and really impressed me.
Spider has been good. Quick delivery, good product and good live chat help, however dont expect any feedback or help at the weekend.
If there are any other questions just ask, but if your bored of the performance of your GQV but dont want to worry about remaps, exhausts and loosing warranty, get yourself one of these and remove it if you get any problems before heading to the dealers lol...
Cheers
Si
