Adjusting an ECU can porrveF fnorn an engine, is finding
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Words & Pictures: lan Kuah
ne Britishfirmthathas consistently stayedahead of the gamein the ECU re-mapping marketis Buckingham-based Superchips. And,according to its bosses, it is the onlyaftermarket company whichcanserialprogramme a BMWviathe factorydiagnostic port. Altering the ECUprogramme of a currentBMWtakesa matterof minutes and,if you'reworriedaboutwhat happenswhenthe cargoesfor a seruice, Superchips saysthe alteredprogramme stillsatisfies BMWdealers' diagnostic interrogation protocols. BMWfrequently issuesfactory softuuare updateswhichthe dealerloads intothe ECUin a similarmethodto the Superchips upgrade. Thesesoftware updateswill overuvrite the Superchips programme, but if you thentakeyour carbackto a Superchips dealer; the programme willbe reinstalled freeof charge, takingintoaccountthe updated paramelers. ' Lastyear,we testedSuperchips' BMW23 and52Bifourandsix-cylinder ECUconversions, wherethe powerand torquecurvesweremanipulated via fuelling andignition. Thissmoothed the dipsandtroughs causedby the needto produceattractive fuel consumption figures.Bothcarsshowed a moreprogressive powerdelivery than the standard models, withenhanced horsepower andtorque.In fact,we were surprised to seea gbhpimprovement on the 2.8-litre enginewhenno more than5bhpwasexpected. However, the firm hadfurther improvements in mind.'Eventhoughwe areacknowledged asthe industryleaders in chipre-mapping andpioneered serial programming with BMWcars,we recently askedourselves if ourchipswere
on each
upshift,
reallyasgoodastheycouldbe,'said 'ln Superchips MD,lanSandford. the past,we optimisedpowerandtorqueby re-mapping thefuelandignition curves andpushing the ignition timingcloserto the edgeof the knocksensor's triggering point.Then,we decidedto takeour experience one stepfurtheranddelve deeperintothe vehiclesystems, looking closely at allthe otherparameters involvedin the drivetrain behaviour. My BMW535iseemeda bit lacking in go andI wasseriously considering sellingit, so it becamethe company's guineapig!' Cunentindustrypractice is to use a CAN-BUS systemwithwhichthe engine,gearbox andsystemssuchas ASC+T andABSareall interlinked. Asfarasenginepowerandtorque areconcerned, the normally adjustable parameters on a BMWarethefuelling andignition maps. However, it transpired thatthe autoO Superchipscan maticversions alsohavea torque-limiting optimise the ECU map,whichreinsbackpowerandtorque by re-mapping it
the nevs dnop back to the sweet spot in the powen band
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