E30 performance chips - load of crap or pure gold?

[Jerman 0]

I've recently begun restoring my old friend, a pre facelift '86 M325i. after searching around ebay for some parts i came across the standard chips for sale that offer "x amount of horsepower gain with x torque increase" (i think they were offering about 20 horsepower and 30nm).

has anyone out there had experience with such chips???

some of them were ridiculously cheap, around the US$40 mark.

secondly, and most importantly, i have a very early ecu that doesnt seem to be compatible with any of them, does this mean its time to upgrade my ecu (as the chips are built for specific ecu #'s) or can i mix and match chips to any extent?

also as a noob in this forum can i just say what an awesome wealth of knowledge some of the members here have.

keep up the great work

[drifty325i 0]

Normally these ebay chips are tuned for US gas an therefore work like crap over here(and in the US for that matter)

. However in some cases they have worked. IMO its not worth the risk

[Guest Ken]

There was a thread on this 2 or 3 months back with some very good replies.

[nz320i 0]

try power chips australia, a guy on here seemed very happy with his, range from 299 to 499 for 98 gas model

Edited November 28, 2006 by nz320i

[bimmerbaz 1]

Has any one had anything to do with superchips, i know a couple of people who have had them fitted and rave about them.Any one out there got one and can comment?

[E30stz 0]

NZ people ? or people off international forums ? its quite different comparing different markets with chips aye.

[mops 4]

NZ people ? or people off international forums ? its quite different comparing different markets with chips aye.

basically all these chip fo is invcerase timing. and that does produce more power (i'm not talking 50 hp more, but every degree is worth few hp's). however that requires you to use higher octane gas. and out 98 is really 97.5, and that is RON rating, which = about 90 octane MON rating = pretty poor. dont get me wrong, you can incerase timing few degrees across the board and it will be ok, but too much will just cause exxesive detenation and eventual faliure of the engine.

I think stage 1 turbo setup is much better option than to muck around with bolton n/a upgrades on m20.

Edited November 29, 2006 by mops

[hybrid 1043]

We I bought the m325 it had one of these chips from the UK installed.

It has a lot of extra pep up top, however it detonates down low. (if you pick the wrong gear and floor it .. you can really hear it)

Even though I run the thing on 98 .. i'd say it still no enough for this chip. Not worried .. engine and ECU will be gone soon

worth it? ... after driving several 325's without chips ... I would say if you want something the has "more" up top then I guess they are worth it ... but I would honestly just get a hotter cam instead, much more "real" power.

[ED1RTY 2]

want pure gold??? get a link or even better.... motec much more tunability

[Gus 5]

We I bought the m325 it had one of these chips from the UK installed.

It has a lot of extra pep up top, however it detonates down low. (if you pick the wrong gear and floor it .. you can really hear it)

Even though I run the thing on 98 .. i'd say it still no enough for this chip. Not worried .. engine and ECU will be gone soon

worth it? ... after driving several 325's without chips ... I would say if you want something the has "more" up top then I guess they are worth it ... but I would honestly just get a hotter cam instead, much more "real" power.

thanks man

[m325i 709]

We I bought the m325 it had one of these chips from the UK installed.

It has a lot of extra pep up top, however it detonates down low. (if you pick the wrong gear and floor it .. you can really hear it)

Even though I run the thing on 98 .. i'd say it still no enough for this chip. Not worried .. engine and ECU will be gone soon

worth it? ... after driving several 325's without chips ... I would say if you want something the has "more" up top then I guess they are worth it ... but I would honestly just get a hotter cam instead, much more "real" power.

Its definately pokier eh. Cam would be good, that chip was like $60.

With reference to having an 'older' type ecu, you just need to get the extra pins soldered on. Cost me like $20 from a TV repair guy.

[nz320i 0]

hmm talked to the guy (cant remember his name) at GAC, he thinks its crap, and there are plenty of other things, unless you get a link of course!

[mops 4]

hmm talked to the guy (cant remember his name) at GAC, he thinks its crap, and there are plenty of other things, unless you get a link of course!

linnk will not give you much more power, and certainly not more than something liek Jon Conforti chip. Basically after tuning fuel tables (tuning fuel does not give you more power) you will be able to run some more timing than stoc ecu, and that is the same as performance chip.

you really have to think what are your goals. if you just want to spend little $$$ then go with a pod filter, better exhaust and a chip, with 98 fuel and always keep some octane booster on hand, in case you get a poor batch of fuel. JCchip is (i think) tuned for 100 super fuel (europe best fuel) and because of that it advances timing about 7 degrees across the board (at wot), but out shitty fuel wont handle that timing... unless you are prepared to drive constantly on octane booster or toulene or avgas (quite possibly, similat price to normal fuel, 110 octane, but your oxygen sensor will die rather quick incerasing fuel consumption). I know what i'm talking about, i have myself installed and tuned megasquirt ecu.

if you are thingkinlike this: now i have a some money and later (when i get some money) i'd like something major deon (either or cams, short tunner intake manifold, long tube headers, turbo high compression pistons), then dont waste your money on chip, just get link now. or other ecu. i run megasquirt for example.

[Guest Andrew]

linnk will not give you much more power, and certainly not more than something liek Jon Conforti chip. Basically after tuning fuel tables (tuning fuel does not give you more power) you will be able to run some more timing than stoc ecu, and that is the same as performance chip.

you really have to think what are your goals. if you just want to spend little $$$ then go with a pod filter, better exhaust and a chip, with 98 fuel and always keep some octane booster on hand, in case you get a poor batch of fuel. JCchip is (i think) tuned for 100 super fuel (europe best fuel) and because of that it advances timing about 7 degrees across the board (at wot), but out shitty fuel wont handle that timing... unless you are prepared to drive constantly on octane booster or toulene or avgas (quite possibly, similat price to normal fuel, 110 octane, but your oxygen sensor will die rather quick incerasing fuel consumption). I know what i'm talking about, i have myself installed and tuned megasquirt ecu.

if you are thingkinlike this: now i have a some money and later (when i get some money) i'd like something major deon (either or cams, short tunner intake manifold, long tube headers, turbo high compression pistons), then dont waste your money on chip, just get link now. or other ecu. i run megasquirt for example.

Links main advantage is removal of the AFM. I got huge gains with the link

[mops 4]

Links main advantage is removal of the AFM. I got huge gains with the link

indeed, afm is a major restriction, but as I see in my datalogs stock afm limits manifold pressure only by about max of 5 kpa, and only at peak torque, which is roughly 5% of total air intake, possibly about 5% of toruq there....

so you say huge gains, can you describe exacly how much you got over stock ? only link of some other mods (afm removal obviously) ? what was the total power incerase from stock (if you took that reading) ? i suppose with link (or any other exu for that matter) and afm removal and possibly exhaustand timing advance up to near limit of 98 pump gas, I estimate 5-7% across the board can be achieved. what were your results ?

i'm not trying to argue or be a smart a$$, but i'm geniuenly interested on the details.

IMHO, it's not really power gain, but rather recovering/restoring lost power over the engine life due to wear/carbon deposits + tuning for better fuel.

i also noticed m20b25 runs really retarded at peak torque, probably to make the powerband feel smoother to the redline. it is normaly for these engines to retard at peak torque, because of the combustion chamber design they are knock limited in that area... one might argue they are made efficiently.. i dont want to start a debate here.

if you had your link timing map handy, it would be really cool if you cold post it here just wot values or the screenshot of the whole thing...

[drifty325i 0]

hmm talked to the guy (cant remember his name) at GAC, he thinks its crap, and there are plenty of other things, unless you get a link of course!

Graham has always been against the eprom chip upgrade. IMO they do work BUT they are a waste of money. Very little to be gained, and alot can go wrong esp when the chips are designed over seas. They need to be personalized to our conditions eg,fuel,weather,p/f,f/l, manual,auto ect. BTW Graham does not belive you can change or upgrade the eprom in a p/f m20, but i know for a fact you can I agree with Graham to a point, most chips a bloody sh*t

[phil millar 0]

I have used a John Confoti chip 172/173 ecu and have not had any problems with it, there is no pre knock and runs equally well on NZ 91 octane.The people who are on this forum seem to knock chips without any real experience in using them or going on the say so of someone else so the comments are biased.I have 3 performance chips of varying increases and all of them perform well aboven my expectations and on NZ 91 octane.It must be remembered that our petrol is of a higher quality than US and it makes sense that this would make the car run better on our NZ octane.

[nz320i 0]

have you got a spare youd like to sell phil? or do you mean you have 3 cars all with chips in them? cheers

[tintop 10]

It must be remembered that our petrol is of a higher quality than US and it makes sense that this would make the car run better on our NZ octane.

The yanks use a different octane rating. We use RON, there is another used somewhere else in the world called MON.

The yanks use an average of both R+M/2. The 93 they use is similar to our 98, their 91 is better than our 95.

[drifty325i 0]

I have used a John Confoti chip 172/173 ecu and have not had any problems with it, there is no pre knock and runs equally well on NZ 91 octane.The people who are on this forum seem to knock chips without any real experience in using them or going on the say so of someone else so the comments are biased.I have 3 performance chips of varying increases and all of them perform well aboven my expectations and on NZ 91 octane.It must be remembered that our petrol is of a higher quality than US and it makes sense that this would make the car run better on our NZ octane.

I hope you not talking about me? As i currently use a performance chip which works great, but it was designed for my car and its conditions ,most of the ebay knocK off chips are copys of JC chips that are designed for the US. US fuel is better than ours so i dont know where you get that ours is good from. Just a wild guess but is yours a F/L ?

[Guest Andrew]

indeed, afm is a major restriction, but as I see in my datalogs stock afm limits manifold pressure only by about max of 5 kpa, and only at peak torque, which is roughly 5% of total air intake, possibly about 5% of toruq there....

so you say huge gains, can you describe exacly how much you got over stock ? only link of some other mods (afm removal obviously) ? what was the total power incerase from stock (if you took that reading) ? i suppose with link (or any other exu for that matter) and afm removal and possibly exhaustand timing advance up to near limit of 98 pump gas, I estimate 5-7% across the board can be achieved. what were your results ?

i'm not trying to argue or be a smart a$$, but i'm geniuenly interested on the details.

IMHO, it's not really power gain, but rather recovering/restoring lost power over the engine life due to wear/carbon deposits + tuning for better fuel.

i also noticed m20b25 runs really retarded at peak torque, probably to make the powerband feel smoother to the redline. it is normaly for these engines to retard at peak torque, because of the combustion chamber design they are knock limited in that area... one might argue they are made efficiently.. i dont want to start a debate here.

if you had your link timing map handy, it would be really cool if you cold post it here just wot values or the screenshot of the whole thing...

My gains are not "real" gains - as I have a b25 block with b23 head - so with the stock ECU it was whacking out an impressive 110hp to the rw. With the link (plus custom headers/exhaust - holden 5ltr injectors) and a retune - it whacked out 185 rwhp. So for me the gain was huge - as the ECU was not working properly before hand.

If you download PC Link - my map is posted in the performance section.

[mops 4]

My gains are not "real" gains - as I have a b25 block with b23 head - so with the stock ECU it was whacking out an impressive 110hp to the rw. With the link (plus custom headers/exhaust - holden 5ltr injectors) and a retune - it whacked out 185 rwhp. So for me the gain was huge - as the ECU was not working properly before hand.

If you download PC Link - my map is posted in the performance section.

185rwhp is trully impressive result form that setup.

anyways, i'm trying to download that link map from http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....779&hl=link , but there seems to be an error - file missing...

[Guest Andrew]

185rwhp is trully impressive result form that setup.

anyways, i'm trying to download that link map from http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....779&hl=link , but there seems to be an error - file missing...

head got gas flowed etc etc - compression ratio is probably rather high now.

Tuning laptop is with the turbo right now - and racecar is in garage - will download the map as soon as I can.