944 S2 - Promax chip install

[jamieda]

Todays job was fitting the new promix chip that the white bearded one left under the tree for me, i took photos along the way so thought i would share it with you all. I'm finding this all very exciting, I've never owned a car i could tinker with before, its quite satisfying.


Let me start by saying i thought this was going to be tricky. I was worried i would break something and the car wouldn't start once i was finished.

That wasn't the case, it was a really simple process if you plan on doing it and you feel unsure just take your time.

Time taken just over an Hour

1. Remove the negative connection on the battery, I've read you need to leave this disconnected 30mins before starting the job, i had some other jobs to do so waited about 5mins.

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2. Pull back the carpet in the passenger foot well to reveal the cover, i found electrics all over the top of my cover, i hate to see mess like this so will tidy it under the cover when i put everything back together.

3. Undo the 4 screws in each corner, they screw into the brace that holds the DME control unit so no nuts to lose.

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4. Unscrew the metal brace, again from all 4 corners, the top 2 are plastic screws, use a big flat head screwdriver. the bottom 2 are normal screws with washers, again this lot screws into the frame of the car so no nuts to lose.

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5. You can see the top of the silver DME poking out of the frame, this needs to be unscrewed from he frame to help remove the plug. 4 screws, the top 2 screws have squared nuts behind them so make sure you don't lose them when you unscrew the top screws (I did).

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6. One released DME unit ready to unplug and re-chip

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7. Pull the silver clip up to allow the plug to be removed.

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8. On the underside of the unit there are 12 tabs that need to be raised, this allows the unit cover to be release.

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9. The two circuit boards are held together at the ribbon end by two plastic posts.

The posts are two separate pieces that slot together,

You need to place a screwdriver into one of the gaps and twist softly, at the same time carfully pull the boards apart.

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10. Using a small screw driver, prise open the release clips at the connector pin end (one at each end)

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11. Push down and in on the top row of connectors this should release the top circuit board.

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12. Open the circuit boards to reveal the Porsche 944 S2 Brain! scary stuff, i caught my finger on one if the delicate bits on the board and bent it a bit when i was doing this.............The Chip is under the Cream plastic cover on the left of the pic, remove the cover by pulling up, its held on by two small wedge clips.

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13. Slot a small flat head screw driver under the chip and twist ever so gently, you will feel the chip start to come out of the connectors, move the screwdriver to the other side and do the same. repeat this process raising the chip a little at a time until it pulls out with ease. I didn't repeat this enough and bent some of the connectors on the chip.......

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NOTE - take note of the indent on the right hand side of the chip, this is for alignment, the new chip MUST be fitted with the indent at the same side as the removed chip

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14. Insert new chip, it should slot straight in, if not you may need to bend the connectors a tiny bit to make it fit.

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16. Put it all back together.

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17. Much cleaner with the wiring tucked behind the cover.

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When i started the car there was a lot of white smoke coming from the exhaust, this has never happened before. the car was also idling at 1000 rpm when perviously it always idled at 800rpm. Great plumes of white smoke coming from the exhaust every time i blipped the throttle.

I took the car for a drive, the smoke disappeared and the car now idles at 800 again ;-) PHEW!

It was raining heavily when i went out so didn't want to push the car to much but i can say it really does feel different. So different in fact i'm happy to stick my neck out and say its the difference between a 20 year old car and a 5 year old car. Its so smooth now, the power delivery is constant and smooth and it has more power in the lower rev range.

No immediate power increase noticed, i will try again tomorrow in the dry but the change in the car is phenomenal and thats enough for me, as we all know you can't really squeeze much out of these 3.0 NS engines and i'm not looking to, i just want the car to work the best it can.

Once i have the Cat bypass fitted i will have the whole Promax power upgrade kit installed, Chip, Bypass and K&N air filter, it already has the K&N air filter, I've ordered a cleaning pack so will give it a good clean out and oil when that arrives).

I will go for a more spirited drive tomorrow and report back.

 

[bmnelsc]

Good tutorial... opening the DME is a bit daunting - less so now that we know what's in there

Still waiting for your follow-up report

 

[zcacogp]

Good write-up Jamie, thanks. When I did mine I had a bit of a fight to get the two boards in the ECU case apart (it was quite the hardest part of the job), so I'm glad yours was easier.

FWIW, I wrote a fairly long write-up of the benefits of the chip here:

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.asp?m=541717&mpage=1&key=chips&#541717

I'd be interested to hear whether your experiences are the same as mine.


Oli.

 

[jamieda]

Sorry for the delay in follow up, work got in the way,

Let me start by saying the change in the car with just the Chip is amazing, i honestly can't feel any extra power overall from the chip but the power delivery has changed immensely giving a much better drive in lower reg range, i can't imagine owning a 944 without one of these chip upgrades.

I will agree with everything you say in your report Oli apart from the lumpy start, mine has always had a lumpy start and the chip hasn't made a difference to that but as i mention later on in this post i'm due a service so will make a call on that after the service.

One thing i didn't attribute to the chip until i read your report was the fuel cut off, coming off the throttle i get the same thing, the car slows abruptly due to lack of fuel, i will take more note on how this reacts to temp next time i'm out but i do find myself trying to alter my driving to smooth it out, have you had any further thoughts on this? I wonder if a it can be re programmed into the chip???

After the success of the chip install i felt like i could take on the world so thought nothing of jacking the car up and cutting the old cat off to fit a cat by pass, cant be that hard to fit a Cat Bypass pipe.........can it.

So i already have the chip installed, the car came with the K&N Air Filter, all i need to fit is the Cat Bypass pipe from ProMax and i have the full Promax power upgrade kit

I read that a hockey puck is handy to sit between the jack and the jack point on the car but not being American or a hocky player i didn't have any hockey pucks lying around, but i do skateboard and had some old boards kicking about so i nicked a wheel. Which worked a treat.

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I jacked both sides of the car up and sat it on ramps.

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Ive never worked underneath a car before and was convinced it was going to come crashing down on top of me. To calm me down i left the trolley Jack on one side and slotted a couple of axel stands underneath for good measure.

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On the operating table ready for surgery.

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When i asked Andy from ProMax if it was difficult to fit the bypass pipe he said make sure you measure twice and cut once. Good advice!!
I started by taking the bolts out of the cat back section, the top two came off easy the bottom bolt needed a bit of persuasion, i used one of my life support axel stands to hold up the cat back part of the exhaust, by removing these bolts you remove the exhaust mount.

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Next up the cutting bit, i measured twice as Andy had said and marked in chalk on the pipe that needed cutting.
The idea of being under the car with sparks flying all over the shop wasn't sitting well with me so i forgot to take a photo of the new Cat Bypass pipe. The new pipe was stainless steel with a 3 holed flange at one end the same as the cat back and a flared pipe at the other end with a U bolt on, the idea being that the flared end would slot over the end of the pipe i was about to cut.

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Sparks were flying all over the shop but once i got over the initial first cut i was fine.
The first problem i encountered, my angle grinder was too small to go all the way through and i couldn't access the top of the pipe without removing the whole thing form the car.
I removed the heat shield form behind the pipe to see if i could get more of an angle on the angle grinder ;-)
You can just see the starter motor in the background (Next job is cleaning that up)

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It didn't make a great deal of difference but i managed to get a bit more cut.
I then had to resort to a junior hack saw to finish the job, a blunt one it turns out as it took my 30mins to get through the final 3rd.
It was quite satisfying to have removed the Cat i felt like a master machanic who could do anything to my car.

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This is where the photos stop, i offered up the Cat By Pass which was a lovely fit length wise but unfortunately the flared end would not fit over the pipe i had just cut....DOH!!!

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So much for the master Mechanic.... i didn't fancy cutting the pipe down any more and had nothing to make a sleeve with so gave up and called the local Professional mechanic who said pop up and we will help you out.

He had a piece of aluminium pipe that we could use as a sleeve to bridge the two pipes but as it turned out he heated the cat bypass pipe up and hammered a cone into it to flare it some more and it slotted over the pipe quite well. Put the U bolt on and bobs your uncle. Not sure what all the white gunk is?

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Cost me 60 quid. He probably would have done the whole job for not much more but then what fun would that have been!

So could i have done anything differently?
I could have measured the circumference of the pipes to confirm they would have fit but then i wouldn't have Jacked a car up for the first time, worked under a car for the first time or used a angle grinder for the first time.

And now i know where the starter motor is....brilliant!

The car drives even better still with the cat bypass, again no noticeable over all power increases but it has changed the note of the exhaust enough for it not to scream at 5000 RPM in 2nd anymore so it feels more natural using the new power delivery in the lower revs, i'm not sure if there is slightly more power in the lower revs or if it just feels smoother using it. But still yet another welcome improvement.

The car is booked in for new shocks and a Service on the 9th Feb i which i'm hoping will sort the lumpy starting and slightly erratic idle.
The car takes a good few cranks before turning over i'm putting this down to starter motor needing a refurb (will start by cleaning the connections). I'm going to ask if the ignition kit needs replacing during the service, Leads, plugs and rotor. Its a job i would like to do myself so we will see how that goes.

Next up for DIY a new Engine Cowl, New shifter and starter motor recon.

 

[timmyturtle]

My S2 takes a few turns to fire up too.
It has a new starter( previous owner fitted)

 

[Worsey]

This is a great read, good pics as well. Been toying with the chip, might give it a whirl. Nice work chap []

Engine cowl pics and write up would be handy, got a new one hanging up waiting for me to find some time to fit it.

 

[thewildblue]

Ive got the promax power upgrade and mine takes a few turns to start as well. Thinking about a plug change as well as its been nearly 2 years since I put the others in and about 15k miles.

 

[Black Beauty]

Great write up, should be made a sticky surely....

Love pics with how to's etc, make you feel part of the journey too.

 

[Neil Haughey]

Good work. Only thing I will add on the chip change is that one should wear a plugged in ESD strap when touching boards and chips.

They always take a few turns to start as there is a delay in the ignition firing. The real shock for me (pardon the pun) was my race car starting the other day after being sat for nigh on 5 months, barely turned over but still caught and ran.

 

[zcacogp]

2 years and 15k miles on a set of plugs suggests they should be changed for a bunch of reasons. Plugs are the cause of a lot of poor running problems and, if you have a car that doesn't run as it should, it's pretty much wroth changing the plugs before you do anything else to see whether that helps.

Bosch WR5DC+ plugs are only a couple of quid each, and one of the (few) joys of a four-pot engine is that there are only four spark plugs to buy.


Oli.

 

[Neil Haughey]

There is a lot of spark energy for this engine as well as the dizzy cap seems to get burned up remarkably fast. I used to replace mine every 2nd service when it was a road car. Fuel pumps also don't seem to last these days, my race car is on its 3rd since it was built yet has been on track less than 20 times. The first was from the car before its rebirth, the 2nd lasted 18 months or so then the engine was down on power, blasted pump again. The one thing which seems to last almost forever is the leads.

 

[ChasR]

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

There is a lot of spark energy for this engine as well as the dizzy cap seems to get burned up remarkably fast. I used to replace mine every 2nd service when it was a road car. Fuel pumps also don't seem to last these days, my race car is on its 3rd since it was built yet has been on track less than 20 times. The first was from the car before its rebirth, the 2nd lasted 18 months or so then the engine was down on power, blasted pump again. The one thing which seems to last almost forever is the leads.

I had a similar issue on an old car of mine. Original scrapyard parts (for fuel pumps and alternators) outlived just about anything branded 'OE' from a motorfactor.

 

[Neil Haughey]

I have heard similar Chas with coils, its really frustrating as these are all Bosch parts which should be top quality but for a track or race car it can end up costing a stack of money if all these things are regularly replaced.

 

[jamieda]

ORIGINAL: Worsey

This is a great read, good pics as well. Been toying with the chip, might give it a whirl. Nice work chap []

Engine cowl pics and write up would be handy, got a new one hanging up waiting for me to find some time to fit it.

Cheers Worsey, i'm enjoying it, Engine cowl going on today so will post up this evening, thats if the missus thinks I've not spent too much time on car stuff, i wish id gotten into this when i was a young single lad ;-)

So it looks like most of us S2 owners have a good few cranks before turning over, i'm going to do an audio record of mine pre and post service so we can see if it makes any difference, i will include it on the service write up in feb

I've been in touch with Northway and booked in a GearBox refurb alongside the service, unfortunately the LSD AOT box i bought didn't have the LSD inside even thought i was assured it was a AOT it turned out to be a AOS in a AOT cover. It was sent straight to Northway and they checked it out for me. Ive sent it back for a agreed full refund. Anyone who thinks they are about to buy a AOT box PM me to check if its the same one, save you a bit time.

The gearbox bearings have gone I've been told its fine as long as i can put up with the noise but i can't and of course i cant put up with the thought its not perfect.... thats my problem unless its working 100% i can't rest until its sorted GULP ££££££££

I feel its better to keep the car as original as i can so rufub the original box is sitting better with me.

Right, off outside to fiddle with the car.

 

[jamieda]

ORIGINAL: Worsey

This is a great read, good pics as well. Been toying with the chip, might give it a whirl. Nice work chap []

Engine cowl pics and write up would be handy, got a new one hanging up waiting for me to find some time to fit it.

Cowl write up, I was going to start a new thread but its so easy i didn't think it deserved a separate thread, I've gone over board on the photos again. I've been adding all this to my Porsche blog, https://jamiedavisporsche.wordpress.com

The cowl on the car wasn't all bad but it looked to be held together with black gaffer tape so not being perfect it needs changing, i picked one up from Porsche Centre Chiswick for 70 quid. Part number - 945 573 063 08 01C

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To remove the cowl the Windscreen wipers need to come off, first up pop off the little plastic nut cover.

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I was surprised how easy this nut came off it was almost hand tight!

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I didn't have a big enough spanner for this nut so had to use a massive wrench!! The Wrench wouldnt turn a full turn as it was being stopped by the windscreen!

It was one of those moments where I thought to myself, i shouldn't be doing this, I'm going to shatter the windscreen GULP!! But i carried on, really carefully.....

The wiper pulled of easy enough just give it a wobble and hard tug..............[]

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Under the nut was a big rubber backed metal washer, it screwed off but i think they should just pull off.

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Exactly the same process for the other wiper.

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Then lift off the rubber gasket and pull the cowl off, its stuck down with double sided tape so needs a bit of help to get off.

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The cowl had a lot of glass work done to it in a previous life. Seems a lot of work when you can pick a new on up for 70 quid.

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Once removed i could get a good look at the heater it looked brand new!

All that was needed was a good clean up and i could fit the new cowl, simple.

I used a paint scraper to get the stubborn bits of tape off the metal, just make sure you keep the metal wet, i used mould spray of all things, seemed to do the job, the scratches on the paint must have been from the last time the cowl was changed as a lot of them were there before i started scraping.

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To clean everything properly I removed what looked like a front window heater cover, not sure if thats what it is but be careful when removing it as the wire underneath seems fragile.

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It came up well

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I wasn't sure about this bit, i initially thought i could undo the bracket holding in the windscreen and slip the cowl underneath for neatness, but on closer inspection the bracket was hard agains the car frame so i cut out a chunk using the old cowl as a template. It took a bit of offering up to get the hole correct as the two cowls were not exactly the same, the holes for the windscreen wipers were not perfectly aligned either.

I used a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the cowl, its fairly soft plastic.

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At this point i realised there was a part of the car frame the cowl wouldn't stick to, its a U shaped cut out, i remembered seeing an other part in the parts catalogue, i was told by OPC they had discontinued that part......

Looking at the old cowl i could see the part had been welded to it with glass.... that would need cutting out and cleaning up.

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I began to lose the light so i offered up the new cowl, put back the rubber gasket and brought in all the nuts and bolts for a clean up ready to fit the following morning.

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Cleaned up all the nuts and plastic

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The bit of plastic to fill the u shaped hole, i find this really strange and don't quite understand the design behind this! Why not continue the metal frame all the way across.

I used double sides no more nails tape to stick it down and could have done with one for the passenger side.

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I gave the metal a wipe down with white spirits to de grease before sticking down the cowl, the cowl came supplied with double sided tape already stuck to it, i added some no more nails tape bellow the section i cut out. you can also see where i cut a section out of the old cowl to fill the wiper hole as the washer left part of the hole showing, i was worried about water getting in and eating away at the tape.

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And there you have it........

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I'm not happy about this cut out section at all, i'm going to look into some windscreen sealant to cover it, but not sure if that will just make it worse. When the car goes for a glass out respray could be the time to re look at fitting the cowl see if i can get it under the windscreen clip.

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[Worsey]

Good work that man []

Can't see the pics at work but will take a look this eve and schedule some quality time over the weekend.

 

[Monkeythree]

The wire running to the windscreen is the aerial.

 

[jamieda]

ORIGINAL: Monkeythree

The wire running to the windscreen is the aerial.

Cheers Monkeythree, i had convinced myself it was a heated front windscreen haha i know nothing.

So you mean radio aerial right?