chipping

[jondrift]

hey, im interested in a chip for my 325 1988.

everyone keeps recomending the zone chips, however they offer between 5 and 10bhp. This doesnt seem very much??

are there not any chips that give a noticble increase for these engines??

cheers, jonathan

[slippo]

to be honest i didnt notice any more power really, it was just the way it was delivered, it smoothed out all the flat spots in the rev range, and you really did notice it.

[e30_Turbo]

The chips are only able to do so much, they have limits, so do 15+yr old 12v engines

You could expect between 5 - 10 bhp at certain points with a zone chip but they are more to enhance the original map based on years of fiddling and testing. You do get more but it's delivered so smooth and refined you don't notice it. I've had the zone wild chip and it was a great improvement, better delivery, smoother etc.

Then I added the big bore TB, this worked well and a few more ponies up top appeared.

Ditched the K&N and refitted stock filter, got some low down torque back.

I suppose with a decent exhaust you should see a good 10-20bhp increase overall.

Chips can be live mapped but it isn't cheap, for the best results poss you need a standalone ECU but it's not a comparison due to the costs involved.

HTH, Mark.

[SDM]

your never going to get that good a gain on a non turbo petrol car unless its highly restricted.

but like fozzy said it helps get rid of those flat spots.

[Ant]

The power gains for the "zone" chips ( A-Tech really ) are realistic and honest, I could claim up to 25 HP gain like most others, but when its falls short of the claims, its lynch mob time

Its all about maximising the area under the graph, not the peak everyone is always chasing, spend much time flat out @ 7K ?? thats approx 900 rpms past peak HP on a stock B25

I'd rather be honest then rich

[M5pilot]

Totally spot on but everyone wants head line figures.

I have seen many a sad face after a real remap when the peak figure goes up by a measly 5-10 bhp. Then, when the before and after graphs are printed a huge smile appears (only on those faces who understand).

What they see is a flatter torque curve, more bhp through the rpm range.

They then drive the car and low and behold it feels faster ..... but the headline figures are approx the same.

Peak power is not the be all and end all of all things as Ant correctly points out.

[jondrift]

so you guys would still recomend the zone chip as the best to get as it will do more than just bhp figures?

[jondrift]

oh and also, what does everyone think of cams for my engine??

[kam-325i]

as it will do more than just bhp figures?

Spot on......

[jondrift]

ok cool, might have sorted one out now, cheers