Alientech Australia ECM Titanium Tips for Burbles/Pop&Bang Tuning Tricks

Burbles/Pop&Bang

ECM Titanium Tuning Tips

The “Burbles” or “Pop&Bang” is a highly sought-after sound effect among sports car owners.

These are generally popping and crackling sounds produced during overrun, resulting from a combination of retarded ignition timing and a delay in the cut-off activation.

This phenomenon can be managed at various engine speeds, especially on vehicles with modified exhaust systems, through specific adjustments to the engine control unit (ECU) parameters. Many sports car enthusiasts love the aggressive and sporty sound that “Burbles/Pop&Bang” gives to their vehicles.

This sound has become a hallmark of high-performance cars, so much so that some manufacturers have started to include it as a standard feature on certain models.

How is the modification achieved?

The Burbles/Pop&Bang effect is obtained through a series of modifications to the ECU maps:

  • Fuel cut-off modification

  • Ignition advance modification

To achieve the popping sounds, ignition timing needs to be retarded. This ensures that part of the combustion occurs with opened exhaust valves, producing the characteristic pops and crackles in the exhaust system.Please note that this effect generates high backpressures and EGT in the exhaust during lift off conditions: if the car is equipped with a stock catalyst it will be necessary to work with low increments on maps otherwise you can damage some engine components (turbocharger, valve seats, etc) or the catalytic converter.The maps that manage the fuel cut-off during throttle release must be adjusted. This incluedes the overrun fuel cut-off delay maps and its switch.The maps that manage the base, optimal and minimum spark advance have to be modded to obtain the desired effect.

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Example

Burbles/Pop&Bang on Abarth 595:

Thanks to the maps available in the driver for the Bosch ME17.3.0 ECU equipped on the Abarth 595, it is possible to activate this function with maximum precision.This small guide will explain how to work on the overrun activation maps and the minimum advance maps to achieve the best result. We will use the ECM Titanium software for these modifications because it allows you to:

  • View the useful ECU maps.

  • Precisely modify the advance and cut-off parameters.

  • Save personalized configurations.

To start the modification, it is necessary to define how to make the fuel cut-off management work, using the fuel cut-off switch and then by modifying the maps related to delay time and engine speed threshold.It is essential to set the minimum, base and optimal spark advance maps to make pops and bangs from the exhaust. In this case i twill be necessary to set an ignition delay, after the top dead center, at the desired engine speed range and at low engine loads.

1. Overrun fuel cut-off maps

  • Overrun fuel cut-off deactivation: this map allows you to define how to manage the overrun cut-off maps. By setting the value “0” it is possible to work on the engine speed threshold maps. With the value “1” it is possible to wok on overrun delay time maps, that will allow to define how much time keeping the pops&bangs effect active, by disabling the injection cut-off for a determined time period.
  • Overrun fuel cut-off delay time: on ECM Drivers there are multiple maps related to cut-off times. Thanks to these maps it will be possible to set at what engine and catalyst temperature, gear and engine speed have the pops&bangs effect. You’ll be able to manage precisely the pops&bangs effect in order to avoid possible damage to the engine and the catalytic converter.
  • Overrun injection cut-off engine speed lower threshold: this map is used by the ECU when the deactivation switch is set to value “0”. It is possible in this case to set an engine speed threshold below which the overrun cut-off is permanently disabled.

Generally it is possible to manage more precisely the pops&bangs by setting the siwtch to value “1” and then working by delay time cut off maps.

2. Spark advance maps

  • Minimum spark advance: this map manages the lowest possible ignition value. ECU won’t retard the ignition timing below the values set in this map.
  • Spark advance base map: manages the base ignition advance.
  • Optimal spark advance: manages the optimal engine advance.

To regulate frequency and volume of the pops&bangs effect it will be necessary to work on the ignition angle going over the TDC (set negative values on the spark advance maps). The higher will be the negative value, the higher will be the volume of the bangs. We suggest not to set a value that’s too low in order to not damage the engine.

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