Damon
01-11-1999, 12:18 AM
So I go to the TRICK station by my house today for a little 94 octane and theres this guy there with a brand new F-50. He sees my car, introduces mimself and askes me if I have a chip. I say yes, AMS for the 2.8 30v. He gives me his whole schpeel on how he invented all these chips and has been WAY ahead of the OBDII game with all tuners including the Germans following his lead. By the way the guy speaks fluent German and has some very high-end customers-911turbos, Ferraris, and some crazy done-up benzes, they had pictures of some of the cars he had worked on at the station. <p>So he breaks out this mini-laptop job that plugs directly into the info port on the Audi. He says that he downloads the new programing directly into the computer and DOES NOT HAVE TO TOUCH the actual ECU, although he also has on him a canaster full of p-chips. I was totally tripped out by this. So we talk for a bit more and it turns out we know some of the same people and he surfs and we talk stocks and I give him some pics.....long story short he begins reprograming my AMS chip on te spot. First his laptop tells him that my car is not opening to full throttle. Heres where things get interesting...<p>Something all of YOU need to be aware of:<p>There were 2 pins missing from my throttle body????? I had no idea but the result was that my throttle was only opening to 3/4 throttle when I had it floored!!!! He tells me that 90% of the Audis hes worked on have this problem and even when the pins are there, the throttle position is almost always not adjusted properly. He said they usaully only open to 3/4 throttle. He also said this was costing me at least 10 horse. Incedently he claims that his re-programming proccess is good for 28 hp on a 2.8 30v. I did not discuss 1.8 chips with him, I wish I had.<p>So anyway, he adjusts my throttle body as best as he can given the missing pins, and completes his programming sequence. 20 minutes later he's done. He even offered to go by our dealer, turns out we're both old friends of Steve Taub, pick up the pins and come by my work tomorrow and put them is so as the throttle will be positioned and set right. His professionalism and knowledge of my car, not to mention the fact that he's driving, re-programming and testing a million dollar Ferrari for an obviously very rich and trusting client, made me feel very comfortable with him. He offered to dyno my car on his 4 wheel dyno and show me the differences between my old AMS chip and hes re-programed maps if I so desired.<p>After putting in a spirited day of driving including an after-midnight-high-rpm blast through the local canyons I am REALLY impressed! My throttle response is amazingly better, low end is WAY better and the mid-range and high-end were without a doubt improved over the AMS chip. NO BULL. Where as before the car was pretty slow to about 4250 rpms and then it surged, it now runs hard and fast from 3500 right up to the new 6750 rpm redline.<p>He usually charges 500 bucks for the re-mapping and if you're not totally happy he charges you nothing. This was one of the most professional and down right nicest people I've met and his knowledge of German cars and ECUs is absolutley complete. I walked into the conversation very skepticle and defensive of TAP and AMS and others arguing that they are the ones with the $ to do extensive R&D and blah blah blah, but I left the situation in a state of aw with a new Idol. This guy was a German car genius! It was a good day for me and my A4.<p>Damon<br>98 Avant QMS, Custom Re-programming, Cat Back, K&N, Bilstiens, H&R, 18s, Recaro SRs<p>oh his name was Stuart Schikora, any one heard of him?<br>and if you'd like details his operation is called Schikora Engineering <br>schikoraeng@aol.com<br>310/459-0170<br>