I've posted this in the vendor section but this is probably a good place also.

I'm thinking of buying a chip for my 5-speed LO3 and was wondering if anybody has bought from TBIChips.Com. If so, how is it? Is it worth it? Noticeable improvement?

 

He is excellent to work with and does a good job. Your best bet is to get WinALDL running and send him that data, so the chip is tuned to your car and mods.

 

Yeah, he's a good guy. Really helpfull and friendly. Get some good winaldl data for him and he can handle it for ya.

 

<--- Shakes head, while wondering why you wouldn't just do your own eproms.
Winaldl is already the kicker. Tuning an eprom really REALLY should be a hands on operation, not mail order. I'll give it one thing though, mail order is great for things like disable EGR, disable VATS, that jazz, but fuel and timing, it's like pissing into the wind. You just got winaldl working, all you need now is to read a couple pages of "tuning tips by Bruce" which is on www.diy-efi.org and a burner/eraser. It isn't rocket science. The real reason I hate these guys is because they kill the whole DIY attitude. While the number of actual DIYers do the majority of R&D, these guys sell it for profit. I won't say they don't do any work but it makes guys like you shed out money for something that is almost worthless and could possible complicate matters worse with engine problems.
Here, if what I'm trying to say isn't clear enough; This board is for sharing information free, these guys use this information, don't post often (lurk), and profit from others work. To me they're all the same except for TunerCat. That man is an original dude and works his butt off developing for other ecm support. Guys like Grumpy, RBob, Joby, the whole gm-ecm mailing list do all the work. 2 major examples of how this will just come back and bite you in the ***; the wideband o2 sensor project that was going to be affordable got compromised by a dude down under, now there is very little development (btw, his board is crappy compared to the actual diyer versions), then there was the BCC lookup, this let you find the exact chip to match a similar combination to start with, gone because somebody used information on it and sold it on ebay. There is nothing wrong with selling your time but there is a problem with selling other peoples time!
I guess the end result is everybody buying these "magic bullets" (~Trax), still slow, and stuck with what they bought. DIY and the possibilities are endless, every time you want to change something you can, when I say change something I'm talking about ANYTHING. Torque converter tables, idle air controller, power enrichment, make adjustments for when you've got your exhaust uncapped with a cut-out are just a few of the things possible. You'll miss out if you do mail order. For now, if your engine is relatively stock, mess with the base timing and fuel pressure. Most if not all of your performance needs can be met with just these adjustments. Going to a 350 or something exotic like a cam swap, heads, or big intake along with exhaust will have noticable improvements with eprom tweaking.
Winaldl, if you've got it running you're already more than half way there.

 

why should you "hate these guys"!!! your sick!
i bought one from him he is very helpful and it is a shame that you down on people who try to make a little extra money!!! he did a good job on my chip and he also does not charge an arm and a leg!!! 30 bucks for a chip is very cheap!!!!!!!
the freakin chip for my 300zx was 700.00 and you can't tune those yourself they have encrypted codes!!!
also i would rather pay someone 30 bucks to get a decent chip than to spend the money on the equipment to do it then spend all that time trying to figuer it out!!!
to me 30 bucks is worth it and to top it off you get to install it yourself so there is your do it yourself stuff!!
just because you would rather spend time and money doing this doesn't mean that everyone else should!!!!
also it is not like he is selling a jet chip or superchips for 200 or 300 dollars he sell em for like 30 bucks !
give the guy a break he is very helpful to alot of people on this boards and he deserves better than "i hate these guys"
and the chip runs really good in my car!

 

If I'm sick then that makes you what? Almost dead?!?!
It's not a shame that I down on people making a little extra money. It's a shame that you think they're doing something good. Tornado, snake oil, eletric turbo's, mail order eproms from guys like him, it's all the same overpriced crap.
I give credit where credit is do and it is NOT for "them". Here's something for you to think about before you go shooting your mouth off. Not only are you going to be slower for the $30 you paid, but you'll also be out $30 and have no clue why your car isn't faster. To me that's "sick".
I can't believe anybody would trust somebody selling eproms for $30 when it's something so important to the vehicles operation. You do know the old saying, you get what you pay for. The reason over the counter eproms are so mild is because they don't need lawsuits. They paid top dollar for the information straight from GM so they have the right to sell as an official street legal product.
The only time you should pay a tuner it's to remove slight things like disabling or moving some constants around. Things that don't effect the fuel or the timing. The other time you pay for something it's for service HANDS ON TUNING, be it driving around town, at the track (best), or on a dyno (w/ and w/o a wideband o2).
The reason I say what I say is not to belittle people, it's to stear them in the right direction. If everybody just buys an eprom online then the DIYer dies. What results is a bunch of bumbling idiots crapping out of their mouths all over this board. If you want first hand experience don't get on my bad side or any of the other original members. We've either read, worked on, tweaked, played with, tuned, destroyed, or tested everything there is. Guys like yourself should be happy there is somebody like me to tell you how to do things. Unless you want to go back to square one (what happens when nobody listens, just like school).
Oh, and I've been tuning hands on for a while now, no secret really. I've helped a few people with things like VATS through the mail for the cost of eprom and shipping. I also burn eproms for people $50 but you actually LEARN something, I don't just burn and leave. Not to mention I enjoy keeping tabs on performance and offer free changes. The only catch is that I get a ride in your car, maybe some beer or just the satisfaction that I've helped a fellow thirdgen owner/friend save gas and go faster.

 

well you obviously don't know jack about the person i am talking about!!!!
he has given me more than 30 bucks worth of advice and the big thing is it takes the speed limiter off of the 110 crap. and i have been over that to check it out and see. but don't compare that eram crap to tbi chips you have no clue!!!

oh wait what was i thinking you are like 21 and know everytthing about all things in the universe sheesh i must be dumb...
what i wouldn't give to be young again and know everything

 

Seems to me like they're taking advantage of WinALDL. Making money off something that was supposed to be free in the first place.

That's great...they're going to ruin something else that was DIY.

 

lol, wow, a speed limiter removed. As if most of the Lo3's will ever see more than 110mph. If you read what I had said, the ONLY thing these chips are good for is removing stuff like constants and doing switchs (VATS, etc), nothing more.
If I had no clue why did I bother to post? Please, explain this to me. What does age have to do with anything? Reading doesn't take age, experience takes time, the eprom stuff is only recently grown so yeah, I've done my homework.
Maybe instead of "you know everything about all things in the universe" it should read, "you know more than me about all things TBI in the universe." I enjoy being humble, I don't know everything, I only say something unless I KNOW it's true. Or if I can be proven wrong then so be it (it's happened often enough).
If what you're spouting off is any reflection of what his "advice" was too you, then damn, you got ripped off!

 

My point exactly. Winaldl is a great tool but it's kind of dirty to use it to make money. He can do whatever he wants. I'm just pissed off that he thinks he's got the right to sell other peoples hard work that he got for free. Trust me, burning an eprom and selling it online is not work, it's a joke. I think I forgot to mention another major reason not to use any mail order eproms; you could end up getting something as pathetic as a "hypercrap thermocrapster". Maybe that's why it says on most websites, "use with high test only". That way if they did put in too much timing or in the wrong place, or screwed around with the knock decay rate and did end up hurting your motor, they're not liable since they could say you didn't use high test .
Or maybe you're none the wiser so you end up getting a standard eprom only to find out when a friend reads it that it's completely stock, lol, that's always funny.
Hey, don't you all agree that if somebody is going to sell something that they should prove it first? How's about reading about measured performance from either "their" rides, or customer rides. I'll tell you right now that there is a zz4 pickup that had a seat of the pants difference with my help vs edelbrocks, then there is also a 454SS pickup that felt much better, again seat of the pants. My car has been through hell so many times from not having enough money to spend on it that she's got shabby results wouldn't you say.

 

When i had my chip done, we drove and logged date from all rpms, prom burned, drove more. A lot of this stuff is testing, testing, and testing some more.

I'll back you up on referance on the chip.

 

i was just saying its a good chip if you don't want to buy the stuff and do it yourself... yes i have the win program but i don't have the chip burning stuff and i have talked to several other people who have used it and noticed a little diffrence.
the guy says they only add around 10 hp or so if that... and thats sad to think lo3's won't see 110 verymuch... i can cruise in my z at 100 on the interstate like its nothing!!!!! and thats a v6


the reasone i was talking about your age is because you have angry young man syndrome!!! you hate things you act like your mad at the world. so what if i spent money on a chip at least i did not go through superchips and spend 200.00 also i don't have alot of time to piddle with the chip.

 

It might be a good chip, no doubt, but it's still the wrong way to go about doing this. The reason I'm so mad is because if screws the true DIYers in the immediate and long run! Guys are way more reluctant to release research now then they were for fear that it'll be used to make some lurking sap some money. If you get it for free, use it for free, don't sell it. If you bought it, you have the right to sell it, no question about it. Everything these guys sell you could quote from either this website or from the diy-efi mailing lists, to me that's wrong. How about that guy on ebay that used a members car picture to sell his car on ebay, is that right or wrong? When the day is over, this guy gets money, and the DIYer see's this and says screw it, I'm not helping anymore. Hence the attitude.
Superchips, Hypercrap, SLP, all those companies PAID GM for the rights to sell modified chips. Not only that, but they had to get it to pass lots of tests which were not cheap. They were a real buisness that could be held liable for things they sell people, these cheap chips online guys can get sued if they aren't careful. It doesn't take much to say hey, he didn's say it wasn't street legal and it failed emissions then lots of bad things happen. I don't believe GM can do anything about people burning their OWN eproms since technically it is yours but if you screw around with it you should think 'off road only' thoughts. There have been plenty of instances where the eprom goes bad and you're in a 2 lane no shoulder part of the PA turnpyke, what do you do? You get into an accident you have every right to sue these guys. This is why it's bad. Driving around with a person or doing it on a dyno/at the track (controlled) is the safest way and most professional way to do eprom stuff. One thing people over look is fuel pressure. Why the hell doesn't he ask you about your base timing and fuel pressure? Does he just assume it's at 0 and pressure is at some specific value? I understand winaldl but at 160 baud it's really not that great for showing any transitional changes. Only stead throttle position BLMs, even watching the o2 through winaldl is WRONG. The o2 sensor swings so often over 450mv that even most multimeters have a time watching it, hence the reason why I modify eproms to show 02 x-counts instead of knock counts. That's the only way to check to see if the o2 is working correctly. If I had my way there would be a disclaimer on EVERYTHING a DIYer does that says if this information is used for profit we have the right to kick your *** and take your money! That would only seem fair.

 

I have to agree......

JPrevost......as usual you're being you. You know a lot about something, so if anyone does it differently, you get "mad".

IMO, it's a good deal. If all you want is an improvement over what you have, then go for it. I have yet to hear anyone here say "that stuff sucks" or "that guy has no clue what he's doing" except people that HAVE NOT tried what he sells.

I'm not saying that the DIYers shouldn't DIY, but just because you DIY, doesn't mean everyone else has to, nor that they want to.

I have no experience with this guy. I don't have any idea what changes he makes, nor if it helps. Because of that, I'm not going to tell everyone that he shouldn't do what he's doing, just because I know how to do it myself (which I don't, but that's not the point here).

Using the same thinking you are...... I guess REZN8R is bad, right? He charges $120 making sub boxes that ANYONE who want's to, can make themselves. All they have to do is buy the wood (~$20), the circular saw (~$50), a jigsaw ($30), the glue (~$10), the screws (~5), a calculator (~$10), a tape measure ($5), and carpet (~$10). That's only $140 and they can do it themselves. After all, all the info on how to do it is right here on this website.

SOME PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO!!!!! How hard is that for you to understand???

You are a facetious person. I never get bored with reading your replies. Thanks

 

thsi post has turned into a flame war. it is now closed.