StickShiftDrifter

I have heard a lot about these performance chips gaining instant horses and improving fuel economy. Like my friend has a '90 BMW 3 series and it gained him (he claims) 50 horses. I wouldn't be surprised tho, his car can run. Anyways, my question is...would a perfromance chip make much of a difference to a civic with a vtec, if so, is it worth it?

Shishpanik

Alot of those performance chips are totally bs. They say you pay 50 dollars and get better fuel economy and 50 more horsepower? It's really laughable. They may improve fuel economy slightly, but I seriously doubt that they give you more than 1-2 hp and they probably really F*** up your powerband and hurt your engine. The only ECU modifications i'd trust would be hondata reflash or one of their ecu's or maybe a tuning after some modifications have been done. I wouldn't trust all these shady companies claiming that their product will give you 50 more peak hp and 10 more mpg for a small price. That's just my two cents.

WLH

50 horsepower is a bit hard to believe. The reprogramming of ECU's works best when combined with other upgrades. They basically are playing with timing and fuel delivery and often require you to run a higher octane fuel. Minimal improvements with a stock motor but a noticeable increase when used to optimize any upgrades you have made. As far as i know there is not "chip" for the new 2006 civics and the more reputable compaines request you ship them your computer. Usually the price to air ship it back to you is included and you can expect to have your computer back in 3-4 days. A lot of the big horse power adds on TV refer to diseal engines on trucks. A bit different there as a stock motor with a reprogrammed ECU can make huge power increases.

Wadely

Hondas Are Not Chipable Vehicles, All These Supposed Chips You Might Find On Ebay Or Something Or Nothing More Than A Resistor That Plugs Into Your Map/maf Sensors, Yes They Will Cause Your Check Engine Light To Come On And No They Dont Add Any Power, May Cause Your Car To Idle Faster But Nothing Else On A Postive Side Of Things.

05blkrs

if you want a chip then get a power programer.. just a "quick 10 hp" thing will not work.. i tried before... if you want to try for yourself, go to radioshack and get some 30k ohm resistors theyr'e abouta dollar for a 5 pack.... plug it into the air intake temp sensor... what it does is tells the ecu there's colder air coming in that there actually is which increases your timing... which will give more power but not all vehicles can use this... i'm gonna try it on my sunbird but on my subaru it didn't work... either way it wont cause permanent damage as long as it runs right and it doesnt' knock... if it does throw a check engine light just take the resistor out immediately... and then you're done w/ it.. btu i'd say in the winter time it'd be ok as LONG AS IT WORKS ON YOUR SPECIFIC VEHICLE...

Wadely

It Might Work On Your Sunbird It Seems To Be More Of Domestic Thing, Usually Always Hear That It Doesnt Work On Imports

05blkrs

it just depends.. if you have a 2 wire air temp sensor, it will (or should) work... my mazda had it but i didn't now about this mod when i had the mazda... but the subaru's air intake sensor is built into the maf.. so i'd have to find and splice wires.. and i didn't feel like doing that.. and dont do it on turbo cars... i heard it ****S them up royaly..

Wadely

Yea I Believe The New Civics Have The Ait Sensor Built Into The Maf, Thats Actually Causing Some Problems When People Are Installing The Cai's The Maf Sensor Is So Damn Sensitive That When You Take It Dust Gets On It And Will Keep Throwing The Cel, Mine Kept Doing It Till I Warrantied My Maf Sensor, Hasnt Done It Sense But On Other Forum Sites Its Being Talked About Quite A Bit.

candeycane164

do u know if theres anything for a 03 civic LX automatic

andyman97

iTrader: (14)

If he got 50 hp, you can pull 75 with vtech!

BTRobertson

I would also add that a chip used by itself is pretty much pointless unless you can tweak the different parts of the program, like the air/fuel mixture. Typically, people will only buy a mod chip if they've added a turbo, air induction kit, different sized wheels, etc. because those aftermarket parts will actually change the ratio of air-to-fuel or, in the case of the wheels, will mess with the speedometer. A 50 HP gain off a straight chip is total crapola. I've only ever seen a 50 HP gain if you port and polish your heads or pistons, and even that is a stretch given the naturally aspirated VTEC engine.

I would steer clear of this unless it's a Honda reflash or a reputable company's product that allows tweaking of the programming. A mod chip on a stock Si won't do squat and may cause you more harm than good.

My two cents.

ecko

just to pipe up here for a second.. my buddy took his prelude to the shop and threw it on the dyno.. roughly 140 hp if i remember correctly.. then paid a grand for this "chip" and ran another run on the dyno and got 160+ hp.. ill find out what "chip" this is or what exactly it is.. if i remember correctly it had something to do with the ingition

MidnightCivic

iTrader: (11)

A grand for 20+ hp what a moron

amishman22

i hear venom promises a horsepower gain and unlike those fake ebay chips is a little more than 50 bucks. To me this one seems more of a realisitic ratio: 300 bucks for 25 percent more horse when pushing down on the gas which for me would be roughly 30 horse. Thinkin about buying one from summit to install in two weeks and then get it dyno'd to find out if it was really worth it. If anyone knows anything about this let me know before i waste my time or money. If not ill go ahead and give it a shot and update after i do.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

its garbage

amishman22

not worth it then? well what can i look to do next besides a new exhaust for hp?

amishman22

how do you know? have you ever had anyone or know of anyone who got one and then dyno'd his car after?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

it has the same effect as pressing harder on the gas pedal. once you get to full throttle, the venom feels exactly like stock.

amishman22

so basically all it does is kick ur car harder till u top out? but that means it still gets you more horse until then right?

chrisstenehjem

have you people actually tried a chip? or saying theyre pointless just because other people are saying it, to me it goes with the saying "all jap cars are ricers" just cuz everybody else says it. chips usually have "instructions" and before you actually install a chip you gotta disconnect the negative terminal of the battery for a few hours or overnight to clear any old adaptive setting. its not just a plug and play kinda thing its actually a pain in the *** but really adds more horses than gas, it only saves gas if u use it on the highway or if u use cruise control constantly when its safe

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

chips for the civic are junk. other cars they are worth something and you can actually get the 50hp or whatever it claims because they are made for the car and pretuned for parameters that actually matter like ignition timing, fuel trims, turbo etc.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

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