Help/Advice on Mark Adams Chip needed
Discussion
Would like some advice from those experienced with the Mark Adams chip.I've done a search but, couldn't find what I needed so,if you just purchase the chip and have it fitted ie plug and play, will it work perfectly without a rolling road session to iron out any creases or is that something you'd only find out once you've done it. Secondly is this a diy job or a let some one who actually knows what there doing doit?
On the subject of going down the rolling road route I read that the costs were about £850 all in for chip and rolling road setup,is this about right.
Question then - Can you have the chip fitted without having a rolling road session or could I be asking for trouble,
Thanks in advance.
Could someone give me a laymans rundown of the Chips benefits?
Mrs Evo's currently asking Santa to add it my list, did I mention about the carpets could do with a colour change....
On the subject of going down the rolling road route I read that the costs were about £850 all in for chip and rolling road setup,is this about right.
Question then - Can you have the chip fitted without having a rolling road session or could I be asking for trouble,
Thanks in advance.
Could someone give me a laymans rundown of the Chips benefits?
Mrs Evo's currently asking Santa to add it my list, did I mention about the carpets could do with a colour change....
evo said:
Mrs Evo's currently asking Santa to add it my list, did I mention about the carpets could do with a colour change....
nicely added there
Ref the chip and rolling road session, i think the whole point of it is to have the rolling road to see what needs doing to YOUR car, all cars behave differently, some run rich, some are good at low revs, etc... so, to sum it all up, yes, you're better off with both the chip and the rolling road session to "fine-tune" it to your car.
podie had it done with Austec racing, have a look at his piece on it, that should help you a little more. when reading that i booked mine in too... i'm off to blighty in 2 weeks to do just that
Jeff
all in my opinion, so lets hope i've been reading properly, like i said do a search for "austec" better still, give mike a call there, he'll explain it better 0129 3531080
Best advice - talk to Mark - ace guy.
I got a chip fitted by Mark Adams (sent him my ECU by post) to my 92 4.3 Griffith and found good improvements - smoother at low revs and revs freely up through the range. Improved performance with good mpg (mid 20s) - sweeter car to drive all round.
Intend to get it on the Rolling Road with Mark next year. Expect to get some more improvements then.
PS Out and out bhp isn't the whole story IMO.
I got a chip fitted by Mark Adams (sent him my ECU by post) to my 92 4.3 Griffith and found good improvements - smoother at low revs and revs freely up through the range. Improved performance with good mpg (mid 20s) - sweeter car to drive all round.
Intend to get it on the Rolling Road with Mark next year. Expect to get some more improvements then.
PS Out and out bhp isn't the whole story IMO.
As far as I understand it, you need to start by modifying the ECU to take the tornado chip. I assume this is to replace the standard chip with a socket. This is a one-off cost of a couple of hundred pounds or so. Mark did mine for me, but conceivably you could send the unit off to have this done. Then you can plug in chips relatively easily. I understand Mark has maps that suit the standard engines and the more common modifications, and you can use this as they stand or have a custom one that is fine-tuned for your particular car. If your engine is standard, the main benefit of the chip is improved tractability and throttle response. Peak power/torque will not increase dramatically unless the original chip was wrong for the car or there was some other problem. But the improved driveability is quite noticeable. If the engine has been modified then you need to the chip to release the full potential of the modifications.
I didnt need to socket the ECU on my Chimaera (97) and had a tornado chip put in....it didn't work on my car and it actually felt worse, so I had it removed and got my money back...
It obviously didn't suit my car without being set up specifically for my car...I may have it re-done in the future with the rolling road session as well...
Don't bother going for a plug and play chip...it really does need to be set up properly.
It obviously didn't suit my car without being set up specifically for my car...I may have it re-done in the future with the rolling road session as well...
Don't bother going for a plug and play chip...it really does need to be set up properly.
You need a rolling road session otherwise you are wasting your time. It will also reveal how healthy the engine was/is in the first place. Main benefits are smoother running, some extra bhp is some cases and the car can be set up to run on plain unleaded if you do a high mileage. Saving 6-10p a litre is a big help.
Hi Jeremy,
The ECUs come in two "flavours", one with a chip carrier that TVR plug their chip into and one with the existing chip soldered onto the board. If you have the type with the chip carrier in it then replacing the chip is a simple DIY exercise (as long as you have a Torx screwdriver and take the usual static electricity precautions). Even then Mark mentioned to me that some of TVR's soldering on of the carriers left something to be desired. Desoldering of the soldered-chip type I would not catagorise as DIY. The potential of f*****g up your ECU is too great for the savings involved.
As for fitting without a rollong road session, I wouldn't bother. The first part of any rolling road session is to check that the engine is in good health. Our S needed its injectors reconditioning (£20 each + VAT) and there is something not right in the electronics (yet to be traced). Other things that are checked include fuel pressure and compression/leak-down tests. The "out of the box" chip will assume that all these things are within tollerance. Being a pessimist, and a long standing TVR owner, I would assume at least one of these aspects will need some sort of attention. Even if your engine is in perfect condition I would doubt that even TVR power would have any idea what type of cam was in it. Like everything else TVR, the type of cam that went in depended more on which cam came to hand first as opposed to which cam "should" go in. You might have the mildest cam ever made or a real fire-breather.....who knows? Certainly not the "out of the box chip". Hence the potential to make things worse aswell as better.
I'm not saying don't go the Tornado chip route, I'm just saying do it properly and be prepared for the potential additional costs.
Done right you will end up with a smoother running, more efficent and more reliable engine that produces more power and torque as a nice bonus.
Kevin
P.S. the whole process is quite a lot of fun.
The ECUs come in two "flavours", one with a chip carrier that TVR plug their chip into and one with the existing chip soldered onto the board. If you have the type with the chip carrier in it then replacing the chip is a simple DIY exercise (as long as you have a Torx screwdriver and take the usual static electricity precautions). Even then Mark mentioned to me that some of TVR's soldering on of the carriers left something to be desired. Desoldering of the soldered-chip type I would not catagorise as DIY. The potential of f*****g up your ECU is too great for the savings involved.
As for fitting without a rollong road session, I wouldn't bother. The first part of any rolling road session is to check that the engine is in good health. Our S needed its injectors reconditioning (£20 each + VAT) and there is something not right in the electronics (yet to be traced). Other things that are checked include fuel pressure and compression/leak-down tests. The "out of the box" chip will assume that all these things are within tollerance. Being a pessimist, and a long standing TVR owner, I would assume at least one of these aspects will need some sort of attention. Even if your engine is in perfect condition I would doubt that even TVR power would have any idea what type of cam was in it. Like everything else TVR, the type of cam that went in depended more on which cam came to hand first as opposed to which cam "should" go in. You might have the mildest cam ever made or a real fire-breather.....who knows? Certainly not the "out of the box chip". Hence the potential to make things worse aswell as better.
I'm not saying don't go the Tornado chip route, I'm just saying do it properly and be prepared for the potential additional costs.
Done right you will end up with a smoother running, more efficent and more reliable engine that produces more power and torque as a nice bonus.
Kevin
P.S. the whole process is quite a lot of fun.
kevin secker said:
Hi Jeremy,
The ECUs come in two "flavours", one with a chip carrier that TVR plug their chip into and one with the existing chip soldered onto the board. If you have the type with the chip carrier in it then replacing the chip is a simple DIY exercise (as long as you have a Torx screwdriver and take the usual static electricity precautions). Even then Mark mentioned to me that some of TVR's soldering on of the carriers left something to be desired. Desoldering of the soldered-chip type I would not catagorise as DIY. The potential of f*****g up your ECU is too great for the savings involved.
As for fitting without a rollong road session, I wouldn't bother. The first part of any rolling road session is to check that the engine is in good health. Our S needed its injectors reconditioning (£20 each + VAT) and there is something not right in the electronics (yet to be traced). Other things that are checked include fuel pressure and compression/leak-down tests. The "out of the box" chip will assume that all these things are within tollerance. Being a pessimist, and a long standing TVR owner, I would assume at least one of these aspects will need some sort of attention. Even if your engine is in perfect condition I would doubt that even TVR power would have any idea what type of cam was in it. Like everything else TVR, the type of cam that went in depended more on which cam came to hand first as opposed to which cam "should" go in. You might have the mildest cam ever made or a real fire-breather.....who knows? Certainly not the "out of the box chip". Hence the potential to make things worse aswell as better.
I'm not saying don't go the Tornado chip route, I'm just saying do it properly and be prepared for the potential additional costs.
Done right you will end up with a smoother running, more efficent and more reliable engine that produces more power and torque as a nice bonus.
Kevin
P.S. the whole process is quite a lot of fun.
Totally agree after my experience of tring to do it on the cheap
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