I RECENTLY HAD A CHIP BURNED BY TPI CHIPS.I PUTIT IN AND IT RAN LIKE CRAP,CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON,SENT IT BACK HE SAID THERE WAS NO PROBLEM,PUT STOCK CHIP IN CAR,RAN GOOD,GAVE HIM ALL THE CARS SPECS,SAID THERE WAS NO PROBLEM WITH THE CHIP,CAR WILL BARLEY RUN WITH HIS CHIP.SENT IT BACK 4 WEEKS AGO AND SAY IT IS IN THE MAIL,FOR FOUR WEEKS.THE GUY IS NOT A CHIP PROGRAMER HE IS A CHIP SCAMER.FOR 230.00 I THINK I WOULD GET A CUSTOM CHIP,BUYERS BEWARE!!!!!!!!!

 

tpi chips?? you mean TPIS or something else? havent heard of that one

edit, ok it is TPI chips... first time i heard of them. thanks for the heads up

 

Thanks for the warning man, I was thinking about buying from them later this month.

 

for $230 you probably could have either got one from tpis or superchips or probably less to have someone on here do it.

 

live and learn

 

ive heard only good things about them and many people have recommended them to me. I know some local people that got chips from them and had no problems. I plan on getting my chip from them when i do my 383 TPI

 

For $230 you could have bought the stuff and learned how to burn chips yourself.

 

I'd drive the few hours to Akron Ohio and have Jamy at LSRacing ships dyno tune your car. Far better results then a mail order.

 

Wow. Has the price gone up that high?

I purchased two custom chips from this vendor with great results.

 

I bought one from them for about half that price and it works like a dream. Both my fans come on earlier and its also programed for a 160 degree thermostat. My engine stays cool!!

 

Custom chip? You mean, tailored for your thermostat, fan turn on/off temps, and such right? Expecting to get a "performance" chip via mail order, well, I must say I am skeptical. For the price, you could have most of the equipment to burn your own, and have an "infinitely adjustable" chip. Is it the time factor? Dont wanna learn how to do this? I just cant see some dude that has NEVER seen your car, can burn a chip to eke more performance out of it. Aside from some minor timing and fuel changes. (VERY minor)

Thanks, but, I will spend my time/money learning how to do it myself.

 

Good going Ploe! Now that you can do that, and since you are soooo good, it is time for YOU to sell "custom" chips! If you are honest you would be better then 80% of the chip market out there. Go for it!

 

LOL. I dont think I could, in all honesty, take peoples money without actually SEEING their car. Sure, is someone just wanted their chip redone for a lower temp thermostat, higher TCC engage speed, new gear ratio, etc, that I would happily do, but, someone that expected 20% more horsepower from just a chip change, with the car sight unseen, nope. I would feel really dishonest taking their money.

 

if the customer describes every mod and complete engine specifications how would "SEEING" the car help more?

 

Because every car is different and if your not there tuning it in person how do you know the changes you make help or hurt the cars performance. Sure you can do simple things via mail order like fan on off temps, highway mode, injector size, converter lockup etc. But anything beyond that you have to be there too get it right.

I dont see why people waste there money on these mail order chips when they can buy the stuff to do it themselves for the same money. Its not really that hard. Go over to the DIY prom board and start reading.

Seth

 

It is very important for the tuner to be able to lay their hands, ears, eyes, etc on the car/truck.

 

i didnt know u meant sitting there and tuning it while its running...if thats even possible

 

Depends on the setup. There are some that allow "on-the-fly" tuning, but most dont. I would have real ethical issues trying to tune a car at a distance. Only way I would do it is if I had the car on-hand, and could SEE if my changes were an improvement. Anything else, is just guess work.

 

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Although I believe I paid $90 for my chip from this retailer I was happy because it was simple stuff. Fan temp and an Idle bump to help out with my cam.

Personally I've tuned many cars over the past 2 years, and its turned into a hobbie. since then I've bought equipment for ODBI and ODBII cars. Once you catch on to the concept its actually addicting.

Learning to do your own is the most frustating, rewarding mod you will ever do. Lots of guess and check in the begining but well worth the effort

 

yea i have been reading a lot about chipping your car, but never herd of buying the equpiment. what is it called. i live in canada so can you guys give me some help? i want to learn to tune my car because im going to be changing and upgrading thigns over the next few years. if im able to burn my own chip over and over again it will be so much cheeper and better. i could add a mod say new injectors, tune...then maybe add a bigger tb...tune. this way i could have the more power as i level up in my car. am i on the right track?

 

Scroll down to the the DIY prom section and do tons of searches on burning your own chip. There isnt one thing they havent covered. I have been reading that stuff for over two years and I still dont know everything about it. It has a steep learning curve but its all there and the members in that section really know their stuff and can answer just about any question you have. Start here and be prepared for alot of learning.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/diy-prom/

 

Personally, I agree with the others that it would be very hard to have the car tuned without having it on hand, especially if it was a car that had modifications done to it. My 383 for instance took hours of tuning with the computer hooked up the car while it was running to get it just right, but now its perfect, so i would def. wait and look for someone to do it while having your car on hand.

 

i have gotten three chips from ''TPI chips/TBI'' chips and they are
all perfect.
the only way to get a truly modifyed car/chip set up correctly
is to record the scan data and e-mail the file to the tuner.

i'm talking about big cam, heads, intake manifold, high CR pistons,
big injectors. i have all of these.
basic bolt-ons don't warrant a true custom chip.

this data file is what ''TPI chips'' and other ''remote'' tuners rely upon.
most of them suggest using WINALDL (free OBD1 scanner/recorder).

if you can't get that info to them they are just shooting in the dark,
and i'm not suprised that it runs like ****.
sorry yours didn't work out.

 

someone on here was saying that you could get all the stuff to tune your car for under 230 bucks...what is that? i want to get that if thats true. once you get it you can do others cars in your garage etc. anywho if would be helpful if you could give me a brand of a good tuner etc.

 

transtronics is about the best place to get your programmer/chips
http://secure.transtronics.com/EPROM%20Programmer.html

and tunercat is pretty good for programming software, but Xtronics
has a few really good links on their website.

 

Go here,
www.moates.net


Craig has everything you will need. I got my autoprom from him and I love it. I alco recommend using TunerPro RT to tune with.

Also go over to the DIY Prom board and start reading. If you dont understand something read it again.

 

I think If you do a search this is all discused till that damn horse aint getting back up. There is NO way to tune your vehicle to its top potential nless you are there with the car. Ofcourse Promming your chips is the most cost effective and most logical approach to the matter. If it wasn't do you think avid moders like shifty or Monte would preach about it so much. I personally just ordered the pocket programmer 2 from transtronics and about 5-6 blank eeprom chips just incase. Ive got about 230 invested after shipping and you know what? I can burn a chip as many times as I'd like to until i get it "perfect" then like always ill get my tax return and something else will get modded and hey look no need to buy another rip off mail order chip. I have put these mail order chips into my previous vehicles i.e. a 99 grandam gt, 00 ford f150, and even my moms escort lol. Only thing it gave me was the idea that cough umm CARBS ARE THE WAY TO GO lol. Then with the work I'm doing on my 92 rs I seem to have fallen back in love with efi. well thats my long .02

 

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