Performance Chip

[lupes5]

i have a J. Conforti performance chip installed in my car...i was wondering that if i was to put on a cold air intake, exhaust, or new cams, would i need to send it back to be retuned, for any of these, or all of these?

 

[VANCE]

I ASKED THE FELLOW AT TMS ABOUT THE CAI AND HE TOLD ME IT WAS NOT NECESSARY (SP?) TO SEND IT BACK FOR THAT...
TO THE BEST OF MY LIMITED KNOWLEDGE THE COMPUTER WILL MAKE THE PROPER ADJUSTMENTS OVER A FEW DAY PERIOD..
HOPE THAT HELPS

 

[brahtw8]

With OBDI cars, which I am assuming you have since you said chip and not software upgrade and this is on the E36 forum, you can do an exhaust intake, and throttle body without having to reprogram the chip. On OBDII cars, the tolerances are much tighter and you may need to reprogram. With cams, even on an OBDI car, I think you would need a new/upgraded chip.

That is what Dinan told me last year when I called before buying the tri-flow for my 325i.

 

[MaTTerZ]

I've been contemplating getting a chip/intake/etc setup as well and wondered if you two had any suggestions or advice?

I have a 1992 325i 5 spd, someone said that it wouldnt be as beneficial as if I had a '93 or later, is that true?

What kind of performance increases have you seen with each upgrade?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

 

[brahtw8]

Try the information posted later in this thread:

http://forum.bmwboard.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=250

To sum up:

Driving schools before mods.

Tires, wheels, brakes, suspension before engine/exhaust/intake/cams/turbo/SC.

The increases to the non-vanos 92 will not be as great as the 93+ single vanos cars (explanation in above thread).

I would say that the most you could hope for with a chip, intake, throttle body, and exhaust would be 210 hp/210 ft/lbs, and some would say that is too high. Cams can give you more power, say perhaps 220 hp/ft lbs with other mods, forced induction kits usually run around 270 hp/250 ft/lbs.

These are just estimates, you really have to dyno the car stock and after every mod to know for sure.

Keep in mind that if you do dyno the car, the power numbers will be approx. 15% lower than the manufacturer or tuners quote, because they are talking about horsepower at the crankshaft, and the dyno will measure horsepower at the wheels, which is less due to friction loss from the drivetrain, etc.

 

[ACSTypeI]

i have a J. Conforti performance chip installed in my car...i was wondering that if i was to put on a cold air intake, exhaust, or new cams, would i need to send it back to be retuned, for any of these, or all of these?

Nope. JC software is designed from the get-go to work with intake and exhaust already.. Actually, most software is programmed with the belief that the user already has intake and/or exhaust...

but if you get new cams or FI.. then that's a different story..

 

[frolf]

Try the information posted later in this thread:



To sum up:

Driving schools before mods.

Tires, wheels, brakes, suspension before engine/exhaust/intake/cams/turbo/SC.

.

p.s. don't blow your money on bigass wheels either. they are horse$hit for performance unless they are super light weight. get some good rubber, some good brakes (though BMW OEM kick butt anyways, though a pad upgrade would be nice regardless) then do your basics. chip, intake, exhaust. then get creative. do throttle bodies, cams, flywheel, clutch. make sure your suspension can handle all this, maybe even an LSD.

 

[brahtw8]

p.s. don't blow your money on bigass wheels either. they are horse$hit for performance unless they are super light weight. get some good rubber, some good brakes (though BMW OEM kick butt anyways, though a pad upgrade would be nice regardless) then do your basics. chip, intake, exhaust. then get creative. do throttle bodies, cams, flywheel, clutch. make sure your suspension can handle all this, maybe even an LSD.

Yes, when I recommend wheels, I am talking about 16s or 17s (max) for an E36, with 225/50/16 or 235/40/17 rubber. Weight is very important, particularly unsprung weight such as the wheels (and tires and brake disks, calipers, rotors, etc.) SSR makes a good lightweight wheel for not a lot of cash, as do some others (OZ comes to mind). You also want to find a forged or semi-solid forged wheel as opposed to cast, for improved strength (generally speaking, although some cast wheels can be very strong if done well).

For a relatively inexpensive performance tire, I recommend the Yoko AVS ES100. Others like the Kumho Ecsta Supra 712. If you are going to spend a lot of cash, get some SO3s.

For pads I like Pagid for street and Mintex for track.