Hi guys and gals, Unichip is here. I got mine Saturday and installed it right away. The hardest part of the install is mounting the switches and the LED.

The cool thing about the Unichip is that there are two MAPS on the chip. The second MAP on my chip is a much more aggressive MAP that is intended for 100 octane race fuel. I found out that if this MAP doesn't trigger the Service engine light then you can run this MAP all the time, and guess what? Mine doesn't trigger the light.

Unichip has MAPs for almost any combination of mods available and will come to you already programmed. If they don't have the correct MAP a custom MAP can be done on your car on a dyno at one of, I think, 130 dealers nationwide.

Now for what you have been waiting for. I'm very impressed with the kit. The wiring harness is next to none in quality. Installation was very straight forward. There are two switches and an LED that needs to be installed. I installed mine where the driving light switch is on the Euro Parcel Shelf. The rest is to unplug the ECU, plug in the wiring harness, plug in the Unichip, mount the unichip, and enjoy!

It took me 30 minutes to mount the switches and 15 minutes to do the rest under the hood.

I will be going to Turner Motorsport to do dyno runs in about two weeks, so I will keep you guys posted. BTW I talked to Jack at Unichip on Monday and was told that he just finished dynoing the car that they used to do the MAPs for my mods (which are quite extensive) and the car dynoed at 241 HP at the crank!!! :grin: :grin:

Cheers,

JD

P.S. Check out Unichip here.

Sounds good. How about some pictures and a how to do.

The Unichip is produced in Oregon and got released last friday. Retail cost is about $800.
There is a discussion of it on Webbmotorsports.com

Are there any downsides to this? If anyone knows of any please post it.
I know of one, I don't have a dealership in my state.

If one takes in an MCS for warranty work I'd suggest disabling the Unichip as the dealer will likely refuse to do any troubleshooting with alterations to the electronics and ECU. :sad:

241 at the crank, I would luv to hear what it has done and see the dyno sheets

Minihune, I will bet you that they have a MAP set up for your mods or something very close to it. There is no real need for a dealer in this case. The dealer is only usefull if there is no map for your mods.

I know Randy at Webb Motorsports spent a week in Oregon with the Unichip people doing mods on an MCS donated by a dealer there and did nothing but mod, dyno and MAP with just about all the combinations of mods available.

Give Randy, or Unichip a call.

Cheers,

JD

I'm certainly ..intrigued :smile:
Please post pics.... and let's see what this thing looks like :smile:

Is there a website we can visit???
or does Randy (Webbmotorsports)... have a link from his site ???

Peace,
D :cool:

Yep. I ordered mine today as well for my JCW. I called Jack at UNICHIP. Very knowledgeable guy. This will be the first one that they do for a JCW ... so it should be interesting. I'll know in a few days. Here is the address: http://www.unichip.us


ftbt

2002 Works Cooper S, Sn. 1165, DS/W; Sport + Premium + Alta CAI + H Sport Springs, Competition Front & Rear Sway Bars, Rear Camber Control Arms + 17" Team Dynamics Pro Race 1's; 215-45-17 Kumho MX's + AP Racing Formula Big Brakes, X Drilled + Slotted Rotors, Goodridge SS Lines + Clear Bra + Schroth Harness and a full tank of 100 octane ... life is good!

2002 CVT Cooper LY/W + Sport + 17" S Lites & Pirelii Euforias + Clear Bra

>>Yep. I ordered mine today as well for my JCW. I called Jack at UNICHIP. Very knowledgeable guy. This will be the first one that they do for a JCW ... so it should be interesting. I'll know in a few days. Here is the address: http://www.unichip.us
>>
>>

ftbt, are they doing a MAP specifically for a JCW or are they just using one of the other maps? I've been really looking at the Unichip since dynoing my JCW the other day. A/F Ratio is AWFULLY RICH. The second the A/F drops below 12:1 my HP and torque curves stop their climb. Check this out (torque is even worse):


http://www.somc.on.ca/albums/paulmon..._jcw.sized.jpg

Let me know how this makes out, I'm looking to get the Unichip ASAP.

Paul

They were more than willing to do a custom map for the JCW, but without having a car to actually dyno themselves, it is a bit of trial and error. They didn't want to be flying in the dark and just tinker here or there with their stock maps, and then have me complain about check engine lights. Fair enough. I also could have just ordered the plain vanilla map(s) and then gone to one of their affiliated dyno tuning shops for them to test the car and then send the data back to actually do the custom map ... but that would have been more $$ for the dyno work. So ... after telling them how I had the car set-up and the type of fuel that I normally use (either a full tank of 100 octane or half 91 and half 100) they suggested that I go with a semi-custom map for the "B Map" ... known internally as the "Spike Map" since they felt reasonably certain that it would closely approximate the type of upgrades found in the JCW kit. Apparently they did the Spike Map on a car that had a 15% pulley, Alta CAI, re-worked head, exhaust, etc. Basically, they said, "give it a try and see what you think ... and if you want a custom map ... they would be happy to do it" ... (I would have to get the dyno work done on my own). Interestingly enough, they felt that a custom map would only gain a few horsepower and a minor amount of torque over the semi-custom Spike Map. We will see.


ftbt

2002 Works Cooper S, Sn. 1165, DS/W; Sport + Premium + Alta CAI + H Sport Springs, Competition Front & Rear Sway Bars, Rear Camber Control Arms + 17" Team Dynamics Pro Race 1's; 215-45-17 Kumho MX's + AP Racing Formula Big Brakes, X Drilled + Slotted Rotors, Goodridge SS Lines + Clear Bra + Schroth Harness and a full tank of 100 octane ... life is good!

2002 CVT Cooper LY/W + Sport + 17" S Lites & Pirelii Euforias + Clear Bra

Umm, how does it drive? How does it feel? I don't care about the numbers as much as how your motor response and behavior has changed. Thanks :grin:

that rise in the A/F above 6500, exacerbated with a 19% pulley, is the injector maxing out. I am today changing injectors for the high rpm demand, and throttling them back for the <6000 range to hold AF to 12:1.

I'd like to see the A/F for the Unichip in the high rpm range to check this out.

jdgross & paulmon,

Not trying to be anal here, but you should use lower case letters for the word "map" when referring to a software map. Spelling the word "map" with all caps is usually reserved for the abbreviation of Mass Air Pressure... :wink:

I look forward to the results from Turner's dyno!

_________________
'04 MCS w/ 16" SSR's, Scorpion Exhaust & Pilo intake.

>>that rise in the A/F above 6500, exacerbated with a 19% pulley, is the injector maxing out. I am today changing injectors for the high rpm demand, and throttling them back for the <6000 range to hold AF to 12:1.
>>
>>I'd like to see the A/F for the Unichip in the high rpm range to check this out.

John, here's an A/F of a 19% car. You're correct a 19% pulley, at least in this case, goes lean above 6200rpm.


http://www.somc.on.ca/albums/paulmon...y_af.sized.jpg

Do you think that's really the injectors maxing out?

Paul

I'm convinced; you will note the power curve starts to drop as well. Hubie at SPI, the Twincharged Mini maker, had to increase his injector size to reach his 250whp. If you think about it, he was getting maybe 50 hp more by increasing his boost (over the stock blower pulley) 9-10 psi to 20psi, but doing it with the turbo woith less parasitic loss. By doing it with the 19% pulley, you can get 198whp (I did on Hubie's dyno, stock injectors), but the engine is really putting out considerably more to compensate for the extra blower loss to get to 20psi. End result is 19% and 200whp should require almost as much fuel as his 250whp (with larger injectors) twincharger.
_________________
""the onus of proof is on he who asserts the positive."

I'm looking forward to seeing the whp results as well. I take you can just unplug the unit and do stock runs, then plug it back in to do the Unichip? I never got an answer from Randy, but exactly what inputs and outputs from the ECU are having their signals corrupted by the Unichip? How do the ECU's adaptation routines interact with the false signals from the engine's sensors? How are safeguards like IAT/ECT overheat protection maintained through the Unichip?

BTW, fueledbymetal, MAP stands for Manifold Absolute Pressure.

>>
>>BTW, fueledbymetal, MAP stands for Manifold Absolute Pressure.

Doh! I knew that - I guess that's what I get for posting before I'm awake
:lol:

Sounds like I am one cup of coffee ahead of you. :lol:

>>Sounds like I am one cup of coffee ahead of you. :grin: :grin: :grin:

Earl

>>jdgross & paulmon,
>>
>>Not trying to be anal here, but you should use lower case letters for the word "map" when referring to a software map. Spelling the word "map" with all caps is usually reserved for the abbreviation of Mass Air Pressure... :wink:
>>
>>I look forward to the results from Turner's dyno!
>>
>>_________________
>>'04 MCS w/ 16" SSR's, Scorpion Exhaust & Pilo intake.


You are being ANAL !! :wink:

OK, I see there have been enough posts on this subject, so the time is perfect for a couple of dumb questions.

1) What kind of improvements can I expect out of the Unichip solution on my Stock 04 MCS?

2) If and when I decide to do the pulley upgrade, how easy is it go get updated maps for particular set of mods?

BB

>>I'm convinced; you will note the power curve starts to drop as well. Hubie at SPI, the Twincharged Mini maker, had to increase his injector size to reach his 250whp. If you think about it, he was getting maybe 50 hp more by increasing his boost (over the stock blower pulley) 9-10 psi to 20psi, but doing it with the turbo woith less parasitic loss. By doing it with the 19% pulley, you can get 198whp (I did on Hubie's dyno, stock injectors), but the engine is really putting out considerably more to compensate for the extra blower loss to get to 20psi. End result is 19% and 200whp should require almost as much fuel as his 250whp (with larger injectors) twincharger.
>>_________________
>>""the onus of proof is on he who asserts the positive."

John, how much labour does it take to get the head off and back on? I'm wondering if larger injectors should be one of my considerations down the road.

Cheers,

Paul

I just can't believe that STILL, nobody has a dyno to show. What gives? :roll:

It took Eric and I 5+ hours with no interruptions and both of us wrenching. He had done a head swap before and I had swapped headers, cams and blowers, so we knew our way around. Figure a day in the shop.

The problem with larger injectors is that they put out more fuel per pulse.
At WOT, the pulse count is taken from the fuel map in the chip, perhaps modified by the Unichip, in this context. But Unichip would have to know about the injectors to not over richen.

At less than WOT, the closed loop ECU function would compensate for the extra fuel per pulse, and dial back the pulse count to suit the O2 sensor and the chip program.

I am using the A'pexi piggy, which allows dialing in the resulting pulse count to match the A/F you have targetted.

put in the 440cc injectors, dynoed with the Endyne head. tweaked the A'pexi to get a very flat 12.5 A/F to 5k, then a very flat 11.5 A/F to 7.2k

212 SAE wheel hp (no drivetrain corrections) 173 ft-lbs torque (prvious reading was 188hp, 161 ft-lbs, same dyno)

_________________
""the onus of proof is on he who asserts the positive."

>>put in the 440cc injectors, dynoed with the Endyne head. tweaked the A'pexi to get a very flat 12.5 A/F to 5k, then a very flat 11.5 A/F to 7.2k
>>
>>212 SAE wheel hp (no drivetrain corrections) 173 ft-lbs torque (prvious reading was 188hp, 161 ft-lbs, same dyno)
>>
>>_________________
>>""the onus of proof is on he who asserts the positive."

jlm,

What else is on the car?

jlm, do you have or have a link to the wiring diagram for the S-AFC on the MINI? I don't believe that the manual shows European cars, and doubtless it is a bit different than the one I installed on my Evo.

The Unichip looks really good from what I can make out of the dyno plots Randy posted over on Webb, and it is pretty much at the top of my list for ECU upgrades currently.