Could this chip damage my engine?

[dunova]

It's for the Omega (x20xev) and is supposed to take it from 136BHP (standard) to 157BHP. So not a huge power difference, but i dont want to blow my engine up :? It's the same make of chip as sold here;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32094&item=7976646095

What do you think? I take it its a mild re-map and not just a timing advance device?

[Ste L]

are you sure you linked the right item, cos that one says it's for the c20xe not the x20xev?

[dunova]

It's the same make of chip as sold here;

i.e not THE chip i'm thinking of buying (although its from the same bloke in Berlin).

[Ste L]

ah sorry, too early, didn't read it properly lol

don't know if i would trust thing of ebay like that, would rather go a speciaist, like superchips etc

[dunova]

Yes i suppose so, but superchips are supposed to be crap and uni chips and a r/r session will see me about ?450 worse off lol

These things are going for about ?50 for (supposedly) 21BHP :o Not to shoddy if they actually work (which looking at his feedback he's had quite afew happy customers). I'm just concerned it will stress my engine and cause something to go. Although i dont often take it above 5k revs so maybe it wont stress it too much at 5k revs or below :idea:

[MechaT]

There's really only four things that can over-stress your engine:
Bad driving
A badly programmed chip or other fault making the engine run lean or rich.
Bolting on a turbo running at 30psi or something stupid
All of the above!

21bhp seems alot from a just a chip, but then these engines were designed run all lean and 'eco-friendly' like

I dunno. Suck it and see?

[dunova]

Yeah think i'll probably get it and just see what it does. Tbh even if it gives me 10BHP, for about ?50 that aint bad!

The eco's were produced to be good on emissions so maybe it will just run the engine in an an-eco friendly way lol


There's really only four things that can over-stress your engine:
Bad driving
A badly programmed chip or other fault making the engine run lean or rich.
Bolting on a turbo running at 30psi or something stupid
All of the above!

Well i'm probably guilty of abit of bad driving lol so lets see if it runs nicely on this chip. I hope so...................

[Aragorn]

well as long as u actually get an eeprom and not a resistor then it is a chip

probably a clone of a standard "superchip" style thing, folk buy one legit one and make copys and sell them cheap

[mad-driver]

y not get a remap from irmscher or something? Better for your engine and decent power gains

[dunova]

y not get a remap from irmscher or something? Better for your engine and decent power gains
Never heard of that before. Would i go to Vaux to do that? I can imagine it being quite pricey tbh :?

[mad-driver]

well AFAIK a superchip, or the likes of reprogrammes your ecu to shove loads more fuel into the engine, hence more power. On the downside i think it knackers your engine after a while, just like running a turbo at huge boost for long periods of time.

My dads mate is into motorsport and all that and he says the best option is a remap. I think Courtenay do them and say it can release about 10% more power, but irmscher do them too, which i think you'd have to find out about from vauxhall or someplace

Hope that helps a little

sam

[Aragorn]

the "remaps" courtenay do are basically the same as superchips

the downside compared to a proper remap is they arent mapped to your specific engine, they are mapped to someone elses engine and that may not provide the best operational parameters for your engine

the only chip to allow real mapping is the unichip from dastek

[mad-driver]

theres the answer then, i knew it was something along those lines

[dunova]

Well it's on its way :D Got it for ?62, so if it works i'll be well chuffed.

I take it if i add further mods to my engine i'll see gains? Such as a decenty exhaust manifold and system? I just got thinking that because its been setup for a standard engine then if i get it breathing easier it won't be mapped for it-any idea's??

[dunova]

Well the results are in.........

It arrived this morning and i fitted it about 30mins ago. Only took me about 10 mins and was very easy. Just been out for a spin and i must admit i am very impressed-my expression was something similar to this :D

Every gear feels quicker, more low down pull and (i think) better fuel economy!! (If you're not thrashing it lol). In second gear i was at 50mph just like that and then 3rd followed by pulling like a train, hence i was well happy :D

Well worth the ?62 i paid for it me thinks. It does worry me though that the engine is under a lot of stress when using the extra power because its not how it was built/designed. If i had 'improved' the air intake and felt gains from it then fair enough, but bumping up the BHP of a completely standard engine does worry me slightly. Any views on this?

Think i'll get my cambelt and tensioners done ASAP-they're on approx. 35K :o

[Aragorn]

you'll find u havent gained 21bhp

its just smoothed out the torque midrange prolly added some more ignition advance etc

maybe 5bhp gained top end but midrange will be a good bit improved

[dunova]

you'll find u havent gained 21bhp

its just smoothed out the torque midrange prolly added some more ignition advance etc

maybe 5bhp gained top end but midrange will be a good bit improved
I think an r/r session is in order..........

I don't think you can say 'maybe 5bhp gained blah blah' as you haven't even driven it! I wasn't expecting anywhere near 21bhp, but i think its given me more than an extra 5. It certainly feels like i've gained more than 5, but only an r/r sesh will give a decent'ish idea (although it hasn't been r/r'd before so i won't have anything to compare to apart from book figures :? )