Thread: Unichip

Hardy Neale (Hardy on this forum) had/has one in his P38A Rangie

Originally Posted by Hastykiwi

Guys,

has any one heard of, used, or have any other anecdotal evidence on the worth of the Unichip engine performance chip?

regards
nick

Yes they help if tuned on a dyno. I have one here but not many will tune them these days but some still do Just to far away for me Unichip them selves wont talk I'm giving up on it for a few other reasons..
PhilipA has one that seems well sorted.Had the 3.9 RRC dyno'd today Have a search on his user name or pm him.
Unless you plan on setting up a new engine management http://www.haltech.com/ is your freind. Look for Interceptor.

Tony

I have alot of experience with unichips, however not directly with disco's.

As I am still learning about waht's available for disco's out there I can only recommend against other technology I know is out there. (if that makes sense)

Unichip PCM is a piggyback unit that splines into your ECU(PCM) wiring. It basically tricks the cars computer via signals to think its running a certain way which then makes the cars computer adjust accordingly, hence giving you the desired result your are looking for.
So you can programme these to give you better power for example or better economy.
The upside is from experience with numerous cars with unichip is that overall you will get a smoother running car, better power, better tourque curve, and irons out any flat spots etc. The only propoer way to do it is tunning on a dyno, otherwise you run considerable risk of damaging your engine.

There are two typres of unit, a hard wire, or a plug in. The hard wire is the older unit the plug is is newer. However the plug in still cuts into your ECU's wiring, it just means you can disconnect the unit.

The downside of the unit is technology has come a long way since the unichip was developed.

More common modification is to actually alter the programme of the ECU directly, so basically remapping your cars ECU. No signals used to trick the car and it cannot be detected, depedant on the car company.

For example I ran the Unichip on one of my cars for a while and delivered 275rwhp. I subsequently did the development work for a new technology which was a box that plugged into the cars ECU and uploaded a completley new mapping programme (very similar to a dealer plugging into your car). Being able to change the cars actual factory setting got me 315rwhp just by changing how the ECU was manipulated. i could subsequently run up to three different programms, one for outright power, best economy, or even a valet tune so the car could not be stolen as it would only do 40km/h.

Unfortunately today the Unichip is old technology. In relation to what's out there for the Disco I am yet to learn, but I have no doubt that the same technology is available both OS and locally.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
JB

As rangier Rover says I have a Unichip and am quite pleased with the outcome as a cost effective upgrade on a 14CUX.(3.9 V8)
The main attraction to me is that the Unichip has a programmable advance curve which replaces the vacuum advance and can be altered while on the dyno to give the best BMEP at 500RPM increments.. I fitted mine several years ago and have had no reliability problems.

The later the ECU the less improvement as the later ECUs such as GEMS and Motronic have electronic control of advance and knock sensing.
So really any improvements on later models are at the expense of emissions eg most petrol motors are detuned at low revs to reduce NOx, so the Unichip can trick the ECU to restore the performance designed out.

I gather the Unichip is becoming less popular mainly because they charge a yearly licence fee to agents,who are usually dyno tuners, whereas more recent competitors such as Haltech do not charge a licence for the software.
However if you have a local tuner who intends to remain a licencee the Unichip is as good as any other interceptor and maybe better.

Just note that the more recent developments as referred to Jaybee75 are more applicable to more modern ECUs such as Falcon V8, Holden V8, WRX etc etc, and may not be applicable to low volume specialist ECUs like Range Rover, although the Motronic should be able to be reflashed . However to do so takes considerable research and so may be prohibitive in price.
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by PhilipA

As rangier Rover says I have a Unichip and am quite pleased with the outcome as a cost effective upgrade on a 14CUX.(3.9 V8)
The main attraction to me is that the Unichip has a programmable advance curve which replaces the vacuum advance and can be altered while on the dyno to give the best BMEP at 500RPM increments.. I fitted mine several years ago and have had no reliability problems.

The later the ECU the less improvement as the later ECUs such as GEMS and Motronic have electronic control of advance and knock sensing.
So really any improvements on later models are at the expense of emissions eg most petrol motors are detuned at low revs to reduce NOx, so the Unichip can trick the ECU to restore the performance designed out.

I gather the Unichip is becoming less popular mainly because they charge a yearly licence fee to agents,who are usually dyno tuners, whereas more recent competitors such as Haltech do not charge a licence for the software.
However if you have a local tuner who intends to remain a licencee the Unichip is as good as any other interceptor and maybe better.

Just note that the more recent developments as referred to Jaybee75 are more applicable to more modern ECUs such as Falcon V8, Holden V8, WRX etc etc, and may not be applicable to low volume specialist ECUs like Range Rover, although the Motronic should be able to be reflashed . However to do so takes considerable research and so may be prohibitive in price.
Regards Philip A

Agreed.