[kcollins]

Anyone have any thoughts about ECU chip tuning the MINI Cooper S? Factory-supported tuners (aka Dinan-like), non-factory supported tuners (like Garrett, APR, Neuspeed)? Incidently, a bit of surfing turned up Helix13 (http://www.helix13.com) will be developing an ECU chip through GIAC (Garrett). Garrett in my opininon does some of the finest tuning out there for Porsche's, Audi's and VW's and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he beats everyone to the punch and develops a chip for the MINI Cooper S.

Kurt Collins

[jlivingood]

Quote:

Originally posted by kcollins
Garrett in my opininon does some of the finest tuning out there for Porsche's, Audi's and VW's and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he beats everyone to the punch and develops a chip for the MINI Cooper S.

Agreed. I'm looking forward to a Garrett chip for the S too. Probably in 2 stages, the 2nd one working with a smaller pulley / more boost. I have had Garrett chips in my Corrado and New Beetle and have been quite happy.

Jason

[RickB]

What do these chips cost? A chip that improved hp by, say 10%, and didn't void the warranty (a didn't ruin the power curve, either)? Is there such an animal?

[kcollins]

Jason.. weren't you on the GTi-VR6 forum boards? Your name sounds supiciously familiar.. I used to own a '97 GTi VR6 in addition to a '01 GTi 1.8t.

Kurt Collins

[jlivingood]

Quote:

Originally posted by kcollins
Jason.. weren't you on the GTi-VR6 forum boards? Your name sounds supiciously familiar.. I used to own a '97 GTi VR6 in addition to a '01 GTi 1.8t.

At some point I probably was - anything VR6-related really. I was more active on the Corrado list and I just recently stepped down from a few years as president of the Corrado Club of America.

Jason

[jlivingood]

Quote:

Originally posted by RickB
What do these chips cost? A chip that improved hp by, say 10%, and didn't void the warranty (a didn't ruin the power curve, either)? Is there such an animal?

The costs vary by difficulty of development and what the market will bear. Recent chip generations have been extremely difficuly to do - especially after fly-by-wire-throttle and similar things. I'd guess that a chip for the S would run a few hundred bucks (anywhere from $200 on up I guess).

As for warranty stuff, technically only your ECU warranty can be vioded by the vehicle manufacturer. Most of the chip guys, Garrett included (via his dealers), will sell you a whole separate ECU for your chip. Most people swap back to their stock ECU for service, etc.

Check out http://www.giacusa.com/ for more info on Garrett. Really fascinating stuff - like his project to do a chip for the Porsche 959 to smog certify it in the US so that 959 drivers could legally drive them on roads! And the work on the Audi S4 has been amazing - check out those links too.

I expect good stuff from Garrett where chips are concerned.

Jason

[olddad]

Apparently the Helix13 product will be an intake to handle more air, a smaller pully, an exhaust to help with the increased exhaust heat, and a chip reprogram to put it al together.

This might take some time to get right and would be well worth waiting for. It seems like they will balance the longevity/performance compromise. Maybe we should have some sane gain expectations.

I wish I knew how the anti-ping program will deal with the increased boost. Will the timing just retard and/or the throttle limit opening?? Might be especially tough with our 91 octane crap available.

[kcollins]

Garrett's chips work on 91 octane gas - I believe that's the minimum spec for the ECU to work well. The ECU's will adjust to different grades of gas - 100 octane will do amazing things to the mappings for ignition and timing! :-)