I've been an avid reader of this forum for over 13 years but rarely post. As I have been referenced in this post, I feel I should offer a little clarity.
During the past 16 years of Z ownership, I have been fortunate enough to deal with a number of professional vendors. Jim, Jeff, Mike at MJP, Danny at DTA, JD, AndyP, Greg at SZ all come to mind. Some of these business relationships have developed in to valued friendships over the years.
My "mapping" journey started in the late 90's/early 00's by experimenting with generic JWT, SE Nistech, JD and DTA chips. AndyP even created a switchable dual map for me back in the day. These were all good fun when used in conjunction with my very basic mods. Fast forward, and Ed at Fusion Motorsport fitted a Nistune board and mapped the car to complement some additional mild mods that I had installed. This served me well for a number of years. Following a change in injectors, the car was remapped by Noel. Fast forward again and after extensive dialogue with Greg at SZ, I ordered some high end hardware and had it all professionally installed by Jim. This included extensive breather mods, a dual MAF set up and a Selin unit. The car was again sent to Noel for mapping. The remit was drivability over crazy horsepower.
Upon receiving and testing the car after mapping, a number of issues were immediately evident. It idled very high, 1250 - 1350rpm, the engine cut out intermittently under heavy load/braking, it over fuelled and after each stall it would crank but not start until the fuel pump relay was pulled and cranked again. I had a few interesting moments when approaching junctions and roundabouts! Has anyone tried steering a Z on a roundabout without power? Despite my remit, the map was set up for high end power at the expense of low/mid range drivability. It felt heavy and laggy. Noel did not have his own premises at the time, so the car went back to Bristol for him and Jim to examine. This is where months of experimentation started.
The restarting issue was a mapping/fuelling issue and quickly corrected by Noel adjusting the map. However, the car still stalled frequently and the idle remained high making it undrivable. Despite Conzult being clear, the faults were initially blamed on mechanical issues. Notwithstanding the Conzult results, and after a lot of unsuccessful diagnostics by Noel, I ordered and had installed various new components and sensors to eliminate any mechanical related issues, including new MAF's, PTU, TPS, CAS, IACV and fuelling components. Still the issues persisted and Noel then blamed the Selin unit/increased airflow as the proximate cause for the issues. A weird pipe contraption was even fabricated to attempt to cure the problems. This completely defeated the whole purpose of the Selin unit and failed to address the issues. Meanwhile, I was paying for all the experimental work. Then blame was placed on my HID's interfering with the Selin Units. Mine was a Series 2 which had an improved housing to eliminate such interference. Jim had access to other Selin units (Series 1 and Series 2) but using these did not resolve the issues either. I even contacted Jim Selin himself and he kindly offered to send me a new unit free of charge but felt that it was a mapping issue. I felt completely insulted when I was finally told by Noel that I could potentially live with the issues as the car was able to be started after stalling! It was at this time that I started to hear about other people having issues, including Howard.
Feeling frustrated, I turned to Greg at SZ and after some 50+ email exchanges, he concluded that it was a mapping issue. He had mapped a 100+ Z's with the Selin without any issues. He asked if he could see my map but Noel objected to sending him the file, stating that it was his intellectual property. Greg then sent me one of his maps free of charge to experiment with but Noel had no success with this either. Each time Noel travelled to Bristol to look at my car, I was charged petrol and time whilst Jim was kind enough to store my car for several months and undertook a lot of mechanical/experimentation work free of charge for Noel in an effort to assist me. It is also important to state that Noel's own car was with Jim at the time for TOTB preparation. So work on my car was purely incidental to him checking/doing work on his own car when in Bristol. I felt the total mapping spend was excessive and achieved nothing. I also felt let down when communication with Noel became difficult and if I'd had the time and inclination, I would have pursued him for a full refund. Several text/voice messages were ignored and unanswered. In the end, it was clear that he could not resolve the issues and had no interest to help me. We are all faced with challenges but as a vendor, it is important to either deal with the issues professionally or be honest and upfront with the customer. I could not use my car for 3+ months as a result of these failures.
Disheartened, and significantly out of pocket, I spoke to three other mappers and was reassured that the issues could be resolved without eliminating the dual MAF/Selin set up. To my relief, this was successfully achieved with the original set up and with Nistune in situ just to prove that the issues were map related and not mechanical. No more stalling and no more high idle. I subsequently installed a Link G4+ because I wanted to remove the MAF's altogether and change to a MAP sensor set up. This allowed for greater optimisation of my set up and the result was absolutely awesome. Sadly, a little mishap on a wet, twisty B road resulted in the car being sent to Z heaven.
One final point. I was hugely impressed by the facilities and preparation time taken by the last two mappers I have used. Hours were spent checking and re-checking the mechanical soundness of the car before even thinking about placing it on the dyno. This included a compression test, smoke test for boost leaks, timing alignment, fuel pressure test, spark plug gapping, proper boost controller set up and road tests. Even the rear tyre threads and pressures were checked and adjusted. All of these measures gives one a huge level of confidence in the mapper and the mapping session. Greg at Protuner mapped an F-Con ECU in my current Z in this very manner. Jim knows this car very well. After importation, it went straight from the port to him for a thorough check and some work. I was flattered when he gave me a detailed assessment of the car, stating that it was one of the best Z's he had driven. Therefore, I was somewhat nervous about handing it over to a mapper, fearing that the drivability would be compromised in some way. However, it had to be set up properly for UK fuel and so off it went to Greg. He is a perfectionist, listens carefully to the client's needs and maps accordingly. We spent a long time talking about my driving style and what I wanted to achieve. We started at 10.30am and finished at 12.30am the next day. There was constant dialogue and feedback throughout the session. 4-5 hours were spent alone in pre-dyno checks and adjustments and I think he must have made 40 to 50 runs on the dyno until he was completely satisfied with the map. The cost remained as was agreed from the outset and I guess it is for these reasons that one has to wait some 3 months for a booking with him. The final result - a very responsive and progressive power band with plenty of low/midrange grunt. I had no interest in the HP output or seeing the dyno chart. It's all about drivability on the road for me without compromising reliability. So next time you're considering a mapper, ask yourself - what exactly are you getting for your outlay?
I know this is a long post but felt that a little clarity was required to some of the foregoing comments. My comments may be challenged but I have no desire to enter in to a debate. It is what it is.
Happy Zedding.
I am indeed, Sir, and hope you are too.
