Performance Chips?

[Renn 208]

Originally posted by c36ryder
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I just dowloaded the PDF brochure from their web site for the C36 and it says that their Powerchip is only 49-state legal. It's not legal in Cali !!!

I believe they are working on getting CA certification, but best to find out from the powerchip people themselves.

[Three Point 6]

It's legal where I am! (Texas) No sniffer/green sheet required in my county ....yet. (we got worst air quality in US two years in a row!! ha) If I can trust them to hack my 'one of around 1,000 ever made ECU's' then I'll post before/after Dyno specs. I really don't want to be the guinea pig though???

Here is the North America link for Powerchip USA

www.powerchipgroup.com

Here is also the phone # that they E.mailed me last week!( I am on their mailing list from a previous inquiry)

310.917.1075
Santa Monica

[w202mae]

One thing about chip tuning IMHO was the power gain was tested under the condition which they tested their program. Meaning if you ask any chip manufacturer that you want to dyno test their chip and see if it holds up to their claims, they will most likely be reluctant to say it will show the same result but because it must be tested under the same condition when they dyno tested the results (air temperature, modifcations done to the car, the fact not every engine comes out same spec from factory, altitude, etc. etc.).

I have worked on many Japanese cars, not sure how MBZ works, but in my opinion chip tuning gain power because they tweak with the ignition timing. Ignition timing is what makes the power for normally aspirated engine, then the chip tuner alter the fuel curve value to compensate for the advanced timing, making sure you do not ping or detonate, but while not running overly rich that hurts gas mileage and reduce power (this is the hard part).

Normally MAS equipped cars will be able to compensate to a certain % of air flow increase to the engine, meaning if the engine takes/measure in certain amount of additional airflow over what you had before (upgrade intake/exhaust), it will shift to another a higher fuel map in the OEM ECU parameter (again if that's how MBZ work, but I figure all MAS car worked this way based on amount of airflow and air intake temp which dictates the fuel map the ECU runs on).

I guess the main concern is how well the fuel maps are tuned from these different chip 'tuning' manufacturers. How good are their fuel/timing map when it is 100+ deg Summer time, with the advanced timing did they program enough fuel to prevent ping and detonation, and that all depends on the R&D of each chip mfct. Unless you have a wideband air fuel to test all the chips that's available in the market on the dyno, I am not too sure if doing the chip upgrade on a non-turbo car is worth the money. Even then we have to test the chip under changing weather condition. AND EVEN THEN, dyno does not tell the real truth because it does not simulate actual 'load' your car is getting when it's running on the road, but just as close as it can be is all you get.

For instance, Power chip claims 12hp minmum increase for my C280, but during hot summer time I might actually just gain 5hp, 6hp, or maybe worse than stock, who knows.

I was going to do the chip upgrade, but now I think about it again if I really want any serious performance, I'll wait until my tranny blow up and the real sense is drop in a C36 or C43 motor package, that's where one feel the REAL performance increase.

My 2 cents.

[nokia8860]

Up from the dead. Just wondering if anyone recently purchased one?

[714guy]

i will need one when i do my next project, maybe in a year.

[merc_lover]

i'm a bit confused here
why do we need all these chips to increase engine performance?. i thought MB already gave us the car from the factory with the correct settings
why would they lower the engine's performance?