Downloadable EFI maps from Triumph Twin Power

I then tried some ready-made maps, some available on TuneECU's site, some donated privately from other members and ex-members. The last one of these went quite well apart from excessive richness in some areas. This was noticeable from the sooty exhaust, dark spark plug insulators, difficulty in starting from hot and, of course, heavy-ish fuel consumption. Most other maps were fine at large throttle openings but hopeless at small throttle openings, very hesitant at low revs and prone to backfiring when shutting off and re-applying the throttle from high revs.

I put this down to the sort of cheap and cheerful dyno testing that emphasizes wide open throttle performance and impressive power figures and not enough attention is paid to driveability at smaller throttle openings. It can be done, but remapping on a dyno to optimise engine performance and driveability throughout the rev and throttle opening range is time consuming and therefore very expensive.

One of the difficulties of adapting someone else's map to your bike is that every bike is different, I don't mean small variations in production, as most maps will accomodate those, but the type and extent of the different mods, make of exhaust, baffles in or out, airbox restrictor in or out, type of airfilter, how well maintained the bike is, state of wear, etc, etc. The maps donated to the TuneECU site often don't list the full extent of the mods taken into account to create that map.

Another, I think, important factor is that we all have different standards as to what constitutes a fine running bike. One man's meat is another man's poison and all that...You can often see this on Youtube videos. The proud owner starts his bike to give you a demo of his tuning skills and you can hear it cranking for ages, rattling, misfiring, poor throttle response, "idling" at 3000 revs and generally running crap, but it's somehow aceptable to him. He's a proud and happy man...

Have you ever gone into a mate's house and noticed, for example, that his TV picture is rubbish? or his HI-FI produces lots of distortion?. When you point it out to him he often replies: "What do you mean? what's wrong with it?, sounds, looks Ok to me...".

It follows that the only way of obtaining something close to perfection is a dyno session with someone that knows what they're doing and can devote sufficient time to do a thorough job. This is not possible for me. There's no bike dyno facility anywhere near me. Spaniards, while mostly enthusiastic and skillful riders, are not keen on getting into any sort of activity that gets their hands dirty, like DIY mechanics or home tuning.

The only viable option left was to pull my ECM out, stick it in a box, and send it to Mike (Pieman) at Triumph Twin Power in the UK for him to work his magic on it, the same way he has been doing it for years for the CDI igniters on the carbed models. His vast experience in dyno tuning these bikes means that he has a comprehensive library of suitable tunes covering all manner of mods and that can be further refined to customers requirements.

I nearly completed filling in the online questionaire a couple of times, ready for sending my unit to him but always held back. These ECM's are so expensive that if it was lost or damaged in transit I would burst into tears. Even if insured your bike could be off the road for ages while they paid up. Note that this is just my personal paranoia, the chances are that your well-packaged and labelled ECM will be OK so don't hesitate in using that service on account of me. Many have done so without a hitch.


Here's a link to that remapping service:

http://www.triumphtwinpower.com/triumph-twin-performance-efi-tune-download.php

I then made some tacit enquiries to find out if he would be interested in starting a new service whereby he would send by email a suitable tune map in TuneECU format for loading by those of us able to use the software in a reasonably competent manner at home and, surprisingly, he was already considering introducing such a service. There was a few details to Iron out before the service was available on his site. These are now sorted and the service is up and running.

See this new service here:


http://www.triumphtwinpower.com/triumph-twin-power-efi-tunes.php

Note that his website is a cut above most other after-market peddlars sites with its wealth of Triumph model history, specs, technical data, advice, links and clear explanations. You can tell this has been written by a knowledgeable enthusiast and not just a salesman. Well worth reading through, no BS or outrageous claims there .

Also note that all his maps disable the O2 sensors and the maps are adjusted accordingly to obtain maximum advantage of doing so. He explains why on the site, and he can also supply the required kit which includes bungs, crush washers, copper grease, and even the material for sealing the vacated O2 sensor plugs, for a reasonable price.

There's the argument that there's no way an off-the-shelf map can work well. The only thing I have to say about that is that millions of cars and bikes are running around happily with an off-the-shelf map as provided as OEM by the makers. You don't think they adjust the map settings individually, do you?.

I am certainly happy with mine (tune 20187ttp3fi with stage 1 ignition advance). As one of the earliest users of the service I'm delighted with the results. No low speed throttle snatch, perfect starting and watch-like idling in all circumstances, no hesitation or stumbling when pulling away from low revs, seamless acceleration with no flat spots, tons of mid-range, imperceptible change-over from "F" to "L" maps and spectacular top-gear and high rev performance, no popping back on deceleration either, together with perfect tractability from as low as 1800 rpm in top gear.

If I was any happier with the way my bike runs now I'd burst...It can change from a smooth, docile, refined and tractable gentleman's express to a snarling beast with just a twist of the throttle, the option of stage 1 ignition timing advance is certainly felt at high throttle openings. I wish I'd done this a lot earlier, it would have saved me a lot of trouble.

I've tried two of his maps. The first one gave me an extra 30 km per tankfull straightaway, at first I thought the low fuel warning light had broken!, and it ran crisp and clean apart from a slight feeling of "holding-back" at certain small throttle openings (<10%). This wasn't a defect with the map, simply that Mike, by default, tries to optimise things for good power at large throttle openings together with a decent fuel consumption in cruising conditions. Most people wouldn't notice this, but I tend to do a lot of trundling along our twisty country lanes a lot with the throttle nearly closed and in a high gear.

I wrote to him explaining that I was prepared to sacrifice some mileage in exchange for perfect driveability at all revs and got a revised, slightly richer map by return of post...that's service, although I don't know if he's prepared to contemplate doing this for other people. The result, in my case, is a virtually perfect custom map, made just for me, at a fraction of the cost and bother of a dyno session and without moving your bike out of the garage. Took around 10 minutes to do the whole thing plus another 10 to reset the TPS.

The funny thing is that all this refinement and performance has been achieved while nearly maintaining the normal, factory-fresh fuel consumption. I'm averaging 54 UK mpg (45 US MPG), even with a 17 tooth gearbox sprocket which lowers the gearing and supposedly hurts fuel economy.

All the above gushing praise might lead some cynics among you to conclude that I have some financial interest in TTP, but I can assure you that I'm doing this simply as a satisfied customer. (Is that cheque in the post yet Mike?).

Of all my old workarounds I'm keeping my IAT (Intake air temperature) sensor relocation mod in place, I suspect Mike doesn't approve so I haven't told him...

This only affects things after a few miles when the airbox gets heated up and the EFI system senses this and weakens the mix and retards the timing slightly. This mod prevents this from happening and keeps up the performance and fine running over the duration of a longer trip, specially in the Summer. In the winter months the extra richness this mod provides ensures fine running in the coldest weather, but the fuel consumption goes down the toilet. Mind you it only takes minutes to replace the IAT sensor back in its OEM location if it bothers you. This mod is described on this thread:

http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-tec...net/twins-technical-talk/139204-further-thoughts-on-intake-air-temperature.html

This is a very good idea and great to see, it's high time someone offered an EFi 're-jet' for 'standard' tuning stages. The only thing stopping me doing it right now is I don't want to spend out thick end of 60 quid while my modifications are not complete and I'm not sure which way to go on the inlet side. I could simply de-baffle and de-snorkle the airbox and fit a better air filter (as supplied by TTP) or I could remove the AB altogther and and fit pods BUT if I go that route I'd also like to get the TBs bored too. BUT then I wonder is it worth doing that if the head is standard. I guess the question is which is the tighter cork, the head or the TBs? I'd like to see figures for each modification 'stage' available from the 'menu'. I just can't make my mind up right now.

Thanks again Forchetto for a great post it's nice to have this all in one place. If never gotten around to replacing my stock pipes and I haven't even removed the AI yet! I know, pretty lame. But this has inspired me to finally bite the bullet. Again, thanks mucho!

Well done and about time! With such a short riding season, I could not part with my ECU until late November and would have to wait until April to truly test it. Just pulled the trigger on the 20187ttp11fi map and O2 Sensor removal kit and hopefully will get a few weeks enjoyment out of it before winter storage.

Process was quite painless and the map was immediately ready for download after the credit card transaction completed.

Will download the map into the ECU today however, the forecast for next five days is rain. I'll report back to share my thoughts after the O2 removal kit is installed and I've burned through a few tankfuls.

Stay tuned.

cheers,
j

WOW, Forchetto, that's a lengthy review of your EFI fuelling experiences, but entertaining as usual. It's great to hear your bike is running well.



.........and your cheque is in the post.

this is a fantastic thread man,
fair do's,im like a kid in a sweet shop,which one to choose?!!!

Thank you

Thank you Forchetto,

Being one of the newbies I just wanted to let you know. You have helped me so many times before by answering questions I didn't know to ask yet. Tuning or remaping is something I want to know how to do and am planing on doing in the future. This post is one I needed to help me get started.

Thanks again,
Garoid

I'm pretty sure this is going to be my winter project. I've already disabled and removed the AI and O2 sensors, retuned with TuneECU. The difference is dramatic, but I have Sleepers and not the 2-2 Arrows the tune is for. But now I can get a tune specifically for the mods I have, and will probably remove the baffle too now that it can easily be accommodated.

Quick question; what exactly does the ignition advance do for me, and why (or when) do I want to get it? Is it better suited to a particular riding style, or is it a universal benefit?
Thanks in advance,

I had a look at the base map that Pieman used for my map and compared it to the final map. TuneECU has this very useful facility where you can open one map, then select "compare map" and load another. This remains in the background until you press the F6 key and both maps can be shown alternatively.

From the start of the powerband (around 2500 rpm) and if your throttle opening exceeds 50% the timing is advanced progressively and this is really noticeable. The bike seems to fly.

If you ride normally and gently you'll never use it, but in situations where you need power, like overtaking, it becomes rather useful.

OK, this is a bit of a longy as it’s not something that can be explained in a couple of paragraphs. Bear with me as I’m not known in my family for explaining complexity in a coherent manor.

When people talk about tuning an engine, they generally talk about engine size, flowing the head, cams, lift & timing, valves etc. Obviously this is all relevant, but only half of the equation. There is something else that brings all this together to release the full potential your improved airflow, fuel charge and engine size. You guessed it…..the ignition advance curve. You can modify your engine every which way and increase power, but if you don’t modify your ignition advance curve to match, you’re leaving power you’ve paid for on the table.

The OEM advance curve was developed by Triumph to specific specifications for the twins range and power was definitely not at the top of the list. In fact knowing Triumphs attitude to the twins, I doubt power was even on the list and if it was, it would have come behind exhaust emissions and fuel efficiency (MPG) as they don’t see the range as performance motorcycles.

First off ignition advance isn’t something that other components have to fit around, it is the exact opposite, ignition advance is adjusted to suit the state of tune of your engine.

There are many aspects in an engine that determine how much or how little ignition advance an engine needs, these include dynamic compression ratio, cam overlap, fuel quality, mixture quality, mixture density, turbulence within the combustion chamber etc., but when it comes down to it, it’s all about volumetric efficiency. The more efficient an engine is at any given revs, the less ignition advance is required to produce maximum power.

Most engines produce maximum power when the ignition is set to produce peak cylinder pressure at around 12°-15° after top dead center. So you would need to set your ignition advance to take in to account everything that may either delay or accelerate that point of peak cylinder pressure. A good example of added efficiency would be the Thunderbird twin cruiser, in standard form it has two thumping great pistons of 800cc each with a bore of 103.8mm. If a Bonneville had the same bore size, you would need a good amount of extra ignition advance to give the flame front in the combustion chamber more time to move across the bore to give peak cylinder pressure at the correct point in the cycle. With the Thunderbird this isn’t necessary as Triumph has equipped it with dual spark plugs in each cylinder to aid combustion. Having two points of ignition in the combustion chamber, speeds up the combustion process so that a large amount of ignition advance isn’t necessary. This is shown by the OEM tune for the Thunderbird having a maximum of only 24.9° ignition advance compared with the OEM Bonneville having 30.9° of maximum advance even though the bore is much smaller.

At Triumph Twin Power I have developed two ignition advance curves so far, one for an engine using the standard OEM camshafts with other modifications and one for an engine using performance camshafts with other modifications. The reasoning for this is that different camshafts can and do make an enormous difference to the volumetric efficiency of an engine throughout the rev range, much more so than a majority of other engine mods we carry out to our twins.

The one for use with OEM camshafts is the one most people know as the +3° ignition curve, to be honest, it’s not that simple and if you just add 3° to the OEM curve, you will gain at certain revs, but you will lose at others as engine efficiency changes with the rev range. This curve gives a good improvement over OEM and at full throttle where you’re asking for full power, doesn’t take exhaust emissions or MPG in to account at all, only the need for power.

The one for use with performance camshafts is a different animal and takes in to account the changes these camshafts have on efficiency. If anyone has installed performance camshafts in a Triumph twin engine and left the ignition advance curve at OEM, then they are leaving on the table a decent amount of BHP that these cams deliver as combustion will be occurring too late in the cycle.

If your mods have increased efficiency while using the OEM advance curve, then the combustion process will be happening to early after top dead center (ATDC) and you will be losing power as the point of peak cylinder pressure is fighting against the piston, con rod and crank position in the cycle. If it is far too early and combustion is happening around top dead center or before, you will wreck your engine. If your mods have decreased efficiency while also using the OEM advance curve, then combustion is happening too late and you will lose power as the piston is too far down the cylinder and your peak cylinder pressure will be too low to produce the full power potential of your mods.

To summarise ( I know you’re thinking, YES, PLEASE DO), most people who tune their engines understand the importance of filling the cylinders with as much air/fuel mix as possible to produce as much power as possible, but if you don’t adjust your ignition advance curve to release the power locked up in this charge at the right time, then a good percentage of your time, effort and money will be wasted.

So I should get that option then?

Pieman, thanks for all this. I went to your site, and I didn't notice any downloads for the America/Speedmaster. Do you have tuning maps for these? I assume (maybe wrongly) they wouldn't use exactly the same maps as the Bonneville and Thruxton, even though it's the same engine.

Thanks again for all you've done!

Forchetto- thank you sir. I will await patiently... the America could use just a little bit more oomph from a stop and when passing.

Right now I've got de-baffled pipes and the dealer installed the TORS mapping. I now have TuneECU and a cable, and hope to have removed AI and possibly airbox in the next 6 months. I realize the stock (or even TORS) maps don't compensate for all that extra breath.

Gargh, I got my hopes up for not having to hack on this myself. =) I'm perfectly happy doing tuning on my own (I've owned several cars that I've tuned myself, set several up for various types of racing; Rally, road, autocross, et al, and many with Megasquirt, some with OEM EMS,) but getting ignition timing just right on the twin is just kind of a niggle for me. I dunno why, but I've been lazy about getting it working, always putting it of for something or another.

Anyway, I'm going to be removing my airbox at some point in the near future, so getting the tune sorted out would be my next point of order. Without being able to do datalogging, though, that's kinda a pie-in-the-sky idea. I prefer road tuning where possible after all. I can hit up a dyno and get the AFR, but ign timing/replay data would be far more useful. Especially since I got my O2 sensors already disabled and plugged. Though now I have more time to find a non-EFI set of header so I don't have to have those plugs in there.

Ugh, for now I should probably just focus on getting the new battery/electronics box sorted out.

Forchetto: A long way to get to the question, but no potential ETA for the 270 downloads, at this point, huh? =)

Just a last question (I hope); is there any reason I would not want to use the ignition advance option?

A detail/question comes to mind reading all this. Do the TTP maps deactivate the O2 wires? I recall earlier posts talked about disabling the O2 sensors with TuneECU and the clear warning to make sure the wires are protected since they would still be hot. Just wondering.

Alex

We need Pieman to confirm this, but I think it's the same as for the AI disabling. The O2 sensors are disabled in the sense that their removal doesn't trigger the MIL warning light, the wires remain "hot". The contacts are safely tucked away inside a connector though, so not much danger of shorts.

TTP supply a piece of heatshrink sleeving to seal off the connector, mainly to prevent dirt and moisture from corroding the pins.

Thanks Ernesto, you are correct. The heatshrink is included in the O2 removal kit.

'urts my 'ead all this computer stuff. I used to have a little lever on the handlebars which advanced/retarded the ignition. I could understand that. Then came automatic advance/retard, I could understand that, it was mechanical, I could see what was going on.Now it's all hidden in wires and boxes and suchlike. The whole bloody world is against me!

Thanks Forchetto & PieMan. I like resolving little details like this.

Alex

Ohhh, it's not all that bad. Rarely is software or hardware just a black box.

Took the plunge, ordered DNA pods and Tune 11 from Pieman, and the British Customs battery box.

What's needed to Re-map EFI T100 myself

Forchetto,
Thanks for your recent post about a remapping from TTP. You truly have my attention now about having my 2009 T100 re-mapped. I have been fooling around like so many of us trying to get rid of the throttle snatching. It does sound like this TTP remapping you did solved this issue for you. If it's not TOO risky I would like to try this myself. So, what do I need before contacting TTP to do the same remapping you did. I have nothing but a bike sitting in my shop so if you do not mind can you start from there. Hardware? Cables? which plug under the seat? I do have a PC and a MAC . OR, having never done a re-map, would you advise not to DIY on something this serious. In other words, is it easy to screw up!?
Thanks again for you post.

Probably best to start by having a look at threads such as this:

http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-fi-tuning-help-tips-and-tricks/141608-tuneecu.html

And perhaps having a look at the TuneECU site:

http://www.tuneecu.com/

If you feel confident with the programs installation procedure the rest is much easier than it sounds. It's a matter of getting the correct cable, a good one if at all possible as some are a bit dodgy.

There's a tried and tested example mentioned on the software's site:

http://www.lonelec.co.uk/index.php?...ain_page=product_info&cPath=1_7&products_id=32&zenid=9vtc83eu1hrdp97jja6odmkmc3

It pays to download and read the programs manual before venturing to connect anything to the bike. This can be downloaded from this page:

http://www.tuneecu.com/TuneECU_En/links.html

The OBDII (On board diagnostic) connector can be found under the seat, see this photo of the underseat components.

When I removed my sensors I noticed some Red tape wrapped around the protective wire covering for the Right hand connector. This was located just as it branched out from the main loom. However I will mark up the shrinkwrap covering as well, just in case

I opted for self amalgamating tape around the SAI connector to keep it clean, hopefully that was one of my better ideas...


ric.