i have an 88 GTA /w L98 that i'm going to be using as a daily driver. the car has a hypertech 'thermomaster' chip in it. i'd love to be able to run 87 octane in this thing since its not really my 'high performance' car. I called hypertech, and they said i gotta put 93 in it and it wont run off regular. i'm thinking they just have to tell me that.

does anyone have any experience with running a hypertech thermomaster chip with less than premium fuel? are there any adjustments i can make to the timing or what not? i'd like to avoid having to find a stock chip.

i drive almost 100 mi/day for work, so even being able to run 89 would see short term affects on the wallet.

 

I thought it was min of 91 oct.
You can go with 87....but toss a can of octane booster in there. Specially depends on the plugs you have to.

 

If it doesnt detonate on 87 then run it. If it doese then step up a octane rating untill you dont hear any detonation.

kyle

 

I have that chip in my 1990 GTA, 5.7. I always try to use premium, but the way gas prices are I have used the 87 sometimes to try to get a little more gas. I have never actually calculated the milage, but it seems that it does not go as far on the lower octane. But it does not seem to effect how it runs.

 

The gas oct. should not matter much, not to step on any toes, but you can do better than that HYPERTECH. I went from a hypertech to an AC 89 vett and I liked the switch alot.

 

Step on them, stomp if you feel like it actually, most here determined years ago that those chips did barely anything.

 

Hypertech chips are garbage.

Learn to do it yourself or take it out and install a stock memcal.

I have compared them directly to stock. They add timing where u dont need it and make your fans run at stupid low temps.

U will be better off taking it out.

I can pretty much promise you, it prolly knocks on 91 octane

later
Jeremy

 

im with the dump the hyperjunk chip camp. put the stock chip back in & fill it with 87.
you may want to check the thermostat, make sure it isn't a 160, if it is put a 180 in.
you'll probably see over all your car runs better with the factory chip than it does with the hypercrap chip & gets better fuel mileage. BTW, jet chips are no better than what the hyperchips are.
like 3.8TransAM said, burning your own will get you a much better tune.

 

to decrease chance of detonation you can always back off the base timing or **** the computer and run a colder plug... Umm I have Bosch 4's they are pieces of **** because they are colder so I have to advance my timing to hell just to idle.

Stock Plugs are rated at 6,Bosch plugs are rated @ 9. A rating of 9 is colder.
If you go that route and feel like looking through different plug designs, you need to remeber stock heat range is 6, its a 14mm thread size and depth is .460...

Umm other options are like when running nitrous, backing off base timing a few degrees.. Lowering effective compression(few ways to do it, bad idea..)

Or just putting back in the stock chip.. (good idea).. The only thing that may benefit is gas mileage as I know my TPI runs so rich its disgusting,

 

the whole issue with the 'stock chip' idea, is that i dont have the stock chip since this is the way the car came when i got it. as far as i know it has a 160* t-stat. the car is actually running a little hotter than i'd like (mostly on 220, but sometimes goes up to like 230 in traffic), so i'm thinking about replacing the t-stat soon anyways.

to be perfectly honest, i've dedicated my LS1 car for go fast parts, and my goal with this car is just to make it look nice and run nice. i love the look of 3rd gens (more so than 4th gens actually), but i'm not going to lie to myself by thinking it can be fast for short $$$.

 

Go to TPI parts.net....They have a lot of of parts for these TPI's. They have stock chips, they can and will do some editing on the chip for you, (coller stat., VATS, fan "on" points, stuff like that) Good place to get parts from too, check them out and, good luck.
Do some searching, you can go faster with not a lot of $$$, just see what other members are doing, might get some new ides.

 

Site sponsor, TPIParts.net(link in the margin) is a great place for getting stock GM/Delco parts for our cars. He does have stock chips, and he can program adapters to change a few settings. Contact him(Angel), and he can prolly help you figure out what you want. And since the Hypertech chip is basically stock anyway, the adapter should work the same on it as it would on the appropriate stock chip--or on any chip, for that matter... just a guess about that though.

But even with the stock chip, GM's octane 'recommendation' is 91, which is premium in CA, and prolly considered premium everywhere also--unless mid-grades are 91 in parts of the country where premium is 92, 93 or 94. But I'd guess that mid-grade is 89 everywhere. So whether you keep the Hypertech chip or switch to stock, IMO you should still run a premium octane, whatever its price.

Look at it this way, premium isn't the only octane that went sky-high. They all did, and they're all still about .10/gal different, just like they always have been. So going with 87 octane will still only save you $3 per tankful, the same as when gas was only $2/gal or less, and you're not likely to see any difference in mileage. Ok, so with that 'relief' of $3, you'll be able to afford an extra snack each week. But while you're munching on it, your engine might be suffering.

It's your car and your call, but there are something's I won't skimp on, and gas for my cars is one of those things, no matter what its price. And it's not likely to get much cheaper ever again, so I wouldn't hold onto the mindset that things will return to normal soon. This IS normal now, so we better just accept it and find other areas of our life in which to make financial adjustments. As they say(whoever 'they' are, lol), we've gotta "pay to play."

 

yes, i definatley see you point... but at my current driving level, if i can go down to 87 octane, that will save me $470/yr if you assume $3 per tank, and i do 3 fillups a week.

and yes, i am definatley concerned about my engine 'suffering'. if spending the $470/yr is definatley necessary to ensure the health of my engine, then thats the way it's gotta be... but if i can make adjustments to the car to allow it to 'safely' run 87 or 89 (and i believe safely is defined as no knocking), then its an option i'd like to explore

 

You might want to just buy a small beater car to drive. I bought an old 86 Oldsmobile with the 2.5L and drove it for 3 years.....I only paid $200.00 for it. It wasnt the nicest thing to look at but it got me to point A to point B. Plus it was great on gas.

 

Yea. I've never been one to advocate the purchase of a junker, but try to find a Corsica with the 2.8. It's my DD, and it gets from A to B. Of course it's slow as hell, but on half a tank without AC I can drive over 180 miles. Which is a little less than what I get per tank on the Camaro. >.<

 

i run 87, the only time i have any problems with it is during the summer under light acceleration from about 50 up to about 70 MPH in overdrive with the converter locked up, i get some ping. i don't get any ping in third or in O/D with the TCC unlocked.
with a 2.42 gear my motor lugs pretty badly in O/D, a better gear would probably unload the motor enough to stop the ping.

 

A good, cheap econobox is the Ford Escort. Great mileage. Slow, but it will still get you from point A to point B. The ones with the 2.0L engine are a lot peppier than the ones with the 1.9L.

 

i agree, if you are having thoughts bout gas prices and mileage..then definately get another car to save on gas

 

My thermomaster chip attached to the stock chip. I am pretty sure that the way I installed it was to remove the stock chip, plug the thermomaster in and then attach the stock chip to it. It has been many years, so I cant remember for sure, but I know the stock chip is still used with the thermomaster. So if you have the same chip, your stock chip should still be in the computer if you wanted to remove the thermomaster.

 

What's the point? Get a f-body with a 2.8L and you're almost at the same spot.

 

yes, i fully agree that using a V8 f-body as a D/D is stupid. i had a beater as a 3rd vehicle, but when i moved i had to sell one vehicle, and i chose the beater cuz i coudlnt part with my trans ams. once i have money again, i will buy a beater, but for now i gotta make it work with what i have.