[sboylan]

While enjoying the cool summer night in my Goat I met this Technician who pretty much has the market corned in Northeast Indiana while reprogramming GM EEProm's. The down & dirty is this: $110 gets you 30 horses, and a guaranteed 3mpg increase. I'm thinking of getting this done and would like to know of any insight/past experiences anyone might be able to add, also if this is a great deal and more people are interested I might be able to get the price down if he knows he's getting more work?!?!

Thanks in advance...

 

[The_Goat]

110.00 isn't bad at all. I'm interested.

 

[GTOfreak]

110.00 isn't bad at all. I'm interested.

me too, but do you have to send it to him? I live in CT.

 

[GTPprix]

30 horse on a stock car is a blatant lie, at $110 you get what you pay for, most likely nothing.

 

[RiceEater]

I really have no idea how he plans on giving the cars +30hp and +3mpg without adding anything to the car.

 

[sboylan]

There were nine of us last night so I didn't get to talk in much detail about it, I am really interested and am asking for details - if you don't have a better answer than...

"30 horse on a stock car is a blatant lie, at $110 you get what you pay for, most likely nothing."

and

"I really have no idea how he plans on giving the cars +30hp and +3mpg without adding anything to the car."

Please don't answer, you add no intelligent insight to this thread execept for spam while most likely running the posters with some background in this away from posting...

 

[GTPprix]

with some background in this away from posting...

Well uuhh, that would be me and since I told you it was a ripoff what more do you want? If YOU are asking for info and YOU dont have a clue what you are talking about why are YOU shunning people who do know WTF they are talking about (ME) when we are trying to help YOU?

 

[sboylan]

Well uuhh, that would be me and since I told you it was a ripoff what more do you want? If YOU are asking for info and YOU dont have a clue what you are talking about why are YOU shunning people who do know WTF they are talking about (ME) when we are trying to help YOU?

You're doing nothing except proving my point; instead of wasting time with your uninformative responses of how much knowledge you have in reprogramming a LS1 chip, why not teach me as to why this is not possible and why I would be getting ripped off? Instead you get defensive, try to force your point, and appeaer very uneducated in doing so.

 

[GTPprix]

Oh good lord, make sure you get KY (preferably the warming kind) with your "chip".

 

[RiceEater]

The reason you can't get 30 more horsepower just from reprogramming the chip in any way is because a new computer set-up for the car in no way changes the engines out-put. The most you could do with the chips in cars today is adjust when the car shifts up to the next gear with an auto tranny, and things of that sort. To actually get more power from your engine you would need to add HARDWARE to the car like a turbo/super charger which forces the engine to eat more gas and take in more air, thus making the ngine work more efficiently and more powerfully. If it were just a matter or adjusting some program in the car, then you could see Dodge Neon's driving around at 250hp.

There is the possibility that the engine is capable of outputting more power than the programming is restricting it too, but I don't think that is the case with the GTO. Sure the GTO may be capable of putting out 410 hp, but the manufacturer (GM) puts a restriction on the engine in this way so that the car does not work itself to death and your engine doesn't blow out on you within the first 20,000 miles.

Basically, it's possible that the guy can reprogram the chip, but there is no way I can think of that you would get 30 hp out of it. If the GTO were able to put out 430hp easily enough, im sure Pontiac would make it do so. For the amount of extra hp you do get out of it though it isn't worth the amount of damage that would be done to your engine from pushing it soo hard.

EDIT - And I noticed we were actually talking about a 2004 LS1 goat here, which the same stuff applies really. I'm quite sure though that the LS1 engine is capped at 350hp and has been for all the years it has been out and used, so what the guy is saying is basically bull.

 

[silvergoat05]

I don't know if the guy can get 30 more horses or not, but, the correct term here is 'Flash Programming', chips went out about 13 years ago.

As to GM programing, there is always more on the table as they come from the factory. Spark timing can be changed to a more aggressive curve, fuel can be leaned out, IAT tables can be adjusted, but I can't say by how much.

Factory programing has to meet ALL world driving, from the extreme desert to the extreme cold. Where ever GM thinks you can take this car. The programing also limits output to save GM warranty repairs. Which is part of the reason there is Torque Management.

 

[RiceEater]

That's what I was saying. The guy could adjust it to get more hp, but I seriously doubt 30 more, and then the higher he adjusts it the more wear and tear there would be caused to the engine.

If you have any powertrain problems and take it into the dealership and hook it up to the scanner to see whats wrong... well if they notice that the chip's programming has been changed to affect the engines performance and can find out that because of the change is what cause the powertrain problems... you may not be covered under warranty for it.

I'd just find out exactly what this guy plans on doing and post back to us beforeyou go with it. With more info I'm sure there are people on here that can give you a solid yes or no as to whether it's worth it.

 

[b_a_betterperson]

For around $500 you can buy a Superchips programmer and get around 24 more horsepower at the wheel at 4900 rpm.

Go to http://www.superchips.com/product.phtml?p=7&mmk=577&msg=+ then download the dyno results.

These guys have been around a long time. They've built a very good company -- and I doubt they're doing it with smoke and mirrors. That said, I've haven't personally used one of their set ups on a daily basis -- so I have no idea what this does for fuel mileage, driveability and, as another poster discussed, long-term reliability.

Perhaps the guy who wants to do the tune is just using a SuperChips or similar programmer to set your car up. The 30 horsepower claim is probably at the engine -- not at the wheel.

You're better off buying a SuperChips programmer for a couple of reasons -- they have a 30 day money back guarantee if you don't like the set-up. Also, any time you take the car in for service, it's a good idea to have the factory settings in place. Running back and forth to some guy who wants to ding you for a Frankie every time would get old fast.

 

[silvergoat05]

If all you want is a few more ponies, then a hand held programer is better. Prior to taking your car to a dealer for repairs, you can load the stock program back in. If you don't do this and they perform an update, your hand held is now just an expensive paper weight and your tune is history.

If you have a custom tune done, will the installer provide you with the same support?

Plus, the PCM keeps track of how many times it was accessed.

 

[sboylan]

Rice Eater, SilverGoat, and B A Betterperson thank you for your insight, I will try to get a more clearer explanation hopefully this weekend and report back. I guess the old adage is money, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is...

 

[HTRDLNCN]

when i first bought my LSC I took it to Superchips,,not a local outlet but the main office/dyno facility in Longwood. I had been on the phone with their engineer. Basically we agreed that I would pay the chip+dyno if they could could get their claims (15hp) on my then basically stock 5.0 ...
On the first run they tried their basic off the shelf program and prompty dropped 12hp..
Long story short after 6 hours on the dyno they got 4hp ........ yes 6 friggin hours for 4hp ,,well there was an hour for lunch though,LOL..!
needless to say i didnt buy anything and he agreed it wasnt worth $350 for 4hp. They were very nice and professional about it all considering the time they wasted on me but it was a good lesson for me..

Unless there is something really stupid/mistake in the factory programming a chip/reburn/programmer isnt gonna do much on a stock car.

dont believe the hype...

 

[RiceEater]

Superchips is a great company and they're the ones I would go to for the tuning and such.

Like was just said though, a custom chip tune won't do much at all for a stock car, just because Pontiac did a hell of a lot of work tunning the car themself so that it would perform as well as it does. I mean come on, 0-60 in 4.7 seconds on a $35k car?

Anyway, if you had a super/turbo/magna charger hooked up, or myabe a custom CAI system or some other performance affecting part like that, a custom chip set could definately do you some good. Until you add nice goodies like that onto your car don't worry about getting a new chip.

 

[GTPprix]

Get the car dyno tuned by a competant tuner, it will cost around the same as a handheld and will be custom tailored to your car which means more power/possible drivability