Engine Control Unit (ECU) Magic
Engine Control Unit (ECU) Magic. The engine control unit (ECU) or engine management system (EMS) is certainly a revolutionary innovation. It was only an idea in someone’s mind’s eye back in the 1970s and 1980s. Indeed, electronic controls for automotive applications...Car Engine Optimisation In The 21st Century
Car Engine Optimisation in the 21st Century. Let us for a moment think about car engine optimisation. Were cars really all that simple twenty to thirty years ago? One might say that it indeed was. Consider that a competent home mechanic could fix mechanical components...Fake News And Your Car
Fake News and Your Car. “Fake news” is the bread and the butter of the internet. Indeed, fake news has become a buzz term and for a very good reason. If you think about it, it’s nowadays very difficult to differentiate between what is the truth and what is not. It is...Finding The Truth Behind The Claims
FINDING THE TRUTH BEHIND THE CLAIMS. Claims, so many claims. Who should you believe when it comes to your car’s supposed performance and fuel economy? The manufacturer makes certain claims, and as creators of the cars, we tend to believe them, right? So you believe...Fuel Injection – A Science In Itself
Fuel injection – A science in itself. You may think that an engine and its fuel injection is a simple thing, right? You simply add fuel, set it on fire, and the magic starts to happen. The wheels turn and off you go! It sounds simple enough if you oversimplify it like...The Octane Question
Octane Rating. Are you familiar with the meanings of octane ratings? Many people concede that they know only that their cars run on petrol or diesel. Many also know – either from word of mouth or manuals – that a certain octane is the most befitting to use....The Pursuit Of Efficiency
The Pursuit of Efficiency. Vehicle manufacturers go to great lengths to improve the efficiency of their cars. Engines become smaller, yet more powerful, and a lot more fuel-efficient. Many other technologies help to achieve this, especially when we consider today’s...The Juggle Between Power And Economy
The juggle between Power and Economy. Balance. We are all looking for a sense of balance. This is especially true of the cars we drive every day. It may not seem like it, but car designers try to balance all manners of conflicting requirements. They do this to create...Engine Wear
Engine Wear. One thing is for sure, and that is engine wear. Can we extend engine life and reduce engine wear? Another certainty. You don’t just pop open a modern car’s bonnet and restore it to its working order when something goes crooked. Yes, some faults are...Far-Fetched Claims Can Cost You Dearly
Far-fetched claims can cost you dearly. At Unichip, we believe that there is a big difference between modifying and tuning/optimising. In fact, to remove all doubt, at Unichip we tune and optimise, we do not modify. You may think that optimising, tuning and modifying...The Power Of Choice
The Power of Choice. If there is one thing the computer age has given us, it is the power of choice. In the 1980s, very few electronics were used in cars. With mechanical parts such as carburetors and distributors, it was almost impossible to optimise your engine...Unichip Is Not Just Another Engine Computer
Not just another Engine Computer? The ECU (Engine Control Unit) in modern cars primarily controls most of the components in your car. The ECU is a computer in itself, so why would you require another engine computer to control it? Well, the Unichip piggyback computer...Not All Engines Are Created Equally
It is sad but true when it comes to engines, they don’t manufacture them similarly. The user manual and official literature might state that your car’s engine produces, let’s say, 100 kW. Well, they just round that figure off from the average that they obtain from other similar engines. Very few of these engine types will develop exactly 100 kW. The reason is that engines are mechanical devices that consist of hundreds of parts. These parts all have to fit together well to make it work. The constraints of economical mass production mean that manufacturers allow a certain tolerance range for the parts it manufactures. That means that these parts have to be of certain dimensions within an accepted range of variance. It would simply be too expensive – and virtually impossible – to mass-manufacture engines to such fine tolerances that they are identical.
