are they worth it?

Keeping in mind, my car is bog stock.

All depends how much you can pick it up for. I believe going rate to install & tune was around $600. My tuner told me factory ecu is very conservative even when tuned to 91 octane so there is definitely room for improvement, as a rule of thumb you roughly gain 10-15kw through out the rev range

A better starting point would be a free-flowing rear exhaust...

are they worth it?

Keeping in mind, my car is bog stock.

No.


All depends how much you can pick it up for. I believe going rate to install & tune was around $600. My tuner told me factory ecu is very conservative even when tuned to 91 octane so there is definitely room for improvement, as a rule of thumb you roughly gain 10-15kw through out the rev range

Considering I didn't even pick up that much with extractors, exhaust, CAI and 98 RON tune on my Ralliart, I find your numbers of 10-15kw (assuming you mean at the wheels) highly optomistic and quite unrealistic.

Maybe 15kw is pushing it, according to my dyno (when car was N/A) it gained around 10ish with auto box..... again could be just margin of error between the runs....

Sorry my bad, i meant HP NOT KW

10-15hp is definitely achievable

Sorry my bad, i meant HP NOT KW

10-15hp is definitely achievable

True. 10KW seems to be the general increase once flashed for 98ron. This is all dependent on what ECU you use of course, then there's the tuning of AFR's. Steve got me an extra 15KW at the wheels from 98ron and tuning the AFR's.

True. 10KW seems to be the general increase once flashed for 98ron. This is all dependent on what ECU you use of course, then there's the tuning of AFR's. Steve got me an extra 15KW at the wheels from 98ron and tuning the AFR's.

:bowrofl: 15kw at the wheels with nothing but 98 ron?

:bowrofl: 15kw at the wheels with nothing but 98 ron?

You clearly not familiar with Steves work.... have a look at dyno sections for third gens, but we are not talking about re-flashing, OPs question was about UNICHIP

FIY he manages to get over 150kw at the wheels with nothing more then extractors & a cat.

Oh, I'm familiar with his work. lol

What power did your car end up making? And is that quarter mile time after the tune?

No that quarter mile time was before, never got a chance to run before car was converted to manual & supercharged. With tune car power peaked at 168hp with roughly 10hp increase,

Funnily enough supercharger with auto peaked at 160kw (214hp)

It was at that time i decided not to waste my time with auto box.

Car is back on the dyno tomorrow to see how much its going to pump outwith manual box

Got a unichip sitting here that I purchased off an AMC member and just never got around to installing... if you decide you want one you can have it for the same price I paid, $200.

FIY he manages to get over 150kw at the wheels with nothing more then extractors & a cat.

A previous member with a manual 3.5 tuned to 98RON obtained about 154kw atw with extractors, a high flow CC, and with 380 cams. Before the cams it was closer to 145kw atw, if memory serves me right. I would think this is at the upper limit and most would not get these gains.

Im not suggesting you will get this result with uni chip or other tuner, my suggestion was that a gain of 10-15HP is reasonable to expect.

Whether its worth $800, well obviously its up to the individual

Have used Unichip in four of my Ralliarts and have another on my desk ready to go into my Fifth Ralliart and wouldn't use anything else.

Granted $550 is a lot to install and tune but the minimum i have ever gained was 13kw, the most 15kw but acceleration is much smoother and fuel economy drops as well.......can't ask for more than that !!!

:bowrofl: 15kw at the wheels with nothing but 98 ron?

Hmmm, not sure if you can read properly. He tuned the air fuel ratios as well. Why is it so hard to believe?

Have you been to see Steve? Have you seen his work? Do you even know what his background is?


Oh, I'm familiar with his work. lol

I'm not sure that you have. Otherwise you wouldn't be asking stupid questions.


A previous member with a manual 3.5 tuned to 98RON obtained about 154kw atw with extractors, a high flow CC, and with 380 cams. Before the cams it was closer to 145kw atw, if memory serves me right. I would think this is at the upper limit and most would not get these gains.

Sounds about right. Steve got 140kw out of my new 3.5 motor with nothing but a catback exhaust. My TE however I'm hoping for that magic 155-160kw figure with the 380 cams, modified ralliart heads, and highflow cat.


No that quarter mile time was before, never got a chance to run before car was converted to manual & supercharged. With tune car power peaked at 168hp with roughly 10hp increase,

Funnily enough supercharger with auto peaked at 160kw (214hp)

It was at that time i decided not to waste my time with auto box.

Car is back on the dyno tomorrow to see how much its going to pump outwith manual box

It's probably that exact reason alone Steve loves the manuals and doesn't like the auto magnas. He says the manuals get the power through the drive train so much easier than the autos do, ei: mods on a manual will always pull a higher percentage of power at the wheels than equal mods on an auto.

Has anyone who has been dyno tuned by steve, done a dyno run elsewhere?

Has anyone who has been dyno tuned by steve, done a dyno run elsewhere?

Amin - HRD2GT did I believe.

yea, flag paying that much, much rather blow my cennos scholarship on a sound system / tires / a new door :)

Neo, I'd quit while you're ahead. I'm well aware of who Steve Knight is and what he does. He's the guy who got 250kwatw out of an Evo 10 with an exhaust when no other tuner in the entire world can get more than 230 out of the stock turbo.

For the record, what do you think a "tune" actually is, if it's not tuning the AFR's? I would have assumed that would have gone without saying, so there's no need to tell me "He tuned the AFR's too" Because that's what a tune is.

any knowledge of the results? because i find it hard to believe that he can make nearly 40kw at the fly with a tune and exhaust with slightly larger cam lobes

There is a dyno printout in the dyno section, i suppose thats enought of a proof. Unless you are saying that Steves dyno is telling bs

...edited to say what i want it to say... ...Steves dyno is telling bs

:ninja:

It has been said before *the post has been removed now though* that the qld guys who had SK fly up to do a few tunes one day a while ago got nowhere near the gains that anyone else that had used him had.


Either way, a Unichip or similar isn't going to give you anything more to rave about power wise. The best way to get more power out of your car is to piss off the auto ;) Then it will have some balls!

Neo, I'd quit while you're ahead. I'm well aware of who Steve Knight is and what he does. He's the guy who got 250kwatw out of an Evo 10 with an exhaust when no other tuner in the entire world can get more than 230 out of the stock turbo.

For the record, what do you think a "tune" actually is, if it's not tuning the AFR's? I would have assumed that would have gone without saying, so there's no need to tell me "He tuned the AFR's too" Because that's what a tune is.

Your sarcasm is wasted here, go crawl back under your rock evo boy.

I was correcting your original question, here:


:bowrofl: 15kw at the wheels with nothing but 98 ron?

I had originally posted 98ron plusing tuning, I was simply correcting you. Read next time.

Neo, I'd quit while you're ahead. I'm well aware of who Steve Knight is and what he does. He's the guy who got 250kwatw out of an Evo 10 with an exhaust when no other tuner in the entire world can get more than 230 out of the stock turbo.

For the record, what do you think a "tune" actually is, if it's not tuning the AFR's? I would have assumed that would have gone without saying, so there's no need to tell me "He tuned the AFR's too" Because that's what a tune is.

Yeah thats when he had dyno problems witch are fixed now. U should of known about that and steve fixed that hes a good tuner dont have to bag him or if your not your sounding like it mate. Plus your offending other people with they way u talk.

I've had my car on four different dyno's....mainline,dyno dynamics and Pro dyne brands of dyno's...

SKR Mainline dyno sheet is 220kw atw at 6000 rpm....15 months ago.
(I still had the stock exhaust and stock precats, just SMT6 piggyback as supplied with default tune by Sprintex)
Virtually just a Sprintex blower bolted on and Galant intake snorkel.

Then...

Avo turbo world Pro Dyne dyno says 211 kw atw at 6000 rpm three weeks ago.
But that was with custom tune and upgraded fuel injection and extractors and rear cat upgrade as well as LSD.
Oh...and of course a forged engine....:)

Always running LPG and 98 RON....

are they worth it?

Keeping in mind, my car is bog stock.

For a car with a modifiable stock ECU (such as your TL), no.

Your sarcasm is wasted here, go crawl back under your rock evo boy.

I was correcting your original question, here:


I had originally posted 98ron plusing tuning, I was simply correcting you. Read next time.

youre a joke. why resort to personal attacks on a person whose car is much much better than yours is? isnt that the stupidest thing anyone has ever heard? bud you own a magna, wake up. yeah, magnas are better than hot evo 8's because they are fwd with an open diff, have plenty of torque steer and handle like a pillow. lol

the point to the op was don't go spending all your money on something that has been proved on the skr dyno. look at blackstars post. doesnt that say it all? this is the point that was being made.

So, unichip is worth it if you've done some mods?

What about the standard Ralliart ECU, should i bother to Unichip or should i try out that guy who can do the standard ECU down in Sydney?


bellto,
Better is subjective. Ever tried to turn around in a tight car park in an Evo with a heavy clutch?
Better for me = Easier daily drive.

what about with a standard clutch, couldnt possibly be worse than a magna.

anyway, it is better with mods, and it allows tuners other than skr to adjust things. probably the biggest advantage.

So, unichip is worth it if you've done some mods?

What about the standard Ralliart ECU, should i bother to Unichip or should i try out that guy who can do the standard ECU down in Sydney?


ECU tune is the best avenue. Unichips are mostly for cars that have a locked ecu that cannot be tuned. The 'chip' sits somewhere between the ecu and the maf sensor and tricks it into adding more or less fuel. Tuning the ecu just allows the ecu to do the same thing without the expense of a 'pre-tuned' add on.



bellto,
Better is subjective. Ever tried to turn around in a tight car park in an Evo with a heavy clutch?
Better for me = Easier daily drive.

Ever tried to turn tighter than a sail boat in light winds in a magna? lol Not gonna happen! Iv'e done a ten million point turn in a supercharged ralliart with massivly HD clutch in some tight city back alleys. The only saving grace was we had stopped at bunning earlier and picked up some concrete, otherwise I would have been crying like a little girl lancer driver lol



what about with a standard clutch, couldnt possibly be worse than a magna.

anyway, it is better with mods, and it allows tuners other than skr to adjust things. probably the biggest advantage.

When a business has no competition, they don't have to be competitive. Also, lol @ pillow cars

Your sarcasm is wasted here, go crawl back under your rock evo boy.

I was correcting your original question, here:


I had originally posted 98ron plusing tuning, I was simply correcting you. Read next time.

Neo, what do you think a tune is? It's adjusting the AFR's to make use of the higher octane from 98 RON fuel.

What is "plusing tuning"? I googled it but couldn't come up with any answers. :nuts:


Sounds about right. Steve got 140kw out of my new 3.5 motor with nothing but a catback exhaust. My TE however I'm hoping for that magic 155-160kw figure with the 380 cams, modified ralliart heads, and highflow cat.

TE is a 3.0L, correct? 3.5 manual puts out around 115-120kwatw stock. 3.0 would be closer to 100-110 at most for a manual. So with 380 cams, modified Ralliart heads and a highflow cat you're expecting to gain up to 60kwatw? You don't find this just a bit unrealistic?

This is on topic still I think. This discussion gives people a good reference point to make up their own mind whether a Unichip is worth it or not compared to tuning the stock ECU.

BTW, personal attacks are cool, :facejump:.

I personally enjoy waking up to a novel to read :)

Neo, what do you think a tune is? It's adjusting the AFR's to make use of the higher octane from 98 RON fuel.

What is "plusing tuning"? I googled it but couldn't come up with any answers. :nuts:

Obviously a typo, thanks for highlighting it :)

You didn't read my first post properly, so I thought I would re-post clarifying it.


TE is a 3.0L, correct? 3.5 manual puts out around 115-120kwatw stock. 3.0 would be closer to 100-110 at most for a manual. So with 380 cams, modified Ralliart heads and a highflow cat you're expecting to gain up to 60kwatw? You don't find this just a bit unrealistic?

Both my cars used to have 3.0l engines in them, if you read my ride thread you would know that both of them have 3.5 engines now. I wouldn't waste your time though, it's just a magna. EVOs are far better cars, let's all go out and get expensive EVOs and start our own little section on this forum :P


This is on topic still I think. This discussion gives people a good reference point to make up their own mind whether a Unichip is worth it or not compared to tuning the stock ECU.

True, and it's not worth it when you can tune a standard ECU these days. Unless you're looking at a supercharged or turbocharger application.


BTW, personal attacks are cool, :facejump:.

At least I made it into your signature, it was well worth it :D


youre a joke. why resort to personal attacks on a person whose car is much much better than yours is? isnt that the stupidest thing anyone has ever heard? bud you own a magna, wake up. yeah, magnas are better than hot evo 8's because they are fwd with an open diff, have plenty of torque steer and handle like a pillow. lol

the point to the op was don't go spending all your money on something that has been proved on the skr dyno. look at blackstars post. doesnt that say it all? this is the point that was being made.

You say I'm a joke but you do the same thing? Right.. So attacks on Steve Knights work is any better? Sure.. Because Steve Knight and his equipment came from Mitsubishi it must be faulty *sarcasm*

I don't spend a lot of time in the Members Ride section as it doesn't really interest me. A few builds in there do like EGO's car, TZABOY's Ralliart and Foozrcool's 380, so I read those whenever they're updated. Remember, I'm not the one banging on about Evo's, you and bellto are.

So it's a 3.5L swap? So assuming a gain of 40kwatw with 380 cams, modified Ralliart heads and a highflow cat? Seems possible in theory. I still want to take my car to the SKR dyno so I can have 300+kwatw. :D

I still want to take my car to the SKR dyno so I can have 300+kwatw. :D

Only Steve's race EVO get's over 300kw at all 4 wheels :P

Ah what a great read. I love how a simple question turns into 4 pages of back and forth.

To the original poster, simply do what you can afford. As many have stated, a chip will work better if other bits are done, ie exhaust, cams etc. I'd really ask if its worth doing a chip if you haven't done other stuff first. I wonder how much a Ralliart Engine would cost to drop in? That might be a better starting point perhaps, just a thought.

But thats the pursuit of power. You start with a reasonable car and car spend loads to make it fast. Or, why not just buy a faster car? Some of my mates cant afford Evo's so they've opted for the Ralliart Lancer which is in the 40k range new and has AWD and turbo and with a few tweaks they push out more that a EVO anyway, so another option there.

Thats why I am keeping my VR-X stock, because I dont want to turn it into a fast car. I had a 96 Skyline R33 GTS-T, which only had, full exhaust, custom dump pipe, hi flow cat, bigger fuel pump, pod intake, intercooler and boost controller. On stock tune at the wheels, she got 150 KW @ 6psi. At 11 psi, and a more aggressive tune, she made a whopping 196kw at the wheels. The car had all the stock computers etc, it really only had exhaust, fuel pump and air intake/intercooler. So my point is, If I want a super fast car, I'll just buy a R33 from somewhere for around $10k and have something really fast. thats what I will do down the track, get a nissan and work on that. I enjoy my VR-X too much to go down the road for more power. Its expensive!

Good luck with whichever you choose mate.

Only Steve's race EVO get's over 300kw at all 4 wheels :P

You totally missed my point. :bowrofl: One of NA Autosports customers had his race Evo down at the whorkshop while mine was in getting done. FP Black turbo, 2.3L stroker, 540kwatw. Thing would lose traction in a straight line in 4th gear coming on boost with race slicks.

Moving on...

You say I'm a joke but you do the same thing? Right.. So attacks on Steve Knights work is any better? Sure.. Because Steve Knight and his equipment came from Mitsubishi it must be faulty *sarcasm*

i dont make statements making about people that drive evos. and btw disciple. im definitley not banging on about how good they are, i am more or less banging on about how they are (one of the many many many) better cars than magnas. if you had a liberty h6 turbo, then i would start up with teh banging. although, we are all aware that magnas areawsome cars for what they are.

end of the day, if you want to get the car tuned on a dyno outside of skr, then the unichip would be the way to go, but with that sort of money, you are well on the way to being able to install a 3.8 conversion. coz by the time you put it on the dyno and buy the chip, you will be up in the 7-800 mark, if you buy a second hand one.

It will be a very quiet forum for you shortly black* ;)

ol fart edit , now i've had to add you too Neo.

WOOHOO!!

I just need to get on Disciple's now and I'll be all good :P

I believe that the answer to the OP's original post has been answered more than a few times and this thread really is going downhill now.. lol :D

oh its been going downhill from page 2 i think lol

Why not just delete all your posts again & have another cry instead!

bye then

I believe that the answer to the OP's original post has been answered more than a few times and this thread really is going downhill now.. lol :D
Damn straight.

I know everyone loves to have the last say, but can we give the dyno argument a rest? Sure, it doesn't hurt to bring it up in conversation, but it's one of those things that everyone's got an opinion on, and no matter how many times we go around in circles, it's the same arguments each and every time, with no 'right' answer emerging.

It will be a very quiet forum for you shortly black* ;)

Astute observation

Anyone else throwing personal attacks at other members will also get a holiday