Mail Order Performance Chip? Y/N?
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 3,451
Likes: 336
From: Greater Cincinnati Area.
Mail Order Performance Chip? Y/N?
Are these things worth it? Someone mentioned Blower Works to me once. Are they good?
Do you have one? Do you like it? Approximate cost?
Is there any reason not to do it?
Do you have one? Do you like it? Approximate cost?
Is there any reason not to do it?
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 124
Likes: 22
From: Knoxville Tn
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 5,866
Likes: 60
From: Hellinois
Finalist 2020 C4 of the Year - Modified
A one size fits all chip is a total waste of money. Find a good tuner you can either take the car to him for scanning or get it scanned yourself and send him the scan. He can then burn you a chip that will do the most for your car. If you have no mods or just few small ones there is no need for a custom tune, your ecm will learn any little changes and adjust for them.
Supporting Vendor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 761
Likes: 68
I do "benchtop" flashing of these PCMs' as well as make chips for the 1985 thru 1993 ECMs.
Mail order can be just fine if you are looking for specific edits like a change in the fan(s) ON/OFF temp. For max power best to use a dyno for the tune. To get close to best tune, especially with regard to injector change etc., a back & forth process where you log and we tune can be done. Takes a lot of time and patience and hardware.
BR - greg
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,472
Likes: 3,290
From: Hartford WI
The 1994, '95 & 96 PCM use flash memory - no chip. There are programs you can buy that will flash the PCM thru the ALDC connector.
I do "benchtop" flashing of these PCMs' as well as make chips for the 1985 thru 1993 ECMs.
Mail order can be just fine if you are looking for specific edits like a change in the fan(s) ON/OFF temp. For max power best to use a dyno for the tune. To get close to best tune, especially with regard to injector change etc., a back & forth process where you log and we tune can be done. Takes a lot of time and patience and hardware.
BR - greg
I do "benchtop" flashing of these PCMs' as well as make chips for the 1985 thru 1993 ECMs.
Mail order can be just fine if you are looking for specific edits like a change in the fan(s) ON/OFF temp. For max power best to use a dyno for the tune. To get close to best tune, especially with regard to injector change etc., a back & forth process where you log and we tune can be done. Takes a lot of time and patience and hardware.
BR - greg
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 6,528
Likes: 752
From: South Dakota
25 years ago I bought an SLP chip for my '87.
I had installed an SLP airfoil, 1.6 ratio rockers, and a flowmaster exhaust. There was a hesitation at low rpm when I gave it throttle. I think those changes put it outside what the stock chip could handle. I removed the airfoil and it drove normally again. The airfoil did make a difference.
I put the chip in and also put the airfoil back in. There was no hesitation any more.
My conclusion was that the SLP chip allowed for a little more change from stock than the stock chip did. So it did do something, however I could not feel any difference in performance (other than fixing the hesitation).
In my opinion it is not worth the money to buy an off the shelf chip for nearly stock cars when I could not feel any difference.
If you have common mods, like a commonly used cam, headers, etc, there are some companies that have experience with these changes and if they have a chip that has been programmed for these changes it could be worth it.
A dyno tune or the tune-data log-tune and repeat method Blower Works suggested is the way to go.
Good luck.
I had installed an SLP airfoil, 1.6 ratio rockers, and a flowmaster exhaust. There was a hesitation at low rpm when I gave it throttle. I think those changes put it outside what the stock chip could handle. I removed the airfoil and it drove normally again. The airfoil did make a difference.
I put the chip in and also put the airfoil back in. There was no hesitation any more.
My conclusion was that the SLP chip allowed for a little more change from stock than the stock chip did. So it did do something, however I could not feel any difference in performance (other than fixing the hesitation).
In my opinion it is not worth the money to buy an off the shelf chip for nearly stock cars when I could not feel any difference.
If you have common mods, like a commonly used cam, headers, etc, there are some companies that have experience with these changes and if they have a chip that has been programmed for these changes it could be worth it.
A dyno tune or the tune-data log-tune and repeat method Blower Works suggested is the way to go.
Good luck.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,472
Likes: 3,290
From: Hartford WI
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 62,160
Likes: 1,733
From: Athens AL
C7 of the Year - Unmodified Finalist 2021
C4 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
Give the tuner all the details on the engine and the mail order custom tune is ok, if he lets you datalog and send it back for perfections.
However theres no need unless you've really added serious modifications, except and unless you just want the fan settings shifted.
An off-the-shelf program for a stock car is wasting money otherwise.
However theres no need unless you've really added serious modifications, except and unless you just want the fan settings shifted.
An off-the-shelf program for a stock car is wasting money otherwise.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 2,069
Likes: 262
From: Park Ridge New Jersey
I just drained the oil on my blown head gasket...diarrhea colored...ew.
I plan on building from the heads out. Intake/TB and headers over the winter