This is SPECIFICALLY for the 2.0
Warning: This will be a long post.
First, I want to say that I have never used a piggyback before, but have had custom tunes done on a previous vehicle. I am not a mechanical engineer and don’t pretend to be one. This has been MY experience with the LAP3 piggyback.
Starting out, everything was going well. Originally, I did not change anything and ran the LAP3 at the 93 octane rating. At around the 1,000 mile mark, I started to hear a singe “tick” noise under high boost at low RPM. It was always one tick. That’s never good (and never good to lug a turbo engine. Lug your GDI engine at your own risk!). I attributed the sound to LSPI— Low Speed Pre-Ignition. I am about 99% sure that’s what it was.
I quickly set out to get rid of this potentially destructive phenomenon. First, I went back to stock. No sound, so it had to be the chip. I plugged the chip back in and turned it down to the 91 setting and threw octane booster in the gas. According to the octane booster, I should have been running around 100 octane (I know, I know, but I wanted to try it). This was my cheap solution to a critical problem. Guess what? The sound was still there. Okay, so my second idea was to just regap the OEM spark plugs. I regap the oem plugs to .25 and still the tick is there. I also lost power on the low end of the RPM, which was very interesting. I thought I would be able to hold out on buying new plugs, but I was definetly wrong.
Lesson learned: Listen to the Hive.
Now, The HKS M40xl are the plugs recommended for the 2.0. I’m sure they are great, but I couldn’t justify spending 100+ bucks on 4 spark plugs. I did the next best thing. I found the NGK equivalent. The NGK 1422 ILKR8E6 is the same plug and a colder range. It’s the same plug they use in the evo 4G engine. 50 bucks shipped and I’m sold. I recieve the spark plugs and quickly install them. An aside— the spark plugs in the 2.0 stinger are so easy to change. I feel bad for the V6 owners. These plugs are supposed to come pregapped around .25. Perfect. Everything should work. I install them and take her for a drive. The noise is still there! This was getting annoying. I pull the new NGK plugs and see what they were gapped at. LESS THAN .20. I couldn’t even fit them on my spark plug wheel. I regap the new plugs to .30 and ran the car. IT WORKED. Everything went back to normal! She picks up boost now early in the range and, best of all, NO TICK UNDER LOAD. I regapped the Plugs to .35 to see if anything would change, and thought it felt a little better (probably just in my head). I kept the gap at .35, but might put it down to .30 eventually. The car runs beautifully now. It feels much better driving the car and not worrying about that “tick” noise. I never knew spark plugs could make this big of a difference.
My theory: Everything that I have read about high(er) boosted engines is they like smaller plug gaps. MY experience with MY car is that is likes the gap in the .3 range. My illogical reasoning? It takes more voltage from the coils to ignite the spark with a wider gap, allowing more air and fuel into the chambers to ignite. I think original gap was too small and igniting before all the a/f was in the cylinder. The OEM plug was definitely running way too hot. This lead to extra heat in the chamber and to my pre-ignition problem. What do I know though
TL;DR — If you have the 2.0, you must go to a colder spark plug. I chose NGK. I’m sure HKS is great. My car ran perfect at the .3 and .35 gapped plug. Yours might be different. This must be addressed for the people still running stock plugs with LAP3 — CHANGE THEM. Doesn’t matter what brand, but you need a colder range. Make sure you check your spark gap before installing. If you don’t address this, it could be bye-bye engine.
Warning: This will be a long post.
First, I want to say that I have never used a piggyback before, but have had custom tunes done on a previous vehicle. I am not a mechanical engineer and don’t pretend to be one. This has been MY experience with the LAP3 piggyback.
Starting out, everything was going well. Originally, I did not change anything and ran the LAP3 at the 93 octane rating. At around the 1,000 mile mark, I started to hear a singe “tick” noise under high boost at low RPM. It was always one tick. That’s never good (and never good to lug a turbo engine. Lug your GDI engine at your own risk!). I attributed the sound to LSPI— Low Speed Pre-Ignition. I am about 99% sure that’s what it was.
I quickly set out to get rid of this potentially destructive phenomenon. First, I went back to stock. No sound, so it had to be the chip. I plugged the chip back in and turned it down to the 91 setting and threw octane booster in the gas. According to the octane booster, I should have been running around 100 octane (I know, I know, but I wanted to try it). This was my cheap solution to a critical problem. Guess what? The sound was still there. Okay, so my second idea was to just regap the OEM spark plugs. I regap the oem plugs to .25 and still the tick is there. I also lost power on the low end of the RPM, which was very interesting. I thought I would be able to hold out on buying new plugs, but I was definetly wrong.
Lesson learned: Listen to the Hive.
Now, The HKS M40xl are the plugs recommended for the 2.0. I’m sure they are great, but I couldn’t justify spending 100+ bucks on 4 spark plugs. I did the next best thing. I found the NGK equivalent. The NGK 1422 ILKR8E6 is the same plug and a colder range. It’s the same plug they use in the evo 4G engine. 50 bucks shipped and I’m sold. I recieve the spark plugs and quickly install them. An aside— the spark plugs in the 2.0 stinger are so easy to change. I feel bad for the V6 owners. These plugs are supposed to come pregapped around .25. Perfect. Everything should work. I install them and take her for a drive. The noise is still there! This was getting annoying. I pull the new NGK plugs and see what they were gapped at. LESS THAN .20. I couldn’t even fit them on my spark plug wheel. I regap the new plugs to .30 and ran the car. IT WORKED. Everything went back to normal! She picks up boost now early in the range and, best of all, NO TICK UNDER LOAD. I regapped the Plugs to .35 to see if anything would change, and thought it felt a little better (probably just in my head). I kept the gap at .35, but might put it down to .30 eventually. The car runs beautifully now. It feels much better driving the car and not worrying about that “tick” noise. I never knew spark plugs could make this big of a difference.
My theory: Everything that I have read about high(er) boosted engines is they like smaller plug gaps. MY experience with MY car is that is likes the gap in the .3 range. My illogical reasoning? It takes more voltage from the coils to ignite the spark with a wider gap, allowing more air and fuel into the chambers to ignite. I think original gap was too small and igniting before all the a/f was in the cylinder. The OEM plug was definitely running way too hot. This lead to extra heat in the chamber and to my pre-ignition problem. What do I know though
TL;DR — If you have the 2.0, you must go to a colder spark plug. I chose NGK. I’m sure HKS is great. My car ran perfect at the .3 and .35 gapped plug. Yours might be different. This must be addressed for the people still running stock plugs with LAP3 — CHANGE THEM. Doesn’t matter what brand, but you need a colder range. Make sure you check your spark gap before installing. If you don’t address this, it could be bye-bye engine.
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