is Senial pnogFarrttrting in the nclvv buzzwrond and has ehip tuning, just opened a vvhole to irnpnoving rrclr r vista por reF, tonque and fon dniver enjoyrnent cunnent
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uperchips, alwaysa frontrunnerin the field.has now takena quantumleap aheadof the opposition. Aftermonthsof hardworK the chiptuningcompany the firewalls hasmanagedto penetrate put in placeby OE manufacturers to preventothershackingintotheir ECUs. arethen ableto Oncein, its engineers that areappreoptimisethe parameters orienteddrivers. ciatedby performance meansthat SerialReprogramming accessis gainedto the ECUthroughthe port with ca/s on-boarddiagnostic evefihing elseleft in place.The old methodinvolvedremovingthe ECU, (Erasable readthe E-PROM unplugging only memory)and eitherreprogramit for one holding mingit or substituting SerialReprogramma new programme. ing is bothfasterand saferas everyleftin place. thingis physically Sowhy do we needto get into the
is Senial Flepnognarnming both fasten and safen, as evenyEhing is physically left in place ECUin the firstplace?Fora varietyof Whenit comesoff the producreasons. carmightbe tion line,one particular fractionally slowerthanthe next.In the
past,production meantthat tolerances no two carshad identicalpowerand torqueor drovein exactlythe same way.So,ownersor racerswho wanted to extractthe optimumperformance fromtheirengineshadto payfor whichrebuilds mechanical blueprinting the ECUto finertolerances. aremuch Mechanical tolerances
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tightertoday,althoughthereare certainly stillbenefitsto be hadfrom blueprinL ing if you are goingracing.Butthereis undoubtedly a variationin the way electronically-injected carsareset-up,or the waythe ECUrelates morecorrectly, engineit is operating. to the particular Performance and smoothness can be improvedby recalibrating the fuel and
ignitioncurvesso they are moresuited you cannot to the engine.In essence, relyon a programme whichis meantto lookafteranynumberof enginesthat aresupposed to be the same,but whichin realityare not identical. In orderto produceoptimumignition hasto andfuel curves, Superchips rer's reverseengineerthe manufactu
OneZrisa real head-turner, but would benefit from a boost In performance
programme to understand what it is doingfrom start-upto cut-outand identifythe weakspotsbeforeit canoptimisethe operating parameters. Original equipment computermaps oftensufferfromdipsin the fuelling curve,whichcanbe felt as hesitation or flat spotsunderacceleration. Thisweakeningof the mixtureis sometimes done
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deliberately to gainsmallimprovements in fuel economyfigures.But it also makesacceleration throughthe gears lesscrispthanit couldbe. The revisedprogrammeusesa remappedignitionadvancecurveand a modifiedfuellingmapto optimisethese parameters for the engine.Thisallows the driverto extractthe bestfrom the
engineon full throttlewhilenot destroying its partthrottlefuel economy. Asthe powerincrease on naturally aspirated carstendsto be modestaround7 to lObhp- insurance companiesmaynot loadyourpremium. However; turbocharged carswhichcan garnan extra50 to t00bhp area different matter.Thatsaid,the new settings
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arecreatedin sucha waythatthe car remains withinthe COand HCemissionlevelsset by the government for the carto passan MOT. Superchips alsousesa unique CustomerKeywhichallowsit to keep yourcar'soriginalprogramme on file.To returnthe carto standard, for servicing or whenyou sellit, reversing the job as process is the samefive-minute installation viathe diagnostic port. Althoughreprogramming the ECU will not invalidate yourBMWwarranty, you may be left on shakygroundif the
O lt sounds daunting, but reprogrammlng is simple and can be done in less than five minutes
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mingevensout allthe bumpsanddips in the standard powerandtorque curves,and alsomovesthe revlimiter up to 6900rpm.So now,when you givethe motorits head,it reallysings. The extra300 or 400rpm makesall the differenceandtogetherwith the other changes, makesthe Z3 comealive. On the rollingroad,the standard test carmadeexactly the claimedtaObhp alongwith 1261b ft of torqueat 3750rpm.Afterreprogramming we saw a gbhpimprovement almostallthe way from 42O0rpmto 65O0rpm. Mid-range powerbetween2000 and 4000rpm was not significantly better,but there wasan extra6bhp or so presentjust off idle.Torqueon the otherhand,was improvedthroughoutthe rev range, with an extralOlbft on tap at 1750rpm
even if you ane no fan of the founcylinden 23 in standand fonrn, you could not fail to be irnpnessed
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carhasany performance relatedproblemsin the future.A BMWspokesman explained:'lf a chipis fittedor the ECU alteredandthereis a subseouent problemwiththe enginethafs been causedby the modification, then the warrantycoverwill not be validj To ensureyou arewell covered, provides Superchips a I2-monthwarranty with boththe conversion andthe Key. We testedSerialReprogramming in a Z3 1.9to seehowwell it works.The standard1.9-litre twin-camengineis smoothandcrisp- a natural-born rewer,Butthe manufacture/s ECUprogrammeis conservative with huge safetymarginsbuiltin to accommodate the inferiorgradefuelsin some markets, so the engineneitherbreathes or revsto itsfull potential.Knowingthat
the fuel in WesternEuropeis of good quality, Superchips runsthe unit's timingandfuellingcloserto the edgeto unlockmoreof the engine'sinherent potential. The carhasits own safetyne! too, in the form of the BoschMotronic knocksensors, whichwill automatically detectthe onsetof detonationshould therebe a problem,and,knockback the timingaccordingly. Partof the factoryprogramming is a revlimitersetat justover6500rpm,but Iikethe M5'scharismatic straight-six, the 1.9engineis stillpullingstrongly when the revlimitercallsa haltto the proceedings. TheSuperchips reprogram-
and an averageof Blbft overstandard, presentall the wayfrom 4OO0to 6500rpm.Couplethiswith crisper throttle response anda greaterwillingness to revand the caris transformed. Evenif you are no fan of the fourform,you could rylinderZ3 in standard not failto be impressedby this car.t SuperchlpsLtd 2-12 Homestall BucklnghamIndustrialPark Bucklngham MKIS tX' Tel:01280816781 Fax:01280816764