Chip Babble

[3pointFour]

How is it some people say they gain NOTHING and lose power from the jet stage II chip and some say they take like .2+ off their E/T?

I was going to get one a long time ago for my 93 3.4L A4 Camaro, and there was many mixed choices, so I didn't get it.

What's up with this?

[Infernal]

I've actually had a good deal of experience, at least with the Jet chip.

The timing advance the chips lend can make a good different performance wise as long as you don't get any retard from the PCM.

I live in NY and my experience has always been that during the cold fall/winter months the chip would consistently push my car .2 faster in the 1/4 with 94 octane fuel.

Problem, for me, started in the Summer. I actually noticed at the AIS that my car was running like crap compared to its usual runs (15.5s and 15.6s). I ran about 8 times with the same consistent results, then I yanked the chip and instantly ran a 15.39 and a 15.33 (which was right for my car in those conditions).

My theory (I don't have an autotap so I can't back this up) is that the timing advance works wonders when there is ample amounts of icy cold air blasting into the engine and across the radiator, but in the Summer the timing advance causes slight knock and a PCM timing retard which can actually reduce preformance.

Of course, this applies really only to my car, but it *could* be one reason why some people seem to gain, some people lose, and some people see nothing.

[AMinor65]

You and I are thinking the same, Infernal. I wrote something real similar in a post last week. Do you use the 91 or 93 octane and low temp. stat. Pardon, I didn't check your sig.

[Infernal]

When I was running the chip I was running 94 octane all the time with a 160 degree stat.

The chip is currently out and sitting here (and for sale), though.

I wish I had an autotap so I could verify this, just to satisfy my own curiosity.