i have heard of these computer chips you can put in your car that will give you up to 100HP gain…whats you thaught on this…i my self think its bogus…where would the 100 hp come from?
i am thinking NOT from your 02 hyundai!
this is a mind over matter hype. where would a ‘spare’ 100hp come from in these engines that only put out 80 to 120 to start with?
yes, the word bogus does come to mind.
The 100-hp claim is bogus, as you have guessed. Still, there are many so-called performance chips on the market and they do actually work. A gain of up to 10% in horsepower is not unreasonable. The downside is that it comes at the expense of mpg and increased emissions. Tuners don’t really care, but you should know this in advance. Also, use of such chips will void your factory warranty if it is currently in force.
You can reprogram your computer to get a few more horsepower, but 100HP would only be possible in a marketing man’s imagination. Oh, and that type of reprogramming causes a loss of gas mileage and perhaps higher octane gas.
Basically, the reprogrammming enables the injectors to spray more gas by enlarging the bandwidth and may advance the ignition timing, causing possible pinging. However, the intake ports and valves will only allow so much fluid (air is a fluid too) to be drawn past them by a given cylinder size and stroke. Those limitations will restrict how much horsepower can be gained.
Actually these power gains are possible, but it depends on the make of car or truck. I think my skeptical friends here on the forums are forgetting our friend the turbocharged diesel and gasoline engine. While you will never approach these massive gains in a naturally aspirated car (think along the lines of 7HP gains) in a turbocharged vehicle it’s a different story. For example a BMW with a turbocharged motor can see gains of 90+ hp with a change of computer chip. Youre increasing the boost level from the turbo by a large amount. The same goes for diesel trucks which can see massive power gains from a chip. Although, doing this will usually void a warranty.
I have a Dodge with a Cummins in it.
They do in fact make tuners that can increase the horsepower of that engine by several hundred horses and the torque by several hundred foot pounds.
From the factory, my engine produces about 350 horsepower and about 640 foot pounds of torque. A basic programmer without any engine modifications can make it make about 70 more horses and around 80 more foot pounds of torque. What they don’t tell you for more than that is the modifications you are going to have to make to the engine beyond that such as larger exhaust pipes, heavier duty boost boots, larger down pipes to lower the EGT’s back to earth, larger injectors and other necessary items up to and including adding a second or larger turbo charger. I have seen engines similar to mine generating 1100 horsepower and 1500 lbs of torque.
The fact is, with these pickup diesels is the auto manufacturers have already tweaked the dickens out of them to build horsepower for competitive reasons. While the 600 foot pounds of torque isn’t out of bounds with the Cummins in it’s other applications (machinery, tractors, marine engines, etc) it’s horsepower is about 100 horse above normal. They can still be bumped up 50 to 70 horsepower safely, but more than that, and you are asking for it in a big way. The pressures built up in these engines are extreme to say the least. Add more fuel, more air, more boost, and more heat, and your pressure can be more than the engine can stand. The Cummins’ have a reputation of standing more than most. The 6 liter Fords have a reputation of lifting the heads off the engine blocks. (One of the tuners for them highly recommends changing the head bolts to heavier duty studs in order to keep the heads on the motor at the pressure they plan to create)
Of the diesels, Dodge was the first one to install a program in the computer to detect and void warranties if a tuner has been used. Ford quickly followed suit.
Skip
Dave, Skipper, you make excellent points.
I concede.