Dastek UNICHIP

[Torquelover]

Hi,

 

Happy new year to all.

 

Was reading some car magazine and came across this product 'Dastek UNICHIP'. Went to their web site www.dastek.co.za. The chip seems pretty interesting, allowing the tuner to play with the inition timing and fuel mapping for NA cars. Not truely 'plug and play' like other chips, but the fun is in the tuning portion.

 

Any of you guys tried the product b4?

[Turbobrick]

Firstly, this product is from South Africa. Secondly the tuning is very subjective, they have a set of ready made programs for the popular makes/models but if they have to tune from scratch it can result in success or countless headaches.

 

I'll let those who have tried to elaborate......ready.....set......GO!!!!

[Nitehawk]

Ya.had the Unchip on a wira 1.8 Gti

 

a better drive & more even RPM curve.

 

dyno shws a improvement of 11BHP (loading)

 

did it at the sole agent for SG & MY - viswrk Permas jaya,JB

 

price RM1699,inlcude installation & dyno tuning.

 

hope it helps

[Vr_geek]

Hi, I have it now in my Galant, installed it from Max, one of the few tuners in Singapore from G Motors. Pity for my Galant, only the fuel map can be tuned, my ignition timing cannot be changed due to complications of my ECU.

 

He charges $750 for installation, tuning etc, and results show for itself and I myself can vouch for it!

 

Ya.had the Unchip on a wira 1.8 Gti

 

a better drive & more even RPM curve.

 

dyno shws a improvement of 11BHP (loading)

 

did it at the sole agent for SG & MY - viswrk Permas jaya,JB

 

price RM1699,inlcude installation & dyno tuning.

 

hope it helps

Edited February 11, 2002 by Vr_geek

[Nitehawk]

oic..so urs had been tune by Max yeo @autopoint.ya?.....guess urs is a GDI 2.0L VR-G?

 

anyway,it not to turn into flame war.but as far as i am aware,is the unichip from G motor from the agent?cos there is a 1yr warranty on it.

 

so did u perform dyno to see hw much BHP had u gain yet?

 

i would love to be tune by dean anytime....but he is not always "ard".so i would rather settle for a dyno print-out .

 

cheers

:)

[Blue850r]

Well, I see many happy Unichip user here. BUt I am not one of them. I noticed that many whom are happy with Unichip do not have timing or figures to show an improved performance. Here my experience :

 

I own a Accord 3L V6, std 200bhp 1999 model. Before Unichip I wne to G-tech the car for some based line:

 

1/4 mile : 16.1 sec @ 91mph, 0-96mph in 8.2 secs

 

After I fitted the Unichip, the low torque seems to have improved by butt feel,

 

1st run on G-tech, 1/4 mile : 17.2sec@86mph, 0-96mph in 9.1 secs

 

But timing shows that the Unichip is bad, so I had to spend another day at JB dyno.

It showed almost 20 bhp gain on the wheel before I left for home again. This time happy to see the super gain. Of course, the G-tech will be use again.

 

G-tech : 1/4 mile : 15.82 @93mph, 0-96mph in 7.9 secs

 

Wow, so happy with Unichip and then call every firend and buy them drinks. But don't be too happy yet, the story is not over. So, having such a powerful Unichipped car, I went to ask a friend who also drives a 3L Jap car and his G-tech timing was 1/4 mile : 16.8 secs.

 

Secretly I ask him to have a friendly race on 1/4 mile and have the intention to smoke him. Since there is a 1 sec diff in 1/4 mile timing, it would be a 10 to 8 car length difference.

 

Got onto the starting line and when the traffic lights turned green, both of our cars wheel spin and off it goes. My 3L Accord was merely 2 car length ahead. I couldn't believe the difference was so little and I went for a 2nd and 3rd run. All similar.

 

G-tech the Accord again, this time 1/4 mile 16.6secs. So what's the conclusion ?

 

Answer : You don't need a Unichip ! The original ECU will compensate for you after the Unichip had alter your timing through time. This means you cannot change those fuel/ignition mapping permanently.

[Torquelover]

Wow! Seems like the stock ECU will try to 'relearn' its factory settings. Wondering how it does that?

 

Looks like the only way is to get a race ECU rather than one of those piggy back chips.

[Turbobrick]

I strongly believe that a complete ECU EPROM "flash" that remaps the fuel, ignition, boost, etc. is the way to go for a ECU upgrade.

 

Some chips just "amplifies" the original ECU map and once the stock ECU compensates you're back to square one.....

[Blue850r]

The ECU has been programme by factory the A/F ratio. For example at full throttle, factory setting is 11.5 : 1, this will be read by the oxygen sensor.

 

Then you put in the Unichip or whatever SAFC, etc... re-mapped the A/F ratio to say 12.8 : 1, usually by leaning out will produce more power but you will be narrowing the window for safety. Lean mixture generates more heat.

 

So after some time, the ECU just adjust the parameters to make A/F back to 11.5 : 1.

[Maniax]

Check this site out:

http://www.airpowersystems.com.au/wrx/wrx_learn.htm

It seems that the ECU isn't supposed to relearn itself and neutralise Unichip.

I'm interested in getting Unichip to complement a new set of aggressive cams, but I'm also considering a remap of my ecu.

 

Where in singapore can I get a good reliable tuning and installation of Unichip done?

Thanks!

[Cantona156]

My car seems to run closed loop when below 50% throttle. Since it is probably running optimally, no point changing it with Piggy back.

 

When above 50%, the car runs in open loop ... with pre-determined maps. I think the Unichip (or most after market ECU) meddles with this open loop operations. The maps is usually from butt dyno or proper dyno.

 

Of course, I heard some engines are really really advance that it simply overides whatever a piggy back instructs it to do, even in open loop (e.g. Toyota Celica) Not sure if your Accord behaves in the same way.

 

Eh .... the difference in acceleration times, 1/4 mile also depends on weather conditions (esp temperature), type of launch, excess weight carried (rubbish in the boot? Full tank?).

 

Generally, I believe Unichip works. It seems to have controls over various parameters.

 

I just don't quite believe in the local tuners, unless they have proper dynos.

[Cyrix]

hi bro....like wat u say abt piggybacks....care to share some of the gd gd replacement

ECUs in the market now???...by the way me driving a SIR 96 model....

[Turbobrick]

A well tuned piggyback will bump performance together with better intake and exhaust flows, engine timed and fuelled accordingly to give noticeable horsepower gains. However such tuning are expensive and time consuming and a half past six job will probably give imaginary gains rather than true big horsepower gains.

 

Think of it this way, sometimes money spent and the "feeling" of gaining bhp is from your wallet getting lighter