Lexus IS Forum banner

IS chip?

652 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  God 
#1 ·
A lot of Audi A4 and S4 are chipped. For example, a chip costs merely $500 will boost a S4 to 300hp. A4 2.8 will probably gain 12hp since it's not a turbocharged engine.

I am wondering if there is such a chip for IS? And what exactly does the chip do? Is it considered as engine or drivetrain upgarde?
It sure sounds more effective than air intake & exhaust system combination.
 
#2 ·
the chip usually refer to the ECU. It usually re-maps the fuel/air mixture ratio and the injection curve, and let it run a little bit richer. Most of the cars on the street now has ECU that is programmable, so all you need is find a place that does engine tuning and have they do a custom setup for you. In the case of IS300, you can probably make the ECU run the VVT-i more aggressive, the fuel mixture at richer setting, and bring the redline higher. It is pretty difficult to achieve significant amount of HP gain just by one component when you are talking about a N/A car. Turbo cars are easy because all you need to do is increase the boost, and this can be done easily under $100 ( but you do risk blowing you engine).
 
#3 ·
There probably will be a chip for the IS300, but as far as its effectiveness will be, that will be a toss-up.

Basically, a chip will do one or more of the following:
1. alter the fuel/air mixture
2. override the speed governor
3. override the rev limiter

In the turbo Audis, the chips will generally let the turbos run higher boost.

In a fairly recent issue of Car and Driver, they tested several brands of ECU's on several different cars, ranging from an automatic Camaro SS to an M Roadster. Their general conclusion was that a chip wasn't particularly effective in raising hp and that its most valuable property was overriding the speed limiter.
 
#4 ·
Actually chips work very well for Toyotas. It's all in the tuner. Gas mileage is also improved quite a bit on Toyotas. Unfortunately Techtom is still working on the rom boards for the VVTi motors (both TT and non turbo). Nothing available yet but soon.

------------------
Dan
98 R #1054 (not for much longer)
Godspeed Inc.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top