Has anyone chipped their L98? What chip do you recommend and have you had any problems?

 

My '87 had a Hypertech chip in it when I got it. Idled poorly and surged at low RPMs. I put a factory chip back in and it fixed my problems. Maybe it was just a bad one?

 

I burn my own. Pulled the factory tune and expanded it for some more features. Added a little spark, pulled a touch of fuel and modified the display gph constant. Overall a lot better. Oh and I tuned put the CAGS skip shift.

All the parts can be bought for reasonable from moates.net and tuning is done with TunerproRT. Registering is optional but suggested. Remember to get the RT version as strait Tunerpro can not stream data or burn chips.

 

Yes. Save your money for a real tune. One where your car is strapped down to a dyno so they can run it and see how it responds to changes. I tend to be more nit picky so I am thinking of having it tweaked for more day to day running where after a while of running, I pick up on small things that weren't as apparent when I first get it done.

 

I used one just to have the fans come on earlier. Ran about the same, didnt expect any power from a chip. Used a 160 stat
OBD 1 cars arent like todays where you can squeak a decent amount with a tune. Honestly I think leaning things out or adding timing to a stock engine isnt smart.

 

Maybe not but it is a good way to to bet since it is cheap and the buyers will have the placebo effect to help you along and they don't expect too much. This is from a selling perspective. Bet on human stupidity and you will win more often than not. "It's only a hundred bucks and not $1000 for a dyno tune so might not be a bad try."

 

If you run a 160deg T-stat you will need bring on the fan(s) earlier than stock. Chose your method:
-manual fan sw
-chip mod
-open the hi-pressure sw in the A/C line (which will run the fan constantly)

I prefer to run a little rich (~12.6:1) at WOT, which can be done with an AFPR.

 

How does it work? Wouldn't the AFPR just dump fuel all over instead of just at WOT?

 

I put an SLP chip in my '87 4+3.

I made some exhaust, 1.6 ratio rockers, air intake changes and the result would have a slight bog on initial throttle. After I put in the chip, the bog was gone, but there was almost no gain to performance. Only made a little better driveability.

Overall, off the shelf chips do not offer much gain and probably not worth the expense unless you have a specific set of changes that the chip can work for.

A much better setup is to try the Moates equipment and burn them yourself. Possibly a good dyno tune, but that can be kind of expensive.

Good luck.

 

I'm actually shocked that happened. I have never heard of it doing anything quantifiable other than making the owner feel good. First time for everything.

The problem is we don't know what that change the chip can work for is. IOW, did they change settings to accommodate larger rockers? How about timing? Fuel, air, etc. All we know is the "up to" gain which means anything from a negative to whatever they promise you may achieve and not how you achieve it. So you don't know if you gain 20 HP but the motor has to be X, Y or Z modified.

Moates would require a lot of trial and error and you still wouldn't be able to know what the effects are finally. Did you gain 2 HP or lose 2 HP? Now if you want to learn how to do it properly on a dyno facility where you can see what the effects of what you did are. So if I tweak this, that happens and learn. Otherwise, all you got is the good old "butt dyno" which is, IMO, worth even less than nothing. If you want to do tuning well, it is going to be a skill where you have to work on it. It takes time and time is money. OTOH, if you are not making changes, just pay someone reputable to get it done once and not have to do it again for a long while until you have done substantial mods that warrant it. I wouldn't do it for headers but if I got intakes and headers and a cam or even fluff up my heads, I'd definitely do it.