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Date:         Wed, 17 Apr 2002 16:25:18 -0700
Reply-To:     Brent Christensen <sbsyncro@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Brent Christensen <sbsyncro@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Performance Chip; Where does it go?
Comments: To: SyncrogalVW@CS.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Yes

The silver "compartment" must be disassembled, which is a bit tricky, since they put the screws and nuts on the wrong sides, in my opinion. ;-)

Then you must remove the black plastic "nubs" from the stanchions, undo the screws on the opposite side, and then pull back the riser card which is connected via a *short* ribbon cable. The chip is on the *underside* of this riser card. (I have pictures of all of this on my home PC, but not here unfortunately).

BE CAREFUL when you remove the old chip. The best way is to use a soft, non-metallic device (like a popsicle stick) to gently pry the chip loose from its socket (keeping it level as you remove it). It will not be easy, but it will pry loose. Note the orientation of the "notch" in the chip - the new one has a notch that must be oriented the same way.

CAREFULLY press the new chip in place. You must press down evenly and squarely on it to get it to seat correctly. It will seat ALL the way down, even though it won't seem like it at first. If you do not press EVENLY, you will bend the pins on the extension board to which the new chip is mounted. IF YOU BEND THESE PINS, THEY WILL LIKELY BREAK and you will be out $250, unless you can find someone to solder jumper wires to new pins. (complicated and delicate).

When you reassemble the ECU, note that the "deep" part of the silver shroud will no longer fit over the taller chip. You will need to leave it off. (Not sure what effect this will have long-term, but so far no problems with mine).

When you mount the ECU back to the black metal shroud in the van, I recommend scratching the black paint from the mounting surface on the shroud and using heat sink paste to mount the ECU to the shroud. This helps the ECU dissipate heat (which according to Darrel Bohler is a leading cause of failure in Digifant ECU's)

The rest is pretty straightforward. P-mail me if you have any questions.

Brent Christensen '89 GL Syncro Westy Santa Barbara, CA

----- Original Message ----- From: "Loretta Abbott-Kennon" <SyncrogalVW@CS.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 3:35 PM Subject: Performance Chip; Where does it go?

> Hello List, > I have my ECU sitting here on my desk, the chip waiting to be installed. I > have removed the circuit board from the case and do not see anyplace obvious > where this chip will fit. Do I need to disassemble the silver compartment? > Am I missing something? Your advice is appreciated! > -Loretta > 87 Syncro > 90 GL (soon to have chip) > 82 Westy "the project" >


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