Has anyone had experience with Powerchip ECU on the 355?

I have a 97 355 with aftermarket header, cats, exhaust, straight pipes in place of secondary cats, and carbon intake. Will the powerchip ECU upgrade make a considerable difference in performance?

 

I had a 98 355 F1 spider and did my homework, coming up with Powerchip, among other ECU tuners. They promise about 20 ft/lbs of torque -- which is most important -- and arount 23 HP. IMHO, the torque won't be noticeable and the HP certainly won't. Say this based on tuning of my BMW M5s. In addition, you have to detach the ECU, ship it, then resolder to reattach -- a pain in the butt and costly, as someone will probably have to do it for you. And then there's the cost -- around $3K if I remember correctly. Worst, if you get it done, and when there's not noticeable seat of the pants effect, you'll so want to believe there is because of the $$ you spend, you'll wind up being a "believer".

Good luck.

 

If you pull the ECU and ship it, make sure you insure it for the parts and labor. UPS lost my S4 ECU, and it was a huge PITA. I only insured it for the part cost, but the car had to be flatbedded to the dealer, and set up, etc. Plus time down waiting for UPS to "find" it.

Oh, but at least UPS refunded me HALF the shipping charges. I love that. Next day "guaranteed" or we'll give you 50% back. I now use Fed Ex.

 

UPS sucks.

I sent a letter to their chairman. They lost over $2m in checks, that I was overnighting from Miami to Tampa.

If this happened to my 550... I'd probably turn into the unibomber....

(kidding, of course!!!)

 

I figured the stock powerchip configuration for the 355 is tuned based on a stock car.


I guess I should've asked.....Will the stock ECU compensate enough for aftermarket intake, exhaust, cats, and muffler.....or will putting a Power chip ECU specifically tuned for my car benefit it enough to justify the $2500.00 price tag?

 

Buy a G-tech meter, no need to be a "believer"

 

Interesting you should say that. I used to do dozens of runs in my supercharged BMW M5 with G-tech meter doing its magic and a friend in back seat with a stopwatch. The 0-60 and 1/4 mile estimates we got were all over the map from both of them, to the extent I really couldn't conclude anything about the performance effects of modifications I'd made. Maybe it all comes down to my erratic driving skills. Tried it with my 355 a few times too but had same impression. It's never even been in my 360.

Cheers, Paul

 

I have a 1999 F355 GTS, which is why I'm in the Chat Room. I've not had the Powerchip upgrade performed on my 355 but did have it done on a newer Mercedes SL that I own. People have raised an important issue regarding pulling and shipping your ECU but since you apparently live in the Pasadena area and Powerchip is located in Santa Monica, why not take a day off and drive up? The standard programming takes only a few hours, and you can spend some time roaming about the nearby Pier and Promenade for a bit of shopping and dining. My wife and I actually spent the night after dropping off the car and picked it up the next morning. A great little getaway, and the folks at Powerchip are friendly, competent, and easy to deal with. Just a thought...

Doug

 

I don't have any direct experience with Powerchip on the 355, but they did do my M3 ECU with Discovery Automotive race version of the PC software with some custom options and the car is much more driveable.

The midrange power was noticeably better, smoother running, throttle response improved, speed limiter is gone, redline raised, idle speed raised to offset the lighter racing flywheel. The software was mapped specifically for the AFE intake on the car also. Several other people on the BMW forums said they even noticed increase MPG of 2gallons/mile. I don't know if the car makes more peak power, but the midrange power and driveablity is well worth the cost of the software.

Overall I can recommend Powerchips and Discovery Automtotive(D/A is also the west coast Kreis seig dist now.) I worked with Travis at Powerschips and Sean at D/A.

I know Powerchips has software for the Gransport Maserati that's suppose to work pretty well, I don't know anyone that has it.

 

edmo7. hey, did you have the car before the aftermarket pieces were installed? can you please comment on the difference on loudness when the bypass valve opens up the now catless secondaries? how much louder is it and does the sound quality change?

i've searched many many times and can't get this info. i have my major coming up and am thinking to scribing the stock 2ndaries open and removing the mettalic cat substrate and rewelding.

please, any feedback will be much much appreciated.

 

to throw in my 0.02.......as i understand....chip tuning mainly involved spark advance and optimizing mixture. the advance with better octane is easy to understand but....in WOT conditions the aftermarket chip looks to lean out the inherently rich mix to stoichiometric for max power. that said i think with the changes in breathing the stock powerchip may not be optimal for your car. best bet is to call or email powerchip with your setup.

pl don't forget tell me what happens when u gut that 2ndary!!

 

My car was stock when I bought it and the factory exhaust note in my opinion was a pretty refined / under control sound. When you switch out that secondary cats to straight pipes it has a raw , out of control, all hell breaks loose sound! That's probably best I can describe it. But the new sound probably has a big part to do with the Capristo Exhaust too and the GruppeM Carbon intake. I got the Kreissieg secondary pipe, so if you don't feel like opening up your stock piece you can just buy it...If you have a 1995 2.7...it's in shape of a Y, If you have a 1996+ 5.2....it's spiral shaped.....

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For the 355, why not go with the TAP chip instead of Powerchip? The price is considerably lower.

< http://www.tap1.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=97_99_124 >

 

Well Powerchip is in Santa Monica area so i can drive my car there and have them program the chip on a dyno.

 

thx edmo. i guess some of the sonic mayhem would be caused by the combination of capristo and other pieces.

truth be told i have not heard (via computer at least) an exhaust that i like. i do like the sound of stock with bypass open so i may just do that with hyperflow cats.

isnt the kriesieg 5.2 pipe $2000 plus??? a bit much imo considering it's function.

ferrarilou - thx for the tip re tap1...

hmm...other side of the price spectrum - an aftermarket chip (rally proven) for my suzuki swift GT costs $50. allows revs to 8700 rpm and runs open loop off throttle position sensor.

 

Hi everyone my first post!!

I am in LA as well and was considering taking my car for some software....to Powerchip Inc.

They are a sponsor and told me about this website, and the guy I spoke to said they can do a custom tune on my car to make sure there is a gain - as well as a 2 week satisfaction guarantee

I am not sure about the $2000plus price as my January was slow - but its an option

i will keepeveryone posted

 

Nobody has experiences with a PowerChip in a 355 ?

 

Need feedback on the chip too!!! I have 1997 355 and will be going to the Naperformance headers. I will be considering the Powerchip and possibly decatted secondary. Brembo's GT kit in on the way.

I live in Long Beach Ca, that is great news about powerchip being in Santa Monica, just a PCH drive up.

 

Does the 5.2 secondary fit under the shielding??

 

Does any one have experience with the TAP chip??

 

if this helps, i mate of mine had it done. he noticed a little bit more torque BUT the copns outweighed the pros in his case. basically with powerchip all you're doing is forcing the fuel map to a certain octane. all very well and good if that's the same octane you're always going to use but if you travel somewhere and can't get it, the ECU will not compensate.

personally i'd go with shorter gear ratios to improve the response of 2nd and 3rd gears for overtaking etc. other than that, i've stuck with a porsche 996 turbo foot flat to the floor. he could not pull away and i used less fuel. we were doing about 180mph for several miles.

all i have is hyperflow cats and capristo exhaust. ferrari are pretty frigging amazing with the stock ECU and i don't see there's much to gain from chipping it. as long as you've got the breathing sorted, the stock ECU will take care of the rest. the only other thing i'm going to do is put in new air intakes and eventually the NA performance manifold.

hope this helps.

 

My F355 and BMW 745 ECU has been remapped by DMS automotive.

http://www.dmsautomotive.com/

After the ecu has been remapped, from the moment I was leaving the car park the throttle felt noticably different.

Both cars felt more responsive and smoother all through the rev range.

 

Great feedback! I went from a 993TT to my 1997 F355. I am very happy with it. I do have the hyperflow cats installed. What do you think about going with k&n or bmc air filters. What experience does anyone have with the Naperformance headers?? Is the power noticeable??

 

This website is no longer active. I can say that I have tried out evosport/Powerchip upgrades in the past and they seem to be the best in So. Cal. I am going to have a go with my Bentley GT next week!!

 

Just clicked on the link and the website is still active.
If not, just do a search on DMS Automotive.

You may like to have another try!