DPJef

My first reaction was also that it's better to remap the original or buy a full replacement rather than piggyback the ECU, but...

A big advantage of piggyback ecu's is they are easily removed in case off a problem and can be transfered to another model/make of car.
They are also cheaper (correct me if i'm wrong here) + you can sell it again.

5 Type R

IMO , It depends on the following

1) how far to you want to mod the car
2) Do you know a good mapper for the products you are considering

Basically if you dont want to go mad on modding a piggyback can be the best value.
Any ecu , whether it be a piggyback or complete replacement is only as good as the technician mapping it.

DubaiNeil

I had the same issue, I only have one (trustable) mapper available to me here, so short of shipping the car back to the UK (along with a container full of my normal weather to set the car up) I had to go with his preferred Unichip piggyback. I have had no problems yet, but do wonder if I am getting the best out of the changes that I have made. I want to continue modding the car (turbo, injectors etc) but do wonder about receiving all the benefits of further changes.
For reference, one company here sell Haltech and Motec, but they set them up on the road 'by ear' - scared the **** out of me!

5 Type R

I wouldnt be too concerned about the Unichip. If you trust the mapper its a great tool. I use it on my Type R and have had it on my 3 previous cars. All said this is up to a point.

If you are thinking about changing the injectors you will simply have to move away from the Unichip as it cannot control Injector Duty Cycle.

Motec is the business.
I wouldnt worry about mapping on the road as to be honest its the only way you will get correct mapping for real road conditions.

Most mappers will use the dyno (if available) to get 95% and then fine tune on the road

ScoobyKev

Totally agree with type r, if you know a descent mapper then the unichip is a great piece of kit. I had it on my GT4 WRC and was seeing a reliable 342 bhp. I might even go down that road with my P1.

Kev

DPJef

I'm considering the following piggybacks (in order of price)
- Greddy eManage
- Unichip
- HKS F-con S
The Greddy is well known in the US and the only complaint is lack of support (and mistakes in the manual!)
Everyone seems content about the Unichip.
The F-con S is fairly new but very expensive and can only be tuned by 2 companies in the UK and 1 in Belgium I think. Any experiences with the F-Con S anyone ?

5 Type R

I think it simply goes back to the original point.

Although I dont know much about the the Greddy and HKS units , the products are probably as good as one another and therefore just go with the unit that your preferred mapper recommends .

ScoobyKev

Check them out

Owens Deveopments
http://www.owendevelopments.co.uk/

[Edited by ScoobyKev - 8/17/2003 4:53:14 PM]

5 Type R

Yeah , have to agree.

IMO nobody comes close to Mark at Owen Developments for mapping of Unichips.
They have had more experience of race and road cars than most.
Certainly wouldnt take my car anywhere else for one

They are pretty damn hot with Motec these days with Fraser using them a great deal.

DubaiNeil

5TR,

My concern with the 'road mapping' guys here is that this is ALL they have access to! My 'trusted' mapper is the only one with a 4-wheel drive dyno in the region, the others are the equivalent of the back street lock-ups (have spanner...will damage!)
The guy I use runs group N cars in the Middle East Rally championship (Evo's unfortunately!), so should have an idea of what he is up to.
I will look at the change to MoTec etc when the second phase of the project comes around (methinks a large bonus ill be required though!)

Sandler

Any idear roughly how much a uni chip costs?

Sandler

Also can you use them with the earlier scoobey's or is it 96 on?

cube

The Greddy can handle Injector Duty Cycle and has a 16x16 row map for them. It has a handy feature for upgrading whereby you enter the OEM inj. size and then the upgrade size and all rescaling is taken care of thereafter.

Cube.

DubaiNeil

Guys,

Please don't read me wrong, I am very happy with the Unichip, maybe because I have nothing to compare it with!
It so far has done what it said on the box, I have got (apparantly) 141Kw at the wheels (approx 189bhp ATW) from approx 3.5k GBP worth of 'stuff' (which includes shipping and duty) and pretty much everything I have installed is a step on the way to bigger and better things. Maybe I will change the Unichip later, but only as part of other,larger, changes

5 Type R

Costings do vary a bit , however Owens charge about £550 for the Unichip which includes the unichip boost controller .

It also comes with a money back gaurantee of your not satisfied with the results.

nellie

how can you tell iff a ECU has been chipped or remapped arnt they a sealed unit?...cheers