It's been a long hard road, taking much more time than I expected. Long story short, we are still in the tuning phases of the chip development, meaning dyno run after dyno run. This week was a bust because the shop was slammed with work, but we may be able to do some tuning near the end of next week. There is some work beyond the actual tuning as well, that will take time--how much, I don't know. Garrett is very meticulous. Needless to say, when it is done we will be forthcoming with real dyno sheets, and encourage independents to test the product as well.

JLM- I have a 5:00 appointment here at the shop Friday. If I get out at a decent time, I'll be up with a family-sized can of Philly whup-*** to put all of you Yankee lovers in your place.

 

Eric,

Like I said before, take your time. I'd rather have a perfect product than something rushed onto the market. I know it will be even longer for us MC'ers than the MCS'ers but we are a hardy bunch and can take the wait. Just tell Garrett that he needs to have it done by the time Deal's Gap rolls around (Late April, 2004)!

- Driving Hamster

 

The heck with that! Eric - tell Garrett to finish this thing before Christmas!!! :???:

 

Still Waiting

 

When you run the pulley without the ecu, like I'm doing now, you find that your AFR drops below 10 at high RPM...more like below 6.

According to some BMW engineers, I could get at leat 10-15extr hp by adding the software.

In a couple of weeks we are gonna test 2 ecus on my car...the shark and this other one this guy sells. It's not the Powerchip, but Superchip or something like that. It sells for the same price as the Powerchip though... It should still be interesting to have some same day, same car, same dyno comparissons of the 2 chips...

This Giac Chip seems interesting but how do you turn the valet switch on? Do you actually add a switch? Will this chip make it possible to open AND CLOSE the windows by presinf the mini emblem as opposed to only open?

Things like that :smile:


Louay

 

>>Still Waiting

I just realized something, and it's not nice. I wanted to wait until GIAC comes out with their programming, just so I would know what kind of gains/changes they make, and then make my final choice. I thought it was coming out soon, as did others. I am really impressed by the Powerchip upgrade but I won't be getting that because the GIAC isn't out yet, you see? I am certain others are in the same position; to just wait what the results are like with the GIAC to make their final choice. So now if all of a sudden there is word that the GIAC won't be coming out soon but many, many, many weeks later than thought, I bet it negatively affects ALL ecu upgrade sales. I waited this long, why not wait longer, right? If you knew around Summer that GIAC will not come out with an upgrade until early-mid 2004 (just an example), I bet there are a handful of you who would have bought the evotech,shark, amd, powerchip, etc. So what i'm saying is, that sucks for all those companies who already have the upgrade available since their sales are probably hurting because of this well known ecu company just delaying the release of their own product. Oh and I'm not picking on anyone personally, I don't know anyone personally to do that, I'm just saying the situation kindo sucks. Peace.

 

I'm waiting too, it kinda sucks. All good things come to those who wait, right?
Well, I hope so anyway.

 

Antranik,

I hear you. Yes, delays are frustrating but also so for the developer. I trust Helix13 to release an excellent product that is "fully" tested and tweaked. Half baked software programs are not what we need. We pay too much as it is I think we all agree. If the price is to be under $500 then hopefully it will offer 11+ HP gains or better.

Case in point- all summer I waited for the UUC exhaust. Was it worth the wait. Surely, but the price is pretty high compared to the rest of the market. Nice product though. Over time it will be a better value. (Edit-I ended up getting the Quicksilver due to a great group buy and not waiting over 7 months for the UUC-past the summer)

The other ECU upgrades are certainly already being offered. I know others have chosen Powerchip or Shark and that is great for them. It's an investment and they get some gains and it isn't worth really changing to another product once you commit to it. I don't think you'll see powership owners switching to other ECU upgrades but rather they are looking for Powerchip version upgrades to keep up with the latest programing.

Assuming GIAC is worth the wait and provides decent power gains for under $500 then that helps to put competitive pressure in the market to lower the total cost of ECU upgrades and that would be favorable. The real test is a head to head independent comparison. The other question is who will provide updated versions over time and ongoing support.
This is an investment over time.

Hang in there fellas. Best thing is that the ECU upgrade should be one of the last major upgrades you do (after intake, pulley, header, throttlebody and exhaust are done). So get some other things done while you are waiting for the smoke to settle.

_________________
ALOHA

 

I am just getting into the motor stage of my project and am obviously interested in a chip. My question is this , shouldnt we be getting our hardware first then the chip?I mean if you get a chip set up for your car then add other important parts say a tuned header, wont you need to change the chip again to make sure you get ALL you can? Again I am just asking but shouldnt thechip bethe very last thing you add? I have some of my upgardes on at present, Jackson tuned header, Borla sport/race exhaust ,M7/venom NOS system and the viper CAI but no pully yet.I also plan on some head work and change to a twin screw supercharger / with water cooled aftercooler. Shouldn't I wait and go for the chip last. Any advice will be well apreciated, RandyPage Title maxmini home site

 

Yes that's correct. I believe most of us on these ECu threads already have a bunch of performance mods and are waiting to see which chip to get.

 

I decided to go with the Webb/Powerchip flash. I have heard nothing but good things about this ECU flash and Im looking forward to it. If the GIAC comes out and gives goobs of more features and power and even takes 6 strokes off my golf game... Then I guess Ill have to buy it and pretend the first ECU money was an expensive night in NewOrleans with lots of strippers

 

>>I decided to go with the Webb/Powerchip flash. I have heard nothing but good things about this ECU flash and Im looking forward to it. If the GIAC comes out and gives goobs of more features and power and even takes 6 strokes off my golf game... Then I guess Ill have to buy it and pretend the first ECU money was an expensive night in NewOrleans with lots of strippers :smile:
I've had it since Aug2003 and it was money well spent..... IMHO.
The install is a snap and if you have any questions give a shout.
It "rounds" out the car and makes the car what it should have been...when we bought em :smile:

Peace,
D

 

Not to bust on you, minihune, but you already have/had the quicksilver exhaust. So it's not quite the same thing when you bought one aftermarket product while waiting for another!

Now I, on the other hand, waiting all summer (longer actually) and pretty much the first day I could order it I did. And I'm absolutely loving it, BTW.

 

Time for a check in on the progress. Anyword yet guys? My Mini's B-day (the day I picked her up) is Feb 13th. I was hoping to get him the GIAC for his 1st B-day!

 

I'm going there on December 17th for some yet to be determined mod(s). I'll get an update. Having just passed 30k miles, I can't wait forever, though!

 

I talked with Eric a little while ago and asked about the availability over christmas as I will be in the Philly area visiting family. His response was :

 

I'm interested in doing the ECU upgrade within the next few months and I want to include the GIAC in the running but if it is going to take many more months then that will be too long for me.

I have been in contact with Eric about the GIAC just about every week for months and the honest answer is no one knows when it will be done. More work is in progress but no date is set either. The folks that make the GIAC upgrade are working on multiple projects. I'm sure that when it is completed Helix13 will post in the vendor announcement forum that it is ready and how much it will be.

Until then I will just sit tight and practice some self control.

 

-Have a car going to GIAC on the 17th for more testing. This time the tuning will be immediate: none of that getting files, dynoing, returning datalogs and dyno sheets, and waiting for new files. Good progress should be made. Garrett also has some race gas on the premises, so beware. Slowly, things move along...

 

I thought people might like a little info on what's going on with the GIAC software. I have been letting Garrett use my car for testing. He had it on the dyno all day yesterday and is really excited about the gains they are seeing. I'm not going to pretend to be any type of expert on what they are doing. I will leave that to guys like Garrett and Eric @ helix. What I can say is that Garrett is serious about producing software for our cars and is hoping to have things done soon, but is making sure that he does things right.

Happy Holidays :smile:

 

Outstanding! :smile:

 

Is the GIAC only going to be available for the MCS? Or will they have a program for the MC?

 

i believe they WILL have an ECU for the MC but not until after they finish the MCS one.

 

I am still waiting, big decision Evotech, Randy's computer, or the G.I.A.C?????

 

Please post an update on the GIAC chip upgrade when ready.
Thanks.

 

question on my mind, probably just because I need some re-assurance, will it be worth the wait?