What about the other ECU's
 

needless to say we are all excited about the unichip. however, i know other companies have been working on ECU tunes as well. anyone have info on thos companies or can any of those companies give us any info?
thanks

What other companies.........as far as I know the Unichip is the only piggyback system for the MINI. You can get custom software tunes from many vendors. They will all perform about the same for the "canned" tunes. You will get the biggest benefit by having a dyno tune for any of them and that will add to the cost.

i thought helix and m7 had ECU chips they were working on. maybe they are using unichip as well, i dont know. anyhow, im excited that they are finally available

There are also the Shark Injector units. I know that almost all BMW's have one with multiple tunes available and there was also one with multiple tunes for the 02-05 (nothing listed for 06) MINI's, and I haven't yet seen one for the 07's.

I know we've been quiet about it recently, but thats because we have been working diligently on the tune. We are almost ready to go. I don't have an exact date that it will be available, however as soon as it is complete you will know.:thumbsup:


Eric has been working hard to develop as much error free power as possible. While we are anxious to get it out on the market, we are not going to rush it. As the saying goes, all good things come to those who wait...and our ecu WILL be worth the wait.

Actually, we are not working with unichip on our ecu. We have gone a different route with ours.

alright, thanks for the info. i like that we will have multiple choices for these chips. competition is always a good thing

+1 to that! Please just remember to keep us automatic transmission drivers in mind. As of now we have NO options. :no:

I was disappointed to see that Alta went the piggyback route. I'm going to hold off for a true ECU programming solution.

Is the Helix solution going to be a piggyback?

I agree. I sure miss the Cobb AccessPort I had for the WRX. it just plugged into the OBD port, you flashed the desired map, and you could reflash in moments to go from multiple different maps ie. economy, track, street, valet. The little box also checked engine codes, boost, etc... It did this all with the same lil' box and all for $499. the best part of all, is that you could link it to your laptop and either write your own software or download different maps from the website.

+1

+2,
While I have every confidence in Alta, I'm not sure I personally like the idea of a box fooling my (very expensive) motronic ECU into thinking its running correctly when its running more boost than it knows. I wish they had a reflash available, but I'm open minded, and I will keep my eyes and ears open when people start to get the Alta Unichip boxes and see if maybe its a route I want to pursue. That being said I'm still really tempted to just get it. Oh well. Lol.

My $.02,
Josh

I'm really new to modding (especially when it comes to electronics), is that really what a piggyback ECU does??? :confused:

Hopefully GIAC will make something. There programming for the 1.8T VW is the best (IMHO).

They also claimed the 2.0t was untuneable because of FSI when APR had already been tuning it for about a year.. sorry lol rehashing vw battles.
GAME ON!!!

Ahh... that is news to me, I have been out of watercooled vw's for a while now.

yup, and GIAC also has programing for the 2.0T VW/Audi.
great gains with the X-chip, and only $550.

I ran GIAC programing on my TT, A4, and GTi. good stuff.:thumbsup:

One thing to remember about the piggy-back type of ECU mod is the advantage of being able to modify the unit with a true dyno-tune. Something not available with the plug-in type.

plug in types are capable of a "true dyno-tune". Check out Cobbtuning.com if you dont believe me. They have been doing it for about five years now. Here in the Portland, OR area there are a couple of shops like PDXtuning, that will create a dyno tune for your accessport.

But these are not MINI compatable..........

I'm just saying that it can be done. The shark injectors are very similar, and they are for BMW and MINI

Hey guys and gals! Just a couple quick points.

The ALTA Plug-n-Play ECU (using the Unichip) is an ideal setup for the car. I mean this as honestly as ever, if I didn't have my personal confidence in it, then I would use it in my personal car, let alone sell it to the general public.

Piggyback ECU setups are NOT always a good idea depending on certain factors, BUT the R56 ECU lends itself VERY well to this type of power adder. The main thing to realize is the dyno tuning that goes into the mapping is what the key is to making maximum HP and reliability. We are spending countless hours dyno tuning, and road testing the mapping before offering the results to this forum, as well as the product itself to clients.

My point is that the blanket piggybacking is BAD is simply unfounded and un warranted. There are lots of advantages to piggy style. For example removal for warranty, removal when you trade in the car, can be transported to your next R56, or resold to another NAM member etc. Tampering internally with the ECU also has advantages and disadvantages as well.

If ANYONE has any questions or concerns about our choices, partnership with UniChip NA, or anything else, PLEASE let me know here, my Q&A thread, e-mail phone etc. I am always happy to help as is Jeff and John.

Thanks again!

Let's not forget Vishnu is hard at work on their ECU mod. They'll be checking in with us in the next... few weeks :lol:

Any word yet on how the beta test program will work, and who will be eligible?

Thanks,

I'm just hoping for a shark or something easy to remove, or else I cant install it until my warranty is over in 3 years