Car Mod

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cpals

Diamond Member
Mar 5, 2001
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At work last week a guy brought in this electronic device that he had hooked up to his truck and he said it "tweaked" it or something and increased his HP and took off his speed limiter, etc... He said it was like $300 and the other guy was like 'yeah, those things are awesome.' Now they aren't stupid kids that just buy crap so I was wondering what exactly they bought....

I looked on eBay out of curiosity and they are selling these "performance chips/mods" that supposedly add 20 HP and stuff for like $10. They are for a Chevy Cavlier, BTW. Is this a scam or do these things actually work?

Just wondering... don't flame please. :D
 
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Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,158
59
91
Real chips, like the 300.00 one you mentioned work.

Air box mods are worthless in comparison, but yes, they are cheaper. They just don't make much difference.


Edited becaue I didn't read the entire original post.
 
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Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,158
59
91
One more thing, you have to ask yourself is 20hp worth it? Not just the price of the chip, but the cost in gas....you will have to run premium from then on if you install one, unless you reverse the changes.
 
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cpals

Diamond Member
Mar 5, 2001
4,494
0
76
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
One more thing, you have to ask yourself is 20hp worth it? Not just the price of the chip, but the cost in gas....you will have to run premium from then on if you install one, unless you reverse the changes.
Click to expand...

Why premium? I usually buy 89 gas.
 
C

cpals

Diamond Member
Mar 5, 2001
4,494
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76
If someone did want to buy... are there any "good" brands to buy? eBay had hundreds of different kinds ranging from $5 to $30.
 
A

Actaeon

Diamond Member
Dec 28, 2000
8,657
20
76
There are legitiment "chips" for various cars. Turbocharged and Diesel Trucks come to mind (more specifically, the 1.8T from VW). They basically adjust boost levels from the turbocharger and there is more power.

However, I am doubting such a chip exists for your Cavalier.

I'm sure its a scam, but someone can attempt to prove me otherwise.
 
9

91TTZ

Lifer
Jan 31, 2005
14,374
1
0
Originally posted by: cpals
At work last week a guy brought in this electronic device that he had hooked up to his truck and he said it "tweaked" it or something and increased his HP and took off his speed limiter, etc... He said it was like $300 and the other guy was like 'yeah, those things are awesome.' Now they aren't stupid kids that just buy crap so I was wondering what exactly they bought....

I looked on eBay out of curiosity and they are selling these "performance chips/mods" that supposedly add 20 HP and stuff for like $10. They are for a Chevy Cavlier, BTW. Is this a scam or do these things actually work?

Just wondering... don't flame please. :D
Click to expand...

They are talking about chips for the car's ECU.

They do not do much on a naturally aspirated car. You can increase your timing a bit to improve power, but 20 hp is really optimistic, depending on the engine. On a 300 hp NA engine you might pick up 20 hp, but you're not going to pick up nearly 20 hp on a 100 HP NA engine.

For a turbocharged/supercharged car it's a different story, since you're getting the vast majority of the power increase from the added boost that you're giving and not from the ECU chip itself. The ECU makes sure that the proper fuel/air ratio is maintained and most factory ECU's will not be able to compensate for all the air that you're now giving it. My Z is turbocharged, and I increased the boost up to 15 psi. That's where the power came from, not from the chip itself. But if I did this on the factory ECU, it wouldn't know what to do with 15 psi of boost because the stock maps don't go that high. It would either lean out and detonate or go full rich as an emergency measure. Installing the reprogrammed ECU allowed it to accurately control the fuel/air mixture well past the factory ECU's range.
 
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91TTZ

Lifer
Jan 31, 2005
14,374
1
0
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
can we have Car Mods in ATOT?
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That would be counter-productive because it would attract people who have no idea what they're talking about. You'd have people giving advice on how to turbocharge a car and people would end up granding their engines. Later you'd find out that the "team of mechanics" giving advice are actually 7th grade students in the computer lab of their school at recess.
 
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Pepsi90919

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,162
1
81
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
can we have Car Mods in ATOT?
Click to expand...

That would be counter-productive because it would attract people who have no idea what they're talking about. You'd have someone giving advice on how to turbocharge a car and people would end up granding their engines. Later you'd find out that the "team of mechanics" giving advice are actually 7th grade students in the computer lab of their school at recess.
Click to expand...

it was a play on words. Car Moderators.
 
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91TTZ

Lifer
Jan 31, 2005
14,374
1
0
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

it was a play on words. Car Moderators.
Click to expand...

Damn. When I read your post I was thinking to myself that you either meant Car Mods, as a joke on mods, or "Car Mods" as a new forum like P&N.

I chose the wrong one.

 
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Pepsi90919

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,162
1
81
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

it was a play on words. Car Moderators.
Click to expand...

Damn. When I read your post I was thinking to myself that you either meant Car Mods, as a joke on mods, or "Car Mods" as a new forum like P&N.

I chose the wrong one.
Click to expand...

:p
 
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91TTZ

Lifer
Jan 31, 2005
14,374
1
0
Maybe we can have a new forum called Car Mods that's moderated by a 1988 Toyota Corolla.
 
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Heisenberg

Lifer
Dec 21, 2001
10,621
1
0
Originally posted by: cpals
So is this something that is fake or would damage the car? It was the most expensive one they had...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI...em&category=33597&item=7954977056&rd=1
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It's just another one of those resistor scam deals. Read the thread CadetLee linked above. You can buy legitimate chip reprogrammer's but honestly, for a Cavalier, it's a waste of money. You may pick up a few horsepower if you're lucky, but it's not going to make any practical difference in the way the car drives on the street.
 
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Vegito

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 1999
8,329
0
0
the only thing that works for honda/acura are the hondata and some superchips.. other stuff really dont work..
 
NutBucket

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,151
635
126
Originally posted by: forcesho
the only thing that works for honda/acura are the hondata and some superchips.. other stuff really dont work..
Click to expand...

Hondata isn't exactly a chip;) There's lots of real systems out there; Uberdata comes to mind along with AEM's EMS and Greddy's E-manage. These, along with Hondata are really more along the lines of programmable ECU's though.
 
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Sentinel

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2000
3,714
1
71
i knew some guys in HS that put chip mods in their cars. i think they thought it made them cool.
 
NutBucket

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,151
635
126
Originally posted by: Sentinel
i knew some guys in HS that put chip mods in their cars. i think they thought it made them cool.
Click to expand...

It does serve a purpose if done correctly. If I leaned out the top end fuel maps of my ECU I'd pick up probably 5-10 hp. Its programmed rich from the factory to prevent detonation.
 
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Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,158
59
91
Oops. I'll edit my first post. I didn't read the part about the chips on Ebay being $10. Of course that's a scam. REAL chips do work, but they are more than ten bucks.
 
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