Unichip

[heathstimpson]

Yes they are a five pin security plus torx that can only be bought by the trade. Luckily my dad has a garage and can get a set of seven from his Snap On supplier. PM me if you want a set Lee.

[roger]

Booked in at Millways 24 March. As I said before have to wait for new exhaust, hence the delay.

Any other stragglers, happy to see you.

BTW, I was greeted with "Oh another one!". At least they will get plenty of practice before mine     s8) s8)  

They were also very non-plussed about fitting the harness. Basically if we can do it, it will save time, which will save money.

[Anonymous]

I've installed my chip - went OK now that I have the right tools (cheers Heath). My car is an 03 model so after removing the metal plate shrouding the ECU i pulled the 2 smaller plugs from it and found I had to cut the tape around the wires in order to seperate each of the plugs going into the Unichip harness from the plugs that remain plugged into the ECU. Also, the zip tie they supply is too short to go around the harness box and the loom that goes through the firewall. I bought some from B&Q which are 295mm long - worked fine.

Performance wise - all 2s should come like this from the factory. I've not dyno'ed or timed the car since fitting and nor do I intend to. There's a big enough difference to notice and that's good enough for me. Basically the engine now feels much sweeter and freer revving with much better low down and part throttle response. At the top end there is now more power - it makes you want to explore the upper rev range because there is now a reward worth searching for.

One thing that I did notice was that the engine is so much more responsive throughout the rev range. When revving the engine out through the gears it's now possible to chirp the wheels, without being really aggressive, between gear changes in the lower gears. I'm sure this is due to the better response when coming back on the power.

Overall a definite improvement - this should be one of your first mods. There's no excuse - just buy a premapped chip (that's what mine is) and if you want to go chasing absolute max power you can always get it remapped for your car but to be honest I don't think I'm gonna bother, it's already a big improvemnt as it is. Just for the record mines running on map A but I always run Optimax. No CEL's so far so good.

[heathstimpson]

I had to cut the loom to as the wires were pulling too tight. I never replaced the plate either. Where did you mount the actual Chip as the suggested area is not wide enough  s:?: :?: s:?:

[GSB]

My chip is velcro'd to the back of the plastic piece that fits in the sied of the luggage compartment and shields the hood drains. It makes it very easy to get at for mapping. I already have an amp below the floor, so theres no room there, but that would have been my first choice.

[Anonymous]

I mounted my chip on the floor of the compartment but as GSB rightly points out, this is no good if you've already stuck an amp there!

[LeeUK]

I did my dyno run today at millways;

Before: 147BHP
After:   148BHP



But as you can see the only reason I had a good 1st read was because I had a power spike at the end.  Now I have power and torque throughout!

You do notice the difference although I think James (Bigun007) will still be faster!

We'll have to do a club dyno day me's thinks!   s:D s:D

Can anyone host a video of a dyno run for me please?

[Anonymous]

Lee, if I'm reading your post right, are you saying that the Unichip only got you a 1BHP increase?! Or do you mean 147 on map 1 and 148 on map 2?

[Anonymous]

He got 1bhp due to the power spike in the first run, if you look there are greater gains everwhere apart from the end lol.

We reckon it might be because the fan was blowing into the rad at the front and the apexi would have been drawing HOT air in.

[LeeUK]

Yeah thats correct, but it feels a fair bit quicker all through the rev bands.  You can drive it on saturday Dan. (Gas struts   s:D s:D  )

[Anonymous]

You can drive it on saturday Dan. (Gas struts   s:D s:D  )

Oh yeah! I almost forgot...   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

[heathstimpson]

On refill I found I only got 24MPG since fitting the Unichip  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:   On checking found it was on Map B which obviously drinks fuel. Stick to Map A as it feels very similar in response  s:? :? s:?

[Darth Paul]

I too am using more fuel – around 210-220 miles per tank.  s:? :? s:?

[markiii]

not that surpriseing

more power requires more fuel

[Anonymous]

Mine's settled down on the second tank full.

The first only returned 29.5 mpg

The latest (after our "chip run") returned just over 32 mpg.

[GSB]

Lead foot syndrome?

Unichip maps are only active above 75 to 80% thottle, and under hard acceleration. The rest of the time the Toyota ECU is in charge, utilising the feedback from the O2 sensors to optimise the fuel/air ratio. I reckon you're playing with your new toy to much Paul!  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Darth Paul]

Lead foot syndrome? I reckon you're playing with your new toy to much Paul!  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Never! Not true.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Mine has settled fown too!

Has ne1 else noticed an increase in power after a few days....is this because the standard ECU is "learning" the new rules the unichip is enforcing with regards to fuelling ect?

[mph]

not that surpriseing

more power requires more fuel

Not actually true in this case! Back when I had mine tuning, the fueling never had to be touched - what made all the difference was adjusting the timing to be more agressive. As such - fitting a Unichip is a fuel *saving* device, as for the same power output, you can use less throttle. Of course, now the engine is running that bit quicker, you're spending more time up the rev range, and that's where your fuel is going...

[Liz]

Safely back from Millway, slighty knackered having got up at 0400 this morning to make it there for 0830. Thanks to Grant for fitting mine in for me and for wiring my seats...the results, well I have 153 at the crank, a plus of 15BHP, depending on what stock was of course, but the difference in the car is amazing. It feels more refined and the change is more noticable in the lower rev bands, just a blip on the throttle now and your off.  A good mod IMHO.  s:) s:)

Here is the printout:



As a footnote to this - just had to change insurers, Liverpool Victoria told me to take it out as they wouldn't cover me, yeah like I am going to do that!  s:roll: :roll: s:roll:   When I first insured with them they said that all mods were covered, turns out that they weren't  s:evil: :evil: s:evil:   With Adrian Flux now, they have covered everything, just waiting on the phone at the moment to tell LV where I would like stick my unichip....sideways!

[Liz]

OMG!  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:    s:shock: :shock: s:shock:    s:shock: :shock: s:shock:   Has anyone else been out as a passenger in the car since they have had this fitted?  Just been taken out by Simon...heated seat demo as well!  It feels far more torquey and the acceleration pushed me back in the seat, with a response trained driver like he is it was quite an experience!

[loadswine]

That sounds like a real worthwhile mod Liz. Was your chip already mapped ? or did they map it at Millways? Looking at the printout it looks as though you're right , more torque just about everywhere. I think that's what the stock engine lacks, if anything.
Enjoy!!!

[Liz]

Mine was mapped by Millway Nigel, nice bunch of people down there!

[GSB]

I've now had a day or so to mull over the changes that the Unichip has brought up, and more importantly, I've had a chance to compare the car in pre and post unichip mode... The difference is quite simply staggering...

The final peak power figure Millway extracted from my car was 156bhp, running on 97 Ron Esso Super.  The peak figure doesnt tell the whole story though, in fact it doesn't even come close... Peak power is all very well for grabbing headlines, but its the rest of the rev range thats surprised me...

I've been analysing the dyno plot (I dont have a scanner so I cant post it here yet, but point for point its so close to Martin's pre turbo dyno plot its uncanny. So by all means refer there unil I get my camera and take a photo of it.), and one thing has become very apparant, both on paper and on the road... The car pulls like a train from astonishingly low revs.

This is most telling by the fact that when I got the car (I swapped from a 5 speed '01) I had to train myself to drop two gears rather than one and grab 4th to pick up some proper speed on motorways. Dropping to 5th didnt seem to have any marked effect. On the way home from millway, I not only found that car was comfortable cruising at about 10mph faster than normal, but I wasnt having to drop gears at all. 6th gear has become a proper usable cog, wheras before I had no use for it rather than economy. Economy isnt the reason I bought this car, and before now I'd rather have had the slicker shifting 5 speed.

Analysing the plot, the reason why has become apparant. Toyota quote the peak torque of this engine as 125 ft/lbs. Thats the absolute max, with most of the rev range being less than that, although the 1ZZ is comendable in that it maintains the vast majority of that 125 ft/lbs for a large portion of the rev range. With the Unichip, the engine now knocks out much more torque than Toyotas quoted maximum throughout almost the entire rev-range! In fact the only time it dips below 125lb/ft is at about 6000 rpm, when the torque curve makes its usual decline. Better than that, it maintains just under 140 ft/lbs from 2000 all the way through to 5000 rpm, with a peak of about 142 ft/lbs at around 4000 to 4200rpm... Thats about a 20% gain!

This inflated torque band, rather than the headline 156bhp, is what makes itself felt in normal driving and enables faster acceleration, and easier overtaking. It throws you back in your seat that much harder, and really feels like the engine is doing some serious work. It also sounds better, like the engine really wants to get on with the job in hand, Its a pretty nice soundtrack...

Of course most people think bhp is the be-all and end-all of performance, but the Unichip seems to deliver there as well. The power curve has moved up and left, meaning theres more power coming earlier in the rev range. So much so that the usual peak power of 138bhp now comes up at a relatively lowly 5500rpm, but this is just a short stop on the way up the power band, which now achieves its peak at 6300rpm, some 800 rpms later.

So, overall, I'd have to agree with Martin, who's mantra over the last couple of years is very true... For ages he's been telling us how good the Unichip is and by and large we as members of MR2ROC have steadfastly ignored him, plumping for CAI's and dual exhausts... But the cold hard facts are these;
The unichip is quite simply, the best value for money modification you can get.
 In terms of performance per £, it's leagues ahead of everything else you can possibly do to this car. Forget Cold Air Intakes, they dont work, they just sound nice. Exhaust systems like the H&S or the TTE? Very worthwhile mods, but in terms of bhp per £ spent, they're only 20% as effective as the Unichip, if that.  I really cant say it any plainer...

[Anonymous]

Couldn't agree more. What suprises me is that when gunning through the gears, when you let the clutch out after changing gear and you press the accelerator again there is much more urge - that's the torque. Overall the engine just feels much better, it revs much more sweetly, reminds me of my old 205 GTI 1.6, it sings throughout the rev range - this alone is worth installing the Unichip for. But not only that, it also means there is real shove at the top end - as you rev the engine out you get that elastic feel to the engine as it really takes off. Bear in mind that my only engine mods are a H&S inlet pipe (my intake sytem is stock apart from that) and a H&S twin exhaust, neither of these made a massive difference performance wise. Exhaust makes a much better noise though!

My thoughts are, if you want engine performance, make a Unichip your first mod as this will get you most of the NA performance available for the least amount of money. Add a front strut brace and Corky's breast plate and you've got some seriopus increases in performance for reasonable money.