My unichip review
 

Thanks to R2D2 I got a amazing deal on a unchip. Currently setup for I/H/E. I only have I/E and a crank pulley. Even with that setup I cna tell you now the car is drastically faster. Its not set you back in your seat fast in a straight line but the back roads are way more fun. Its has significantly more power, enough that when you punch it in a corner how I normally would you can get into trouble FAST.

Throttle response just feels alive, no matter what gear your in respectively it will pull pretty hard and strong . Roll on 4th gear at 40mph even feels much better. 5th gear is a little bit better. I haven't had a chance to really test the total package. Took it up to 100 and it went quick. I would of gone further but I need to balance my tire. Once I get to a certain speed it wobbles a little to much in my tire. All together the unichip is WELL worth it. Planning on doing header next when I get the cash

Congrats, what grade gas are you running?

Running 93 octane

Got it, that's what I was afraid of ... :(!

Afraid? what for?

my gas bill. its 4.25 for premium.

I don't even know where to find 93 octane here.

I may look into the unichip.

I just got lucky and one of our gas stations switched to sunoco. So switched over to that much better gasoline then anything else in the area.

87 octane is all I'm willing to use in the xB2. So if the Unichip only provides useful results with greater than 87 octane, then it's of little use to me. I asked the makers what they thought of my installing a Unichip given my mods and 87 octane, and they never even bothered to reply -- asked them twice in fact :(! I gave up on it.

A more aggressive ignition timing curve is all a piggyback like the Unichip really has to offer. Unless you add higher octane fuel to the equation, there is no gain to be had. In fact, we already have a fairly agressive timing curve from the factory and running higher octane fuel will add some hp and tq. The oem design is to run as much timing advance as possible to maximize economy and performance. The knock sensor dictates how much timing advance can be used and this depends primarily upon the fuel octane used.

The Unichip high octane map is probably more aggressive than the oem map so that more power and throttle response is acheived with 93 pump than when running 93 pump with the ecu map only. IMO 89 octane may be ideal for the oem map but 92/93 may add even more. Impossible to say without dyno or track testing. Old school tricks such as CAI, throttle body coolant bypass and a colder t-stat likely add almost or as much as much hp/tq as a unichip.

I wonder if unichip would do a top speed limiter removal only?

i recently got a unichip as well for a great deal off ebay but ran into some issues. It seemed a little peppier, but i wasn't convinced it wasn't in my head. ran it for maybe 2k miles and then my car broke down because of an internal short in the ECU (20 miles from my place in savannah, after a 15 hour 1000 mile drive from NH). i pulled it out before the tow truck got there and the toyota dealership replaced my ECU under warrantee. needless to say i'm nervous to try to put it back on. maybe i can contact unichip see if they can make sure it's working properly.

I haven't personally tried the Unichip (nor will I) but I did try the AEM F/IC-6 and $1800 APR X1 and they were both buggy crap. So was the $500 mis-wired Boomslang FIC harness and possibly the X1 harness as well. I'm lucky my engine didn't blow up when the X1 removed the rev-limiter and prevented the AT from shifting. Stock 2AZ-FEs don't like to rev to 7200rpm.

IMO, unless you really need a piggyback to tune your car because you've added a turbo and insist on running more boost than the ECU can handle, don't bother with them. The oem ECU is soooo much better and more capable than any cheap, poorly made aftermarket piggyhack. This is the second case I've heard now about Unichip issues and the fact that people who buy them usually sell them pretty soon is enough to dissuade me from running one. YMMV.

So, the piggy back system, AND boomslang harness that descendant provides with their $4200 turbo kit are pretty junky?

awesome.....

I believe the harness issues are fixed. The biggest problem with the FIC appears to be poor QC. If you have your car tuned the tuner will likely know if you need a new FIC because he's probably seen faulty FICs before.

I'm probably biased because of all the issues I've had with piggybacks but they seem to work okay for many others. I don't think a piggy adds enough to justify the cost and risk for N/A cars.

the 87 map will do a bit to help. its not nearly as drastic as the 93 octane jump. I've had it for two years now. Wonderful little thing. With all the mods i have its helped a bit with mpg too. and to who asked about the limiter yes they can do it. I have no limiter. Though honestly after 130 the car gets hella scary. unless you have stiffer suspension and the proper tires. do not do that in stock. its scary as ____. This summer i plan on going for another run. I want to hit 150. i got so close before i had to back off.

I would like to get my cars limiter removed as well. I got a bomex lip kit to help with aero dynamics some as well as coilovers on the way and good tires. I think it will help a lot and get up relatively high

Please don't hurt yourself dude :(!

The oem limit is 124 mph and since the car gets scary above 130 mph, there's not much point in removing the speed limit. If I had a Unichip I'd remove it just because it's possible but I wouldn't buy a Unichip just to do it.

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It is higher then 124, I have done 129 myself. I thought it was 132?