Unichip installation

[PeaveyBassist]

How many things are there to hook up to install Unichip? Im not planning on doing this to my car real soon because of other maitenence stuff but have sorda thought about it for later plans. How many wires to splice into? Any tips from other Unichip users? Chris_e30_cab, Jordan ?

Will

[Digitalwave]

I believe the factory/shop installs and tunes it for you.

[PeaveyBassist]

Ironically I looked at the Unichip website and there is a shop in Indianapolis that is a dealer. I called the shop and talked to the guy about it. He said that installing it and tuning it shouldnt be a problem but he needs to look into it more and see get a ballpark number for cost of install and tuning. He is going to call me back tomorrow and let me know. I will update then so anyone who searches or something will know how much it costs. Hopefully I can get that installed next summer around June-ish :)

Will

[Digitalwave]

Why exactly do you need a piggyback? What are you plans for your car?

[PeaveyBassist]

Mostly I want a piggyback to be able to tune it differently if I DO change something with the car. Its not really something I "need". Just something that would be nice to have. It would be nice to have the flexibility of being able to tune the car for different mods that might go on. I am still in school so I dont have much money. When I am out of school, I would LIKE to do a stroker and/or a turbo but that is a long ways down the road. If I got Unichip I would probably get a MAF instead of the stock AFM. So really... I just want it for flexibility.

Will

[Digitalwave]

Don't you think you should save the money for the big mods first? Because you won't get too much gain using a piggyback with a stock engine. Plus, Unichips are in the $1,000 range and I am not so sure they are easy to to yourself. You might want to look into something more like SMT-6 which is only about $350-400 and you can tune it with a laptop.

[PeaveyBassist]

In a recent thread, Jordan mentioned spending about $450 for the Unichip unit and 2 hrs of $75/hr dyno tuning. If I had something like SMT-6 I wouldnt know where to even start tuning so I would need to do some reading up on it. Getting a piggyback unit isnt even a definite decision yet for me. I just want to see how much it costs and read up on it to get some more specifics.

Will

[Digitalwave]

In a recent thread, Jordan mentioned spending about $450 for the Unichip unit and 2 hrs of $75/hr dyno tuning. If I had something like SMT-6 I wouldnt know where to even start tuning so I would need to do some reading up on it. Getting a piggyback unit isnt even a definite decision yet for me. I just want to see how much it costs and read up on it to get some more specifics.

Will

Well if you can't tune an SMT-6 you couldn't tune a Unichip either, so you'd have to have them tune it every time you change something on your motor. Might as well do the turbo or the stroker first in that case.

[PeaveyBassist]

so you'd have to have them tune it every time you change something on your motor.

Yep. I would have a knowledgable shop who knew what they were doing make changes with the engine tuning to get maximum potential out of it because right now it is something I wouldnt be confident in myself doing. If I got a piggyback unit (i.e. Unichip) someone else would tune it and maybe I could learn something from them on tuning.

Will

[Jordan]

FYI.

I have the Unichip software for communicating with the piggyback. I've played around with it alot. You are not runing it yourself, let me say that.

I've concluded I will continue to pay someone else to do my tuning for me, despite having access to a dyno for free, and having the software.

All the tuning must be done in a controled dyno enviroment anyways.

You want a B box, B3 harness, and B3a software.

My grand total for Unichip, install, MAF install, Dyno/wideband rental time etc was $1124.45 including nearly $100 of tax (WA sucks)

[PeaveyBassist]

FYI.

I have the Unichip software for communicating with the piggyback. I've played around with it alot. You are not runing it yourself, let me say that.

I've concluded I will continue to pay someone else to do my tuning for me, despite having access to a dyno for free, and having the software.

All the tuning must be done in a controled dyno enviroment anyways.

You want a B box, B3 harness, and B3a software.

My grand total for Unichip, install, MAF install, Dyno rental time etc was $1124.45 including nearly $100 of tax (WA sucks)

Good information to have. Thank you very much Jordan. Unichip is probably out of my price range for a long time which is what I thought originally anyways so I thought I would double check. For christmas my parents are probably going to get me a MarkD chip which will probably suit me just fine. Especially considering my car is pretty much stock. Thanks for the tips.

Will