Senial pnogFarrttrting is

the nclvv buzzwrond in

ehip tuning, and hasjust opened a vvhole

rrclr r vista to irnpnoving

por reF, tonque and

dniver enjoyrnent fon

cunnent tMW rnodels

Words and plctures: lan Kuah

uperchips, always a front-runner in the field. hasnow taken a quantum leapahead of the opposition.After months of hard worKthe chip tuning company

has managed to penetrate the firewallsput in place by OE manufacturers toprevent others hacking into their ECUs.Once in, its engineers are then able tooptimise the parameters that are appre-ciated by performance oriented drivers.

Serial Reprogramming means thataccess is gained to the ECU through theca/s on-board diagnostic port withevefihing else left in place. The oldmethod involved removing the ECU,unplugging the E-PROM (Erasable read-only memory) and either reprogram-ming it or substituting it for one holdinga new programme. Serial Reprogramm-ing is both faster and safer as every-thing is physically left in place.

So why do we need to get into the

Senial Flepnognarnming isboth fasten and safen,

as evenyEhing isphysical ly left in place

ECU in the first place? For a variety ofreasons. When it comes off the produc-tion line, one particular car might befractionally slower than the next. In the

past, production tolerances meant thatno two cars had identical power andtorque or drove in exactly the sameway. So, owners or racers who wantedto extract the optimum performancefrom their engines had to pay formechanical blueprinting which rebuildsthe ECU to finer tolerances.

Mechanical tolerances are much

I

:ltighter today, although there are certain-ly still benefits to be had from blueprinLing if you are going racing. But there isundoubtedly a variation in the way elec-tronically-injected cars are set-up, ormore correctly, the way the ECU relatesto the particular engine it is operating.Performance and smoothness can beimproved by recalibrating the fuel and

ignition curves so they are more suitedto the engine. In essence, you cannotrely on a programme which is meant tolook after any number of engines thatare supposed to be the same, butwhich in reality are not identical.

In order to produce optimum ignitionand fuel curves, Superchips has toreverse engineer the manufactu rer's

@

I

programme to understand what it isdoing from start-up to cut-out and iden-tify the weak spots before it can opti-mise the operating parameters.

Original equipment computer mapsoften suffer from dips in the fuellingcurve, which can be felt as hesitation orflat spots under acceleration. This weak-ening of the mixture is sometimes done

deliberately to gain small improvementsin fuel economy figures. But it alsomakes acceleration through the gearsless crisp than it could be.

The revised programme uses aremapped ignition advance curve and amodified fuelling map to optimise theseparameters for the engine. This allowsthe driver to extract the best from the

engine on full throttle while not destroy-ing its part throttle fuel economy.

As the power increase on naturallyaspirated cars tends to be modest -around 7 to lObhp - insurance compa-nies may not load your premium.However; turbocharged cars which cangarn an extra 50 to t00bhp are a differ-ent matter. That said, the new settings

O n e Z r i s areal head-turner,but would benefitfrom a boost Inperformance

lNllsllEl@

I

BlultitGar 1ctuber tOgB

O lt soundsdaunting, but

reprogrammlng issimple and can bedone in less than

five minutes

are created in such a way that the carremains within the CO and HC emis-sion levels set by the government forthe car to pass an MOT.

Superchips also uses a uniqueCustomer Key which allows it to keepyour car's original programme on file. Toreturn the car to standard, for servicingor when you sell it, reversing theprocess is the same five-minute job asinstallation via the diagnostic port.

Although reprogramming the ECUwill not invalidate your BMWwarranty,you may be left on shaky ground if the

sgt

t0

w

0

s

E+tt

sflrloo 6 rc 1! !o 16 !6 tr6 10 4! r{) 16 60 68 ro

O Modified ZI has befter torque throughout the powerband

O Standard car suffers a big drop-off ln power at 4OOOrym

car has any performance related prob-lems in the future. A BMW spokesmanexplained:'lf a chip is fitted or the ECUaltered and there is a subseouentproblem with the engine thafs beencaused by the modification, then thewarranty cover will not be validj

To ensure you are well covered,Superchips provides a I2-month warran-ty with both the conversion and the Key.

We tested Serial Reprogramming in aZ3 1.9 to see how well it works. Thestandard 1.9-litre twin-cam engine issmooth and crisp - a natural-bornrewer, But the manufacture/s ECU pro-gramme is conservative with hugesafety margins built in to accommodatethe inferior grade fuels in somemarkets, so the engine neither breathesor revs to its full potential. Knowing that

cou ld no t fa i l

the fuel in Western Europe is of goodquality, Superchips runs the unit'stiming and fuelling closer to the edge tounlock more of the engine's inherentpotential. The car has its own safety ne!too, in the form of the Bosch Motronicknock sensors, which will automaticallydetect the onset of detonation shouldthere be a problem, and, knock backthe timing accordingly.

Part of the factory programming is arev limiter set at just over 6500rpm, butIike the M5's charismatic straight-six, the1.9 engine is still pulling strongly whenthe rev limiter calls a halt to the pro-ceedings. The Superchips reprogram-

ming evens out all the bumps and dipsin the standard power and torquecurves, and also moves the rev limiterup to 6900rpm. So now, when yougive the motor its head, it really sings.The extra 300 or 400rpm makes all thedifference and together with the otherchanges, makes the Z3 come alive.

On the rolling road, the standard testcar made exactly the claimed taObhpalong with 1261b ft of torque at3750rpm. After reprogramming we sawa gbhp improvement almost all the wayfrom 42O0rpm to 65O0rpm. Mid-rangepower between 2000 and 4000rpmwas not significantly better, but therewas an extra 6bhp or so present just offidle. Torque on the other hand, wasimproved throughout the rev range,with an extra lOlb ft on tap at 1750rpm

to be i rnpnessed

and an average of Blb ft over standard,present all the way from 4OO0 to6500rpm. Couple this with crisper throt-tle response and a greater willingnessto rev and the car is transformed.

Even if you are no fan of the four-rylinder Z3 in standard form, you couldnot fail to be impressed by this car. t

Superchlps Ltd2-12 HomestallBucklngham Industrial ParkBucklnghamMKIS tX'Tel: 01280 816781Fax:01280 816764

even i f you ane no fan of the foun-cyl inden 23 in standand fonrn, you

RtsltEl@