Apparently they have an application for the MCS. Any info or experiences with this chip or Perfect Power in general would be appreciated. Thanks.

See link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33597

 

Hmmmm...if it sounds too good to
be true......

 

Interesting. At the end of the auction, someone should contact the buyer and find out how well it worked...


Any takers to follow-up on this?

 

Sounds kinda expensive too...

 

Price isn't bad if it does what it says....but (here we go again ) I have to question a baseline dyno reading of 155.1fwhp/139.6torque. That's too high. Granted it does show the improvements they claim, the aribitrarily high baseline makes me think this is actually getting about the same result as the EVOTECH's 15.2hp (13.3whp) increase for the Cooper S.

R

 

First of all, I need to thank macncheese for this lead.

As most of you know, I've been working on everything from Autothority, to GIAC, to AEM Wolf 3d, to UNIChip, to Motec, to Superchips, to EVOTech technology for the ECU stuff.

This is for real. It's called the SMT-6 and it does require 7 wires to be T'ed into the ECU loom, and 2 wires cut and taken directly to the SMT unit. It's a "piggy back" unit. The units are still being worked out for all of the different states of tune, but the stock S is finished, and that's what you see on E-bay. The capacity for greater boost and different cams and any other amount of goodies also exists with this unit.

I am working with Perfect Power to develop the different curves, and we will be offering the units with packages (or as a retro fit) soon. The price is still under the EVOTech stuff, and that was my goal all along. It looks like they will be $680 and come with the wiring harness, instructions for the wiring, and the program that you would need for the state of tune your car has.

The ECU remains in place, so the cruise, DSC, speedometer, drive by wire, etc. all remain intact and unaffected by the SMT unit.

I't very close to being done - maybe within the next month or so - for all of the packages. The stock S system is ready, but remains to be tested. I should have one here to work with that has the stock S program and another with the new pulley program within the next week.

I'll keep you posted as always - you guys hear it first!

_________________

Click It!

 

>>The stock S system is ready, but remains to be tested.


Why are they selling them if they're not tested? Or is it that you haven't personally tested and approved?

I'm hoping it's the latter.

_________________
'03 MCS - LY/W "Fried Egg"

 

IMHO, this is a very bad idea for the average consumer. Cutting into your wiring harness can lead to serious problems and reliability concerns. "Fooling" the ECU my corrupting signals from sensors is a dangerous and inelegant way of altering performance. In the VW 1.8T community, a company called Split Second makes an electronic boost controller that operates in this way, corrupting the signal from the MAP sensor so the ECU is fooled into increasing boost. Every such installation generates at least one fault code that cannot be cleared until the unit is removed and the wiring harness is repaired. The vast majority of SSBCS owners have since sold theirs to buy chips.



BAD, BAD, BAD idea for an engine wiring harness.

 

Andy,

I realize that some are not comfortable with splicing, but the flash programming just hasn't proven out in the numbers. This system has worked. The company doing the SMT-6 actually did the dyno tuning for BMWNA for the MINI, and have already given a unit to BMW for evaluation, with very good response.

How can splicing into the wiring harness cause reliability issues or serious problems specifically? The unit is on the car, and has not caused any fault coeds, so if that is the concern, it isn't an issue with this particular unit on the MINI.

There are several tuning packages out there that use this technology - UNIChip for one has been very successful, and the SMT-6 is the "next generation" of that type of unit.

I have yet to test the system, but the system is tested. If it does cause any problems with the car, I will keep searching for the best solution. I've done that before, at great expense, and then kept on looking.

I would be interested to hear what you are working on Andy. I think the more people we have on the same page that are trying to achieve the same goal, the better.

Feel free to contact me (at home today, since the snow is up to my roof) at 720-344-0210.

Randy

 

I'm not sure if you are kidding or not. Are you?

 

No, really. If you are soldering and heatshrinking the T and the splice, I really don't see the issue. I could use your help on this though, so I appreciate any input. Do you have the A/F ratio for a car with the stock ECU and a pulley?

Calling might expedite things. If you want, just e-mail me your phone number, and I'll give you a call.

Randy
randy@mini-motorsport.com

 

I don't like using the telephone. I have posted stock and pulley-ed A/F graphs here many times.

Just a tip - soldering wires in an automotive environment is discouraged these days for at least three good reasons:

1) Cold solder joints. Soldered connections can be difficult to inspect properly. Combine this with dirt and contamination and getting a good solder joint on wires can be very difficult.

2) Resistance. Solder simply does not conduct as well as copper. Unless you actually get a good copper to copper connection you will have solder doing the conducting. Many sensors send an analog signal (i.e. a precise voltage) to the DME. This voltage can change just from the presence of a solder joint.

3) Brittleness. Soldering wires together makes the entire assembly brittle. Solder two wires and bend them back and forth repeatedly (simulating the sort of fatigue seen in an underhood automotive environment). The wires will break next to the solder joint due in large part to the oxidation that has occurred by heating the wires.

The preferred method these days is a good crimp joint.

That said, corrupting the signals between sensors and the DME is backward thinking, IMHO. Why not just have the correct instruction set in the DME to begin with? Flashing through the diagnostic port is a proven technology (BMW and MINI use it all the time). The only drawback is what you put into it. Right now, only one or two non-BMW companies have the technology to do this, but with more interest in the marketplace, this market should grow, and a variety of solutions should be available.

 

Randy and Andy,
If I were to use a piggyback computer instead of flashing the ECU, I wouldn't cut into my customer's wiring harness. I'd use a true piggyback plug. When I talked to Kevin Buckler at The Racer's Group about the Unichip I said the same thing. No matter how good the system works, we won't install it at Perfect Power Inc. (not Perfect Power) if it leaves 'pecker tracks'. A company in Sweden makes a diagnostic piggyback plug for some of the electronic diagnostic tool makers. These plug into the ECU and have a receptacle on the back for the original ECU harness to plug to plug into. The reason Unichip and others don't use this, is availability and cost. A supplier told me they were a couple of hundred for the electrical plug! I don't know if you guys know where to get these, but did you know they exist?

Sol

 

PIGGYBACK = BANDAID. Sometimes there is no way around it (necessary evil) and this may be the case now, but as Andy said, I dont think it will always be the case. I'd recommend waiting for a more elegant solution, but I cant speculate how long that will take.

The OEM computer connector is available thru AMP. This is the method I planned to develop and market the SMT-6 through. Unfortunately, the minimum order is 18,000 connectors. How many can I sign you up for? :smile:

I also dont recommend hacking the harness and this is why I dumped this project. I've already been stranded once from splicing into the ignition wires on a previous vehicle and I was over 500 miles from home.

Apparently Randy decided to go ahead and develop it without me? I havent heard from him or Bob @ Ida Automotive since I mentioned it to him. I'm pretty sure these units will not pass inspection and the legalities of tampering with the emmissions system may vary in your part of the country.


--
Cheese

 

Randy,

A much more professional system and easier to reverse if you want to would be to develop an interface cable that by mearly disconnecting the affected cable from the ecu and connecting the new cable that is wired to accomplish what the splicing does.

This way it is idiot proof, and if one wants to go back to factory original all they do is unplug the mod, and reconnect to the ecu with the standard cable.

I know some of the systems on the market for other cars and diesel trucks use a system like this and all I have read about them have favorable from a professional appearance standpoint.

Obviously the cost would be higher, but guys that are a bit more **** like me would prefer it......

The only problem is getting or developing the connectors needed.

Just a thought,

John

 

Thanks for the input guys!

Andy - you don't like the phone?? It makes it a thousand times easier to communicate and brainstorm ideas, and I'd love to hear yours, but OK.

As far as the connection goes, ultimately, and in a perfect world, I agree - I would love to get a cannon plug that goes into the ECU harness on one side and the SMT-6 on the other, then goes into the ECU plug. That hasn't been available as of yet, so I'll check it out when it gets here.

I agree that a flash program is more elegant, but honestly, I just haven't seen any progress with the stuff that is out there - EVOTech and Superchips. I will continue to research this option - West Tuning, Hartge and Autothority are on the list.

I am researching the best available stuff - suspension, intakes, intercoolers, superchargers, displacement kits, brakes, etc. Any help from anyone even if it is just opinion is always appreciated. I always welcome feedback - from the novice who has never even looked under the bonnet to an engineer from BMW.

cheese - I actually lost your numebr - sorry. I thought you had ordered something from me, and were in the system, so I didn't keep the piece of paper. Feel free to contact me, there is still plenty of opportunity to remain involved with the development of the SMT-6.

 

This would be a lot nicer if you could unplug it quickly in the event of a "dealer visit".

 

Randy is this system ready to sell or still in the works? I am waiting for the ECU before I put on the pulley. Very anxious!! I would like a system the needs no splicing but I will do what I have to do. Do you have only one header right now?

 

This system is in the works. The stock program is ready, but the pulley program needs to be designed yet. We have a pretty good base, so the only thing we really need to do is tweak the baseline for the additional boost.

When I get it here, I'll see if the wiring can't be hidden when the plug is inserted.

Randy

 

>>This would be a lot nicer if you could unplug it quickly in the event of a "dealer visit".

There is an adapter that you can pluginto it, and remove the unit for that dealer visit. That is what one compnay told me that is also working on a MINI Map for the SMT-6. This company has gotten 20 hp out of there MINI from a bone stock configuration. I am going to try to visit them this weekend to find out how it is doing. Randy, I'll let you know that results of this visit. (they are about 2-3 miles from where I am autocrossing this weekend.)

 

Pilo,
The plug removes the unit but not the wires! Its just a shorting plug that plugs into the SMT wiring harness instead of the unit.


--
Cheese

 

that is correct, but at least for racing, you can go back to stock class for auto cross

 

true true. But your signals are potientially corrupted by the additional wiring.


--
Cheese