Performance Chips

[steelepulse]

Do performance chips really work as pitched?  I am looking at ebay in the US and a good performance chip is less than 1,200 baht with some pretty outrageous claims.  The cheaper chips are as little as 300 baht.  I will be buying a new accord or camry and the 2.4 litre models seem underpowered so I would like to add a few horsepower.

[philipm]

i can help with that if you want some more power from your camry

[HDRIDER]

Hi

You will lose warranty, if they find out

[lingnoi34]

Chips only work well in diesel engine vehicles and they will cut short the life span of the engine.

For petrol they are a total waste.

Cheap chips will certainly cause damage to your vehicle. Stay clear away.

L

[culicine]

Chips only work well in diesel engine vehicles and they will cut short the life span of the engine.

For petrol they are a total waste.

Cheap chips will certainly cause damage to your vehicle. Stay clear away.

L

Well with petrol engines they work best when the engine has been modified. In fact you would need it, as the original eco can compensate only so much.

I read an article on the net (from Malaysia) where they got an extra 8HP from the Unichip (also available in Thailand), on a new stock k20 honda civic. It's not a lot of HP for 20000 baht which I was quoted. More HP would be available after changing out the header/exhaust/intake, which should be your first point of call. Even then they chip might not be necessary. Any futher work, like skunk2 cams would then require it.

Or else go turbo and then the chip will be required!

[philipm]

your best shot mate is to start with headers, exhaust, large throttlebody, then the ecu to retune it,

then turbokit (about 70k-120k with a programble ecu)

this would be the way to get power, not a chip from ebay.

[steelepulse]

So by doing this, about how much extra hp and torque would be achieved?  Would  it get close to the 3.5 litre models?

[imaneggspurt]

Chips only work well in diesel engine vehicles and they will cut short the life span of the engine.

For petrol they are a total waste.

Cheap chips will certainly cause damage to your vehicle. Stay clear away.

L

Good advice, these cheap "wires " they are selling are a waste of money, on a normally aspirated engine very little can be gained, on turbo/petrol if the ecu is remapped then yes power can increase quite a lot, on commonrail deisels they respond well ,only a piggyback unit is required ( to stay within safe parametres ),as for warrany, in europe toyota and mitsubishi offer these upgrades with the same power as a piggyback unit, if you modify the ecu you WILL invalidate the warranty and are asking for problems, piggy back is best, unless like philip you want to set the road alight !

[stingray]

Chips only work well in diesel engine vehicles and they will cut short the life span of the engine.

For petrol they are a total waste.

Cheap chips will certainly cause damage to your vehicle. Stay clear away.

L

Good advice, these cheap "wires " they are selling are a waste of money, on a normally aspirated engine very little can be gained, on turbo/petrol if the ecu is remapped then yes power can increase quite a lot, on commonrail deisels they respond well ,only a piggyback unit is required ( to stay within safe parametres ),as for warrany, in europe toyota and mitsubishi offer these upgrades with the same power as a piggyback unit, if you modify the ecu you WILL invalidate the warranty and are asking for problems, piggy back is best, unless like philip you want to set the road alight !

Change the engine, imported from Japan (kidding), you can't get the power of a 3.5 liter, because they are 6 cylinder, so they have much more torque. You could try to increase the fuel pressure a little bit, change fuel pressure valve, maybe can shave the head to get more compression, changing manifolds and headers, etc. there are manythings to do, but everything you do will increase your fuelconsumption.

[philipm]

hey steelepulse,

as imaneggspurt stated by modifing your engine etc will void your warrenty, now that we got that out of the way....

now about modifications,

first of forget the 3.5 v6, you will rip it to peacies not to menation with alot less weight to, you will be more powerful and lighter at the same time. which in essence is a prime choice.

regarding what you do to the engine compartements, such as turbokit (T3/T4 or a td05h-16g or even a large td06-20g) with aliminum intercooler pipes, vr4 style intercooler, mild steal turbo headers (or stainless for several '000 more), external wastegate set at about .7bar about (10psi, set it slightly lower with a manual boost controller to about 7psi to start with), then a 2.75" downpipe, exhaust pipe (2.75") exhaust about (2.75-3" exhaust), and a engine management (ecu- i recommend the F-con)-2nd hand will do well (new ones cost upto 80k 2nd hand for about 20-30k) and with tuning,

you will obtain (atleast!!!! another 50-100HP, with an extra 100-200nm of torque)! oh yes and a blowoff system if you want the wsssssssh sound...it has its advatages by realsing the surge air into the atmosphere, rather than back to your turbo)

which means a stock motor of 170-180hp will crunch out about 230-270HP and from stock tq no of about 270nm you will obtain about 400NM of torque!

0-100times stock lets say about 9seconds, you will do it in 6's, 100-200 a hel_l of alot faster then stock or a 3.5v6, etc etc.....

this is best choice if you want more power, atlot more power, without changing your engine. you will obtain about the same amount of HP and TQ, of a 2jz (supra twinturbo 3.0L stright 6 in stock form), plus your setup will be something to awww over, considering you are not swaping the engine.

you will actually minimize fuel economy, unless driving to limit, (because you will have so much more power and torque, that you wont ever need to push it, unless for racing or on the highway).

at the same time i would highly recommend a suspension setup to suit your new power, like a tein, or other brands i can recommend and find for you, making it stiffer and slightly lower will keep cornering obtimal not to menation you will defentally surpass your stock boundreis in regards to cornering etc.

if you have enough budget you can get the Tein EDFC, which basicly is a tunable suspension setup with a controller in the cabin. (the EDFC allows you to play around with your damping, rideheight (make it lower or higher by a switch of a button), making it stiffer or softer (switch of a button to), which is excellent if you want a softer ride in the city, but making it stiffer when going out onto the highways) but this system cost nearly 80k or so.

if you have a 250k budget, OMG you will get a wicked engine comparement, special suspensions and big size brakes all in one package. this is quite alot of money, but its money well spent, even if you go about choosing the lowest model to keep excess money for the mods, rather than buying the full spec model which will end up costing you more than moding it. ofcourse this all depends on you, your application and your desire.

[steelepulse]

I'm not a technical/mechanical person at all, but from what I gather if I spend about 250K I will have a car that will ride better and be faster with better brakes.  Now I just need to convince the Mrs. that this will be necessary

>>>if you have a 250k budget, OMG you will get a wicked engine comparement, special suspensions and big size brakes all in one package. this is quite alot of money, but its money well spent, even if you go about choosing the lowest model to keep excess money for the mods, rather than buying the full spec model which will end up costing you more than moding it. ofcourse this all depends on you, your application and your desire

[philipm]

most defentially you are correct,

for 250K you will have alot more power, much better handling and much better brakes!

if you convince the Miss's, then great, i would gladly help with all of this, to make sure no one is taking shortcuts, and also with recommend places and even helping you buy the turbo etc

[initiala4]

Do performance chips really work as pitched? I am looking at ebay in the US and a good performance chip is less than 1,200 baht with some pretty outrageous claims. The cheaper chips are as little as 300 baht. I will be buying a new accord or camry and the 2.4 litre models seem underpowered so I would like to add a few horsepower.

Chips on NA cars arent worth it unless you have supporting hardware components for it. I would avoid cheap chips and go for a reputable brand that has local support.

[initiala4]

Chips only work well in diesel engine vehicles and they will cut short the life span of the engine.

For petrol they are a total waste.

Cheap chips will certainly cause damage to your vehicle. Stay clear away.

L

The only way it will cut the life of the engine is when its tuned poorly. I have installed 800+ cars all over US, Europe, and Thailand without any customers reporting of a blown engine. It all boils down to the tuning and educating the customers.