has any one one here used one of thes chips? and if so do they actually work or are they a big waste of money? also could i get the same effects by advancing the timing a couple of degrees manually? Thanks.

 

Forgot to mention that i have an 81 and an 82 vette.

 

advancing the timing won't help, the ECM will adjust it for whatever the O2 sensor says. The chip works mostly at WOT acording to the advert. Jury is still out for me. I am concidering the one for the 160* thermostat tho.

 

I put one in my 82 and I noticed a difference in smoother shifting and a seat of your pants difference in the 0-60 :thumbs

 

well there is a used one going up on ebay for an 82, and i already have a shift kit in my 82, would that one work for my 81 or probably not? thanks

 

Almost definately not. More sensor inputs on the 82 than the 81. While I don't know for sure, I can't imagine that they're interchangable.

 

For what they cost its a waste of money for what little they do.
It only adds a few degrees of timing at WOT and disables TCC lockup in the lower gears to get rid of that low speed lugging.
Ive used one on my 82 before and saw no noticiable gain in performance. Also if you use the 160 stat you will be going in and out of closed loop at idle. Spend your hard earned money on mods that do perform.

Ed

 

That's the sort of response I got when I asked about one for my '81 (but worded stronger!!!). I later saw one for sale by a forum member & bought it. I reckon it definitely made an improvement. The difference is that I'd changed a few parts so the motor wasn't stock. You'll probably find that it's not really worth the bother for a stock motor (unless you see one going cheap).
I wouldn't have thought that an '82 chip would work in an '81.
Advancing the timing is a good idea. The base timing is set by the user & the confuser has no idea of what it is. What it does is to say "OK, I'm running at x rpm, sensors are reading a,b,c, I need to advance the timing by 14*". It doesn't say "I need to run 36BTDC under these conditions". I advanced the timing on mine from the stock 6BTDC to 11BTDC & there's a definite improvement in throttle response at the bottom end. It's much better. In fact, it doesn't feel a bit "lazy" when I blip the throttle like it used to, it reacts instantly. I was told that you can go up to 13BTDC safely but I like to have a safety margin (I've had enough of blowing holes through piston crowns due to darn unleaded fuel!). After swapping cams I found, to my disappointment, that a lot of the bottom end torque had gone missing. I was pissed about it! Then I fitted the Hypertech chip, advanced the base timing, & found that a lot of the bottom end power was back. Can't remember if it was due to advancing the timing or fitting the chip?
I'd say advance the timing (as it costs nothing & can always be changed back to stock if you're not happy with the results) but not bother with a chip unless you've done some mods (duals, cam, CR, etc) as you'll probably be disappointed.

I wouldn't advise fitting a 160stat if you've got a good cooling system or run in a cold climate. I've seen posts in the past where people have found that the engine goes in & out of closed loop as mentioned above. Also, in the case of an auto, I've seen people reporting that TCC lockup was badly affected by running a lower rated stat. I'm running a 180 & would like to say everything is fine, but it's not! It runs well but the computer never requests TCC lockup. It could be due to running at a lower coolant temp, but it could also be due to the 140speedo I fitted at the same time (VSS may not be working in it).

 

Ok thanks fellas. after the replies i think im just goin to advance the timing my self. but i have to ask what is TCC lockup? im not sure of the abrevations. thanks for the replies.

 

torque converter clutch, it gives you slightly better gas milage on the highway, a sort of almost overdrive but not really. God bless, Sensei

 

UKPAUL, good info, I didn't realise that you could change the base timing and make a diff, thought it was set completely by the ECM if it was in close. Is there some sort of input from the Spedo to the ECM?

 

Hi, Yes, you can advance the base timing, which effectively advances the entire advance curve. You won't be able to change the curve in any way (not without messing about with the contents of the chip), but it's an easy way to get a little more power/response out of it. When I get some spare time (Ha!) I'll hook a strobe up to mine & see what the max advance is & when it's all in by (or whether it advances right the way up to the red line) & see how it compares to what people aim for when changing springs on "normal" systems.

The speedo contains a VSS (vehicle Speed Sensor) whick looks to be a small relective strip of metal that spins and there's an optical pickup pointed at it. I'm not sure what the ECM uses the input for, but would guess that it's at least used for the decision to lock up the converter. Everything I've read on '81 TCC control specifies a minimum speed for lockup and, as I didn't find anything "intelligent" in the trans I'm guessing that the input from the VSS is what's used.

 

Cool, thanks