Anyone tried the unichip ECU mod' on an MY01.It's available in the UK now & the Aussies rave about it but has anyone experienced it fitted to a UK car?

 

Heard some horror stories so i wouldnt go for it. The fuel map isnt that big but saying that any mod like that is as good as the person who mapps it. Note that its only a piggy back system, personally i would go for Apexi Power FC which is a complete replacement ecu. It has a standard map as your current ecu but you can fully customise it ie to run 98RON, higher boost etc. But you must be carefull who mapps it. I would recommend you speak to Clive of RC Development, www.rcdevelopments.com, he has fitted and mapped this unit on quite a few scoobs and evos. I think the unit is under £800 so its a good option. It has all the advantages of a Gems or a link ecu but without all the anti-lag etc which you pay an arm and a leg for.

Regards

Gez

 

Gez,how many have RC actually mapped? Not that many I would have thought as the product has only been recently released.Also it costs £750 +vat just for the hardware,also add 5 hours of mapping time(could be more) and thats about £1200! Thats with the bog standard boost controller(mechanical),if you add EBC then near to £1400.Also what do actually know about it? The website gives no info about resolution,number of fuel/ignition zones etc.
I'm not having a go but time and time again people go on about the prohibitive cost of Link/Gems etc and how the Unichip/Apexi etc are so much cheaper.When you examine things a bit more closely and not just read the sales pitch the picture is quite different.

 

Deep Singh, sorry i didnt give enough info on my reply but the Apexi power fc has a 32bit processor with 6 yes 6 fuel mapps. Now correct me if im wrong but Gems has only 2.
The price of the package if i remember correctly is as follows,
£750+vat for Apexi ecu
£200+vat for EBC
The mapping depends can take upto 5 hours depending on how heavily modified the car is. I was also qouted 5 by Clive but thats worst case scenario. The car it took five hours on was a scoob running on more than 400bhp so its obvious that it required more work. Mapping costs £35/hour so if it did take 5 hours thats only £175 and approx £1300 for eveything which is not bad.
I would definatley trust Clive or Max with my car. Clive has been in the tuning buisness since the mid 80's and before he opened RC he was with a well known tuning company where all he worked on was scoobs and evo's. In terms of how many units he has fitted, its been quite a lot including his own car. No car has had a problem since fitting the unit which is good. One of my friends had the unit fitted on his standard sti 5 type r. The car runs a lot better and smoother now than it did before. Engine knock has been eliminated and it is safe for him to put SUL in the car. Ok the air flow sensor stays put unlike Gems where you wrid of it but you dont pay nearly £2000 for the Apexi. Now personally im not going for the Power fc purely because i dont want the air flow sensor on my car as it has failed on me since putting on an induction kit and as i will be using it for sprints i want anti-lag so i will be going for the gems unit. Thats NOT saying the Apexi unit is no good, far from it. For someone who doesnt need all the stuff the Gems/Link has to offer the Powr fc is good. Im not trying to sell anything but as i have been looking for an ecu for my car for a long time i have researched the subject to som depth so im telling you only what i know. The only thing i can say is it doesnt matter what ecu you buy its only as good as the person who maps it.

 

Hi Gez.A couple of questions.I'm a little confused about the 6 fuel maps vs GEMs 2.I c'ant beleive that the APEXi has 6 completely different fuel/ignition maps for different situations.Also any idea what it does aabout cam control on the STi7 unit.Lastly I c'ant understand how any replacement ECU could be mapped even for a lightly modded car(ie filter/exhaust)in much less than 5 hours.Not having a go just curious.Cheers,Deep.

 

For comparison the original ECU (32 bit RISC) on the old car (the new one is more sophisticated and being worked on presently) has four (16x16 scalable so the resolution is where you need it to 50RPM) ignition maps (high and low octane, high and low octane compensation maps) and three (16x16 scalable so the resolution is where you need it to 50RPM) fuel maps (main and high and low octane) which are mapper ajustable. There are more compensation maps which are not typically adjusted.

If you have mapped a car of a similar type before, have a performance map already, have the original map that came with the car or have a get you started map with the ECU then the mapping can be quite brisk if there are no sensor problems. Since no one is pushing things right to the edge of safety anyway and ECUs tend to have excellent ability to adapt to different conditions (that is what they are designed for, some even map themselves!) then sometimes people make it a bit excessively mysterious.

At the end of the day you are aiming for quick spool up (without surge) with a high solenoid duty cycle for just long enough and then you smoothly bring it down in the midrange where most turbos would overspeed, and then at the top end you usually gently tail off the duty cycle where compressor efficiency would fall on most turbos, especially the OEM ones. Sometimes you increase the duty cycle in the upper midrange to make it hang on a bit longer to give a wider flatter torque curve, but it is important to not go too far so you just pump hot air.

The fuelling you want to smoothy increase as boost and revs build to a safe compromise for cooling and power - typically 7-10% CO for most UK mappers depending on the mapper and the car. On the JECS and some other you even program it with AFR targets for load and RPM.

The ignition you want to be on the knock threshold (for a turbocharged car) for maximum torque, but leaving compensations available for retard. Often you can make a JECS ECU much better by advancing the ignition from 1200 to about 2800 RPM. In the midrange it is held back for detonation control and then increased towards the top end. Low octane maps are often made more conservative, especially on imports.

Mapping an ECU or a piggyback where you already have a base is not so mysterious. Mostly it is methodical attention to detail, small incremental sensible changes and observation of the results. Starting off with a Pectel or a Motec that has no base map and sometimes needs a custom loom and sensors to even start the car is a job for really experienced people like Bob Rawle or Pat, so it would be a very special car to merit all the work in getting the basics going. But then these ECUs are awash with compensation maps, excellent boost control, multiple injectors, per cylinder knock correction etc etc. It is Ferrari poster bedroom wall picture stuff for most of us.

 

Hi John.You failed to mention your thoughts on the Apexi FC,which is what the thread had got on to!!

 

Not seen enough detailed info on the Apexi unit, just contributing as I could.

 

My point exactly.I d'ont think anybody really knows much about it.