Well after just reading this whole thread, I'm glad my '86 has cold air. I was going to go take a look but now that I've read a forum thread I'm cool with it

OK a little sarcasm since that seems to be needed in this thread.

When I first got my car 14 years ago I went looking for internet info on it. Found lots of stuff (I think C4Vette.com is still online but new owner?). One of the things I did was to buy a lot of "3-5 HP" mods from MidAmerica. Without going into all the little things, one of the things I read was the AIT probe went into the intake plenum, which was heated. Therefore, it wasn't reading true intake air temp at the filter, and that would play the ECM.

So... being bold and probably ignorant, I got the kit and moved the AIT to the air filter box. My question now is, is that worth a damned thing? I don't remember FEELING any difference in the driving after all the little mods I did, but that one may affect mileage, timing etc without any real benefit. After all, the air temp going into the cylinders is what's important, right? The engine doesn't care about the actual air filter temp. My idea is that it probably makes the mixture a bit richer with no benefit (after having the mod installed for 14 years!).

If all the "3-5 HP" mods worked, I'd have 300 horses now. And we all know that's BS.

 

So yeah I bought a canned chip 14 years ago and didn't notice any kick from it. I forget the name of the maker now, but it's a well-known chip maker. So can these chips be programmed from an iPad?

 

No sir you cannot. These chips are burned to be piggy-backed on the factory ECM. Having a chip burned in conjunction with a dyno tune will run about $300-400 most likely but will get the best results.

Later,

Lee

 

That's what I thought.... Oh well another $X00 dollars tossed in the garbage. Won't be the first time.

No wait, it's not piggy-backed; I removed the stock chip (kept it in a safe place) and inserted the new one (Hypertech).

Either way, sounds like it's not reprogrammable.

 

Anyone have thoughts on the AIT probe relocation? Is it effective? Bad idea?

 

Those are, at best "foolers". They try to trick the ECM into thinking it is colder than it is so the ECM will dump more fuel. Why do you care what the filter temp is? The plenum is the air that goes into the combustion chambers and it might pick up engine heat. I would rather go off what the Intake Manifold is as opposed to extending the sensor to the cabin and sticking it in ice.

IMO, it is worth what some fool will pay for it so go sell it to them to recoup a few bucks back. And the answer is "YES! It becane so snappy it shook a filling loose.".

That is why we have dyno tuning. It gives you an accurate picture instead of the placebo effect. In fact, I'd say you got gyped. You should have felt some improvement since you paid money for the mod.

I generally go by the idea that if it is cheap and easy, you probably got taken for a ride. NILIF or better yet NILIC. Nothing In Life Is Cheap.

 

I'm guessing around 500 and up depending on how much time they spend to dial it all in. It isn't just a WOT number. If you were running a race car, that is all we care about. OTOH, I want it to idle properly and be smooth all over.

 

HyperJUNK more likely. AFAIK, they are another "fooler" mod. Turn the fans on to make the thing cool better. The phrase "up to" gives your imagination license to feel and assume things. If all you lose is a couple hundred dollars, consider yourself lucky. The phrase "up to" is like me saying "I will give you a huge sum of money up to $100000". Sure, I could but even if I don't, I am still legally accurate. I can give you anything up to $100K. $0 is still a valid number.

Yes and no. You cannot just download a file. You have to erase the program with a UV light and then write to the chip before using it.

 

It is effective at separating a person from his money. I would put it back in the manifold and be done with it. Sell it to the next sucker.

 

All those replies are what I've been thinking since long ago, aklim. I was hoping one or two of them would do something, but I fear all I've done is muck up my fuel mileage. *sigh* Live and learn. That was before I found this forum, I do believe.

 

Well there's a mod shop in town that does Vettes and way more. I'm going to go talk to them about a head/cam/lifter/headers/intake mods (and associated stuff) and see if they can program a chip for me. I don't have a target HP in mind but 300 whp would be sweet.

Frankly if I could change it with an iPad, I'd probably just zap it and be dead in the water. Not something one does all the time, unless one does it all the time.

 

Change your profile to show location so people can direct you to places that do. Make sure they have a dyno

I don't know about an iPad but I'd get a professional. At least get a good writer to program a "mail order tune" which is ok but not as good as a dyno tune.

 

That was the price my local shop quoted me. I trust them and it would be a legit tune and not a WOT-only tune (they did our Trans Ams as well). The guys at Cincy Speed know their stuff.

But yes I am sure you would find shops that would charge $500+...chip burning is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

Later,

Lee

 

I BOUGHT AN '89 this weekend. I started working on it and in the process of fiddling, I removed the filter housing...and guess what I saw? The same gap or opening that has been pictured earlier in this thread;






^The "yellow"/bright segments are the result of a crappy cell phone camera, and light reflecting from my concrete floor, showing where all the gaps are for air to make it up into the filter housing area.

Most folks probably don't care about this...but I always like fact finding and discovery. It appears that the early and late cars are the difference and source of discrepancy in this whole thread. The front of the '89 (with regard to engine air intake) is totally different than the '92.


.

 

Referring to IAT (Intake Air Temperature) sensor relocation (note that some people call it a MAT (Manifold Air Temperature)) sensor, I looked at the EPROM code and the ONLY thing it's used for is to enable EGR. Obviously, moving it will not have a significant effect on performance.

Here's the code:

 

I was reading some from "Corvette from the Inside" this evening and randomly saw this sidebar. I immediately thought of this thread, where earlier I asserted that:
I got lambasted and insulted by a three of our esteemed forum members for claiming such..."Tomsense". Good fun-making, for some, I guess. But let's have a look at what Dave McLellan wrote...





What's noteworthy:
"The hood was sealed around most of it's perimeter..." -I guess that's what one might call..."semi sealed"?

"...a chemical emanating from the rubber coolant hoses was the culprit...a pattern of air circulation develops in the right front corner of the engine compartment. Acting as an chimney, the opening around the headlamp delivered the engine's contaminated air to the paint."

Huh. So if air is picking up contaminates from the radiator hoses...and they're located behind the radiator...and then that air is ending up being push out around the head lights gaps...aren't the headlights straddling the air filter? It almost seems like:
I wonder if there is merit to the notion that air can, actually, move forward to the air filter area, from the engine "area". Who's have guessed? Nah! It's total "Tomsense", right?


.

 

I'm familiar with Richard Newton and his writings...let's just say that I trust Dave McLellan when it comes to information about the C4, way....WAY more than I trust RFN. You can open the hood, use your eyeballs and see where the filter is located. Nothing "fuzzy" here; the car's chief engineer is quoted above, supporting my position.

You can believe who ever you want.



.

 

I don't buy it. i don't and won't read any of the books though so call me ignorant on the subject.

i will say unless you had hands on the car and were apart of developing you only have part of the story.

i see it daily where engineers are in on meetings about something, but they really don't know anything about it if they are not the one driving the research and compiling the data.

Plenty goes on underneath that hood. There are pressure streams etc happening.

Authentic cowl hoods back in the nascar days showed what they can do. The air actually get sucked in from the back of the cowl.

Under the c4 hood we know, the temps are 185-230 depending on the car.

We know there is not a good area for the air to escape from that is why it's coming up through the head light area.

We know just throwing vents ***** nilly on the hood does not simply reduce temps.

i would not call it a cold air induction system. A sales man would. I would call it a forward facing air filter housing, as compared to a ford a the time using the fender well and isolating the air intake, but still not cold air intake.

 

Sure there is. If you use your eyeballs you can see that the radiator shroud segregates the air filter FROM the radiator's plenum. That is why people making a CAI cut a hole in the shroud and port the filter through that.

"Doesn't matter who writes about it". -When it's the chief engineer for the car. Riiiight. Like I said; You can believe whoever you want to.



The headlights are mounted ahead of the core support. Dave says they get air from behind the radiator. I believe Dave.

 

You two are going to set a record for the longest pissing match ever recorded on the Cf ...