Superchips

At the Autosport show yesterday I was asking at the Superchips stand what they do for early 996s. They reckon a 17bhp increase and improved "driveability" (I forget the torque increase quoted).250 quid +VAT. Then I went to Revo and they said they couldn't do a 1998 model because Porsche changed the ECU in 1999 and they only have an upgrade for the later version. Has anyone tried the Superchips route, and does anyone know about the 1999 ECU upgrade; not heard of that before?

Mike The early 996's are Motronic DME version 5.2.2 with mechanical throttle. From MY00 (late 99) they changed to DME 7.2 which has fly-by-wire (eGas) thtottle.

checked the website, have a look here: http://www.superchips.co.uk/curves/911c4s2002.pdf its a graph showing projected increase. Has anyone had this done? Is it actually possible to get this sort of gain by just re-mapping the ecu?? I know good gains are achievable with Turbo cars, but normally aspirated? dont mean to sound sceptical as i am curious

Superchips has a very bad reputation over on the 944 forum. I don't know the details but you might want to post a question on that forum or do a search to find some related threads. I'm sure they've been linked to the cause of a couple of blown up turbo engines - you might be OK with an N/A engine but it's best to do your homework before tinkering. Also Fifth gear used Superchips to provide the mapping for that farse of a 200mph Lotus Esprit thing they did. Re-mapped 944 S2 engines can gain somewhere around the 5% to 10% in power generally. The biggest improvement is reported bo be power delivery - and fuel consumption. With the more modern and sophisticated ECU's in the 996 I would think you should expect much better gains.

So it's concerning that superchips seem to have the one upgrade for all 3.4s. I was reading Total 911 last night which was arguing that ECU maps changed so often that you need an individualised map; but they're then quoting 1600 quid. I'm starting to think this is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist - what difference is 17 bhp going to make.

The way I look at it is that if Superchips can only achieve about 5% extra power (at best) then Porsche have made a pretty good job of fuel mapping on the naturally aspirated 996. Also, 5% gain is probably removing something of the safety margin.

Lose 2 stone, throw the spare and jack out, fit a lighter flywheel and you will gain more than 5%.

£1600 is a heck of a lot of Driving Instruction. The first thing to upgrade (and the one that gives the best gain) is always the nut behind the wheel...[ ]

After I saw the Lotus getting massacered on Wrong Gear - I think they should change their name to Super Chimps. The only chips I would buy from them are ones which usually come with a battered haddock. They could also try:- Sloppychips Sillygimps Slippywhimps Cheekygits This is could become a competition - ?? I guess that I should add that the above views are merely my opinion and not factual.

Not necerssarily. Don't forget that most modern day cars are more constrained due to much tighter emissions regulations and achieving sensible fuel economy figures for all the marketting bumf. With the more sophisitcated modern ECU's that can control alot more parameters and more accurate air flow meters I would expect alot more power from chipping a newer car.