[Valkyrie666]

How to Install a Performance chip in a VL commodore:

Get yourself a performance chip:

You can get these from a few different places, such as Howell automotive, ebay & even some aftermarket camshaft companies that provide them as a chip & cam package.


Once you have a performance chip, instructions are as follows:

1] Firstly, disconnect the battery from the car.

2] Remove the kick pannel on the passenger side front in the car.

3] Remove the 2 phillips screws that hold the ECU in place.

4] Disconnect the wiring harnesses from the ECU and remove from the car.

5] Remove the front and rear cover off the ECU box. It's held together with 8 phillips screws.


Once the ECU box is open, you'll have to track-down the memcal that you need to change. This is easily done, as it's the only 28 pin Integrated Circuit "IC" on the board.


The picture below will show more clearly what needs to be removed, and is circled in yellow:




There's two options for installing the performance chip:

1] Get it professionally installed.

This is the easiest and most reliable way of getting your ECU modded. I took mine into elmic electronics in Glenorchy, and was quite impressed with the work that was done. He had it done by the afternoon, and the cost was only $44. If you get it professionally installed, you're going to almost guarantee that all will work well when you install the ECU back into your car.

2] Do it yourself.

Not recommended, but can be done. You need a real good soldering iron to do this. One that has a temperature adjustment, a digital temperature gague & can maintain a constant 370 Degrees Celsius. You also need a real fine tip for the soldering iron. Also, you'll also need a heavy duty solder sucker & preferably fluxless solder. These chips can be very fiddly to remove, as all the solder has to be removed from each pin. If you don't remove it all, you'll have to resolder the pin and do it again. Also if you don't remove all the solder from the pins and try lifting out the memcal, you could lift the track pads that connect the chip to the rest of the ECU circuitry, thus causing irreversible damage. I would only recommend doing it yourself if you are real adpet with a soldering iron, and only do this kind of work as a profession, otherwise just get a professional to do it. The cost of getting it professionally done is quite minimal, and woll probably cost nothing compared to getting another ECU.


If your memcal installation has worked fine, the car should start first kick of the key.



Why get an ECU modded:

For performance gains. Could be an extra 20HP at the wheels, for maybe around $100 spent to do the job. It's a good power increase for its money.



Here is an ECU that i've had modded earlier: