Difference between chip and custom ECU?
Thread Starter
|
1st Gear
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 63
From:
Difference between chip and custom ECU?
Ok so I own a honda, and in honda-land, we dont "chip" our cars. I am wondering what this means exactly. What is agreed that the "right" way to do a custom tune involves going to a dyno shop. Basically you go there, and you use a customizable ECU (from aem etc) or ECU flashing program (like Hondata or chrome) to make custom A/F ratio, timing etc, maps. This is made specifically for your car, under near real world conditions. If you get a "chip" for your TT, is it just a set of preprogrammed maps, or is it more involved? Thanks for helping me clear this up.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 175
From:
RE: Difference between chip and custom ECU?
Now now... let's be nice to our Japanese loving guest! We're all car lovers here.. 
To answer your question:
When we talk about "Chipping" our Audi's it's essentially the act of reprograming the stock ecu and changing things to increase Boost levels of the stock/aftermarket turbo, fuel pressures, and all other related items to accomodate the new levels of boost.
The word Chip, actually goes back to the days when you had to send in your stock ECU and a guy in a shop would solder a new chip with preprogrammed maps on it onto your ECU, then send it back to you.
Now, with technological advances in tuning, shops can perform the same upgrade simply by plugging into the OBD port and uploading the new maps right to the ECU without any hardware changes.
Each "Chip" manufacturer offers slightly different variances of it's own performance maps that can be switched to and from with little effort. For example, you may purchase a program setup for pump gas (93 octane programs) and another for race gas (100 octane programs) and so on. Another popular option is also the original "Stock" map, for people who have concerns about warranty and what not when they bring their car in for scheduled service.
Ontop of that, each company that offers this upgrade has slight advantages and disadvantages to their program. For example, APR's software is said to increase power to a respectable level and maintains greatest reliability. Another company, such asRevo gives you more power, but some say is less reliable or causes spikes in boost performance.
Hope this info helps!
To answer your question:
When we talk about "Chipping" our Audi's it's essentially the act of reprograming the stock ecu and changing things to increase Boost levels of the stock/aftermarket turbo, fuel pressures, and all other related items to accomodate the new levels of boost.
The word Chip, actually goes back to the days when you had to send in your stock ECU and a guy in a shop would solder a new chip with preprogrammed maps on it onto your ECU, then send it back to you.
Now, with technological advances in tuning, shops can perform the same upgrade simply by plugging into the OBD port and uploading the new maps right to the ECU without any hardware changes.
Each "Chip" manufacturer offers slightly different variances of it's own performance maps that can be switched to and from with little effort. For example, you may purchase a program setup for pump gas (93 octane programs) and another for race gas (100 octane programs) and so on. Another popular option is also the original "Stock" map, for people who have concerns about warranty and what not when they bring their car in for scheduled service.
Ontop of that, each company that offers this upgrade has slight advantages and disadvantages to their program. For example, APR's software is said to increase power to a respectable level and maintains greatest reliability. Another company, such asRevo gives you more power, but some say is less reliable or causes spikes in boost performance.
Hope this info helps!
Thread Starter
|
1st Gear
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 63
From:
RE: Difference between chip and custom ECU?
ORIGINAL: bmwtoaudi
We'll here in audi-land we make fun of hondas and most honda owners. That set aside I still dont understand why someone would tune a honda. Its an economy car.
We'll here in audi-land we make fun of hondas and most honda owners. That set aside I still dont understand why someone would tune a honda. Its an economy car.
Thread Starter
|
1st Gear
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 63
From:
RE: Difference between chip and custom ECU?
ORIGINAL: Inimical
Now now... let's be nice to our Japanese loving guest! We're all car lovers here..
To answer your question:
When we talk about "Chipping" our Audi's it's essentially the act of reprograming the stock ecu and changing things to increase Boost levels of the stock/aftermarket turbo, fuel pressures, and all other related items to accomodate the new levels of boost.
The word Chip, actually goes back to the days when you had to send in your stock ECU and a guy in a shop would solder a new chip with preprogrammed maps on it onto your ECU, then send it back to you.
Now, with technological advances in tuning, shops can perform the same upgrade simply by plugging into the OBD port and uploading the new maps right to the ECU without any hardware changes.
Each "Chip" manufacturer offers slightly different variances of it's own performance maps that can be switched to and from with little effort. For example, you may purchase a program setup for pump gas (93 octane programs) and another for race gas (100 octane programs) and so on. Another popular option is also the original "Stock" map, for people who have concerns about warranty and what not when they bring their car in for scheduled service.
Ontop of that, each company that offers this upgrade has slight advantages and disadvantages to their program. For example, APR's software is said to increase power to a respectable level and maintains greatest reliability. Another company, such asRevo gives you more power, but some say is less reliable or causes spikes in boost performance.
Hope this info helps!
Now now... let's be nice to our Japanese loving guest! We're all car lovers here..
To answer your question:
When we talk about "Chipping" our Audi's it's essentially the act of reprograming the stock ecu and changing things to increase Boost levels of the stock/aftermarket turbo, fuel pressures, and all other related items to accomodate the new levels of boost.
The word Chip, actually goes back to the days when you had to send in your stock ECU and a guy in a shop would solder a new chip with preprogrammed maps on it onto your ECU, then send it back to you.
Now, with technological advances in tuning, shops can perform the same upgrade simply by plugging into the OBD port and uploading the new maps right to the ECU without any hardware changes.
Each "Chip" manufacturer offers slightly different variances of it's own performance maps that can be switched to and from with little effort. For example, you may purchase a program setup for pump gas (93 octane programs) and another for race gas (100 octane programs) and so on. Another popular option is also the original "Stock" map, for people who have concerns about warranty and what not when they bring their car in for scheduled service.
Ontop of that, each company that offers this upgrade has slight advantages and disadvantages to their program. For example, APR's software is said to increase power to a respectable level and maintains greatest reliability. Another company, such asRevo gives you more power, but some say is less reliable or causes spikes in boost performance.
Hope this info helps!
2nd Gear
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,436
From: San Diego & Santa Cruz, CA
RE: Difference between chip and custom ECU?
None of the above. The chip programming has already been well researched by the various manufacturers. All you do is go in and have it flashed into your ECU (or in the case of APR you can opt for a soldered chip with up to 4 programs).
The ECU on the Audi family adapts to most of the other simple bolt on mods like intakes, exhaust, etc.
When you do chip your car it is always a good idea to help it breath better with an aftermarket intake and exhaust. Granted it will still work with the stock setup, but you will notice an improvement with an aftermarket system.
The next big step is an upgraded turbo, many of these come as a kit that includes among other things, bigger injectors, intake, and ECU programming to take advantage of the increase in boost.
Take a look at the sticky FAQ at the top of the forum for more information. Do your research.
The ECU on the Audi family adapts to most of the other simple bolt on mods like intakes, exhaust, etc.
When you do chip your car it is always a good idea to help it breath better with an aftermarket intake and exhaust. Granted it will still work with the stock setup, but you will notice an improvement with an aftermarket system.
The next big step is an upgraded turbo, many of these come as a kit that includes among other things, bigger injectors, intake, and ECU programming to take advantage of the increase in boost.
Take a look at the sticky FAQ at the top of the forum for more information. Do your research.
Thread Starter
|
1st Gear
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 63
From:
RE: Difference between chip and custom ECU?
ORIGINAL: XCLR8TT
None of the above. The chip programming has already been well researched by the various manufacturers. All you do is go in and have it flashed into your ECU (or in the case of APR you can opt for a soldered chip with up to 4 programs).
The ECU on the Audi family adapts to most of the other simple bolt on mods like intakes, exhaust, etc.
When you do chip your car it is always a good idea to help it breath better with an aftermarket intake and exhaust. Granted it will still work with the stock setup, but you will notice an improvement with an aftermarket system.
The next big step is an upgraded turbo, many of these come as a kit that includes among other things, bigger injectors, intake, and ECU programming to take advantage of the increase in boost.
Take a look at the sticky FAQ at the top of the forum for more information. Do your research.
None of the above. The chip programming has already been well researched by the various manufacturers. All you do is go in and have it flashed into your ECU (or in the case of APR you can opt for a soldered chip with up to 4 programs).
The ECU on the Audi family adapts to most of the other simple bolt on mods like intakes, exhaust, etc.
When you do chip your car it is always a good idea to help it breath better with an aftermarket intake and exhaust. Granted it will still work with the stock setup, but you will notice an improvement with an aftermarket system.
The next big step is an upgraded turbo, many of these come as a kit that includes among other things, bigger injectors, intake, and ECU programming to take advantage of the increase in boost.
Take a look at the sticky FAQ at the top of the forum for more information. Do your research.
2nd Gear
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,436
From: San Diego & Santa Cruz, CA
RE: Difference between chip and custom ECU?
Of course you can get custom tuning done. I was talking more from the average Joe point of view.
There are many custom shops out there that do custom ECU tuning based upon the setup. Some of them use a standalone engine management system, or have access to their own ECU programming specialists either in house or through one of the big 3 performance software companies (REVO, GIAC, APR). There are a few other lesser known ones out there as well.
APR, Dahlback, ATP, Neuspeed, and Del Rio all make Stage 3 packages that come with all of the needed hardware and software. You can always install these and then pay extra to get them fine tuned. But for the most part these are pretty well optomized setups. The ECU is pretty well adapative to take care of the minor differences incurred by intake and exhaust options. Most of the Stage 3 packages out there have conservative claims of 300 HP right out of the box. These kits come complete and the software is tuned for the complete package. The other advantage is that they maintain drivability for the street without getting so radical that you wouldn't want to drive it around town. Of course if you want to go all out setting it up as a dedicated track car there are plenty of options out there for custom work. It really just depends upon what you want to do.
Since the 1.8T engine is already turbo charged, there isn't nearly as much tuning as would be needed for adding a turbo or supercharger to a naturally aspirated engine like those found in Hondas, etc.
There are many custom shops out there that do custom ECU tuning based upon the setup. Some of them use a standalone engine management system, or have access to their own ECU programming specialists either in house or through one of the big 3 performance software companies (REVO, GIAC, APR). There are a few other lesser known ones out there as well.
APR, Dahlback, ATP, Neuspeed, and Del Rio all make Stage 3 packages that come with all of the needed hardware and software. You can always install these and then pay extra to get them fine tuned. But for the most part these are pretty well optomized setups. The ECU is pretty well adapative to take care of the minor differences incurred by intake and exhaust options. Most of the Stage 3 packages out there have conservative claims of 300 HP right out of the box. These kits come complete and the software is tuned for the complete package. The other advantage is that they maintain drivability for the street without getting so radical that you wouldn't want to drive it around town. Of course if you want to go all out setting it up as a dedicated track car there are plenty of options out there for custom work. It really just depends upon what you want to do.
Since the 1.8T engine is already turbo charged, there isn't nearly as much tuning as would be needed for adding a turbo or supercharger to a naturally aspirated engine like those found in Hondas, etc.
I'm make believe
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,587
From: In my head
RE: Difference between chip and custom ECU?
maybe this will help. Like what was said before, a chip is a preprogram map turned for certain peramitors. When it comes to the stock turbo all the "chips" make great gains over stock and work well with the simple bolt ons. Its when you start changing turbos and diffent hardware (injectors, manifold design, ic piping etc) when some people start haveing problems with chips. Since they are a general tune (mainly set around injector ie 440cc 550cc) they do not take inaccount forother variables. This is why many people love apr turbo kits. The sw (software) is written to perform with the hardware and works flawlessly and not hit or miss w/ other chips. These problems can be worked out by a tune aid called lemmiwinks (i know it sound ghey) that can change timing and add/subtract fuel. So when most start to break the 400+ hp they start looking into investing in a standalone system and a custom tune.
ps for anyone that cares to go bigger. GIAC just released the del rio sw to the gen public. It is written for the 2871r w. and .86 and 550cc injectors. The sw is supposivly great and reviewed buy a person running it with a 3071r on it on vortex.
ps for anyone that cares to go bigger. GIAC just released the del rio sw to the gen public. It is written for the 2871r w. and .86 and 550cc injectors. The sw is supposivly great and reviewed buy a person running it with a 3071r on it on vortex.
Thread Starter
|
1st Gear
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 63
From:
RE: Difference between chip and custom ECU?
Ok thanks guys, that clears it up for me a lot. I had always wondered why people from both camps did things differently from the get go. Honda motors are pretty finicky, and getting the tune just right is a PITA. I guess that Audi/VW motors are more flexible in that way. Also the fact that your motors are already turbocharged is a major factor too.
