T.A.P. Modified ECU

[Charlie Smith <quattro@elektro.cmhnet.org>]

Earlier, Mike Mulholland wrote:
>         you mentioned previously about your disapointment with a tap
> modified ecu. following your post i noticed that although my car moves
> really fast... the on board boost guage never goes above 1.4. is this an
> indicator of a similar mod? i purchased the ecu used from a lister and it
> has been good so far.

> 86 5kcdtq, tap chip sjm spring

Funny you should mention this, at this late date.

Back about 1994, before I made the first batch of springs, I bought
a T.A.P. "upgrade" kit for my 86 5kCSTQ.  To make a very very long story
short, I won't go into all the details - but here's the short version.

I sent my MAC-10 ECU to them, and it came back with instructions and
a wastegate spring.  And the original EPROM chip.

On inspection of the MAC-10, they had desoldered the EPROM chip, and had
soldered in a socket, that held an EPROM chip with their label on it.

I installed the new wastegate spring, which was so strong that I had to 
use a long pry bar against the firewall to get the wastegate cover pushed
down enough to start the 8mm nuts.  This should have set off warning lights.

Before very long I blew the end off the intercooler.  I repaired it and
pulled their spring back out.  Annita told me they had sent the wrong
spring, and she sent me another one, which worked OK.  Meanwhile, while
I was waiting for the spring, I read out the contents of the TAP EPROM
chip and the original EPROM chip on an EPROM burner that was lurking 
around.  Comparing the contents of the two chips showed that they were
identical <!>  They had soldered in a socket and changed the EPROM chip
just so they could claim to have a modified chip when they really
did not modify the chip.

Anyway, I also had the problem with the dashboard boost measurement
never going over 1.3 or 1.4 BAR.  I called them numerous times about
various problems, including the engine cutting out sometimes.

Inspection of the ECU showed that they had soldered (I don't remember 
exactly) a diode and a resister or two onto a couple leads of the pressure 
transducer on the ECU motherboard.  What this is doing, is limiting the 
pressure transducer signal that can be seen by the ECU.  This is why you
only see 1.3 BAR on the dash display.  With 20/20 hindsight, I believe the 
cutting out was because their "bypass" of the overboost sensing circuit
was letting the ECU see enough of a pressure signal from time to time
to cause the ECU to shut things down momentarily.  During all this
fiasco, the ECU was sent back to them one time for tinkering without
making any difference.

Finally, I got them to agree to give another ECU w/o mods since I was
then convinced they had screwed up the ECU.  since my son lives in 
Sarasota Florida, I stopped by their one room storefront which was just
north of Tampa.  A long haired fellow named Trevor Gurian was there,
and refused to give me another ECU, in fact he denied that they had ever
said that they would give me an exchange.  He said that they would remove
their mods from this ECU.  Finally, I had him do that.  They refused to
provide any money refund even though I gave them back their wastegate
springs.  Looking at the ECU later, I saw they even removed the EPROM 
socket and resoldered the original EPROM onto the board.  While they
were doing this, however, they screwed up some of the printed circuit
traces on the back of the motherboard and then repaired them by soldering
jumper wires on the back of the motherboard.

All of this got posted to the quattro list several years ago when it 
happened.  As far as I am concerned, they are right on the edge of
fraud.  I was suprised to see their adv on some of Dan's quattro web
pages the other day.  I don't think promoting their business is in the 
best interests of Quattro owners.

One result of being burned by TAP, was my subsequent efforts to make
wastegate springs and then to make the springs available at cost.


    - Charlie


Charlie Smith   charlie@elektro.cmhnet.org  614-471-1418  
 http://elektro.cmhnet.org/~charlie/  Columbus Ohio   USA


 4 wheeled fleet:	                     2 wheeled fleet:
_________________________                  _________________________
93 V8 Quattro     4,200cc                  95 BMW K1100-LT   1,100cc
98 Dodge Ram                               95 BMW R100-RT    1,000cc
    w/ Cummins Turbo Diesel 17PSI          62 BMW R27          250cc
69 Porsche 911S   3,200cc                  48 Harley FL          74"

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