20v motors and TAP chips. Part II (LONG)

[Swann, Benjamin R. (BSWANN)]

I wouldn't want to comment on the quality  or personage of the TAP or their
mod., 'cept to say that I don't think you'd want to pay more than $50 for
the mod. (based on heresay of what it consists of).  Parts for this is
probably under $5 and the labor is about an hour.

if you want to properly chip the car, consider SJM for his valuable and
available expertise, and fine quality work.

Ben

'87 5KCSTQW - with resistor mod, 1.6 spring (to be upgraded)and Schrapnel
Knobben.  Works fine 'til you hit around 20 PSI(if set that high) then hope
your knock sensor is working correctly!  Intend to get proper chip installed
soon.
_____________
From: "Beatty, Robert" <BeattyR at ummhc.org>
To: "'David Sugerman'" <dmsnva at yahoo.com>, quattro at audifans.com
Subject: RE: 20v motors and TAP chips. Part II (LONG)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 14:40:12 -0400

Well at risk to starting a major war (the last time this was discussed....).
My experience with TAP was this.... 

bought an 87 5ktq earlier this year... didnt do enough research before i
chipped my car... i bought TAP's upgrade, which consisted of a 1.8 bar
spring and a (according to the web site and sales brochure) a ECU
reprogramming.  After getting my kit and putting it in, I noticed i was only
getting 1.4 max on stock boost guage... i called TAP and got essentially a
bunch of baloney... they couldnt/wouldnt explain why it wasnt working....so
i asked the list... and learned all about resistor/diode mods to ECU's
(which were the 1st mods before reprogramming the EPROM was done)  When this
mod is done... you are essentially telling the computer that the boost never
goes over 1.4 bar....bypassing some overboost protections that are built
in....i also learned that some programers just do this mod and some also
modify the fuel mapping to allow for (i think) better spark advance and
retard....(im sure ill get corrected at least a 100 times if im wrong on
this point)....anyways... i learned all this... and also heard all kinds of
horror stories of blown engines ect ect ect... well i called TAP and wanted
to get some feedback... some confirmation of what exactly had been done... i
must have called 15 times over a period of about 6 weeks and never once...
not one time did i receive a call back... all i wanted was some reassurance
that this mod was fine and to hear exactly what he had done to the ECU....
now some people will say chippers dont have to say what they did... thats
giveing away secrets... well thats not true... he could have responded with
... i modifed your ECU without changing the mapping of the EPROM and left it
at that... but ... i got squwat.... so i emailed Ivor (the owner) one last
time and told him i felt i was being ripped off and threw in Better Business
Owner and a bunch of other stuff and at the end i asked him to refute this
and left him email address and home/work #'s to call me and explain things
and at least make me a happy customer...  all i got back from him was 5
WORDS!   "WHAT A LOT OF BULLOCK"... i couldnt believe this and posted my
letter and his response to the list... its in the archives if you want to
find it... title was "my war with tap" i think or something like that.....

so that is why I will NEVER recommend TAP to anyone and even thou i have no
idea if the 20v mod is a good mod or not... i just dont feel that is the
kind of person anyone wants to do business with...

Rob