who's chip to buy?

[Brett Dikeman]

On Jan 31, 2008, at 8:49 PM, Rick Houck wrote:

> Guys,
>
> I'm enjoying the first few weeks in my newly minted E//S2, but  
> starting to
> think of more boost for the stock 3B . What is available these days  
> for the
> stock motor? Anyone have something for sale? Thanks.

I'm quite pleased with my IA 3+, performance-wise.  It is less than  
stellar in terms of compatibility- it causes a 1111 bad ECU/checksum  
error.  Ned's blamed everything from bad grounds to "different ECUs"  
to what have you.

An informal survey over the years has told me that the only people who  
don't complain/know about the problem are those who don't have a check  
engine bulb installed. Also, IA's stuff tends to be pricey.

   I put 100k on my car with Ned's chip.  Lots of people have IA's 3  
or 3+, and lots of people have MTM's.  I can't vouch for the other  
chips.  Ben's may be fine, but I don't know of many people running it;  
I have not heard anything bad, however.

Mihnea's chip seems to have been reasonably well received, but also  
hasn't seen the test of time as much as MTM or IA, which have been  
around and in use virtually since the car was built.

   There was also some severe sketchyness business-wise where Mihnea  
took a lot of people's money, delivered chips that didn't work (at  
all- I installed one for a lister, and promptly panicked when his car  
wouldn't start.  We swapped my ECU in- started OK.  Swapped his stock  
chips back in, started OK...)

Anyway, Mihnea then disappeared off the face of the earth for weeks,  
and then popped up again and (I think) made right for most people.   
Buyer beware, in my book.

Brett