re: Mist Info TAP

[Dave Lawson <dlawson@ball.com>]

Linus writes
>To which I ask, does TAP modify the computer or the computer program (ROM 
chip
>)?  If in fact they are modifying only the computer, then TAP is doing 
little
>more than Superchips.

It probably depends on which application you are talking about. When looking 
at the turbo cars there are 4 main sub groups in the US:

81-85 TQCs
84-88 5000 T/TQ
89-90 200 T/TQ
91 200 20V T/92-95 S4/S6

I don't see how all these cars can be grouped together as Audi turbo mods, 
they are very different in how boost pressure is regulated. In the early 
TQCs, the boost pressure is totally regulated by the strength of the 
wastegate spring and boost pressure in front of the throttle plate. In the 
next generation 5ks, the boost pressure is controlled by the wastegate 
spring and the wastegate frequency valve, which the computer(ECU) controls 
to  modulate the boost pressure. IMHO, if TAP is indeed instructing people 
to mess with the the pretension of the wastegate spring on an 86-newer 
engine, they haven't yet figured out how to change the boost pressure map in 
the PROM. And this again sounds like the Superchips mods, IMHO.

Also, the 20V turbo ECUs are quite different from the 10V turbo(5000 aps) in 
that there are 2 PROMs which are replaced. In this application, I think TAP 
has figured it out. I have seen a couple S4s with the TAP mods and they ran 
good. I know that there are 3 people who do the 20V mods, TAP, IA(Ned) and 
Jo Hoppen. I am not sure what the differences are between the suppliers. 
IMHO, I don't think that all 3 of these places engineered their own PROMs 
for this application, I personnaly think that some of them come from a 
common source, Audi Sport maybe? Again, all personal opinion.


>Also note:  the header "European Spec 'CHIP' and Boost Upgrades."  Does TAP
>claim to start from or provide Euro spec chips?  If so, again, like

If you carefully read Steve's note "TAP upgrade info/reference" from Wed, 
you will see the following statement

>The technology is modified for American spec cars from BBR's (Great
>Britain) euro chip setups.  TAP is the main U.S. distributor for BBR
>products.

I think this answers your question, yup, TAP is using the methods which were 
first sold in the UK from BBR. BBR, I believe stands for Brodie Brittain 
Racing, markets modfied ECUs for a great number of cars, the list looks 
something like the one you see in the Superchips ads. The modifications are 
marketed under the banner of the BBR Star Chip. One note to add, is that 
almost every person in the UK who does these ECU mods which raise boost 
pressure has a statement which says that they do not recomend raising the 
boost pressures of vehicles over 5 years old.
 -
Dave Lawson  dlawson@ball.com