performance chip

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skylark
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performance chip

Post by skylark »

Has anyone tried performance chips that improve mpg? Do they work as advertised? I have a 02 chevy cav. Does anyone know of a good one for my car?
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theholycow
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Re: performance chip

Post by theholycow »

Your car will almost certainly get flashed instead of getting a chip replaced. That means that a computer will be plugged in and a new program uploaded to your car through the cable.

Performance programming can be optimized for different priorities than a stock program. The question becomes what compromises were made for your stock program? Some were made for engine longevity, some for fuel economy, some for emissions, some for driveability...there's more issues at stake, but I doubt cost or expertise were a concern, so don't expect that spending $200 can get you a program that's better at everything than the stock program. When choosing a program (since most people buy a prefabricated program, though you may be able to get a custom tune), you'll want to know how it differs from stock. Getting a tune should should work best when combined with other upgrades that would often be pointless with the stock program, like intake and exhaust.

So, general theory aside...Read up on forums that are specifically about your car. They will know where to get the best tune for your car.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert.
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Re: performance chip

Post by LHOswald »

a performance chip is a good cheap way to get power from an engine, but there are alot more things you can do. intake, headers and exhaust are all good ones, but ever think about replacing the spark plugs with iridium-type plugs? or changing your o2 sensors to wideband? changing cam timing? (be careful with this one) or you could just slap on a turbo with over 9000 pounds of boost
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Re: performance chip

Post by mesaboogie18 »

If your car is a turbocharged Volkswagen or Audi then a performance chip will make the biggest power gain of any mod you do besides a bigger turbo. 1.8T's gain an average of 30+ horsepower and about 100lb/ft torque. 2.0T's gain over 50hp and even more torque from a performance chip...but that's VW's and Audis. For any other car, it won't make as much a difference. Also a performance chip will make good use of other mods such as intake, exhaust, cams, etc...but pretty much any F/I car will benefit more from a chip than a N/A car.

As for better MPG's...My gas mielage didn't necessarily improve noticeably, but it certainly didn't get worse. Oh, and like theholycow said, my car was "flashed" through the OBD2 port rather than having an actual chip soldered in place of the stock ECU.
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Re: performance chip

Post by LHOswald »

mesaboogie18 wrote:1.8T's gain an average of 30+ horsepower and about 100lb/ft torque.
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Re: performance chip

Post by Rope-Pusher »

LHOswald wrote:
mesaboogie18 wrote:1.8T's gain an average of 30+ horsepower and about 100lb/ft torque.
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NA cars are often octane-limited, so performance chips usually need to be tuned for premium fuel to really make much gains.
Foie Gras cars, where boost levels can be massaged, show the most gains. Just remember that you can't wash something without getting something else dirty. Extra power will want extra cooling. Extra torque will do a number on mounts, gears, bearings, clutch, halfshafts, etc, let alone that the car is now "Faster than the Chassis". Go ahead and do it, but just be aware - we need more wares!
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mesaboogie18
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Re: performance chip

Post by mesaboogie18 »

LHOswald wrote:
mesaboogie18 wrote:1.8T's gain an average of 30+ horsepower and about 100lb/ft torque.
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Hard to believe I know...but my dyno sheet tells no lies:

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Keep in mind that a stock GTI is rated at 180hp at the crank and 174tq at the crank....now I'm at 192hp at the wheels and 248tq at the wheels...which equals out to around 230hp and 270tq at the crank...AND this dyno was done on a dynopack dyno which more acurately measures power so it gives a lower number than a mustang or dynojet. I figure if this were on a dynojet I'd be closer to 215whp and 260wtq like the rest of the 1.8T guys...but I'll have to dyno it again to find out for sure.

Oh, and btw these numbers aren't just from the chip although most of the power gains were from the chip.

And as it was mentioned chipping the car did take a toll on my clutch (well, that along with some hard driving...) and I upgraded the intercooler to a front mounted one to keep the temps down and make my engine happier. My stock tranny however is good for up to 360whp or so...but my car is an extreme case of using a performance chip for power gains...you won't have to worry anywhere near as much with a N/A car so chip away! 8)
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Re: performance chip

Post by kamesama980 »

the short: no

if it truly is a chip for a cavelier is probably going to be a IAT/MAF signal modifier in the form of a resister which is a pretty mediocre idea. not much in the way of gains and a kind of hack way of doing it.

if it's a reprogram, you probably won't gain enough hp to be worth the price. certainly not without any other mods. and without additional tuning, you'll be shortening the engine's life without gaining anything for it.
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Re: performance chip

Post by LHOswald »

i think a variable intake\VVT systems work the best for fuel economy in low end performance in highend. DO EET!
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Re: performance chip

Post by Cm452 »

If you are talking about "chipping it" you could be talking about several different performance "mods". The first is the readily confused euphemism which really means having the ECU retuned. The second, equally misleading, is buying a brand specific upgraded "chip" (like BMW dinan/sharking) which is actually a new computer piece that goes into the ECu infrastructure. The last, and the one I think you're referring to, is the one you see in the back of magazines and on ebay which claim all kinda of things. These range from diodes that you "splice" into the 1st O2 sensor, this just Eff's the A/F ratio to get more power-sometimes they lean it out, sometimes they over richen-these also include ones that "plug" into your OBDII port. Anyway you put it, while they may actually do something (very, VERY little), it is almost always at cost to your engine.
As I am pretty sure there is no factory or tuner made chip, I fear you are inspired by and therefore referring to the last of my listed "chip" mods, in which case stay the hell away.
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Re: performance chip

Post by theholycow »

Cm452 wrote:As I am pretty sure there is no factory or tuner made chip
Your second type listed is a chip. The "new computer piece that goes into the ECu infrastructure" is nothing more than a chip. It may look like this:
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To be pedantic, you could say that the item in question is an IC or a DIP or something like that, but all it is is a silicon computer chip encased in plastic, with connection leads.

Or, it may be one of those attached to a small circuit board that is not the entire ECU, and may resemble this:
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AFAIK, those are the two types of chips that were first available to change programming on early computer-controlled cars, and what you're really changing is the chip - the rest is the same and is just there so you don't have to microsolder.
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Re: performance chip

Post by Cm452 »

theholycow wrote:
Cm452 wrote:As I am pretty sure there is no factory or tuner made chip
Your second type listed is a chip.
I meant there is no tuner chip or AEM chip for a cavalier-as I mentioned in my post (the dinan thing) I am aware that there are actually "chips" that one can solder in. My point was that in all likelihood, there are no legitimate chips for a cavalier, which by default means a ghetto ebay chip that wacks your A/F...
Sorry for the confusion peeps,
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Re: performance chip

Post by theholycow »

Image Ok, that makes sense. I agree, while there are plenty of chips there may not be any for Cavaliers.
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Re: performance chip

Post by eaglecatcher »

Do not buy the eBay shit.

As for chips, basically what they do is the chip has all the information stored on it. Fuel maps, etc. You're just replacing that with another identical chip that has different data on it, which tells your car slightly different things to do.
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Re: performance chip

Post by Cm452 »

Or if your car is badass, you can hook the ECU up to your laptop and rewrite the SRAM!!! No chips required. I tuned my car to 260+whp, and 290wtq!
Look into this for the cavalier...
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