V35 Performance Chip

[scathing]

whereas in sydney I've noticed these chips cost around $2k-$2.5k...some idiot quoted $4k... but all these prices in sydney includes the cost of labour...

At that price, they're talking about fully programmable aftermarket computers. Possibly with tuning, at some of those prices. Which means some tuner will sit there and custom-make an engine tune that maximises the gains for your particular car.

This unit is none of those things. It connects to one of the sensors the engine computer uses (typically the sensor that tells the engine computer how much air is going into the engine so it knows how much fuel to inject), and modifies its signal by a fixed amount. It's a one-size-fits-all product, and you have no idea what was done to the car they tested it on.

Thanks to manufacturing tolerances every engine is slightly different. Which means they all put down slightly different power when leaving the factory. Good manufacturers will keep this variance to a minimum, but its luck if you get 2 different engines that perform in exactly the same way. Which means the factory, one-size-fits-all, tune on every ECU they make has to allow for these tolerances so they don't blow up too many engines. Only a niche manufacturer is going to be able to custom tune every engine that leaves their factory, since its way too cost and time consuming to do it on a volume seller.

It's in those tolerances that an aftermarket computer can find some gains on a stock car (along with a bit of gain from tuning the car outside of its legal emissions requirements). These one-size-fits-all tunes have no idea what your specific engine's tolerances are, so they either tune just as conservatively which means you don't get the maximum gain possible, or if they push it close to the limits you run the risk of tuning outside the tolerances of your particular engine and you eventually break something.

The gains they've quoted are straight-out bullshit. Notice that the gains are "up to x"? A gain of 1hp is still a gain of "up to 35hp" so they're not technically lying, but if you think you're going to see those gains you're dreaming. And even when I did my intake and exhaust and then had my engine custom-tuned with a programmable computer, I don't think I saw those kinds of gains. And that was tuning both the air/fuel mixture and the ignition timing, not just the former.

Steer well clear of these things.

[mellowman]

I can get them, are you Sydney based?

I'm going to gauge interest again shortly in the V Series forum for a Group Buy. If I can get more than 5 interested parties the prices are VERY good.

Also, Plenum spacers, filters etc, are well within the scope of a patient backyarder with some decent hand tools.

Cheers, Dale.

Hi Dale,

I will be interested in a sway bar group buy depending on the type of Sway's that will be bought.

do you have access to particular brands? i.e Hotchkis sways?

i have read alot of good things about the Hotchkis sways, Stillen i have read have started to break in some cases.

Also something to consider would be aftermarket End links as i have also read that the stock ones tend to wear/break with aftermarket sways, Powergrid Endlinks have been given the best write up and i have bought a set of fronts from the US ($150usd rough per set, and 1 set is required for front and another for the rear) still waiting for them to arrive but purchasing in anticipation of getting revised sway's

P.s im also sydney based.

[Namgun]

At that price, they're talking about fully programmable aftermarket computers. Possibly with tuning, at some of those prices. Which means some tuner will sit there and custom-make an engine tune that maximises the gains for your particular car.

This unit is none of those things. It connects to one of the sensors the engine computer uses (typically the sensor that tells the engine computer how much air is going into the engine so it knows how much fuel to inject), and modifies its signal by a fixed amount. It's a one-size-fits-all product, and you have no idea what was done to the car they tested it on.

Thanks to manufacturing tolerances every engine is slightly different. Which means they all put down slightly different power when leaving the factory. Good manufacturers will keep this variance to a minimum, but its luck if you get 2 different engines that perform in exactly the same way. Which means the factory, one-size-fits-all, tune on every ECU they make has to allow for these tolerances so they don't blow up too many engines. Only a niche manufacturer is going to be able to custom tune every engine that leaves their factory, since its way too cost and time consuming to do it on a volume seller.

It's in those tolerances that an aftermarket computer can find some gains on a stock car (along with a bit of gain from tuning the car outside of its legal emissions requirements). These one-size-fits-all tunes have no idea what your specific engine's tolerances are, so they either tune just as conservatively which means you don't get the maximum gain possible, or if they push it close to the limits you run the risk of tuning outside the tolerances of your particular engine and you eventually break something.

The gains they've quoted are straight-out bullshit. Notice that the gains are "up to x"? A gain of 1hp is still a gain of "up to 35hp" so they're not technically lying, but if you think you're going to see those gains you're dreaming. And even when I did my intake and exhaust and then had my engine custom-tuned with a programmable computer, I don't think I saw those kinds of gains. And that was tuning both the air/fuel mixture and the ignition timing, not just the former.

Steer well clear of these things.

this was a very good read,

thanks a lot buddy

[Daleo]

Hi Dale,

I will be interested in a sway bar group buy depending on the type of Sway's that will be bought.

do you have access to particular brands? i.e Hotchkis sways?

i have read alot of good things about the Hotchkis sways, Stillen i have read have started to break in some cases.

Also something to consider would be aftermarket End links as i have also read that the stock ones tend to wear/break with aftermarket sways, Powergrid Endlinks have been given the best write up and i have bought a set of fronts from the US ($150usd rough per set, and 1 set is required for front and another for the rear) still waiting for them to arrive but purchasing in anticipation of getting revised sway's

P.s im also sydney based.

PM sent.

Regarding the bar breakages, I would attribute this to the fact that most of the US made upgraded bars that I've seen appear to have the lateral locks (basically a clamp next to the "D"bush to stop the bars from sliding sideways) WELDED to the bar, also they seem to just use a flimsy flat washer. This will surely become a stress riser and lead to the eventual cracking/fracture of the bar.

The Whiteline bars use a Billet alloy clamp around the bar, which is a much more elegant, albeit more expensive way of doing things. Note; the lateral locks are included when you purchase from Whiteline.

Hope this helps.

Edited April 27, 2011 by Daleo

[MikhailV87]

At that price, they're talking about fully programmable aftermarket computers. Possibly with tuning, at some of those prices. Which means some tuner will sit there and custom-make an engine tune that maximises the gains for your particular car.

This unit is none of those things. It connects to one of the sensors the engine computer uses (typically the sensor that tells the engine computer how much air is going into the engine so it knows how much fuel to inject), and modifies its signal by a fixed amount. It's a one-size-fits-all product, and you have no idea what was done to the car they tested it on.

Thanks to manufacturing tolerances every engine is slightly different. Which means they all put down slightly different power when leaving the factory. Good manufacturers will keep this variance to a minimum, but its luck if you get 2 different engines that perform in exactly the same way. Which means the factory, one-size-fits-all, tune on every ECU they make has to allow for these tolerances so they don't blow up too many engines. Only a niche manufacturer is going to be able to custom tune every engine that leaves their factory, since its way too cost and time consuming to do it on a volume seller.

It's in those tolerances that an aftermarket computer can find some gains on a stock car (along with a bit of gain from tuning the car outside of its legal emissions requirements). These one-size-fits-all tunes have no idea what your specific engine's tolerances are, so they either tune just as conservatively which means you don't get the maximum gain possible, or if they push it close to the limits you run the risk of tuning outside the tolerances of your particular engine and you eventually break something.

The gains they've quoted are straight-out bullshit. Notice that the gains are "up to x"? A gain of 1hp is still a gain of "up to 35hp" so they're not technically lying, but if you think you're going to see those gains you're dreaming. And even when I did my intake and exhaust and then had my engine custom-tuned with a programmable computer, I don't think I saw those kinds of gains. And that was tuning both the air/fuel mixture and the ignition timing, not just the former.

Steer well clear of these things.

Nice post, thanks for that .

[D3z17]

Proberly have to spend over $1000 to get a professional install a chip i asked about a chip for my car since it's a Auto they told me I could only get 20HP more  if it was a manual it may have been more HP