How good are chips

I see where you're coming from Spock - I guess it's like most aspects of tuning ie it is down to personal preference and attitudes to risk...

I reckon the custom map is the way forward because no 2 engines are really the same - so as you say, it is the generic nature of the superchip that makes me wary. I'd rather have the chip mapped for my car on a rolling road. Then, if finances allow, I can add other mods and have the map redone to take account of them...

Out of interest, what car have you had chipped? I am always interested in gathering more info... I've heard good reports from some folk and lousy ones from others.

With regard to the debate regarding the merit of mappable 'custom' chips - even if a small improvement over the generic type is possible, it will take a fair bit of rolling road time, and  probably some sympathetic road testing followed by further road test-based laptop customising to get any improvement over the ordinary chip.

All this adds up to a considerable cost, which may not even be justified by the theoretical performance bonus, as the setting up will only be as good as the skills of whoever is doing the work. 

My experience of 'Specialists' is that their ideas on engine setup of older engines (ie K-Jetronic injection etc) can often be improved by a sympathetic and familiar owner.  In the case of an ECU-based system one would be stuck with whatever they deemed to be OK.

Unless one had drastically improved the engine's breathing capacity there is no real point in custom chips, and I would prefer to be stuck with the results of Superchips' setting-up work, which is at least carried out by a genuine expert who is able to spend more time/money to optimise the chip's program than a single customer would be able or willing to pay. 

Here's a question I've been struggling with for some time now.

I have an E36 323 (170bhp).  The slightly earlier 325 has the same cubic capacity (2494cc), 6 cylinders, 24 valves etc, but it has (192 bhp).  Is this simply a question of tuning i.e. can remapping the ECU have a significant effect on my 323?  Or is the difference due to something else e.g double VANOS/ single VANOS and all that mallarcky.

What I am basically enquiring as to is whether my car could effectively be classified as detuned, i.e. there is a large manufacturer's safety margin for me to play with by way of ECU remapping.

Responses very welcome!!

Hello there.   I have just joined the club.

My own view is that chipping is most beneficial for turbo diesel cars.

I have a 530dSE which is rated at 193bhp@4000rpm standard.   After fitting a plug in unit which modifies the injection fueling and timing (stage1) the rolling road revealed 245.3bhp@3824rpm.

Stage2 involves increasing the boost pressure slightly by 7psi so that more fuel can be burnt without increasing black smoke.

For your normally aspirated in-line 4 petrol engine it seems to me that you have two options:

1. ECU tuning eg Hamann which should increase power by12bhp for £595.

2. engine transplant eg Hartge which should increase power by 50bhp for around £6,000

So for value for money ECU tuning is best but the bigger performance gain comes from an engine conversion.

  Super chips are ok for modern engines but if you decide to put one on a car that feels sluggish because its done a few miles it will only really bring it back to standard output maybe a little over, and the fact that the engine will be working harder will be mean it will be wearing slightly quicker that it would have done before. 

And had anybody noticed a drop in fuel enconomy? if you have to use a car everyday a superchip will make it smoother and more responsive and maybe slightly faster, but all of my friends have now moved away from chipping and back to old fashioned mods like cams or porting and polishing as the chips we've all experienced have messed up our cars and ruined they way they drive.  I suppose it all depends on how much development time superchips or equivilent companies put into research and design.

Example of the difference between two cars, two of my friends have vauxhall cavalier GSi 2000s and they are both the same similar mileage etc even the same colour, they are both of similar driving ability but one has a shiny new £370  superchip fitted.  Went to santa pod RWUB (run what you brung) dragged against each other several times and the chipped car showed no particular advantage over the standard car, top end they are slightly different say 5mph, not really worth the £370 i'd say and we all make sure that he knows that.