How can you tell if a MSD chip has antilag or launch control fitted? Just by looking..
And how would you set up to use these? I heard its earth a certain pin to switch it on but unsure.
any help welcome

 

Give MSD the chip number abd they'll tell you m8,you cant tell just by looking at it. They will also give you the details of how to wire it all up (its a piece of piss btw)

 

Tryed that. Not much in the way of info on it apparently.

 

Kev it's mine he's on about. The package i bought from Lee early last year.

 

As explained by email, it was a live mapped calibration so we dont usually record the info on it other than the vehicle registration.

This is for the simple reason that we dont KNOW what the end settings are actually suitable for, as we didn't build the engine and therefore cannot advise a new owner that it will be fine in his car. Normally this situation arises when teh original owner wasnt sure of engine spec himself, so went for a live map.

It may have lots of ignition because its very low comp, or maybe the boost map was a bit high to suit a lazy turbo, perhaps the ISCV maps are very high as the valve is sticky, if its got ALS it may be ultra wild for maram shafts with a bar of boost on lift off. We just don't know whats in the engine, we only know we made it perfect with a live map.

Hope this makes sense?

 

Take the chip and board out and take a picture of the underside for me, I will let you know if it is likely to have ALS. But why didnt the seller know?

 

Stu,
It's me that's selling it.

The original owner (Lee) listed everything that the ECU had when he was selling it so he knew what it had. See original For Sale post below.

https://passionford.com/forum/ford-r...-it-worth.html

Now i purchased this with the intention of doing exactly as you say by fitting it then having you guys live map the car.

Things have changed hence it's getting sold on along with all my other cosworth bits having never been used.

I have no reason to doubt that Lee has sold me something that not what he says it is so am happy to sell it on as just that.

Wull,
Like i said last night mate if you are in any doubt then walk away. If this sells it sells if not it's no biggie. Not like it's taking up much space. lol

 

Bonus, I personally remember that fella, lovely chap. Yes, he deffo did have all that he says.

 

Thought it would at least get recorded whether it has got ALS/LC or not

Seems pointless that chip having a serial number

 

Good enough for me chaps. Thanks

 

Bugger,

Just spent the last 20min removing the chip and board trying to get a decent pic of the underside and all these posts happen lol

Thanks Stu

 

You'd better pop it back on then, Paul.... carefully

This is where these forum disscusions are really usefull. Top team
Right better get back to work....

 

Really? That serial number has told me, and the new owner, that the compression and engine internals were NOT verified and therefore we cannot be sure that live mapped chip is safe in any engine other than the one it was mapped on. At that point the ALS / LC etc are pretty irelevant as we simply arent supporting it in any other engine.

Doesnt seem pointless to me?

 

So you know NOTHING more about it than if it did not have a serial number?

If you didn't know what compression ratio etc it was, then you'd still just be saying the same thing, that you don't know what it is

 

I just didn't want the situation where I bring my car in to be mapped and have to fork out another £450 for the als and lc software. Thats all. My engine spec is custom and a bit different so requires specific map anyway. I wont be driving the car with this chip but surly it will see it running to the point I can mot it and take it to msd?

 

Of course I do...
With that serial number I can actually access the whole calibration on my computer and do with it as i wish.

Also, and importantly in this case, I can load it into an emulator to use as his base when he comes in to live map it. I can tell you what injector duration its running and how much spark, anywhere in the calibration you like.

Have two this time.

 

Totally agree mate, and if it doesn't, no problem, send it me and I will calibrate it so that it can be used properly. You pay a labour price for this and then can then just pay the remainder once its live mapped.

 

You still don't know what spec it was though? Maybe worth writing some more notes about the spec of live mapped cars? If spec not available, maybe worth noting "ignition taken quite high - possibly a low compression engine" etc?

 

Nor does anyone else without dismantling it and finding out



We write comprehensive notes where the owner knows for a FACT. And anyone who has had a live map by me will know its all discussed in WRITING and a price agreed and SIGNED before we even start.
But the points he doesn't know, I really cant see the point in estimating. So, lets say the note says:

What actual use is that information to me or anyone else? None at all.
I have over 500 base files to choose from, so i certainly don't ever need to use it again and when it comes to mail order chips I deal in reported facts and facts alone, and so should anyone else when dealing with expensive engines.

Without test gear I will never ever advise someone to just run an engine up with an unknown calibration. Its simply not worth it not at this power level, the room for error as an amateur is almost zero.

The fact is, we may get this fellas car in, do an initial test drive with fuel, det and logger equip on and tell him we cant really improve it as its close to perfect.
Its happened many times before... Chaps happy and quids in. I am gutted. LOL

 

So you have no recorded "information", but you do have the whole entire calibration, and you can't compare the said calibration with your off the shelf one you'd supply at his spec, and say if it is close? As below, it could be SPOT ON!

LOL I would be too

 

At a push if I really needed to then I could do for £100 per hour yes If the customer really needs to know that badly and wants to gamble on it looking standard ish, but even then, if we found that we look say 8:01 and standard head in most of the map, but we have quite a lot of spark lead from 5000 - 7000rpm, is that from a compression change, fuel octane worn bores, camshaft profile? Or even just camshaft timing?

I think this conversation is going off on a tangent now as you seem to be looking at an ECU calibration as a supermarket product like "Are they beans, tomatoes or peas? who not just label them?" instead of the infinitely variable product which it really is when you get into modifying cars and actually writing the calibration live.

 

This is what I'd like to have offered to me as an option if I were the customer, but it looks like it's never offered. One minute you say you know nothing about it, next you have the entire calibration right infront of you!

Being able to easily compare calibration differences is a very useful tool.

 

Having the calibration in front of you does NOT tell you the engine spec as I tried to explan in my last post. You are missing the point totally so lets leave it there.

 

Obviously it doesn't. But as YOU posted, it COULD be spot on for the new owners spec. So surely offering to compare what you'd normally send out for his spec, and the chip he has bought, would be a good option?

 

No James, What "I" said was its a live map and so we would definately NOT not be able to tell exactly what is was for as its not an off teh shelf calibration:

Repeat of previous explanation:
I have highlighted the important part you seem to be missing:

If your still wondering why thats any different to comparing a spec on a screen, Re-read this bit:

The fact we can see from our PC screen that it has 4 degrees of advance at top end does NOT tell us why it was put there James. I must admit I thought you would know this, doing the job you do.

 

Stu,

I'm not saying tell him its all good to run full beans etc, just saying it would be a good service to offer, so he can know how close this chip is, to the cal you'd normally supply for his spec. Whether the timing was adjusted on this chip to suit another car is completely irrelevant, does it match the off the shelf chip you'd give him? If so, he's on a right winner surely


I'm getting fooking tired of this so I'm going to leave it, as apparently it's me that's not getting it

 

you should'nt have to fork out for al & lc again.
i bought a l8 ecu with a live map chip in it with al & lc, it was mapped for a zetec engine running cosworth management,
i had my car mapped by stu and it cost me £500 for a live map and nothing for the al & lc because it was already on it

 

But it would not help him mate, I would still have to say "Don't use it hard, it may melt"

It is not irrelevant at all, thats my point. a Live map will NEVER be the same as an off the shelf.

Maybe look at it this way:
In the live mapped calibration scenario, when an owner isnt certain of his spec, we have two facts that we cant escape from:

1) The map will NOT be the same as an off the shelf chip.
2) We don't know WHY the differences are there, only that they worked.

Do you really think me charging this fella £100 or more to tell him that is a good service to offer?


That makes two of us.