Thread: Tornado ECU chips (Mark Adams- RPI Engineering) ?

Originally Posted by tasi devil

anybody know anything about them ?

...........tasi

Mark Adams knows his stuff from what I've heard, IIRC he was one of the first to chip the GEMS system etc.

JC

A friend in Coffs Harbour has one in his P38A. He likes it.

Mine has a Bruce Davis chip in it.

I emailed mark about one for mine(2001v8 disco)and he said they were still developing them,so i guess i have to wait.

If you buy from Mark make sure you tell him whether your car has O2 sensors and how many (if any).

My friend didn't so the chip had to be sent back for the right one.

I've got a UniChip here somewhere. Hardy gave it to me when I bought his Rangie last year. He had it installed in the P38A but removed it while doing some troubleshooting that he thought may involve the chip. He never bothered to reinstall it and I'm in no rush to either.

I believe they only work on the Bosch systems (no GEMS). If anyone wants to try it out, let me know. Those within driving distance of Canberra can collect for free... your deposit will be a bottle of cheap-ish red
If it requires me to pack and post to you... your non-refundable deposit may stretch to 2 bottles

I have no idea what they are worth, but we can worry about that later perhaps.

Cheers, Paul.

UPDATE 18-Sep: the UniChip is heading off to Queensland for a while or indefinately depending on how it goes in Grimace's Rangie.

I think the UniChip needs to be wired in and then programmed on a dyno (like th Haltech). It's not a plug and play like the Mark Adams or Bruce Davis chips.

someone else on this site runs his LR on cooking oil... what sort of chip should he use

Actually on a less frivolous note, the Bosch engineers were a bit sneaky with the Motronic5.2.1 system which was also used in '96 and newer 318ti's with the 1.9 liter M44 engine. The relevant BMW enthusiast sites contain a number of articles written in frustration at the difficulty of improving the mapping of their systems. (I went looking there to see what others had done with the motronic 5.2.1 system )

from a BMW forum -quote: " It appears that the main part of the M5.2 firmware and maps is very similar in appearance to previous Bosch (non OBD - II) systems. The OBD - II diagnostic and security firmware was 'patched' around the older designs. the security firmware hides calculated checksums all over the place, and each revision of M5.2 changes the hiding places."

This is just one part of the puzzle. There's also a heap of proprietary hardware and software issues which virtually preclude any "fiddling".

guess the question is: if one was going to install a GM LS1 engine, would a "BECM" from a VX/VY holden be feasible as a replacement for the existing RR one? (I dream about it regularly...