A while back I did some comparative testing, first and foremost DO NOT believe the claims from any of the piggyback makers in terms of unreasonable power gains. Among the many ECU remaps and piggybacks I dyno tested, only one piggyback unit (Racechip) resulted in about 410HP on the V6S.

The racechip unit tricks the bypass valve in order to achieve higher boost pressure. You cannot swap pulleys however and it will NOT leave any code or sign of it's presence.

Of course I would suggest an ECU remap with any pulley swap. If you want to preserve your warranty, the piggyback is your best bet.

 

 

I will go find the dyno sheet.

 

 

Torque topped at 383@4500rpm

It's very easy to install. It comes with one wiring harness that spits into 2 and each branch has two connects. You disconnect the connector that goes to the bypass valve and connect it to the harness, one of the harness plugs will replace the one you disconnected in the valve solenoid. Same applies for the pressure sensor.

I have the original boxes, manual, a detailed guide (from the manufacturer) and the unit is under a 3 or 5 year warranty (purchased 7 months ago)
You can see the wires he works with in this video:

 

 

Everyday I learn something new

 

While i'm sure you did the dyno test - this sounds like the sort of janky 'resistor mods' that we used to do on locked ECU cars with turbos (a particular Swedish brand comes to mind) to keep the bypass valve closed to produce more boost. I'm assuming that there is no tune to the fuel or ignition maps with a mod like this. If the ECU can compensate that is fine, but if you have really hot temps, or run the hell out of it, or get a batch of bad gas and you hit full boost, i'd expect some gnarly detonations.

 

Though true to some extent, the racechip connects I believe to boost pressure and manifold pressure. So it can only alter the ECU readings of those.

As such lets say the ECU would normally cap at 13psi, but the stock pulley is good for 15psi, the device will merely fool the ECU into thinking it is boost less than it is and as such it won't bleed boost past actualy 13psi, you will get full 15psi.

What is great about our SC cars, is the maximum boost can only be as high as the hardware, as such on a V8 on say an SVR the boost is capped at 13psi, but the hardware can make 15psi, as such this device would allow that full 15psi, probably worth 20-40HP on an SVR and of course more on the lower models which bleed the boost of sooner.

So though this is bad, your ECU is still seeing true, IAT, maf flow and the knock sensors are still fully operational, so even though it is boosting higher, the maf flow is true and the knock sensors are true, as such any fuelling change the ECU will make and if there is any knock detected from the knock sensors the ECU will still pull timing as the device is not impacting these at all.

As such on our engines this device should not be dangerous as long as its a reputable one such as say Racechip who do have quite a solid reputation, also do bear in mind most of these devices were tested on the actual cars before been released.

Of course a true ECU map from a good tuner like VAP will always be superior, but of course for those who want to keep warranty intact the idea of a plug in box that works is never such a bad thing.
Check out Racechip Malaysia page where they seem to do a lot of their development work:
https://www.facebook.com/racechipchiptuningMY/



You can see a lot of testing goes into play and you know its good if the torque curves and power curves pretty much follow stock but you getting more power, when the curve gets wavey or spikey instead of the flat stock curve then the box is clearly causing boost cut or spark retard, this is bad and can be the risk with such a device making mid-range power and response not as smooth as stock or great for your engine. But most of the racechip stuff looks OK.

 

Mostly correct but the way it does it is NOT.

It does NOT alter the reading for the ECU. It takes that into account and allows the ECU to see the higher boost pressure so that it works within the map to enrich as needed. What it does is monitor the boost and manipulate the solenoid on the bypass valve to be delayed and follow it's own programmed map...

I tested it extensively and monitored it from the ECU as well as checked the signal from the ECU to the solenoid (ending in the Racechip and what the Racechip then sent to the solenoid..

You should get one and test it... On dyno it resulted in the figures above. Not quite 40+HP as they claimed. Further, it made a big difference in the midrange as well, that's very noticeable

 

Not at all correct. None of the sensor readings are altered to the ECU. Tested in person

 

Sounds good, may give one a try as they offer a 30 day refund anyway and to my knowledge its completely impossible to detect it was ever present should you ever need warranty work as like you say the cars ECU is not altered in anyway.

For me only issue with Racechip is they have three options, as with all things I assume the only one to go for is the most expensive one to get the true benefit?

 

A few benefits that may not have been mentioned in their marketing stuff:
Once you install the harness, they also provide you with a bypass cap. This allows you to remove the "computer" art and plug this into the harness (no need to undo anything) and provides full sensor bypass.

The adjustments are literally there for you to fine tune, this allows you to find the point when a CEL is triggered and take one step back from there. I suggest going ONLY two steps above stock so you don't trigger any CEL that may sit in the logs

DO NOT believe the claims as far as power goes... They claim 80hp as I recall... BS

Best solution for a hidden and safe upgrade.

How can they tell if they are SUPER picky.... Bypass duty cycle in the ECU. It takes a really capable geek to go into that much detail and then it can be easily challenged. While under warranty this is the best bet. Plus, you can upgrade the internal map via USB cable or transfer it to another car and change map.

The unit I am selling the the one they stopped selling 6 months ago (ultimate) with the internal rotary settings, it allows much more freedom to tune. Fastest CPU means faster sampling rate and action

 

I've removed references to selling parts from this thread. NO ADVERTISING ALLOWED IN THE MODEL FORUMS.

Any further 'prepared to sell' posts will result in an appropriate ban.

Graham

 

Sorry, I wasn't aware that it was against the rules... It looked far less "advertising" than the Two Piece Wortec rotors thread....

 

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The reason for the restrictions is all adverts soon become out-of-date or no longer relevant as items are bought and sold BUT posts remain in the Model and Region forums forever. We have had countless complaints from members who still receive PM's, calls and emails years after the item they were selling has gone.

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Graham

 

Am I correct that a Base with the RaceChip would also get ~410hp?

 

Though all the V6 run same hardware just like the V8 does, the racechip is not an ECU map.

Ftype17 can probably explain better but it works with your current ECU map and adjust some of the signals to get the results. As such is an S made 410HP, without a baseline its hard to know if said car made the 380HP it came from factory with but worse case is that a base would probably make 380-390HP with the racechip on same settings. Now of course the racechip has several settings, so you could maybe run it in a more aggressive mode to win that difference back.

Again Ftype17 has personal experience with the device so he can explain better, but in short it seems a safe way to make more power, that has no impact on warranty and cost less than an ECU tune, the downsides been you won't make as much power as an ECU tune.

I asked Racechip a question about the boost, if all three models change boost or deliver the same, their response was this:

The boost pressure will be increased up to 0.2 bar and that value is approximately the same for every RaceChip model.

Nevertheless the tuning curve with our Racechips models will be different: for example with the RaceChip GTS the boost pressure will be distribute in a wider range compared with other models therefore the different increased performance.

Should you require any more information or assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.
You may simply reply to this message and a member of our team will get back to you.


C. La Gamba
Customer Service

RaceChip Chiptuning GmbH & Co. KG

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So you could maybe just try the base or the middle model, as they cost considerably less than the top model and they all use the same boost parameter and we all know the key limitation to power on our cars is how Jaguar just bleed the boost off earlier on lower models. Try one if it does nothing or drive not great work them to perfect it or simply return it for a refund.