Unichip Press Release for Nissan Mid-Size Trucks

[bigdog]

Unichip has a press release on their website http://www.unichip.us/Nissan-Frontier.asp announcing the release of a new UNICHIP® Q Performance Chips - Plug-n-Play Tuning Computers for Nissan Mid-Size Trucks incl. 4.0L VQ40DE Nissan Frontier, Nissan Pathfinder & Nissan Xterra.

This module is selling for about $600 and has a variety of tunes based on aftermarket additions of CAI and Catback. This is supposed to be a direct bolt on "piggy back" system and they appear to be immediately available.

There is a group buy in the works on club frontier. http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f11/unichip-group-buy-34090/#post529249 and we'd love to be able to open it up to all VQ40DE enthusiats. So let us know if you would be interested.

I'm also wondering if anyone on this forum has had any experience with this product yet on their mid-size Nissan or any other vehicle. If so, I’d love to hear your feedback.

 

[CoastalDefender]

First off, ****** is "WOT Restriction"???


Second, for $600, I want MPG's, a bit more of MPG's, and some really great MPG's on top of that.

Other than that, I'm supremely uninterested. I commute and 4x4 with mine, so I'm not interested in speed or any things related to performance like many street-trucks are.

Not to mention the greatness for the Streeters if this thing increases their speed and stuff. :clapsmile

 

[vengeful]

First off, ****** is "WOT Restriction"???

Wide Open Throttle Restriction. It's an algorithm in the ECM that restricts the duration that a vehicle will stay at WOT, or the RPMs at which the vehicle will run at WOT.

greatness for the Streeters if this thing increases their speed and stuff. :clapsmile

Hehehehhehehe....."and stuff." :shakin:









(Wow, really showing my maturity level there....) LOL

 

[bigdog]

Wide Open Throttle Restriction. It's an algorithm in the ECM that restricts the duration that a vehicle will stay at WOT, or the RPMs at which the vehicle will run at WOT.

Actually in our vehicle its a restriction that prevents WOT until the vehicle is traveling roughly 35mph. So when you push the pedal to the floor from a dead stop, the throttly will not open up all the way until you have reached the minimum speed.

Of course on the one side of the arguement this is all about air flow. Pouring more gas into the throttle body without an increased amount of air to mix it with will create an overrich situation the gas won't burn anyway and you just wind up with more gas coming out the other end. The guys that want the restriction removed are under the impresion that no restriction is better then some restriction. One has to believe that since unichip does have the ability to remove the restriction, they tested a variety of configurations and went with the one that consistenetly provided the best result.

The goal of the tune is to increase your low end power and torque (good for towing or crawling) and allow the engine to benefit from the catback and cai that you have added. Without a module like this the sensors send data to the ecu and the ecu adjusts timing, mixture, etc to correct for the imbalance created by the preformance components. With the tune you should get increased mpg, but they are not allowed to claim that. So this is not just a street item. This is a great mod if you tow, carry extra weight, or need bursts of power on the trails.

 

[CoastalDefender]

Anyone have a link to someone that claims MPG increase? I just wanna see it. Quantify the cost/MPG increase of the unit.

 

[bigdog]

http://www.autoanything.com/performance-chips/61A2776A-1A1.aspx

the link above is to customer reviews at Autoanything. They are not VQ40 specific, but at least you can see what other customers are saying.

 

[madizell]

None of the product reviews offered anything one could call data to back up claims of any kind. Significant increases in fuel economy would come from increases in overall engine efficiency. Since the efficiency of the internal combustion engine is controlled largely by such things as compression, timing, valve overlap, exhaust scavenging, gas velocities, thermal dynamics and other arcane things not controlled or affected by electronics, I don't see how a chip can significantly increase fuel economy. Usually they work the other way around.

To save gas with a chip you have to lean out the mixture. You can lean out the mixture only so much within a given timing curve, and timing can be advanced only a tad so there is little room here for improvement. Lean or advance too far and bad things happen. Don't look to a chip to increase fuel efficiency. Increases in "power" referred to by many arise from richening the mixture at the right time rather than leaning it out, always assuming that the manufacturer has set the computer to run lean in the first place which is generally the case, and the engine has the ability to breath well enough to use the extra fuel.

Even assuming that you could get one extra mile per gallon using a performance chip, at $4.30 per gallon of fuel, 18mpg, and 18 gallons on board, you might save $4.30 on the cost of a fill-up. It will take a long time to recover the cost of the chip at that rate (something like 139 fill ups just to break even on a $600 chip). As always, your results may vary.

Cheaper and just as effective in my opinion to keep your tires aired up and back off the gas if you want to save fuel costs. That will get you the same 1mpg increase in economy. Investment cost: zero. Return on investment: 1mpg or $4.30 per fill up. Time to recover investment: immediate.

 

[CoastalDefender]

Cheaper and just as effective in my opinion to keep your tires aired up and back off the gas if you want to save fuel costs. That will get you the same 1mpg increase in economy. Investment cost: zero. Return on investment: 1mpg or $4.30 per fill up. Time to recover investment: immediate.

Oi! I don't forsee a better mileage increase than a steady pedal with foreknowledge of upcoming terrain. :wavey:

 

[PARALLAM]

unichip

count me in on wanting a unichip.At the group rate.

 

[robert j. yates]

I run a unichip Q in my Jeep which was custom flashed using a Daystec load dyno....I'm not impressed. I did accomplish some goals with my motor build using the Q but I find the return on investment wanting. I have no experience with a Nissan application but my take on my experience is that piggyback chips are at best a bandaid.

 

[bigdog]

None of the product reviews offered anything one could call data to back up claims of any kind. Significant increases in fuel economy would come from increases in overall engine efficiency. Since the efficiency of the internal combustion engine is controlled largely by such things as compression, timing, valve overlap, exhaust scavenging, gas velocities, thermal dynamics and other arcane things not controlled or affected by electronics, I don't see how a chip can significantly increase fuel economy. Usually they work the other way around.

To save gas with a chip you have to lean out the mixture. You can lean out the mixture only so much within a given timing curve, and timing can be advanced only a tad so there is little room here for improvement.

Actually in today's vehicles some of these things are now controlled electronically via the ECU, and therefore can be manipulated electronically. The programmer absoulutely changes the timing of the vehicle (at least 2 degress), the shift points, throttle opening, and the fuel mixture. By changing the values that the ECU receives from sensors, or the commands that the ECU is sending to the electronically controlled devices fuel economy could be manipulated.

This may not change the fuel ecomony of a vehicle at a constant speed, but it may affect the economy in stop and go situations. Must tuners are going to do the opposite, becasue most people buy tuners to increase performance and then romp on the pedal and see the differance. But if a tuner provides an economy tune that advances the timing, slows down the throttle opening, and adjusts the shift points you could potentially have a vehicle that gets better fuel efficiency in DD mode. Then flip the switch and you have a performance mode when you want to romp on it.

 

[axr]

I already have mine...
give me the power to carry all of my heavy stuff..

(sorry i cant vote.. dont know why )