What Are Your R Tech Stage 1 And Stage 2 Remap Results?

Hi all...

My Dad and I have both of our S3's booked in at R Tech later this month. We can't wait to finally have our cars running as well as they possibly can.

Who of you have had your S3's remapped here? What figures did you achieve? We're not going for all out peak performance, but rather a well rounded map that improves driveability above all else.... Usable power, rather than peak power.

The AMK car is being taken up to a stage 1. Niki said he can take the APY engined car up to almost stage 2 (held back by the standard intercoolers).

Our mods are:

2001 S3 AMK - Pipercross Panel Filter with Badger 5 TIP V3.


2000 S3 APY - Honda S2000 Cone Filter, Badger 5 TIP V3, N249 Bypass, 2.0 TFSI Coil Pack Conversion with NGK Plugs 0.9mm gap, 3" Downpipe + High Flow CAT, Forge 007p DV with Yellow spring.

Recently had new Lambda + MAF Sensors, plus new N75 & N80 Valves and 007p service.

What mods did your cars have at the time of mapping and what were your results?

daz-20vt said:

mate your on the right track but no fmic is seriously contridicting all the mods you have done!!
get one on both cars before you go!!

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Cheers for your comment... I would go for a FMIC were there one available which allowed me to keep my fog lights + grilles. I really want to keep my S3 looking as standard looking as possible.

My Dad's in his 50's so a FMIC on show is definitely not his thing, and again wants to keep his looking standard and he isn't really chasing the top figures... just good driveability with the option of putting his foot down alongside an ill informed Corsa or Clio driver and showing them what the back end of an 8L looks like.

When he first bought his S3 a few years ago it'd been mapped but the map was so aggressive it kept throwing up fault codes for things like 'Over Advanced Timing'... he went to an Audi (Ex Master Tech) independent in Doncaster (who turned out to be a true BELL END) who attempted to have my Dad's eyes out telling him he needed a new bottom end. The car would put you right back in your seat and felt like you were hitting 60mph from 0 in about 5 seconds. No kidding.

This Audi 'specialist' said the bottom end was going and also said to have the car remapped again (but this time dial it down a bit). And he did that alright. My Dad decided to have the ECU remapped but would hold off on the bottom end rebuild, so this bloke removed the aggressive map and replaced it with one which had literally every setting retarded... the car ran like sh!te and other faults kept appearing (funnily enough this bloke said to my Dad these words 'I can take the map off but I can guarantee you'll be back with more problems').

Turns out this bloke was just out to make as much money as he could. My Dad ended up having the car mapped again by a mobile remapper who sent the file off to somewhere else, got it tweaked, then sent back. The bloke who received the file called the mobile mapper and asked him WTF have you just sent me! The file was so knackered they had to start again with a different file. The map he has on now is OK... but you never know what you've got when you get one of these mobile maps put on your car.

12,000 miles later and his engines running sweet as a nut with no more fault codes.


As for my own car... I'm not going to be doing any track days in it... just the occasional blast. If there were a decent FMIC out there which had pipework that didn't protrude and require removal of the fogs / grilles I'd seriously consider one (as long as the cost was reasonable). I haven't been able to find one for a decent price that ticks all the boxes. It's a shame noone has manufactured an upgraded SMIC setup. I understand that you can get around another 10hp out of the car with a FMIC fitted, but I've already put well over £10,000 in to this car and there has to be a point where I stop with the spending. An R Tech remap was the last thing on the shopping list to do.

<tuffty/> said:

I'd change the plug gaps back to 0.7 or 0.8 at a push if I were you... 0.9 will lead to misfires later... It's a bit of a myth tbh and the larger the gap the more the coil pack has to work... The harder the coil pack has to work the sooner it will fail... I run 0.7mm on NGK BKR7E plugs and Tfsi coils at 1.5 to 2bar with around 500hp at my disposal...

<tuffty/>

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Hi Tuffty, Cheers for the recommendation. I spent hours looking around at what other people had gapped their plugs at. Couldn't find anything specific to the Audi S3.... but had lots of people stating between 0.85 and 0.9. I believe mine are somewhere between 0.85 and 0.9 because the 0.9 feeler gauge doesn't quite pass through whereas .85 does.

Now I've got the push down coils on the car I might just spend 20 minutes tonight re-gapping them. I'll give them a 0.75 gap so its right down the middle. Thanks again for that very welcome advice.

daz-20vt said:

fmic wont help peak power but it will help sustain it
i promise you if its a mild (not hot) day i can give my car abit of stick up the road and on the second blast i can feel the lack of power.
its sooo frustrating
have an fmic being fitted tomorrow but clearly too chavvy for you guys lol
you been through the fmic sticky on here?

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I understand it helps to sustain it... I'm sure I read somewhere that a FMIC allowed a higher peak figure due to improved flow.
I don't mind the look of an intercooler in the middle... it's just the fact that I'd lose the standard look on the vents. It's also difficult to hide a mod like an FMIC from the missus lol. That's why my car has a Badger5 TIP because my original TIP was 'split'... and my 2.0 TFSI Coils replaced my old ones as an 'Audi recommendation', my 3" Downpipe was fitted because the original one had a bad leak (even showed her the old frayed flexi section to prove it lol)... and as for my Red silicone vacuum hosing... that was the only colour available at the shop at the time. And my S2000 air filter is covered up by the original air box so no explanation required unless she gets a screwdriver out.

A FMIC would however raise suspicions and I'm supposed to be saving up for her breast enlargement.

Obviously the Audi comes before any set of D Cups!

<tuffty/> said:

Have tested the TFSI coils and various gaps on the dyno and they made feck all real world difference to power... ran 0.85mm for a little while but started getting a misfire... re-gapped to 0.7mm and it went away.. still on the same coil packs now and no issues...

<tuffty/>

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I'd read somewhere that the hotter spark allowed a bigger gap and apparently that allows for better fuel economy (which is something I need since I do a lot of motorway miles). But will definitely be getting my head in the engine bay shortly when the cars cooled down and regapping them plugs.

Just out of interest... Do you know if a tuner such as Niki from R Tech would be able to do anything with the map so that 6th gear between 60 - 80mph was purely for economy with no boost until later in the rev range. Obviously I'm no expert on what can / can't be implemented into a remap but would be interesting to have a 'flat spot' in 6th gear purely for cruising speeds.

Because whenever you're giving the car the beans you're not going to be anywhere in the 2000 - 3500 rpm range after shifting from 5th gear @ 5500rpm - 6000rpm so it sort of makes that part of the rev range pointless to me. If I need to overtake when in that rev range I'd just drop to 5th gear.

daz-20vt said:

no it ****** shouldnt
you get them titties done!!!!
and remember pics or it didnt happen!!!!

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Our lass wouldn't be happy if I was attending to my car's Front Mounts instead of hers.

DarrenS3 said:

My S3, which is an APY engine has had a stage 2 R-Tech remap. I didn't get it done myself, but I bought it with all the mods and remap already done by the previous owner. The mods are: Forge 007 DV, Toyo front mount intercooler, Brand new genuine exhaust manifold. Relentless 3 inch down pipe and decat, but still with standard S3 cat back system. Honda S200 air filter. R-tech 80 mm supersize Turbo intake pipe and most of the other boost hoses are silicone. LUK dual mass flywheel, CG Motorsport 5 paddle clutch and Sachs slave cylinder. Leon Cupra R 323mm 4 pot front brakes. HEL braided brake lines, mostly Powerflex polybushes all round including the 2 dog bone engine mount bushes and solid wishbone bushes. FK Highsport coilovers.

Rolling road print out says 280 bhp and 305 ft lbs torque. It drives really well and the power pulls in all the gears, My liquid cube device has sgown me a result of 277 bhp and that was where the "private" road wasn't long enough to test the full potential.

My last car was a Mk4 1.8T Golf, which I bought standard and had stage 1 remap, then stage 2 remap and finally after changing the turbo for a hybrid BBT K250, I had a custom remap. All of these remaps were done by R-Tech over the last 5 years. I would never go anywhere else for a remap because I know and trust what Ben and Niki do. Very knowledgable chaps and really nice people too. Plus, if there is a problem, and they can't sort it, they wont remap. They are always working for their customer's best interests, which sometimes means turning away business.

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Cheers for your time and response... I was expecting around 280bhp for a setup such as your own. I'd be happy with around the 265bhp mark as a peak figure but an easily attainable 250bhp+ when demanded.

One reason why I chose to go to him was purely down to the fact that he examines the car and ensures everythings right before performing the remap. Because it's only going to come and bite him in the **** if a cars not right beforehand... and having the map done will only speed up the fault occurring and 9 owners out of 10 will blame the tuner. Best that he sends them away. Whilst I'd be disappointed that the map couldn't have been done at the time I'd also have lots of respect and trust for them based on their honesty and unwillingness to just take your money and irresponsibly perform the map.

Trust my luck that he'll say the same thing to me. It's literally the only part on the car I've not replaced!

How much is a new fuel pump for these cars and how easy are they to fit? If cheap it might be worth doing anyway.

<tuffty/> said:

Doesn't work like that... linear throttle will mean its not trying to spool all the time though... I know he can do that but tbh economy is not a 1.8t's forte...

I find best compromise is 65mph...

<tuffty/>

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Aye I thought there'd be a reason why it couldn't be done in a practical manner.

I've also found that 65mph is the sweet spot for these cars... have managed 38.5mpg when brimming it, driving for 170 miles then brimming it again when doing these speeds. Just a shame that the turbo starts spooling up once you start going any faster and it seems to drink a lot more juice as a result.

DarrenS3 said:

I am not sure about the S3 ones, but here is a link to Eurocarparts prices http://www.eurocarparts.com/fuel-pump.
Funny enough the fuel pump went on my Golf on Niki's rolling road, but luckily was able to get one from TPS and had it delivered there, it cost me about £169 iirc.

The man who bought my GTI told me that Mk4 Golf 1.8t fuel pumps are a weak point on these cars, as he has found out during track events. This is why sometimes some people will find that their cars will cut out when going up hill (as I have found out) and when cornering hard if the petrol is low. I don't know if it is a similar weak point on the S3 though.

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Cheers for that. Might be an idea to buy one the day before I go down there and if he says it needs changing I've got it there ready (Providing they're a straight forward fit).

Again, cheers for your all advice and replies

Sounds like you bought a good one Phil. I wasn't so fortunate.

Mine was advertised by a complete bell end in Huddersfield who'd made claims such as 'Best in the UK'... 'Flawless', 'Stunning'... yet he'd priced it at just £2800 with 115,000 miles on the clock and a full 12 months MOT (with a single advisory for a worn track rod end).

When I saw the car in person I was in agreement with the lad... the externals of the car were immaculate (with the exception of the badly sprayed black RS4 style alloys). No dents in the body work, paintwork was bright and no rust... with an exceptionally tidy interior (although the centre armrest was a creaky ******). Plugged my code reader in and came up it had a MAF / Lamdba sensor fault (Silly cone filter could be blamed for the MAF). I let my Dad test drive it seeing as he has one so he knows how they should drive so he drove round a few 30mph roads, everything seemed spot on. I should have clicked when the guy said it had 13 or 14 previous owners!!!! And he'd only had it a month himself but seeing only two faults on the code reader (both easily fixed), plus such an exceptional interior / exterior I handed over £2700.

Since then it's had £9000+ spent on it!

Turns out it needed all of the following:
New engine (bottom end was f**ked)
Another new engine (because new engine was worse than the one we were replacing! - luckily replaced + fitted under warranty)
Reconditioned Turbo
New clutch + flywheel (although clutch was recent but still did it anyway when fitting new engine)
Another new clutch + flywheel (because had slight chatter and was advised to change the lot - )
Another new clutch + Concentric slave (because bell end mechanic didn't fit the clutch right, yet blamed the clutch and re did the job)...
Another new clutch + Concentric slave (because total bell end f**ked the job up for a second time, didn't tighten up the flywheel bolts - on purpose I reckon, slave cylinder popped and brake fluid all over my brand new stage 2 clutch kit)
Another new clutch + Concentric slave (this time... done by my usual mechanic, who got in touch with previous mechanic and showed him his great work - The tosser refused to refund any labour but offered to replace my stage 2 clutch with a standard Sachs branded one). Apparently I had no argument to make because I didn't take the car back to him - Although I do remember doing that already and look where that got me!

Also had a new Diverter valve, N80 + N75 Valves, downpipe + cat, exhaust manifold, another MAF sensor, Coils, Plugs, 20mm spacers, brakes + pads all round, clutch master cylinder, clutch pedal switch, brake pedal switch, clutch lines, turbo intake pipe, all vacuum lines, new front arms with bushes, new track rod ends, fuel filter - the list goes on and on. It'd be quicker to list what hasn't been changed!

I did stick it up on Autotrader a few weeks back for £6500, which I know is a lot to be asking for a car with 14 - 15 previous owners on 122,000 miles... and I didn't expect to get an offer of that, but I did get several offers for bang on £5000, which is a positive sign all things considered.

Just had it put through the MOT and had no advisories so all good!

But with how much I've spent here I keep thinking I could have paid for our lass to get a pair of Double D swingers and I could be walking around with a 12" ****, instead of this enormous thing.

Yeah definitely through the mill - numerous times.

That mechanic came very well recommended to me... my usual mechanic hates my car because he knows how much of a bad omen it has been.... I asked him to change my clutch first but he didn't want to take the job on (under the impression the front end had to come off)... I asked around and was recommended to go and use this other bloke who is a 'transmission specialist' with over 35 years experience.

Got charged £400 first time around for labour (as I supplied the stage 2 clutch kit + flywheel + concentric slave). He also fit my new 3" downpipe whilst he was back there... The car lasted 200 miles before being completely undriveable... unable to change gear in the end and the bite point was right in the floor. Took it back to him... he stripped it, blamed the clutch kit (which I luckily got a refund on) and bought another performance clutch kit (this time from black diamond). He refitted it, charging me £300 this time.. But this time around I managed around 1000 miles on the newly fitted clutch (bedding it in for the first 500 miles), but it too became difficult to drive and the concentric slave popped, contaminating my new stage 2 clutch (which could've been salvaged had the CSC not popped).

This time took it to my usual mechanic and asked him to take a look. Realising how much trouble I'd had with this other guy he took the job on and I told him the procedure for doing the job, which was much simpler than he originally thought. He discovered three of the flywheel bolts weren't nipped up (all next to one another), whereas the other 3 were really tight. Intentional? Perhaps!

Anyway... like I said before, he replaced the clutch kit with a standard sachs one... and I got none of my £700 labour charges back.

Luckily my usual mechanic is spot on and only charged me £200 for a quality job of fitting the standard clutch on to the car.

I only put the car up for sale just to test the water... gauge interest and see what people are offering.

I have transformed a bad car in to a good one with all I've spent... as all the bad parts are now off the car and replaced by new bits.

As you can imagine.. my wallet has been less full than it could've been! As have our lasses bra's.

I re-gapped the spark plugs last night... went outside with just a 10mm socket, ratchet and an extension. Never known a car to be so easy to remove the spark plugs now the N249 Delete has been done and I've got the push down coil packs in. Managed to remove them all in the dark. I gapped them all to 0.75mm and popped them back in. Car doesn't seem to run any differently but I'm sure the coils will be happier under Tuffty's advice.

Took the car out on a long motorway drive today... 160.8 miles there and back with roughly 3 miles of them being on 30mph roads.

Filled up on the way out.. Also checked my tyre pressures (which were all strangely down at 26-27 psi), put these up to 32 psi.

Stuck to between 60 and 65 mph the whole way there and back.

Filled up at the same station on the way home... came to £23.35 for 17.84 litres of Tesco Momentum 99.... I have that calculated at just over 41 mpg!!!

Couldn't believe my eyes... the best I've ever had from the car prior to today was 38.5 mpg.

Sorting the tyre pressures has clearly had an impact but I also reckon those new TFSI Coil packs might be allowing the car to run more economically. The trip computer was showing as only 40.4 mpg, so very surprised to see the actual MPG higher than that.