Powerchip - Recommended For The Bf?

[Flukey]

  GEoMaNTiK said:

I like the sound of this thing, fast & easy as hell.

Thanks for the info on XTC, should I wait until the BF has been run in or get it sorted on delivery?

btw thanks for all of your help in answering my q's FL - much appreciated.

I would give it 5000km's or so first before modding.

No worries, not sure where everybody else is tonight

[Kimberley Scott]

Mate for your info, I had the gold 98 powerchip upgrade, put in my 6 speed BA XR6T. This was done at 6200 km, I then picked it up and drove it back to Brisbane from Melbourne. Worked really well and I would thouroughly recommend it.

However as you say you cannot run on 98 RON fuel. 800 bucks is a lot of money for the power increase, you would gain.

As far as warranty is concerened, Ford should not know that you have a power upgrade, but if they flash you on service then its back to powerchip, for you not so far, for me a different kettle of fish.

Mate I am happy with the product and the customer service. My advice would be to give them a ring, and I can give you a number if you like, and talk to them.

I to am on anovated lease an d want to get similiar mods to you done early on to gete the most out of them. What ever you decide, good luck and enjoy.

Scotty

[Lawsy]

Ok it goes like this.

Like what others have said already; what you need is the Edit, plain and simple. Powerchips are fine and all, but they are no comparison to the Edit and the functionality that it offers. Powerchip do a great job, but there product isn't even in the same league as the Edit. Double the power increase for only a 60% increase in price ($800+ for a 20 -25rwkw increase or 1300+ for 40 - 60rwkw increase, sometimes less, sometimes more).

And that's just the power increase. The overall drivabiliity of the car will be completely transformed, it will be like a totaly different car than what you originally picked up.... Do a search and find some more information out yourself.

There are a number of things you need to know.

When you get the Edit, you'll need to get it custom tuned (what is it now, $950-1000 for the edit and about $300 - $500 for a custom tune?). In doing so, you'll be able to get it tuned perfectly safe (you could go as far as to say that it is safer than stock) while running on 95 RON fuel, and even a normal unleaded map for that extra crap fuel batch of fuel that seems to happen all too often when transversing this great land.

This way, you are covered dispite your location and fuel supply.

And regardless of what some may tell you, Ford does not know when your ECU has been edited; as long as you return the car back to its stock tune before each service you'll be fine. You can also specifically tell Ford NOT to reflash the ECU in your car during each service... EVER.

The only exceptions being, of course, are recalls of some sort or major bug fixes.

This way, everyone is happy. We all know that the car is MORE than capable of handling the power increase from an edit alone, without any noticable increase in wear and tear on the car (appart from your rear tyres ), other than a slight increase in oil usage. But this is completely understandable given that it is a turbocharged car and you are ramping the cylinder pressures up by a couple of hundred PSI over stock (a 5psi increase in boost compressed 9 times and then ignited with the correct amount of fuel = anywhere from 500 to 1000psi, depending on the engine...).

So we all know that if anything breaks while you have a mild edit, then ovbiously the hardware that has broken was clearly not up to scratch in the first place and would most likely have broken in the near future anyway. These cars are built with a massive safety margin on components. If they can't handle an extra 40rwkw, then they weren't up to scratch according to basic engineering practice (which gives you a minimum safety net of about 20 - 25%, which just so happens to be a 40 - 50rwkw safety net...)

Do you think that it's a coincidence that people xr6T's, with an edit alone, get roughly this much grunt from there cars? I think not..

/ramble.

[C.S.I]

Nice post Lawsy,

What EXACTLY is a PowerChip anyway. ??

Is it a form of S/W Edit, or a fair dinkum IC Based Solution, or a signal bender??

Cheers,

Alan...

PS: Regardless, I would always choose the Edit path. Plus it has the advantage of being re-usable (to a point)

[SavageF6]

  Lawsy said:

And regardless of what some may tell you, Ford does not know when your ECU has been edited; as long as you return the car back to its stock tune before each service you'll be fine. You can also specifically tell Ford NOT to reflash the ECU in your car during each service... EVER.

The only exceptions being, of course, are recalls of some sort or major bug fixes.

What do you do if you've gone the Edit route (mods or not etc), and it comes to the point where there is a bugfix/recall that needs to be applied somehow. Are you up for another custome tune, or can such things be inserted into a custom Edit by ones tuner?

Question for the tuners I suppose

[Flukey]

  C.S.I said:

Nice post Lawsy,

What EXACTLY is a PowerChip anyway. ??

Is it a form of S/W Edit, or a fair dinkum IC Based Solution, or a signal bender??

Cheers,

Alan...

PS:  Regardless, I would always choose the Edit path.  Plus it has the advantage of being re-usable (to a point)

Signal bender Alan.

[Chooka]

  GEoMaNTiK said:

I've taken the plunge and ordered my BF, hopefully will arrive in the next 3-4 weeks.

The car will pretty much stay stock as it's on a Novated lease, so I don't want to rock the work boat too much.  Already getting a Turbo which is a bit risque for our company.

Anyway I'll definately be getting some grilles installed straight off the mark and in terms of enhancements, I don't want it to be too over the top.

What do you guys think of Powerchip as a company and does anyone have one of their chips to recommend?  I'll be able to fill up with PULP (95 RON) ONLY due to Petrol Cards from the Lease company, so I won't be able to go for the GOLD 98 version which is 301kw, I'll have to settle for the GOLD 271kw option.

The Torque increase is from 480Nm to 532Nm.

Is it worthy of an $800 cost price to upgrade for an extra 25kw and 50Nm?  and will it be better for the engine or is there a chance of engine damage with these sorts of upgrades?

And if I do go for it, should I wait until the engine is run in or should I install as soon as I get the BF?

Also will Ford know that it has been upgraded at service time or does it even matter to them at all?

Hope someone can shed some light, sorry for my ignorance in this area.

Gday mate,

As far as your novated lease is concerned you can pretty much do waht you like to the car and the fleet company should not care. Basically it is YOUR car and they are managing it. unless you are talking an operateing lease tool of trade?

Feel free to PM me mate

Chooka

[Lawsy]

  SavageD said:

  Lawsy said:

And regardless of what some may tell you, Ford does not know when your ECU has been edited; as long as you return the car back to its stock tune before each service you'll be fine. You can also specifically tell Ford NOT to reflash the ECU in your car during each service... EVER.

The only exceptions being, of course, are recalls of some sort or major bug fixes.

What do you do if you've gone the Edit route (mods or not etc), and it comes to the point where there is a bugfix/recall that needs to be applied somehow. Are you up for another custome tune, or can such things be inserted into a custom Edit by ones tuner?

Question for the tuners I suppose

Yep, that is infact what would need to happen. And this is why I mentioned that Ford should only be allowd to reflash your ECU only if it is a major recall or bugfix.

In this instance, I'm sure your tuner will have no issues applying the air/fuel, ignition, timing and cam advance tables accross to a clean, updated, bugfixed stock tune and then re applying the numbers, maybe even give it a quick tweak.

Sure, this might cost you another 200 bucks if your tuner wants to be a tight arse, some might do it for 100, some might do it for free...

It really just depends on the tuner and how majorly the A/F, timig maps etc are affected by the fix/recall, if at all...

Its really a non issue....

[Kimberley Scott]

Why is it, that all you guys are so pro EDIT. I have to say the drivability of my car on a powerchip is superb. I realise there are limitations, like not being able to do much other than the chip were as the edit allows for continual improvements.

It would appear to me that there are a lot of guys out there without the money, or a missus who objects, or whatever reason. That just want that little bit more, that they know is available, from these great cars.

I am relatively new to all this, granted, but from what I have read, I am not convinced the EDIT is the be all and end all. Hopefully in the near future, I will go on a cruise with some of you guys, and things will become clearer.

Just my thoughts.

Scotty

[jordak]

  Kimberley Scott said:

Why is it, that all you guys are so pro EDIT. I have to say the drivability of my car on a powerchip is superb. I realise there are limitations, like not being able to do much other than the chip were as the edit allows for continual improvements.

It would appear to me that there are a lot of guys out there without the money, or a missus who objects, or whatever reason. That just want that little bit more, that they know is available, from these great cars.

I am relatively new to all this, granted, but from what I have read, I am not convinced the EDIT is the be all and end all. Hopefully in the near future, I will go on a cruise with some of you guys, and things will become clearer.

Just my thoughts.

Scotty

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So from interest what difference did the power chip make to the drivability of your car? What power increase did they quote, does it now break traction in first, how is the fuel consumption, has low - mid range pull improved, have you had a dyno to read AFR's etc.

Alot of people on here are pro edit for a good reason as was the case 1 year ago and in some cases still is, with respect to unichip.

Whats more important though is that you are impressed with the improvement in the driving pleasure that the powerchip has given you so it has to have something going for it.