SVX stage one chip

[Archer999]

So whats the deal with that chip on motorsports wharehouse. The pic looks like a fuse. If it is as easy as sticking it in like a fuse well sign me up.

[AFBeefcake]

Its a circuit bord about 3" x 5" that goes inside the ECU. The hardest part of the install is removing and reinstalling the ecu under the dash.

[Nomake Wan]

You do realize it looks like this... right?

http://ecutune.com/images/sub-adaptor-2.jpg

But it is pretty easy to install from what I've seen. Sadly they're not in stock right now, ETA TBD.

[Archer999]

yeah, thats kinda what I was afraid of. Do think crushing the little black resistor or capacitor is a good idea if you are allready in there putting in the board or would the new board replace all those parts?

But you know what im talking about, in that pic it looks like a fuse.

[Nomake Wan]

If you've got the ECU open anyway and that thing is there, then yes, crushing it is a good idea. Just make sure you're incredibly careful about it.

Besides, if your ECU is like mine then to use the Stage 1 chip you'd have to remove a resistor anyway. May as well fininsh up modding the thing, right?

[Archer999]

No, I had no idea what it looked like. Thats a good pic. Anyone here have it installed?

[Archer999]

So different model SVX's have different ECU's

[Nomake Wan]

Yeah. The 91 ECU doesn't have that bead thing to crush from what I remember. The 92-95 do (I think?). The 96-97 ECUs are OBDII so ECUtune Stage 1 won't work with them anyway.

[cozykat]

Originally Posted by Archer999

No, I had no idea what it looked like. Thats a good pic. Anyone here have it installed?

I installed the Stage 1 v5 and I love it! It took me about 2-3 weeks to feel all the benefits but I was really happy once I did.

below are pics:

[DarknessofDeath]

i went with stage 1.4 (when it was the newest model). i was happy with the results.

[subarufamily]

did you crush the bead/ resistor when you put in the ecu1.5 did it change your mileage?

[Trevor]

As a matter of interest, the “thing“ which is crushed is a ferrite bead. In simple terms, it is a sleeve/bead of ferrite (iron oxide), which is arranged to surround a conductor, so as to form an inductor.

A common application involves chocking/blocking the the passage of high frequency interference within a circuit. Crushing the bead, therefore does not affect affect the continuity of a protected circuit.

My wild guess is that, in the instance of the SVX ECU, possibly some lower frequencies are inadvertently blocked, thus affecting a time delay function.

[cozykat]

Originally Posted by Trevor

As a matter of interest, the “thing“ which is crushed is a ferrite bead. In simple terms, it is a sleeve/bead of ferrite (iron oxide), which is arranged to surround a conductor, so as to form an inductor.

A common application involves chocking/blocking the the passage of high frequency interference within a circuit. Crushing the bead, therefore does not affect the continuity of a protected circuit.

My wild guess is that, in the instance of the SVX ECU, possibly some lower frequencies are inadvertently blocked, thus affecting a time delay function.

Thanks for the info Trevor, I didn't know what the bead was for. I thought it looked like a capacitor but the issues people were having with it did sound more like an inductive issue (since inductors don't allow current to change quickly and thus act like an open circuit for a moment and then finally acting like a solid line). It just didn't look like I expected an inductor to look (little coils wrapped up). Cutting the resistor is just to tell the circuitry to read from the external memory (where the ECUTune chip plugs in), correct?

For my installation, I didn't have to crush the bead or cut the resistor off as that had been done by the dealership long before I purchased my SVX. They installed their own additonal chip (which is shown in the second picture I uploaded) that I had to remove to install the ECUTune circuit. So I never had an acceleration issue.. it was always a slow and steady pace (which was a tad scary for those short on-ramps to the highway). My car still accelerates at a smooth pace but now I get a faster response (and safer) for reaching highway speeds when entering the on-ramp. My engine also sounds.. deeper, is the best way I can put it (maybe throatier?). I think my mileage has stayed the same... but then I may be guilty of flooring it more often now. So overall I feel it was a good decision for my car.

I did watch Ray (halistan) & Kuo (kuoh3) perform the bead crush on Ray's SVX several years ago and I will say, that alone made a difference in his car's get up and go. Aredubjay can verify this as he test drove Ray's car at the 10th Anniversary meet and it was the first "mod" I ever heard Randy say, he was going to do.

[Nomake Wan]

Originally Posted by cozykat

Cutting the resistor is just to tell the circuitry to read from the external memory (where the ECUTune chip plugs in), correct?

Correctamundo.