I've seen the plentiful of modules on ebay, like the Z1 Performance Module crap and others....also some chip mods....do any of these actually work? They claim up to 22 HP gain (which maybe they meant 0.22 HP gain, dunno) but just wondering what are people's experience on these things. THanks in advance =)

 

Most of these modules work by 'tricking' your mass airflow meter, or some other sensor, into reading a value that will make the ECU run the engine harder. They don't 'retune' the ECU, they just make it see, say colder air, or more air. This will cause the ECU to throw in more gas to keep a nice A/F, but in reality will run the car rich, as the extra air really isn't there. This can create more power, but at a cost of emissions, and little black particals coming out of your exhause and landing on your back bumper....

Why do I end every post with 3 dots???

Kevin
www.KPtechnologies.net
AIM: KPiersonTec
04 DG Coupe / VDC Memory
OEM Remote Window up mod
Procharged / Crawford / TS

 

I thought that running lean creates more power at the expense of detonation rather than running rich?

 

So if you say it makes the engine run rich, can this be a cheap alternative to the TS ECU if you know for sure that you're running lean? Like say if someone had an intake, plenum, cats and exhaust...it is probable that the engine is running lean, would this chip help at all?

Black on Black 5AT Coupe, Navi
Falken Koblenz 19x8.5 F 19x9.5 R
Falken FK-451 245/35 F 285/35 R
HKS Legamax Exhaust
350Z Duct
Stillen Hi Flow
7 Wire Hypergrounding Kit

 

All this stuff is crap. The only way to do this right is finish all your mods FIRST. Then without driving like a maniac (in case you are way lean), get your car to TS for a custom ECU tune. If you cant get there, then have a dyno done with A/F and send the results to TS. There is no cheap alternative to ECU tuning. Going cheap with piggyback crap is idiotic.

 

the reason for those cheap chips on ebay is that they think that since you have soo many mods your car runs lean and you need gas. in theory.... its somewhat true, but in reality, most cars run a bit on a rich side to prevent any engine damamge. I bet if you go on a dyno and lean out a/f ratio on a completly stock car... you will see gains.

Ecu from factory is made to handle the car as it was made. so its programmed for cold and hot days. Since you can feel the car perform better in cold weather then you can in hot.

As other stated.... DO NOT GET THE ECU updated till after you did the mods you wanna do. Once you do them all... then go spend money on tuning. Spend it well and your car will run better then from factory... half *** it and you be looking at problems down the road.

for those who have intakes and exhausts... those people are not putting that much MORE power down that they should go out and get reflashed ECU, but if you have a number of bolt ons... then defenetly a ECU update is in order to see all the gains you can get out of the mods.

2003 G35C -soon to be moded-
2001 BB6 -moded-

TRACK TIME ... THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE!

 

To improve reliability [make the engine last], the factory runs richer than necessary at max torque and HP.[and every rpm in between to redline]........also the ignition advance is usually 3-4 degrees less than that which would create max power [on the ragged edge of knock].

They know from engine dyno test what perfect numbers at perfect temperatures are and then just program in the safety numbers. Much of this could explain some power differences in 350Z vs. Sedan vs. Coupe.

The way to check how much saety you have built in is to data log the injector time and ignition advance vs rpm vs air temperature. MAF voltage would help with accuracy.
And calculate the variance from ideal [richer than 12.5-12.2 AF and say less than 30-31-31.5 degrees advance at the redline rpm.

A common rule of thumb is for the ignition advance to increase 1 degree per 500 rpms from the optimum value at torque peak rpm.............on factory programs you will usually see the advance stop at HP peak rpm and increase no farther as revs rise......same with the decline in injector opening time from torque peak to HP peak rpm.....stays the same to redline.

As the rpms go above the torque peak* the air flow per cylinder gulp declines so the fuel should get pregressively less and less and less and less...........instead of a 20-25% decline in injector time the factory might only shorten the time by 10% [on a Q45 11msecs drops to 10.5 then 9.8 msecs - better than most but not down to 9.2 or 8.8msecs at 7300 rpm].

The real question is how much safety factor is used in the G35 engine in various models? It appears to be much less than years ago otherwise they would have an easier time raising the Marketing HP.

Also there is only so much you can do with removing the safety parameters because US gasoline is so unreliable from town to town. What works in ATL might just blow the engine up in Arizona or California.

* By definition the torque peak rpm is the rpm where the volmetric efficency is HIGHEST. The rpm where the most air flows into the cylinder [the biggest air glup] where the BMEP is highest. Therefore the fuel injector open time should be the longest at that rpm to create the 12.5:1AF........factory may run 11:1 AF at that rpm for knock protection.
They juggle the ignition advance vs AF ratio.......richer mixture has a faster flame speed so less advance can be used........they try different fuels here to see which is more protective vs torque loss ----richer or less advance.

Years ago we did some Dyno test on JWT and Dinan ecu on Q45.........the Dinan added 3 degrees of advance and leaned the mixtures by another 10-12% [from factory settings] at torque peak rpm raising the 90 Q45 engine from 307 lb/ft to 334 lb/ft ~~ 27 flywheel lb/ft increase [9%]. BUT the engine was VERY VERY sensitive to fuel quality.......only a heart beat away from knock and the serious power losses that would result.

To avoid spending tens of thousands of dollars on dyno and testing many ecu reprogrammers just add 1-1.5 degrees advance and enlean the numbers by4- 5% and raise the rev limit.
This usually adds some power but not an unsafe amount.

 

Q45--
Again, thank you for your insights! I read through this twice so that it would sink in, and it makes quite a bit of sense.

'04 6MT coupe