I'm not sure exactly where this goes, but what does it mean when someone puts a chip in their car? I heard it can add around 10-20 HP? Any help or direction somewhere where I can find more information on this would be a great help...

I've tried the search feature btw...

Again, any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

No chips on the Z.

Robert (Thinks he should start selling those solenoids on eBay to make a good profit)

 

Oh...aight thanks for the info...what does a chip do exactly? And how come there is no chip for the 350z

 

I believe that a chip usually adjusts fuel/air mixture, upgrading the car's former chip, the onboard computer. That is how it makes hp, there are also trany chips for automatic cars that upgrade shift performance like you can buy for BMWs etc.

For the Z we have a computer unit that controls all of that, so to up grade it you either need to replace it or put a piggy-back unit in conjunction with the onboard unit such as Unichip, Utec and there are some others out there. I've heard people still call these systems "chips" though. They serve the same purpose.

 

How much are they? and are they worth the price?

 

You can find them for around $900. I'm sure if you looked around a bit, you could find them for less. I have the Unichip on my car. The benifit is that a skilled tuner can adjust air/fuel ratio on the dyno to increas hp pretty dramatically. I gained about 35 whp after installing my unichip, but that was in conjunction with exhaust, intake plenum, cold air intake, high flow cats, and headers at the time.

The more capacity your car has to breathe and inject fuel, the better the results you can get with units like these. They work well with FI also, actually a must.

 

Oh...ok so if I decide to get FI like a SC or a turbo I should get that...otherwise if I get like a intercooler, intake..etc I can lay off it?

If I do get one, it will require tuning?

 

You can go with out, but in order to get the maximum out of your mods it might be a good idea to pick one up. I think most of these units have programs already installed, or at least blueprints for these programs. The problem you may incounter if you get one early, is that you may have to re-tune it every time you upgrade your car to get the most out of it. If you can find someone who will do this for cheap that certainly helps.

Also another point, the stock unit is a learning unit. Meaning that it will adjust itself with the piggy-back unit depending on the conditions it encounters. It may detune your ... well... tune. I've heard that you can get around this by adding higher octane fuel and/or octane booster to your fuel. Does anyone know if this is correct or no?

As for the stand alone units, I don't think any of them adjust themselves. This can be dangerous if you are running a lot of hp and high boost by over stressing your motor in certain conditions. I'm sure I'll get flamed for that statement. heh heh heh... The piggy back units, in my tuners' opinion are safer. Its all up to what you want. With out FI, either one is just as good.