Home Chipping?

Home Chipping?

Author
Discussion

Rowj

Original Poster:

6 posts

200 months

Wednesday 19th November 2008
quotequote all
Hi

I'm new and just wondered if anyone out there could part with some wisdom regarding home chipping kits that i've seen advertised that claim to upgrade BHP via softwear and laptop. Do they work? If so are they worth the money?

Any info or advice would be gratefully received!

christer

2,804 posts

266 months

Wednesday 19th November 2008
quotequote all
IMHO...no.....

haggle

863 posts

228 months

Wednesday 19th November 2008
quotequote all
the ecu on the mini is one of the hardest to tune right trying to home tune a mini will =





sjrainsford

11 posts

200 months

Monday 24th November 2008
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Hiya

It depends on what model you are intending on chipping.

The Mini one 1.6 can see good gains from chipping, and these are the most common to be chipped using a unit from Superchips called the bluefin. This basically removes the restrictions put in from factory and converts the car to a similar output to that of the cooper. This is because the engines are essentially the same unit with different ECU programmes.

The cooper and S don't see the same gains from chipping so this isn't normally the first thing to be done on them.

However, contrary to the above there are quite a few reputable self chip methods on the market such as the one mentioned above that offer good guarantees etc.

DavidLScott

1,048 posts

239 months

Monday 24th November 2008
quotequote all
Bluefin'ed my wife's Cooper to an alleged 130bhp and it definitely revs smoother and quicker and overtaking is a little less fraught.

Been done for about 10k miles and all right so far. I had a cold start problem so reloaded the old software for a couple of days and really noticed the difference. It was a sensor that was the problem so reloaded again.

Rowj

Original Poster:

6 posts

200 months

Monday 24th November 2008
quotequote all
Thanks for all the help guys.

Have seen the bluefin unit & am going to consider a purchase. Have a cooper s & notice the gains aren't that great to justify the 300 smackers???



DavidLScott

1,048 posts

239 months

Monday 24th November 2008
quotequote all
I thought you got a lot more gains for the S because of the supercharger (or later turbo).

Give Tony Franks at the Mini Motorsport Centre in Shoreham (near Brighton) a call - he prepares the Mini challenge cars - he knows his stuff and I am sure he could give you some good advice. 01273 446666.

sjrainsford

11 posts

200 months

Monday 24th November 2008
quotequote all
If you have an S, then there are far more options to get more power with better BHP per pound than a chip. A common first choice is to change the supercharger pulley and belt for example.

Bungleaio

6,503 posts

217 months

Monday 24th November 2008
quotequote all
On the R53 (supercharged) then chipping isn't the way to go. Have a look at these guys http://www.gtt.uk.com I had some of their parts on mine and they were 1st rate, unfortunately I didn't have the car long enough to get any of their performance packs, but thats where my car would have gone.

sjrainsford

11 posts

200 months

Tuesday 25th November 2008
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Or another option is thinkmini.co.uk, they're an official GTT supplier and a great outfit too.

Loui

350 posts

222 months

Monday 8th December 2008
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There are 2 ways of reprograming the mini ECU, flash maps:-

BLUE FIN
GIAC
MTH

an Live mapping:-

1320mini
West Tuning

MTH were well renowned in the early years of the new mini tuning scene but seems to have died a death, Giac not used much over here but used quite a bit in the US. BLUE FIN seems to work on ONE an COOPER models, COOPER S seen more than one running lean on the dyno an seen quite a few cars die with this map on, could be due to other things but from the lean ones ive seen i think its more to do with the Map.

1320mini an West Tuning are the only people in the uk i know that can properly remap the ECU, mine was mapped by Chris @ 1320mini an all i can say is 270bhp isnt to be sniffed at (obviously car has a bit more than just a map) But it was more of a fine tuning thing than out right power, the mechanical bits make the power really on an S, that an nice cool charge

Last option keep to stock i made big power on a stock map. The stock ecu is pretty adaptive, an actually rather clever

Loui

350 posts

222 months

Monday 8th December 2008
quotequote all
Bungleaio said:
On the R53 (supercharged) then chipping isn't the way to go. Have a look at these guys http://www.gtt.uk.com I had some of their parts on mine and they were 1st rate, unfortunately I didn't have the car long enough to get any of their performance packs, but thats where my car would have gone.
GTT use MTH software an roland says he dosent bother using it anymore in the majority of cases

Ecotune Sussex

1 posts

199 months

Wednesday 10th December 2008
quotequote all
Hi guys, just been reading through this post. I don't want to sound like I am trying to tread on anyone's toes but we have Kevin Fulbrooke on board with us now, so if there is anything you want to know or need some advise on anything Mini, Road or Track give us a call.