Author Topic: DIY Performance Chips  (Read 6299 times)

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Offline aussie-gli

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DIY Performance Chips
« on: May 13, 2005, 07:19PM »
If you´re interested in doing your own power chips, check out this site...

http://www.sr20tuning.com/theoryandpartsrequired.html

same applies to most nissan ECUs including KA24E and manual CA20E. If u´ve got an auto CA20e, u need to reflash the micro as well as adding the eeprom and a few other additional components.

What u need to make ur own power chips:

EEPROM Chip (27C256) - $9 from jaycar (optional - u can always recycle ur old eeprom chip) OR use an old motherboard bios chips. most of these are 27C512 or 27C256 and are easy to come by.
EEPROM Socket - $0.20c from jaycar
EEPROM Programmer - $90 from ebay
Software - free
Dicking around time - free
a mate who can solder ur socket in for u - a few beers

If u want to get serious, u´d want some dyno time and a wideband o2 sensor.

Is pretty rewarding to DIY - there´s nothing to it if you use the software listed in the article.
Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad! Homer: Did you wreck the car? Bart: No. Homer: Did you raise the dead? Lisa: Yes. Homer: But the car's okay? Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh. Homer: All right then.

Offline SSS

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2005, 08:29PM »
That's all well and good, but unless you understand exactly how an internal combustion engine works, someone that is new to this can easily destroy their engine. In particular, KA ring lands crack at moderate detonation levels.

This is not something to be taken lightly.
To do it properly can easily cost upwards of $1000.

Offline aussie-gli

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2005, 10:25PM »
utimately yes, you´d want a eeprom emulator so u could change your fuel maps on the fly from a laptop.

There´s little change of damaging your engine if you are just tweaking stock fuel maps.

This was not aimed at beginners on here, but people who have at lease some idea what´s going on, or are at least keen to learn. I know there has to be at least a few!

What would cost more than $1000?? it´s a $9 eeprom chip??? free if u have a few old 486/P1 motherboards flying around...
Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad! Homer: Did you wreck the car? Bart: No. Homer: Did you raise the dead? Lisa: Yes. Homer: But the car's okay? Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh. Homer: All right then.

Offline Budgie

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2005, 11:33PM »
I think adam means once you start to get serious, with things like wideband equipment... etc
dont piss me off with your pillarless shit captain snappy wrist

Offline SSS

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2005, 11:37PM »
Wideband O2 setup: approx $650 (what i paid anyway)
EGT logging to check timing on road: approx $100
EEPROM burner: approx $150
Emulator (mandatory IMHO): $300 (again, what i paid)

And no matter what anyone tells you, you cannot tune fuel with a narrow band O2 sensor.

Offline Budgie

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2005, 11:41PM »
once you start to get serious...

I just wanted to add to this.  Once you see first hand how much time and constant tweaking goes into creating the 'almost perfect' chip for a particular motor.  You say, I really can't be fucked doing all that myself... haha.

Or at least I did!  Its ALOT of work.
dont piss me off with your pillarless shit captain snappy wrist

Offline Febrile

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2005, 12:08AM »
Or at least I did!  Its ALOT of work.

And why bother anyway, when we can pay noss peanuts for him to build us beautiful custom chips just dripping with an engineer's love!

 ;D
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Offline aussie-gli

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2005, 01:26AM »
If u want to get serious, u´d want some dyno time and a wideband o2 sensor.

Yeah, well i did mention that in my first post...

I can get free access to a dyno, and wideband 02 setup so don´t need to fork out that kinda cash...

It just shits me that people like power chip charge up to 800 for a silver/gold, stage 1, 2, 3 whatever chip, when it´s sooo easy to do. Every engine will run differently depending on soooo many factors.

So these power chips that Noss is floggin off wont actually be tuned to ur car anyways...

Just so u all know, I was actually the first person to start playing with these chips on Teamnse about 4 years ago and that was where it started for Noss...
Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad! Homer: Did you wreck the car? Bart: No. Homer: Did you raise the dead? Lisa: Yes. Homer: But the car's okay? Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh. Homer: All right then.

Offline Budgie

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2005, 07:41AM »
My chip is tuned to my car by noss... through adam's wideband setup.

Noss's chips may not be tuned to each individual car (as people live hundereds of kilometres away), but alot of them are tweaked with preferances required by owners on antrx for better performance and through what noss knows of their motors.  Dyno time or wideband time is encouraged, but as you have mentioned... you get FREE dyno time and have access to a wideband O2 setup.

I doubt there is anyone else on here who can get free dyno time, even on a FWD/RWD only dyno.

Noss has slogged away at the KA24E chips especially, for over two years (or more) I have seen the work that goes into them first hand.  The testing, the tweaks, the testing, etc etc...
dont piss me off with your pillarless shit captain snappy wrist

Offline SSS

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2005, 12:30PM »
Yeah, well i did mention that in my first post...

I can get free access to a dyno, and wideband 02 setup so don´t need to fork out that kinda cash...

It just shits me that people like power chip charge up to 800 for a silver/gold, stage 1, 2, 3 whatever chip, when it´s sooo easy to do. Every engine will run differently depending on soooo many factors.

So these power chips that Noss is floggin off wont actually be tuned to ur car anyways...

Just so u all know, I was actually the first person to start playing with these chips on Teamnse about 4 years ago and that was where it started for Noss...

That's fantastic. Consider yourself lucky if you get free access to a dyno. Because many including myself, have to pay for it. But i can stick my wideband setup on my car, go for a hard drive and come back with rpm's, throttle position, exhaust gas temps and air/fuel ratios and fine tune my own car whenever i want. Including other's cars like budge's.
I never remember ONCE reading about your forays into rom tuning. I believe you are just trying to do this to take sales away from noss. Having evaluated many of his tunes, i can say that they are a bargain at what he sells them for and what's been done compared to anything put out by dumbasses like Powerchip.

Offline noss

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2005, 04:11PM »
i think budge & adam summed everything up pretty well. this isnt something you can really do on a budget if you want results and its not something that you will get results from if you dont know what you're doing. i dont spend hours reading over wideband information, dyno graphs, user feedback from the street and the track and personal experience for nothing. you know nothing of what i do, and i find it ammusing you can comment on what you think i do.

its interesting however that copying and reselling commercial tunes is considered to be 'the first to play around with chips'


« Last Edit: May 14, 2005, 04:19PM by noss »

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Offline Giovanni

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #11 on: May 16, 2005, 09:24PM »
Very interesting read.
I don't think I would attempt it though...even though I'd like to. I just don't have the experience or the time to learn and fart around with that kind of thing.

I do think however that you guys should stop bitching about it  :P.
From what I can see it's simple....you either pay someone to do it for you or you take the risk of doing it yourself and possibly 'learning the hard way'. (which isn't always a bad thing  :))

I'm happy to swing a paintbrush for a day and earn the money to  pay for a product that is tested and proven.



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Offline SSS

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Re: DIY Performance Chips
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2005, 09:37PM »
or you take the risk of doing it yourself and possibly 'learning the hard way'. (which isn't always a bad thing :))


People have to realize that, if they indeed fuck up, that it will be a mistake that will cost them thousands. Most people on here can't rebuild an engine themselves, even then IF you can rebuild your own engine it's about $500 worth of machining that needs to be done to ensure some semblance of reliability, plus parts.