Forgive me for raising this old chestnut once again, but I've searched the archives for the last 12 months for an answer. My total budget for engine tuning is around 500 quid, and I don't want mega loud induction or exhaust - already have a Prodrive back box. Can anyone give me any advice FIRST HAND on the superchip mod, either good or bad ?

Thanks in advance

 

kurt
if you are working to a budget, most people recommend the unichip. the guys at powerstation in cheltenham are the best for this apparently.
princess has her my95 superchipped, with no problems. it goes like the clappers, i cant keep up in my car!maybe after ppp next week i might.
most people don't use superchips on their scoobys coz apparently it just cuts the boost protector thingys ( you may guess i'm not technical!). apparently its best to have a boost guage fitted if you go with a superchip.
as i say, if my car didn't have 3 years warranty left, i would go with unichip or link.
best of luck mate

 

Thanks for the advice spudgun - my car is of a similar vintage to Princess' - a UK 94MY. I forgot to mention in my initial post that I live in the NE of England, and cannot afford the time for a trip down south to somewhere like Powerstation. I seek advice on Superchips simply because I can have it done locally by a reputable outfit for less than 450 GBP all in.
Any other similar advice gratefully received.

 

kurt
all i can say is princess has had absolutely no probs with her superchip, apart from me staining her passenger seat when she engages warp drive!
however, perhaps it might be worth giving powerstation a call, they may be able to recommend someone local to you that do unichips. as i say, most people on this bbs will go with unichips quite happily , as would i. apparently, the superchip acts as a bleed valve, which may not necessarily be a good idea without a boost guage.
i,d rather not bother with a £500 chip if it ***** my engine.

 

Kurt R,

Where up north are you from? I had a superchip done. money well spent! I have also drove a P1 my car is much quicker.
You can get a Scooby dealer called Stan Palmer who will do it for £450 all in and give you a reciept on Scooby letter head.
You must have the following mod's done:
back box / full system, and air filter this will help alot and run the car on SUL.

The car just pulls and pulls right off the clock 160+ runing at 18psi the sccoby dealer / fitter says that uk cars can get away with 21 psi this I did not want to risk. There is a bleed valve in the engine bay DO NOT FIDDLE WITH THIS!!! this is how you blow the engine up. Make sure you fit a boost gauge to keep an eye on things though.

I friend has a STI 5 with a link ecu, and claims my car is quicker. Furthermore I had my car on the R/R wow! 274bhp 265pounds of torq. and not pinking.

I did do an experimant and turned the boost up to 25psi the car shiffted like no word for it! the power gets killed off at 5.5 rev's that was the ecu retarding the timing as it was picking up pinking, so the claims for the ecu not having a saftey feature in it is haddock!

Let me know which way you go on this.

regards
TC

 

dup

[This message has been edited by TopCat (edited 19 February 2001).]

 

Why you don`t go for HKS, Blitz or Apexi electronic boost controller? It`s just same and safe and reusable for another turbo car.

 

Kurt,

The Superchip for the Subaru, is GROSSLY overpriced, for what you get.

You could get exactly the same results from using a HKS FCD (voltage regulator, same as SC method) for £80 approx', and a bleed valve for £15. Same result for under £100, + a bit of fitting.

However, Using this method (any system that fools the ecu') is always going to be a risky compromise, and a much safer way would be an electronic boost controller (HKS EVC4 ect') but leave the boost within the limits of the standard ecu' boost cut.

These units will raise the boost a little, and optimise it's profile.

Ideally, I would wait until I could afford one of the mappable systems, and find a day to get it correctly fitted. You'd only need to find about £200 more.

Mark.

 

TC,

The standard ecu's "safety" features are to stop boost reaching 25psi !!! The ecu can't retard the ignition enough to stop detting at boost levels of over 1.2bar (17.5psi approx) let alone supply enough fuel.

Take some of your own advice, and leave it alone.

Mark.

 

Thank you all very much for your comments thus far. Superchips are obviously crude by the sound of it - but also effective. Two of the posts above show a positive first hand experience. I appreciate the theoretical shortcomings, but no-one has yet come forward and said "I fitted one and it blew my engine up". I'd like to read some more experiences if possible.
I have invested in and installed a boost gauge. Can anyone advise me on HKS / ApexI Boost controllers then ? Are they a DIY fit, and who do I go to for one ?

Thanks again

 

Kurt,

I don't have any experience of the Superchip so I won't comment on that.

Personally, I would suggest that you replace the downpipe of the exhaust which is very poorly designed as standard. This will increase power, reduce lag and up your boost a little as well.

Might be worth speaking to DP Motorsport who are in your neck of the woods:

 

Nito's running a boost controller rather effectively, along with other bits too. See the "MY98 UK makes 320+ BHP thread".

 

On the subject of HKS FCD , has anyone got experience of using them to raise the fuel cut in conjunction with something like a HKS EVC4 to increase the boost or the like.

I am currently tempted to fit a set up similiar to this.

 

Im Interested in this HKS evc4, sounds good value is it????, or should I say will be on a UK scoob MY00 with just an ITG and tail pipe??

 

Kurt R.
I fitted one, and it blew my engine up.

Stef.

 

DON'T TOUCH SUPERCHIPS ON YOUR SCOOBY!

I have a mate who fitted a superchip to his sti4 and it was the direct reason the engine went BANG!

If you want a chip change go either, Link,Motec, gems? route and stay away from superchips!

 

Thanks everyone - I think the message is not to rush into this one. I'll go away and do futher research, and perhaps raise my budget a little. I have been quoted 640 GBP fitted for an HKS EVC4, for example, and I guess the Unichip comes in about the same.
I emailed superchips direct about their product, and spoke to the fitting agent. As 'R19KET' says it is crude - and it would be cheaper to go down the HKS FCD / bleed valve route IF I am happy to take the risk of that particular type of solution. I'll go do some more searches....

 

Mark - the quote was from DP Motorsport in Cheshire. Up north, but still 120 miles from me!
Since my last post, I've located a Unichip dealer about 10 miles down the road. They've done other good work for me in the past - I didn't know they supplied Unichip though! The crux may be wether they've experience of mapping UK Scoobs.
I'll keep you posted

Kurt

 

Does anyone know if the Hks Boost controller can be a DIY fit?

Paul M

 

Don't know about HKS, but the Apex'i manuals can be found here:

 

Guys,

You can buy the HKS EVC4 boost controller from certain places including myself or TDi for £465. As for fitting it, it's simple. Two wires, power and earth, and three vacuum hoses, one from the manifold one to the actuator and one to the turbo body!

Nito

 

Maurice,
The electronic boost controller doesn't fool the ecu into seeing less boost in any way. It just completely replaces the standard cars boost solenoid with a much higher quality more accurate and efficient electronically adjustable one. The ecu will compensate for fuelling by the signals it receives from the Maf sensor and detting will be seen to by the knock sensor although if you run sensible boost ie 1.15bar you shouldn't see any det. Also in the event that you can't find SUL fuel you could simply press the low boost button to reduce boost to 0.95bar, this is what I do.

For more info on these, do a search on boost controllers or look at the current "MY98 makes 326bhp" thread for dyno graphs. Look at the comparative runs the second and third graph, the dotted line shows the power made with the car using only exhaust/induction and boost controller at 1.15bar!

Nito

 

Kurt,

Don't know who quoted £640 for a fitted EVC, but that sound very high.

This is one of the problems with the HKS kit (and similar) it's very good, but by the time you've finished, you could get a decent ECU. £640 just for boost control...........then what happens when you want to adjust the fuel, and ignition ????????.

Think very carefully before you decide.

Mark.

 

What's the collective opinion on the Power Engineering ECU jobbie.Only £650 plus VAT seems good value.I know some people blamed them for blowing up their engines,does anybody know how many people where affected?Was it really their fault or a coincidence(ie as we know stndard engines have had probs too)It's just that they seem such a professional outfit it seems a shsme that they have been written out of the equation.(I 'm secretly hoping everybody will say they are brilliant because I can just afford £650 but not the £1200 for the Link or £1500 for the Motech!!!!!!!!!)

 

Deep Singh,

The blowing up of engines must be true, well 99.9% of it because they don't do them anymore. I asked about this the other day when I was at PE they say there are problems with the ECU hence the reason why they have stopped, also I had sold my wheels to a chap up north who tells me that PE did a ECU for his friend the engine blow up the bill was 4k and PE did not give a dam.

So far they have almost the same hit rate as the Superchip!!

I would get a Unichip, from what I hear no hits reported! Very safe! around 600-£700.

TC

 

Kurt,

Had a Schip fitted over a year ago with boost set to 22psi (read from boost gauge).
No probs what so ever. Also fitted an HKS AFR to make sure enough fuel was there to run this much boost. They`re great if done properly, like TC sez though don`t fart about with the bleed valve

Pete

 

22 PSI **** me !!!!!!!
Thats all i can say really

 

Kurt,

if you wanna mess around with things like boost then please please be careful! Like Mark has already stated the best (safest) option is a replacement ECU, consider a PossumLink for example. At UKP 550+VAT it's not exactly silly money, and you can map fuel, ignition and boost. Compare that to UKP 425+VAT for an HKS EVC boost controller and it really is good value for moneY!

Paul,

22 PSI is quite a lot for standard internals, but what confuses the hell out of me is how on earth to get enough fuel in at that pressure. I was having trouble getting enough fuel in for 1.3 bar on 380cc injectors, never mind 1.5.... I can only assume that the charge temps are getting quite high and that therefore the charge density is low....

Cheers,

Pat.

 

teknopete,

I had my car set on 25psi by accident it went like the clappers but was not using the full rev range meaning it was pinking at 5.5revs to the timing was being re-traded.
THANK GOD I STILL HAVE THE ENGINE!!!

The fitter who fit it a scooby dealer contact who use to work for PDrive said UK cars can run 21psi and greys only 18psi.

I have a full decated system with the bleed valve switch right off I hit 18psi max.

What I need is to here from more people like you Teknopete, you must drive that bugger hard un-all?!? have you done track days and how lond have you been on the track for none stop?? Just to give me a feel of the pressure the car is going under.

and what other mods have you done? and who fit the chip for you m8?

Let me know

TC

 

I've had a superchip on my MY99 UK for 5 months.The cars done 2 track days at Knockhill & about 70 runs down the Crail 1/4 mile strip.Only mishap was a burst intercooler pipe as a result of mad donuts on the oval circuit causing high temps & melting it.
I run 22 psi all the time, same as Pete.
At the rolling road meet on Sunday, readings showed my ECU is still overfuelling at this setting- approx 12% on full boost, hence no detonation.

Must get some Samco hoses

Dave