What Chips Are Available?

RM Racing

[MJ] Randy told me he "used" to have the Autothority chip, but has since developed his own and gets them through a different supplier. We will find out on the dyno.

[CA] I am very impressed with the RM CPU upgrade, I wouldnt say it is much faster, but you can definately feel the difference over stock, crisper throttle response, quicker, smoother acceleration....I like it. If you have headers/exhaust , I recommend this upgrade.

The Anders scale (5 stars max score)

I can now spin the 275/35ZR-18's without downshifting (TCS off, will chirp very little with TCS on).

Mark Johnson's "Chip-Off" Dyno Day

[Note: The following text, data, and graphs are posted exactly as received from Mark Johnson of Dali Racing. It should be noted that it wasn't possible for him to test all chips with the mods they were designed for, but the results are still interesting.]

Introduction

In this "chip-off" we were trying to see if there really were any measurable differences in the aftermarket chips available, and if there were, if they actually improved performance or just PEAK #'s. Those are two different animals as you shall see from the graphs.

Several samples were rounded up from members of the list. (THANKS to all who provided chips) One manufacturer (RM Racing) sent in a sample of their 'C' chip. These chips were tested in May-June of '98. The DALI chip was tested in late August. All published tests were run on the same car (my 1992, extensively modified - see below for a list of mods) or if specified, on a '91 with an RSR exhaust (otherwise stock) owned by Raymond Wisco. All tests were done on the same dyno (DynoJet) by the same tech at the same shop. The DynoJet was calibrated for temperature, humidity and barometric pressure before each series of runs. (not before each run) All runs were made in 3rd gear to ~redline.

The chips were tested as follows:

After a Baseline run with the OEM chip was recorded -

1. Disconnect battery
2. Remove and replace chip with aftermarket sample
3. Reconnect battery
4. Run to redline 2X for the ECU to "learn" the chip
5. Record run #3 for charting purposes
6. Rrepeat

My Mods: RM Headers, RM Exhaust, RM Intake, Comptech Internal Engine Mods

Data Notes:

If you look at the graphs you can see that most of the chips, while having some PEAK #'s that are better than stock, do not perform that much better than the OEM tuning ! With most increases measuring just in the 1-2% range - However, since they were consistently higher than the OEM chip, I do think that they are valid #'s.

The "Driveability index"

The most interesting graphs to me are the "Power Chart" graphs which show the "area under the curve" so to speak, in terms of average torque and total HP over the rpm ranges specified. SURPRISE! ("Elementary" sez Alan W. EE extrordinaire) Only the DALI and RM chips are an actual real world improvement over stock !! (see Power Chart '92 - OEM as '0')

Chip-Off Graphs:

Chip-Off Data: