The Truth about chiptuning the Supra
or: the Story behind the Superchips ECU upgrade

These days we hear a lot about Chip tuning. The word chip tuning is derived from the actual process; a chip in the ECU is replaced / reprogrammed which normally consists of the fuel maps for the current engine. These maps are programmed what we consider 'safe'. You can 'play' a little within the specifications of the engine, getting the engine a little bit more aggressive (say +10 hp and +20Nm or so).

On some engines the chip or ECU is so complex or well programmed, that the programmed fuel maps cannot be replaced, but some piggy back system can still be installed to remove fuel cut for example. This is considered 'chip tuning' as well, but actually this is not really what chiptuning is about. Removing fuel cut is more or less the same as removing the brake warning light when your brake fluid level is low; just plain stupid and does not solve the problem, only the symptoms.

One of my Dutch supra friends has a nice MA7 turbo manual. His car came equipped with the Superchips ECU upgrade, installed by the previous owner. The unit was installed by Atec Tuning, a company in Barendrecht the Netherlands. Let's see what you get when you pay around 1000 euro for an install (1000 USD).

	We started with getting to the ECU by removing the glove box and a little bit of the upholstery behind this. Here we faced the first problem. The Superchips stuff was soldered directly into the engine loom, making it not possible to separate the ECU from the engine loom. It is not possible to remove the ECU, nor possible to remove the engine without cutting the wires for the Super Chips. I consider this as stupid; a three pin connector in between would easily solve this.
Furthermore, if you take a good look at the picture above, the quality of the connections were bad. The welds were not strong and the method of preventing the connections from a short circuit were peculiar. Some el weirdo yellow tape was used, were a normal application would be using shrink wrap.
After cutting the wires, we were able to remove the ECU from the car. Let's open the box and see what's inside. Humm, looks very stockish to me, what do you say? Oh, I see, there in the corner a little box. What is it? Is this the 1000 euro project?
	Do you ever have that feeling after paying for two beers and a breezer you come back 100 euro lighter... You know that feeling? Well, this is what I get when I see the Superchips device. Freaking 1000 euro for building in and the device itself. Let's say fifty-fifty, so that makes 500 euro for this device? Yeah right, I see a simple C-MOS i.c. and a GAL that together is maybe worth 25 euro including the mounting plate.
Give me a break people. The backside of the 500 dollar device. What's this, not even all pins of the GAL are used! Damn.. How to make money easy in 1 lesson. This is just plain stupid. Who in the world considers to get ripped off by buying such a device?
Well, I can continue this story but I assume the message is clear. The Superchips ECU 'upgrade' is a ripoff. It does almost nothing; the signal it taps into is the air flow meter signal, so it is nothing much more than a fuel cut defender. Do not buy this. A final note about the installer; Atec tuning. I have never heard bad things about them, and I assume this unit was just installed 'because the customer wants it'. I cannot believe they actually advised this to be 'the upgrade for a Supra'. I know a few of them personally / from shows and they know what they are talking about. They give their customers what they want and that is what they get. The install was not a perfect job, but in this industry the result is what you pay for, not how it looks, we're not on the catwalk.