Howdy folks -
I've been experimenting the last few days with the latest 12-15 V3.1 maps...like many, I'm running the following combo :
V3.1 (12-15 maps)
Dual cone intake
Catless DPs (ar in my case)
Helix IC
Forge DVs
But...I'm running the stock exhaust (post DPs) which means the secondary cats are intact. Why? In my case, simply because it keeps my 3 year old daughter happy and nobody pays attention. Yes, I like sleepers.
Anyhow, I've tried all 3 stages. I'm seeing 15.0 ~ 15.5 with stage 3, and 12.5~13.5 with stage 1, but I swear that stage 1 feels best and most responsive around town (low/mid level throttle). Up top I'm actually finding little seat of the pants difference between the 3 maps (quantified loosely by measured mph at the end of the ol' private track here). The only tangible data I've gathered during comparison testing (besides higher boost with the higher stages) is that my around town, my mpg averages 16 with stage 3, but closer to 18.5 mpg with stage 1 (same amount of time on each stage, same sort of driving) so apparently there is more fuel in the mix (perhaps too much if running the secondary cats and thus the limited differences in top end?).
The reason I'm asking is because I'm unclear on the official stance regarding tunes + upgraded intercoolers. I've read that custom tuning isn't required for for the intercooler to do it's thing, or to the best of its ability, but the fact that stage 3 specifies the presence of an intercooler makes me think that there is something to be gained by addressing it in specific (vs a passive presence). Is there any reason a map designed for
nearly, but not quite the full enchilada (intake, catless dps, intercooler) but with a single set of cats isn't worth the effort? If there's nothing to be gained by addressing an aftermarket IC specifically in the tune, that's acceptable but I'm curious why some tunes, such as Helix, appear to draft seperate maps for the inclusion of an intercooler. To play my own devils advocate, the fact that completely otherwise stock cars appear to gain power with aftermarket ICs indicates that tuning for them may in fact have little to no gain.
All this surmising may be a moot point as it appears (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that the deltas between stage 1 and stage 3 on the dyno is anywhere from just 10 to 15 whp. If I'm honest, I'm just interested in making sure that the intercooler is being taken advantage of fully - if this is already the case, I'm happy.
But I'd like to hear some official chatter on this from Shiv and others - Shiv suggested running stage 3 to someone a while back that was running an aftermarket IC but still running the secondary cats, but there's been some differing opinions on which stage is best for those of us still running secondary cats (either stock or high flow cats).