So who has the best chip tuners?

[C43inNC]

I'm wanting to get mine done. Ideally, I'd love a OBD flash, but I don't think they have those for our cars, so I guess the only route is to send off my ECU. Who does the best work? Any drawbacks? Do you really get good results or is it hit or miss? Thanks.

[Denlasoul]

Your best bet would be to find a local dyno tuner that carries Piggyback ECU. Try a search on Piggyback ECU's on the site, there are a few really good Threads on the Board.

[Logic]

there is a place called upsolute and they take your bcm , test it and inprove it with a new chip they soilder in and gives you about a 30 hp gain . if i recall Slammed
had it done.

[Logic]

http://www.upsolute.com/

[Denlasoul]

Flash ecu's would work pretty well with kompressors, as I have read on the boards and dynos seen. For a n/a car, probably would not do much.

A looooooooooooooooooooooong time ago, I went to an Upsolute dealer to chip my car. They said that my car could not be done at their facility, and consequently, turned me away from going through with the purchase. Sure it may be an isolated event, but this place was quite reputable. Nonetheless, I was disappointed and decided against the flash ecu's.

[202brabus]

Why not try MegaSquirt? You can Do almost anything on it

[Logic]

Flash ecu's would work pretty well with kompressors, as I have read on the boards and dynos seen. For a n/a car, probably would not do much.

A looooooooooooooooooooooong time ago, I went to an Upsolute dealer to chip my car. They said that my car could not be done at their facility, and consequently, turned me away from going through with the purchase. Sure it may be an isolated event, but this place was quite reputable. Nonetheless, I was disappointed and decided against the flash ecu's.

i thought they replaced the chip .... not flash it from what i have read ?

[Denlasoul]

i thought they replaced the chip .... not flash it from what i have read ?

Yes, new chip but flash the new data settings/points from my understanding. Those points are from a collected database, and thus "flashed" onto their chip.

[benzfan]

I tried an Upsolute flash on my C36 years ago and subsequently went back to the stock program shortly after. The 'map' contains literally millions of data points, and for a chip manufacturer to analyze each engine and create a new map is frankly not plausible. Adjusting the fuel quantity doesn't work, because the O2 sensors will quickly bring it back to the correct air/fuel ratio. Fooling that signal to create a different ratio constantly will quickly ruin the converter with unburned fuel. Only a certain amount of air can be ingested by the engine, unless you force it. The only thing left is the timing map, and creating an entire map is an awful lot of work. However, pushing the base timing advance and slightly changing the advance curve shape (like we used to do in the 70s with new distributor weights) is quick and dirty, and creates more power and better fuel economy under certain conditions.

The caution with this is that modern engines, using knock sensors and sophisticated ECUs, already have their base timing pushed as far as it will go for average daily, reliable driving. In hot weather, when the air intake temperature is up, the ECU may already be working hard to eliminate knock. It only has the ability to reduce timing by a fixed amount, and pushing the curve to the point where the ECU can't compensate under those conditions can have an undesirable effect on your engine, not to mention the fact that any marginal performance gains that appeared in colder weather are completely negated.

I found that AMG had already pushed things to the point where the C36 knocks on acceleration in hot weather. The chip made it horrendous. In -30 temperatures, I did sense a difference in performance, but as soon as it warmed up outside, the engine sounded like it had been replaced by a can full of marbles.