Unichip & 17% pulley = engine damage? Unichip told me so...
 

Warning long story! :lol:

I got a Unichip from a fellow Nam member they thought it was programmed for the following mods : Cold Air Intake, 15% supercharger pulley, 2% crank pulley, cat-back exhaust. My Mods are Alta Cold Air Intake, Alta 17% pulley, cat-back exhaust. This map should have worked on my car but My plan was to send it to Alta to get the Better Alta tune they talk about on the forums here. However I found out the minimal charge that I have read about is $100 for a remap when I contacted Alta :eek:. ALTA has posted here they "have specific mapping AND UniChip stock mapping if ours is unavailable". I never got a reply on if they have specific mapping yet for my mods. So not 100% I would want to pay $100 when it may be just the stock unichip map? Do not think I want to pay $100 anyway...:sad:

ANYWAY...

I put the unichip on my car to test as a 15% + 2 crank should be the same map as my 17%

It ran like total crap!!
:mad:
Hmm :confused: Something must be wrong I think :razz:

I looked up what Map it was running (wrote on back of unit) and its 18010207 (Alta CAI, Miltek C/B, 15% UDP, All headers, TB, & FMIC)
Not even close to what I need & I understand why it ran so bad.

I contacted Unichip to just get a normal correct map put on. They are very nice! Michael Timmons Unichips western regional sales director said they do not have a 18010207 map & that I must have a 1810207 :Alta Cold air Intake, All Turbo Back Exhaust’s, 15% Pulley, All Headers, Front Mount Inner Cooler.

Anyway big mix up as they do/did have a 18010207 map. Looks like it was used for the Dastek FMIC ? Stage 4 set up? I do not know?

Anyway its still not the map that I need so need to change it.

Michael Timmons at Unichip said they would reprogram chip for FREE!!!
Wow! I thought I was going to have to pay the $25 at least as I have seen others charge this much for unichip reprogram. I was very happy!
He got my list of mods again. He then told me a Unichip on my car with a 17% pulley will damage my engine! He made it very clear not to use a UniChip as long as I have the 17% installed.
17% + Unichip with any map = damage!

So now I'm back to square one...

I have a Unichip I can not use.

Anyone using a Unichip with a 17% pulley? / you use the stock Unichip 15% pulley map?

Anyone know if Alta makes a map for 17% pulley?
Never got a reply from first email asking what R53 parts combinations (my combination of parts) they have made Alta tuned Unichip maps for so far (3 weeks ago and still waiting must have got lost) but did get reply when I sent a 2nd email & just asked for price info :roll:. I listed my parts so if it would have been a problem with the 17% I think they would have said something? Would call but really not in the mood as I know I do not have $100 for a new map anyway.

Anyone know if I'm going to blow my motor with a Unichip & 17% pulley..:lol:
(I understand if they do not want to take the risk of my 17% over spinning my supercharger then I would blame Unichip for what my pulley did. I was told however 17% makes to much heat and if a unichip was used my engine would/could be destroyed)

Alta sends Unichips with 2 maps. Map 1 is stock Unichip map and map 2 is the Alta tuned map. If the Alta map was programed for 17% pulley the unichip stock map must be for 15% as they not make any other map?
So if Map 1 will as Unichip says blow my motor does that make the switch in the cabin to change to maps a mini self destruct button? LOL :lol:

I'm not sure how much anyone can help ...I just needed to vent :nod:

you can have it retuned from alta, ask ken , also you will not hurt anything running a unichip with that set up

I havent heard that one ...

(PS...if you copy and past to a note pad ...then copy and past from there it will not enter all the font stuff)

blkkouki I read when you got your Unichip then watched when you had to let it go. I'm about 80 miles north of you and if I had not just bought one I would have came down to pick yours up.

Corblmy thanks I fixed post I did not even notice all that.

the problem can be the supercharger, if you change the rev limiter to lets say 7200rpm, and add a 17% pulley the sc will spin a lot faster than it should.

Unichip is unable to change the rev limiter (or as far as I have read). I know they just not like the 17% pulley as others also feel its to small. I never take my car to redline so I do not worry at all.
I'm very sure it will not damage my car if I connect up a Unichip w/15% map with my 17%. May not run the best If I do not have the right map however.

They not want to give me a 15% pulley map and be liable if something did happen. Thats really all it was.. sucks but I do understand.

I have a 19% pulley and take it to redline (and beyond, 7000 rpms) on a regular occasion. I have yet to turn into mush, or simply explode! 35,000 miles and counting. so their, you will die, is simple BS! They just dont want to admit that they havent REALLY cracked the Mini code and have been giving crap "tunes".

so once again I call BS. If Unichip peeps want to come and say im wrong, then they can. But they would be wrong. As, well, my car is not exploded, and still is running strong. (not just strong, REAL DAMN strong!) I have yet to drive another Mini that pulls as hard.

yeah i know i didnt want to sell it, but ive got alot of financial things im trying to make happen and i really should have waited on the unichip. but it sold to another local on Okmini.com. yeah you will be ok with the 17% on there i run the 16% and drive the daylights out of my car

Threadjack…
Or, just get a Mac. It doesn't do all that stupid forced formatting…:lol:

But for real: It's cool that UniChip is looking out for you, I'd listen to what they have to say instead of us thread monkeys.

35k miles is not that much to say that a 19% at 7000rpm won't affect the SC life.

some numbers about SC and pulleys: based on crank 5.48 and stock pulley 2.565
stock mcs GP: SC 17300rpm/engine 7200rpm (11% pulley)
15%: SC 17470rpm/engine 6950rpm
17%: SC 17880rpm/engine 6950rpm
19%: SC 18310rpm/engine 6950rpm

you can see, the only safe pulley that will not short the SC life (05 and 06 cars) is the 15%. the 19% adds 1000rpm for the SC over the GP desing. So no matter what we say or how many miles you have, the life of the SC will be reduced with a 17% or 19% pulley if you go to redline.

lowing the rev limiter will be a goof way to protect the SC with a 17-19% pulley. but the fans of big hp numbers won't be too happy with that. thats why they extend the limiter to 7200, to show gains where you never will use it in normal driving.

They did not say that just the 17% would do the damage. I was told the combination of a 17% and a unichip tune would. I was told if I changed back to 15% they would give free tune. Its not worth it to me but I may pay to get a stock Unichip map for a 15% and my other mods installed. If it will give me a gain.

I'm sure my 17% will shorten the life of my supercharger but I'm very sure that I will have fun as I'm doing it.:) Even if 90% of the time its not giving me more power & just heat over a 15% that 2% in supercharger RPM sound is worth it. LOL If I was worried about something going wrong I would have made no changes to anything & got a automatic. I'm sure I will have to replace my clutch before my supercharger.
Its the price you have to pay to play.

What I would like to see is a dynograph of a R53 with a Unichip w/Alta tune for 17% pulley. One run on map 1 the stock Unichip map (15% map as they do not have a 17% shelf map) & a run with the map 2 the Alta tuned map
that should be tuned for the 17% pulley. Other mods aside I would like to see how much of a gain just on a pulley tune.

blkkouki when you did your dyno after chip install did they make a run on Map 1 & map 2? I asked in your post back when you showed the numbers but did not get a reply.

I had the Unichip about I guess two years ago, and I could have sworn that they had maps for a 17% pulley back then. I just went to their website and it seems they only have just a few maps available, at least a lot fewer than what I remember...

I am just going to ignore the fact that they are now advertising a gain of 42hp and 32 lbft.

Unichip maps/tune #

Stock #18010201
Alta CAI #18010202
Alta CAI, 15% Pulley #18010210
Alta CAI, Miltek Cat/B #18010203
Alta CAI, Miltek Cat/B, 15% UDP #18010204
Alta CAI, Miltek Cat/B, 15% UDP, All Headers #18010206
Alta CAI, Miltek Cat/B, 15% UDP, All Headers, heads #18010205
Alta CAI, Miltek Cat/B, 15% UDP, All Headers, T/B, FMIC #18010207
Alta CAI, Scorpion Cat/B, 15% UDP #18010208
Alta Full Kit #18010211
JCW, Alta CAI, Headers, Miltek Cat/B, 15% UDP #18010209
MINI Mania Stage I-IV kits #18010211
Valet #18010297

If anyone has a Unichip (pre-Alta tuning) and was told it has Maps for your parts (not on this list) could you look at the Map # on your unit and post info.

As the unit I have was for a: "CAI, 15% UDP, 2% crank pulley, cat-back exhaust".
When its really has map for: CAI, Cat/B, 15% UDP, All Headers, Throttle body, Front Mount IC

I do not blame the guy that sold me this as this is what he was told the map was for. But someone sure is not giving out the right maps or saying what ever to make a sale.

Why don't you just get the tune for the 15% pulley and whatever other mods are on your car and use that. That 2% difference only accounts for 2 or 3 PSI tops, so you're not going to hurt anything.

The bigger problem is that Unichips are junk and don't do anything they say they do.