BBR

I have just discovered that my car has had a BBR diy phase 1 conversion (Le Journal # 25 article by the last-but-one owner).Anyone know what this would be I assume that it is a chip, but there is mention of a mod to the dump valve & pressure plenum. Will this have a bearing on any future mods .

To see if youve got a 'chip', open up the back plate of the ecu (4 torx screws) and look inside. The unit I use, superchips, BBR etc is the same and it is a small black box with three wires on it. It can be in the ecu, but also connected to the loom that goes into the ecu. The 'pressure mod' they actually did was at the actuator rod to run more boost.

I had my car done by bbr 15 yrs ago so things may have changed but all they did was put a resistor somewhere on a signal feed to the ecu to stop the boost cut out and adjusted the wastegate to allow more boost pressure. Crude and not very effective, now consigned to the dustbin. If they are now doing the conversion properly with a piggyback chip then all it will mean is that you can run any boost pressure you want without the cut off switch coming in. The term chip on a GTA is not really accurate as it is just an ECU mod, the chip itself is not re-programmable - unless you have a catalysed car which runs a different ecu. I don't think there are any reprogrammed chips available off the shelf in this country for it anyway although I believe a couple of places in Europe do them. You'll be safe to run 1 bar with the current set up before you start to run a bit lean. Add a uprated adjustable fuel pressure regulator and you can run another couple of psi. After that you need to invest in a bigger turbocharger and ideally uprate the intercooling, with that done you should have 240-250 bhp on a good engine at 1.1 - 1.2 bar. About 225-230 with the standard turbo running 1 - 1.1 bar.

Tony, I have the piggy back chip as supplied by David and the cut out does still come in.....at around the 1 bar mark. I assume you had something different??

Have had a look in the ECU but can't see anything like a black box,
though one of the `chips' does not look like the rest.I have taken some piccies, they're not to clear ,but shows the placement ,can't post it here tho.Pretty sure that this is the item in question as the code on it reads
BK48 RNV6TPH1 .The conversion was tested by BBR May 98 (found an invoice in the history file ).

I understand the bottom end of the engine is pretty robust but does the increase in boost have any detrimental effects on the head gaskets etc.?

Tony, I have the piggy back chip as supplied by David and the cut out does still come in.....at around the 1 bar mark. I assume you had something different??

When you tried turning the adjustable pot, and you made it cut out earlier at lower boost, did you try adjusting it in the other direction at all?

No! After that experience I thought it best to leave well alone! Feeling braver now so may fiddle again next week. I have a terrible fear of messing with the car now the season has started due to so many bad experiences in the past! Could I actually loose power by turning the screw?

My car has a genuine Superchip chip in it, there doesn't seem to be a limit in it at all now, has run 18 psi without a limiter coming in. I'm sure Davids ones should be able to run more than a bar - the standard one comes in at virtually that

It runs to just over 1 bar....about 15psi I'd say. David....I didnt turn the screw so the limiter cut in early, I turned it so much the car had no power at all and wouldnt pull away! Admittedly I'd gone a little bit mad and turned it several times!!!!

i had this modification on my other car G800 XLF ,it was done by BBR over 8 years ago by the previous owner running about 245 bhp and it never missed a beat for all that time ,it had full silicone hoses [water ,turbo etc] and did feel considerably quicker than my current gta turbo which is totaly standard ,so i would think the engine can take it easily but a regular oil [quality] and coolant change goes a long way to helping .How much would this upgrade be now ?

You'd have to be mad to pay the 4-£500 they charge for this. When you see whats involved its a rip off. Literally £30 of bits and a couple of hours work. Get the it done at ARR or by ART and save yourself money, it is exactly the same conversion, with exactly the same results.

The mod on my car is a chip of some sorts, it's a replacement, not an addition,perhaps they just added a label It's difficult to compare to my
previous car as that had a replacement turbo (unknown version) and was far more aggresive , faster I don't know .My present car is very smooth and has a lot less lag so I think the mod has improved its overall performance, and as I didn't pay for it

Been looking at the turbo setup and there's a short piece of pressure
pipe ,70/80 mm , with some sort of cap plugging that has been added
to the airbox/turbo pipe .Don't now what this would do My dump valve's
diaphragm is shot so I will need to fit a replacement soon and was also looking at DG's power air intake ,so a venting type will be needed.The extra pipe is mentioned in the BBR mod,will this need repeating on any new items

That sounds like a short peice of silicone with a blanking plug in the end of it. You normally do that if you have a dumpvalve that isnt recirculating.