Chipping my 355 on Tuesday

Hope you have a great Christmas with you new toys!

My 99 F355 is not chipped and is very responsive from 3500 rpms on up.
I think a F355s are great once you are up there with the RPMs, the seat of
pants (SoP) feel is great. It is the 1000 to 3500 RPMs that I think the SoP
fell is lacking.

I called a board Nick Forza Ferrari, a board sponser, a while ago about his $1500USD chip. I spoke to him about low end power/torque on the 355, he said his chip will not help much there, two things would help, lose weight and/or change the pistons/engine setup. I am on a diet, not sure about my car though

--tony

 

There's just so much non-sense when it comes to chipping. Been through hundreds of threds regarding chipping of my BMW M6 and M5 -- with at least 3 solid chip companies plying their trade. All claim about 20-30HP gain (flywheel) and 15-20 TQ gain (flywheel). Rarely, if ever did anyone do before and after dyno's to establish 'central tendancies' in the HP and TQ gains. Rather, hundreds of threds debated subjective seat of the pants impressions. My BMW guru, who works on every high performance BMW around, said it's largely nonsense, you won't feel any effect of 20-30hp on a 3800 lb car. The cost to experiment, and either "believe" or disbelieve in the result is only $200-300 US, with 30 minutes to self-install. Did chip both my M6 and M5 and couldn't discern any real improved performance -- even though I desperately wanted to believe the cars got more rocket power.

Regarding my 98 355 F1, I've read the stuff put out by POWERCHIP, a company in the US. Again, the claims are 20-30HP gain at flywheel at a COST of $2,450, whereby a technician cuts the soldered ECU off, ships it by overnite courrier to Powerchip, and then gets it back, reprogrammed so your technician can solider it on again = $3000 in total maybe. If you've got money falling out of a crack in your pants, well, why not. Otherwise, what is really happening is you are spending a whole lot of money, in the belief you'll get a seat of the pants performance improvement, and the $$ you shelved out will likely sustain your belief, no matter what anyone says or shows you.

W/o a pre and post dyno, its all hogwash speculation. And even with a pre/post dyno gain, and often questionable ESTIMATED conversion of rear wheel horsepower improvement tolywheel HP and TQ, you just won't notice it in a 380HP car that zips to 60 in 4.6-8 secs.

Since I've walked the talk (viz. my BMWs) I can attest to the fact we live in a make believe world -- we buy into the belief and we perpetuate it w/o evidence and even in the face of counter evidence.

And then there are other issues: does a chip cancel out the presumed 15 HP gain of a Tubi no one can feel, or really believes in? On and on.

Good luck at any rate.

Shawsan

 

What you say is true about documenting before and after. I exchanged lots of email with the powerchip people and said I should/could do before and after dyno runs to prove the gains. If the gains did not show up, they would refund the money.

I enjoy following these threads and learning from peoples experiences. If a particular mod, color, radio, etc... makes someone enjoy their car more I do not see a problem with that. I just added an amp and a subwoofer to my car,
I swear it goes much faster when led zepplin is blasting through the speaker

As for the Tubi, it sounds better (looks better) and is lighter than the stock muffler, so I think that is a great mod.

--tony

 

I read somewhere that the 355 ECU is designed for lower octane fuel. Powerchip claim to remap the ECU depending on what fuel is available to you in your country/area. In HK all the fuel is 98 so you would think there would be significant gains to be had in torque and bhp if the ECU is remapped from high 80s to 98... or am i talking bollox?

I find the car does not have enough torque in 2nd and 3rd gears in the low - mid rev range and in a place like HK with lots of hills, this means I'm having to shift down to 1st sometimes to overtake people safely. So I'm looking for another 15-20lbs in the low down torque range.

 

So you're saying it was really worth while? Very noticable gains? What did you have to do again? I assume I have to find someone to strip the ECU then courier it to powerchip with instructions of what octane fuel i want it set to. Yes? I'm going on a drive to Zhuhai on Friday. We're meeting at the aviation club friday lunchtime right next to italian motors. you're welcome to come along.

 

Ding-ding-ding...we have a winner!

 

Powerchip offers two upgrades, one designed for 91 octane gas, the other for 93 octane. USA octane ratings are different than in other parts of the world, but I doubt that our 93 octane differs that much from your 98... That said, the difference between the two chips is only a 3 or 4 hp.

I have no idea if their products really do what they say.

 

How do the octane figures differ?

 

You can search on Google or even this site...there are several different rating systems, so octane ratings are not always directly comparable. Hey, what do I know, perhaps you have the exact same system as here in the USA....best to check.

 

Hi Mate, drive was great thanks.

Just ordered the Powerchip Gold 98 from Powerchip in Australia. Have to find someone to fit it now... Will try and get before and after dynos done.

 

ask them to send you the cable as well, i think you can DIY

i have a friend powerchipped his E46 himself...

 

btw how much was it? i also wanna extra torque esp low rev

 

AU$2400. Cheaper than the states!! What cable? Not confident doing it myself. Will get SPS or someone to do it for me.

 

i guess there is a cable which links up a normal computer (likely to be a lap top) and your computer in the 355, so that the program is downloaded from a normal computer to your 355

pls double check with them, i think you definitely need one of those!!!

 

um, this is not some mickey mouse chip and dodgy ECU. this requires desoldering and soldering. the ECU on the 355 is not adjustable like that.

 

of cos but what i am trying to say is that the chip must download to your ECU one way or the other, so you must sure they send you everything you need

 

Understood. I'll check with them. Thanks.

 

I love it when these "chip" companies use turbo'd autos as their poster children for HP gains. Then the unwary, unwashed masses expect the same out of their Civics.

A 15 BHP gain on a 100 HP car could be felt, I'm sure. 15 BHP on a 300+ HP car? Not likely, unless they just moved the power a bit down the curve where people do most of the driving.

A chip as single point of performance increase seems a bit odd to me. It could work reasonably well in conjunction with other breathing mods though. Even then, what's an extra 30 HP?

You'd get more bang for the buck by stripping away unnecessary poundage from the car. AC? Junk. Interior bits? Frivolous accoutrements. Side and rear glass? Use plastic. 18-inch wheels? Go to 17's and get smaller but more powerful brakes, too. Heavy steel exhaust? Go titanium. Door handles, that last place of high weight in a car? Use cords, like in an F-40.

Or you can go an a diet if you are chunky. It takes 3 HP to move 1lb of chunk, so my own vehicle would get the equivalent of 75 extra HP if I lost a few pounds!

 

Yes, please save us naive dopes with too much money to spare... btw, the chip alters the fuel map so it's tuned purely for higher octane fuels.. but what would i know.

 

Here is the info on octane rating systems:
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There is a 355CH in Australia that has a fully programmable Haltech or Motec (not sure which but they are essebtially the same). From memory, the owner reports HP gains in the region of didley squat, and this is despite the previous owner spending $$$$ on dyno time etc. It is apparently a bit nicer down low however.

I still can't see that any chip can offer big benefits to power. The fuel/spark curves are a trade off between performance, emmisions and economy. From my experience, economy on a 355 could not be worse(!) so performance has already been maximised within pollution limits.

Just my .02, Dave

 

I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth.

My F40 is going to Italy to have an extra 60BHP.

You'd guess that would come from a simple tweak to the boost pressure with a chip mod and hey presto you've got your power.

However this comes at the detriment of engine wear and sometimes driveability.

Not an option for me.

Michelotto do a complete engine rebuild to gain a very reliable 60BHP.

This includes:

New Turbos
Different compression ratios.
And many other modifications to the engine.

The engine is then dynoed and mapped etc. The process takes at least a week.

Cost? Don't even ask!

I use my F40 for competition so can justify the expense.

If I had a 355 I would look at reducing rotating inertia. Braking will improve as will acceleration. Lighter wheels, lighter flywheel, clutch etc. Its a more expensive route to take but you are improving 2 things at once without putting any additional stress on your engine.

The one single potential killer with messing with chip upgrades might come from over fueling. If the chip supplies too much fuel it will lead to bore wash. The petrol washes away the oil from the piston rings. Now I know the lamda sensor is there to control the richness of the fuel, but if the new fuel map plays with settings controlling the lamda you could well end up with premature engine wear.

I would like figures from the various chip companies relating to fuel/air ratios and whether or not their modifications mean that the engine will be running leaner or richer.

If they can prove no change from factory settings then all well and good.

Might be worth the money.