If your car has fuel injection and an ECU
(Electronic Control Unit) the next simplest step at reasonable
cost is to fit a performance chip. Power gains for a non-turbo
are around 10% and are a staggering 25-30bhp for a turbo.
Especially in turbo applications you can't do better in terms
of power per pound. Modern turbo-diesel engines such as the
Audi 1.9 TDi respond particularly well to chipping. We sell
Powerchips
at £150 for non-turbo cars and £250 for turbocharged
cars. For most applications you need to post your ECU to Powerchips
who will chip it and send it back to you the same day but
in some applications such as most Fords, a module can be sent
in the post which is simply plugged into the ECU.
In naturally aspirated cars (non-turbos)
a chip advances the ignition and puts in more fuel. In turbo
applications the chip increases the boost pressure or removes
the boost limit to allow manual increase of the boost. Companies
who program these chips make sure that these alterations are
still within the design limits of the engine but they do point
out that servicing the engine regularly is even more important
than normal.
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