Unichip

[GSB]

My thoughts exactly. IMHO the best, most effective mods you can make are,  in order of performance cost effectivness, and the all important grin factor are:

1/ Driver training. Not a car mod per se, but you cant expect the car to do its best when theres a lemon at the controls...

2/ A decent set of tyres. Frankly the OEM tryes are crap. Dont scrimp and buy decent sports rubber, and your car will really talk to you.

3/ Chassis Bracing. Especially on the pre '04 models. The extra rigidity is really confidence inspiring, which means you can go faster.

4/ The Unichip. Decent gains in driveability for affordable money.

5/ A decent exhaust. Not so much for performance, although it helps. The soundtrack is very inspiring though, and really urges you on!

[roger]

Looking forward to the tuning   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

I've always thought the '2 pulled very well in lower gears (certainly much better than I am used to), so what you are saying Grant is it is going to be XXtimes better. Excellent.

One small question of those that have been to Millways - did you take all the plastic off beforehand (cupboard door, floor etc), or did they do it?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I did notice one thing on our "chip run" when I set off behind bigun007 on our runs, each time we did this I had to back off quite considerably to avoid adjusting his rear bumper, this meant I lost the momentum to give any real comparison, James did say that he was getting wheel spin in second gear, where-as I had no problems whatsoever (even in the damp conditions), I do accept that he did have the power advantage, but I wonder what the difference is between the pre-facelift models *thinks (Humber Bridge James?)*

btw. if anybody wants a vid' of the chip run i'll pass it to you on msn (23mb) ackers@hotmail135****.com (forget the stars)

[GSB]

I think te differences are more likely between different engines. as I said beforemy '04 and mph's dyno's are so close they could be the same car, yet theres 4 years between them.

As for the question regarding the plastics?

I installed the chip myself, takes about 15 minutes...

[Anonymous]

Millway do all the work required no need to take anything off

[roger]

As for the question regarding the plastics?

I installed the chip myself, takes about 15 minutes...

Sorry Grant, not made myself clear.

I've also installed the (unprogrammed) chip, and replaced all the plastics. Did you take the plastics off again before you went to Millways - or did they do it?

<EDIT>Thanks Bowman - crossed in the post   s:roll: :roll: s:roll: </EDIT>

[Liz]

Grant put the differences far more eloquently that I did  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  Been out a few times today and took the longer route everywhere..on a country lane I done an overtake I never would of gone for before, just because I know that the power is so readily available now.  The car should come out of the factory like this IMHO.

[GSB]

As for the question regarding the plastics?

I installed the chip myself, takes about 15 minutes...

Sorry Grant, not made myself clear.

I've also installed the (unprogrammed) chip, and replaced all the plastics. Did you take the plastics off again before you went to Millways - or did they do it?

<EDIT>Thanks Bowman - crossed in the post   s:roll: :roll: s:roll: </EDIT>

Ahh, I see. They'll do it for you I imagine. but all they need to get to is the Unichip itself so they can plug in the laptop. Mine is mounted on the back of the side panel, so all I have to do is pull the 2 little fasteners off and swing the panel down.

[Anonymous]

I did notice one thing on our "chip run" when I set off behind bigun007 on our runs, each time we did this I had to back off quite considerably to avoid adjusting his rear bumper, this meant I lost the momentum to give any real comparison, James did say that he was getting wheel spin in second gear, where-as I had no problems whatsoever (even in the damp conditions), I do accept that he did have the power advantage, but I wonder what the difference is between the pre-facelift models *thinks (Humber Bridge James?)*

btw. if anybody wants a vid' of the chip run i'll pass it to you on msn (23mb) ackers@hotmail135****.com (forget the stars)

I was waiting for everyone to be ready mate so was sat in first gear just trickling along  s:) s:)

[heathstimpson]

I'm currently running a premapped chip but have others mods that may change things slightly like the H&S exhaust and air intake, TRD panel filter etc. How much benefit would I get by having the chip retuned to my actual car  s:?: :?: s:?:  I do intend to do this sometime in the future anyway, but just want to establish the difference I might see against the premapped unit.

[GSB]

You'll probabley see no difference at all in terms of how the car feels, but you may eek out a couple of ft/lbs here, a bit of extra power there... You'll basically optimise it for your engine...

[roger]

Mine is mounted on the back of the side panel, so all I have to do is pull the 2 little fasteners off and swing the panel down.

Grant

Good idea, I'll sort that out.

Presumably the 2 switches are there as well, or have you pulled them through to the front of the car? I was thinking that if I just had unmapped / mapped on A/B, a visible switch wasn't really necessary.

[crankshaft]

Well, reading through your postings, I am now more than a little disappointed in my unichip investment.

I had it fitted and mapped / dynoed by Millway, mine is a 2001 with 15,000 on the clock, the engine appears healthy, I have the TTE twin exhausts.

Before mapping, I was getting 143 BHP and after 144bhp, so how come you guys are getting at least 10 bhp more than me

 s:( s:(

[GSB]

As I said before, peak bhp is not the inidicator you should be looking at. Its meaningless in the real world. What improvements in torque have you got? How does the car actually feel?

Not all engines respond as well to the unichip, some are already operating very close to peak efficiency, so there is less room for improvement. Also, the majority of the gains are in chages to the ignition, and to get the best from additional advance you need to be running a fuel that can handle it. Super Unleaded should be your juice of choice.

Theres a hundred other reasons why your headline figure isnt that great, atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity... etc.... The fact is that on the day I went, we had outstanding atmospheric conditions for the operation of internal combustion engines. On a warm summers day, I'd have been severely down on power. When I dynoed my last roadster on a hot day, it was down by 16bhp....

[Anonymous]

So forgetting the dyno, are you saying you've noticed no difference?

[crankshaft]

Hi !!

Oh no, I can notice a 'bit' of difference, but I was hoping for a bit more of a boost in terms of raw power and a bit more difference !.

There are no flatspots, and it pulls cleener through the rev range, but the fact is that the cars with more bhp than mine will be quicker (everything else being equal) - whichever way you look at it, power is still king !

I always use optimax fuel and the car was setup & dynoed 3 days before christmas, nice and cold and low humidity, should have been ideal conditions for maximum power.

PaterC

[Anonymous]

(Devil's advocate hat on) The general impression that I'm getting is that the premapped chips seem to be producing more of a result than those that have been custom mapped, although Grant & Liz seem to have good gains and are describing the same sort of difference that I feel on my premapped unit. According to the Dyno Darth Paul didn't seems to get brilliant results and bigun007s premapped car seemed to be faster than Lee's. (Devil's advocate hat off).

What does everyone think? I mean I know the info is largely subjective since a lot of it is butt dyno and those that have dynoed have used different dynos and other different engine performance mods. The general trend seems to be that the premapped units are bucking the predicted trend, that being that the custom tuned units should be better having being tuned individually to the particular engine's characteristics.

[GSB]

So far only one of the premapped chips has been dynoed, and then there was no comparitive run made agianst stock settings, So the plots gained have no reference point. It could be that on the dyno, on the day, the stock settings could have pumped out an indicated 150bhp on Biguns car, so the Unichip may have gained him just 10bhp. Its a possibility, but we dont know... Thats why its not the headline figures that you should look at, but the comparitive results before and after. In this way any errors introduced on the first run, will also be introduced on the second run, thus the errors cancel themselves out and you have the true picture.

Also there is the possibility that the premapped chips are mapped a little more aggresively than the UK tuners are mapping them. This has some penalties though, let me explain;

I would think it would be a simple matter to get even more power out if my engine, but as always the law of diminishing returns rears it ugly head... The majority of the gains are in increasing the ignition advance. This increases power output, but only up to a point. That point makes itself known when for each degree of advance, you start to trade off smaller and smaller gains in power for much higher combustion temperatures. The trick is for the tuner to carefully work out where that point is and select his settings in such a way as to balance the requirement for power, whilst retaining a little mechanical sympathy, becasue if you keep increasing the advance you will eventually start causing serious problems. I have every confidence that Hedley has tuned my chip to a point where reliability is not compromised, and I am not treading the fineline between power and melted pistons. I cant say the same about premapped chips, as they havent been mapped on my engine, but my guess would be that if they are making more power, they are doing so by running more advance, and therefore are running a little closer to the ragged edge.  Not nessesarily right on the edge, the settings are probably fine and Hedley may be a bit more conservative than Unichip USA, after all, nothing ruins your reputation as a tuner faster than a dyno covered in oil and lumps of engine. He has his future business to think about.

So you see the point being made here, is that not only are all engines different, and therefore respond differently to tuning with Unichip, but also, all tuners are different, and they use knowledge and experience to determine how to set up your chip as well as the tools and software available. In a years time I could ask Hedley to take another look at my car, and the chances are that he'll come up with a far different map, based upon his knowledge, experience, and feeling at the time. If he chooses to play it slightly safe, and not tune it up to the very edge, then I for one shant be complaining.

[heathstimpson]

At the end of the day Hedley seems to have the most knowledge on setting up the maps for the 2. When I get round to it I will be heading over to him but will keep the premapped on Map A, and the custom tune on B. I believe this is possible.

[GSB]

At the end of the day Hedley seems to have the most knowledge on setting up the maps for the 2. When I get round to it I will be heading over to him but will keep the premapped on Map A, and the custom tune on B. I believe this is possible.

He was unable to do it on LeeUk's, Liz's and my car, but I've been in touch with Jack, who I'm hoping will set him straight.

[Anonymous]

That sounds interesting, it would certainly allow an interesting comparison.

[roger]

At the end of the day Hedley seems to have the most knowledge on setting up the maps for the 2. When I get round to it I will be heading over to him but will keep the premapped on Map A, and the custom tune on B. I believe this is possible.

He was unable to do it on LeeUk's, Liz's and my car, but I've been in touch with Jack, who I'm hoping will set him straight.

Sorry Grant, but can you expand please. According to the GB listing both you and Lee had the unmapped didn't you? Doesn't say for Liz.

Are you trying to put 2 maps on? I was hoping to have 1 unmapped, and 1 mapped. Is this still possible? Not being done until 24th, so I could talk to Hedley in the meantime if that  might assist my desires.

<EDIT>  Or have I got it wrong...is OFF unmapped, then when ON you have choice of A & B. Haven't got the instructions with me to re-read </EDIT>

[GSB]

At the end of the day Hedley seems to have the most knowledge on setting up the maps for the 2. When I get round to it I will be heading over to him but will keep the premapped on Map A, and the custom tune on B. I believe this is possible.

He was unable to do it on LeeUk's, Liz's and my car, but I've been in touch with Jack, who I'm hoping will set him straight.

Sorry Grant, but can you expand please. According to the GB listing both you and Lee had the unmapped didn't you? Doesn't say for Liz.

Are you trying to put 2 maps on? I was hoping to have 1 unmapped, and 1 mapped. Is this still possible? Not being done until 24th, so I could talk to Hedley in the meantime if that  might assist my desires.

Of course...

The Unichip does have the facility to store 2 maps, and to select between those maps, "on the fly". The premapped chips come ready installed with this function, on the unmapped chips, both maps are set to zero values. Hedley at millway is familiar with this, but was unable to get it to work on my car or Liz's, or Lee's all of which were unmapped chips. Jack of Unichip reckons it's not a big problem, and the Hedley will be able to sort it out, if he gets in touch with Dastek UK for a bit of guidance. Once sorted I'll go back and get the tuned map and zero map that I wanted.

[SimonC_Here]

That's about what he said on mine, "going to check with dastek UK".

Just one thing about the place. COLD! Take some warm clothes!

Anyway, back to the mapping.
the final big figure
163 bhp @ 6766 RPM   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  




Actually that is a glitch in the trace. The actual figure is more like 158 BHP which is still a great gain.   s8) s8)  

Oh how happy am I, you can feel the difference in all gears through most of the rev range.

Roll on a sunny weekend to play in!


Simon

[roger]

Once sorted I'll go back and get the tuned map and zero map that I wanted.

Grant - sorry to be a pain,

Can I ask, have you got the tuned map already on the chip, just can't switch between that and zero? Presumably you are not going for another dyno session?

Just need to check whether to ask about my 24th appointment.