I was planning on going down the Unichip or Link pathway when insurance allows - ie after next renewal - need different company. At Falkland Performance Centre the other day, and they seem to push Superchips quite hard - biggest dealer in UK claimed etc, and they say they are GOOD for Scoobies. Since this is contrary to what I have read on here previously, I discussed this with them - they say that Superchips are safe if you don't put the boost up too high, and the reason a lot of people blow up their engines is by tinkering like this, and if installed correctly and left they are fine - never seen a blown up superchip engine etc, superchip would not market them if they blew up engines, engines sometimes blow up anyway - example given of unmodded STI which recently "pushed a piston through the block".

Now I am not an ECU/engine cognoscenti, but I thought that Superchips just disabled the overboost defender circuit and were therefore an expensive bleed valve; they do not modify the ignition timing or fueling and attempt to up the boost and hope the ECU overfuels enough and can adjust the ignition timing enough to cope. I would have thought that the Unichip/Link or for the poshos MOTEC would have the best system by mapping all three, and this is obviously what you are paying the extra for. I thought a Superchip was drop in and not adjusted to the individual example of vehicle.

Are these the reasons you guys would give for not going for Superchip or am I missing something (search function unfortunately n/a still).

 

They are right in a way. I too have seem superchipped engines last for many years. unfortunately I have also seen the opposite effect.

It's all to do with the boost. You can safely enough ad a few extra PSI with good results in moderate safety. But like you say a lot is to do with fiddleing!!!!

There is a local Superchip dealer here in Ireland that sets all Impreza's up to run at 1.5 bar!!!!

If you do decide to go this route then make sure to fit an accurate boost gauge to keep an eye on things.

Best of luck.

 

I have a superchips in my MY94 (previous owner fitted it). I opened up the ECU a while ago and all that's there is a small PCB connected to 4 pinouts. If I'm not mistaken, it's 1 to power, 1 to ground, 1 to the MAP sensor to fool the ECU on actual boost values and one to intercept airflow signal from MAF sensor? I experimented and tried up to 1.4 bar, no boost cut. In the slot meant for external ROM there is nothing, i.e. the car is still running on stock fuel and ignition maps.

 

John,

there are many examples of Phase II (MY99/00) STi engines that have let go, and a smattering of Phase I as well.

This would seem to be primarily due to the marginal running of the STi engines on UK 97 RON fuel and many of the cars that have let go have been running for perhaps only a few miles on 95 RON.

If you accept this basic experience, then imagine taking a car that is running right at the ignition limit (i.e. mild det, sometimes severe) and then up the boost, without either improving fueling or changing ignition.

I don't know anything about Superchips per se, however any form of boost clamp or fuel cut defencer (a la HKS) is a BAD THING without the ability to map the fuel and ignition to match the revised boost curve.

Very short bursts of overboost are acceptable, but sustained increase in boost will be very damaging.

You don't say what car you have, but later Stis will be more susceptible than earlier cars due to the fueling already being suspect.

If you have a UK car then you probably have a slightly larger margin for error.

If I were you I would save up for the chip where you can map boost, fuel and ignition - then you will get the best results.

BTW I have declared my Link to my insurers (it is on an STI) and I do not pay any additional insurance premium as the remap is to enable the car to run with UK fuel rather than Jap 100-104 RON

There are others in a similar position.

R

 

Thanks for all the advice. That confirms what I was thinking - avoid the Superchip - even though my car is a Euro MY00. Unichip sounds good and it seems that Storm Force in Fife are their national distributor - near me - and they are setting up a RR to do installs.