How many people have unichips out there? and if so are you having problems with it? I know helix has a turbo super chargers i have heard prices of around $4600.00 do you know of anyone that has something similar but at a more reasonable dollar figure. Right now i have a mcs 15% cai catback unichip but would still like to have more power anyone out there recommend the 19% pulley? I have a lot of unichip woes that i will write about at a later date when i have more time i would appreciate any feedback, suggestions or comments.

thank you,
robert gray

 

What do you mean by more power? More peak hp, more torque... The 19% will not give much more power, if what you are looking for is peak power. But it does a good job of giving more power in the lower rev ranges.

 

19 works for me .more low-end
doug

 

hi
more power meaning .
more hp more torque . something like what helix has .but less cash .would also like to hear if anyone has any unichip problems .and what kind of problems
thanks guys

robert gray

 

I'd recommend a 19% pulley along with the GIAC ECU flash + larger injectors. That should give a WHOPPING increase in torque over a 15% plus unichip. You'll feel at every RPM - and every time you hit the gas!

So what are these unichip woes? Care to share?

 

I would like to hear more about the woes also. Seems to be some people who are having problems with these, but I haven't seen much posted as to the details of the problems.

 

Exactly. Let us in the loop!

 

Robert,


I have left several messages with your son? and haven't heard back. Please call or give me another number.

Robert's issue is relatively unique - a flat spot. I have seen several cars with flat spots relating to V39 (cars without the Unichip), so that's what I initially thought the problem was. I paid to have Robert's car looked at by another shop in Canada, and that shop confirmed his issue.

This car, for reasons still unknown, has a flat spot in a specific RPM range. The issue is that it is right where you want to use the car most of the time.

We haven't seen this as a Unichip issue on other cars.

I am currently working with Unichip to resolve it, but it may be that Robert must do a custom map to remove the problem. If that happens, we can build a map around the anomoly he is seeing.

There were several issues with cars early on. We have resolved those. It was related to a wiring harness problem with the power source and an interface that caused with the DSC. New harnesses were designed, and no problems have been seen since (and there have been over one hundred of the new system).

The harness problem manifested in a couple of different ways - DSC lights, Service Engine Soon lights, and fault codes. As I said above, the new harness has solved those issues.

This is the second ECU solution Robert has purchased (the first one from me though). I am working with him to make sure he is happy. I can do a lot, and already have, but I certainly hope to resolve it completely.

Hope that helps!
Randy

 

Hi Randy, this is EXACTLY the same issue I've been experiencing I've posted many times in other areas complaining about V38 regarding and this flat spot occuring during light throttle application. The penalty occurs on the freeway when I'm in the 80mph zone/6th gear. My vacume falls into the -10 and 0...milage goes down to 19mpg Wish I hadda taken Eric up on his offer to refund $100 towards a custom map that I will need to do.

 

Hi All, I had a huge flat spot issue just like Misfitoy when I had V.38 installed by my dealership. I was not happy. Since I HAD V.39.2 installed I have had no problems. As to the problem with the Unichip, I had the unichip installed prior to the V.38 install so I know that that was not the problem.

As to the people that are constantly saying the 15% pulley is inferior, My car dynoed at 230.3 crank HP at 6410 rpm on Yarrow's dyno at the RI Pulley party with 220 lb/ft of torque at 3470 rpm!!!

Cheers,

MeanGRN

 

Any tuning aid can have issues on some cars, despite the quality of the product. Just look at the MTH thread to see how many happy people are posting, but there are still a few that have issues.

The UniChip is not a Mini specific item. It is sold onto lots of cars (maybe in slightly different forms for wiring interface). It is a mature product that can be used as delivered or you can have a UniChip center do a dyno tune to do a custom map.

My guess is that if you have issues that the UniChip "appears" to cause, you're just running into issues with your particular car that need to be investigated. These may already be there, just not effecting the car with the rather conservative tune that they ship with from the factory.

If you read around these boards for a bit, there are a few "freebie" power adders (or removal of power subtractors to be more accurate) that all people interested in power should persue:

Does you bypass valve close completely? Mine didn't, not by a long shot and I was leaking boost all the time.

Do you have any glue gobs in the duct past the throttle body? This part (search on the M7 air gain system to see photos) connects the throttle body to the supercharger. This is more of an issue on earlier cars, but it's worth a look.

Have you added an oil catch can to keep the intercooler clean? This is a small adder that prevents the inside of the IC from getting coated with oil, reducing IC efficiencey.

Doing this will give you a mini pretty much as good as it can get from the factory (with the oil catch can keeping it that way).

If peak HP is all you want, bolt on nitrous and be done with it. Other than that, what do you want the car to do? The power adders you choose will be determined by how you use your car. Something that never sees the track needs low end torque much more than any add to peak HP, so a 19% pully may be a good idea. If you live on the track, the 19% will spin your charger faster than it was designed for, and you know what that means! Very short lifetimes.

So, I'd suggest that before you say that the UniChip is the source of all your problems, first confirm you car is at a good starting point. Then decide what you want to do with the car, and add parts towards that goal. Also remember that BMW is changing programs several times a year, and it's reasonable to expect some time to pass as new issues are discovered, the root cause identified, and a fix deployed.

The Mini is the 2nd car I've been involved in the modification of the ECU. There are litterally hundereds of parameters that can be changed, and reverse engineering what BMW did is the only way to do that. If you tread in these waters, be prepared for some work, but there is no better mod to whatever your running that optimizing the control software.

Good luck with the car. Going this way (with some parts he he he) on my mustang went from 225 CHP to 261 WHP! I'd say the SW added about 35 of those wheel HP over just bolting parts on.

Anyway, good luck. Randy seems to be the type that will fix your issues if you give him the information he asks for, and return his calls!

One other thing, if you think that adding a Turbo will allow you to go back to the stock tune and not do a computer mod, you're crazy, uh excuse me, being nieve. The more extreme the motor, the greater the benefit from program modification (and the more expensive the screw up if it isn't done correctly).

Matt

 

I've been purposely delaying my forced 39 upgrade (I live in CA) as to afford them more time to iron-out such matters...

I was one of the first to get the UNIChip, and I did indeed have a couple lights come-on due to the aforementioned wiring harness issue, but that was quickly resolved. UNIChip life has been dandy since, especially on the B map

I hope everything works-out for you!

 

I have a flat spot too. When I am between 135-140mph :smile:

 

top speed!

Matt