Have You Got the ProMax Chip? Worthwhile?
03-30-2007, 05:51 PM
#16
Rennlist Member
Originally Posted by promax_motorsport
Hi Mark,
As I explained to you at the time - the revised version was developed and released after your chip was supplied. Changing the RPM limit and some of the other characteristics took us about 45 mins on the computer - this was done in response to some concerns that a 7100 rpm limit was too high (since unproven to my knowledge). Hence, again - it was not 'in development' when your chip was supplied. All manufacturers reserve the right to change and amend product - I am sorry that you still don't believe the explanation I gave you at the time.
The ProMAX 964 chip has been a very effective upgrade for many 964 owners - but it is fair to say that it has been no where near as popular as the 944 or 968 versions (particularly in the USA). What is ironinc is that the benefit achieved on the 964 is quite substantial (compared to a 944S2 for example) - providing you have access to 98/99 RON fuel (93 RON/MON in the USA).
For anybody that may still be considering this upgrade, there are numerous testimonials on the website and the chip is still supplied with a 14 day money back guarantee (30 days for US purchasers). For the cost, it's a very effective upgrade (in terms of performance gained for dollars spent).
Again, I am sorry Mark that you chose not to use the chip you were supplied with.
Regards,
Andrew
www.promaxmotorsport.com
We have moved: see www.promax.eclipse.co.uk/workshop.htm for more info
As I explained to you at the time - the revised version was developed and released after your chip was supplied. Changing the RPM limit and some of the other characteristics took us about 45 mins on the computer - this was done in response to some concerns that a 7100 rpm limit was too high (since unproven to my knowledge). Hence, again - it was not 'in development' when your chip was supplied. All manufacturers reserve the right to change and amend product - I am sorry that you still don't believe the explanation I gave you at the time.
The ProMAX 964 chip has been a very effective upgrade for many 964 owners - but it is fair to say that it has been no where near as popular as the 944 or 968 versions (particularly in the USA). What is ironinc is that the benefit achieved on the 964 is quite substantial (compared to a 944S2 for example) - providing you have access to 98/99 RON fuel (93 RON/MON in the USA).
For anybody that may still be considering this upgrade, there are numerous testimonials on the website and the chip is still supplied with a 14 day money back guarantee (30 days for US purchasers). For the cost, it's a very effective upgrade (in terms of performance gained for dollars spent).
Again, I am sorry Mark that you chose not to use the chip you were supplied with.
Regards,
Andrew
www.promaxmotorsport.com
We have moved: see www.promax.eclipse.co.uk/workshop.htm for more info
Now, if ProMax would have said "Oops, our bad. We will send you another chip since we JUST developed this one right after we sold you yours AND we made some improvements that we think matter" it would have been a different story. I would have felt more like a Customer that ProMax would like to retain, rather than a simple one-shot transaction.
Mark
04-01-2007, 11:23 AM
#17
Racer
Hi All,
The 5 recipients of the free offer chips (for 964) are:
Ken Hill
Bill Sybert
Gary Hill
Paul Wade
Rodney F Laszlo
All were sent out today. UK takes 2 days, USA takes 3-7 days and AUS is about 5-7 days. All sent via airmail.
Regards,
Andrew
www.promaxmotorsport.com
The 5 recipients of the free offer chips (for 964) are:
Ken Hill
Bill Sybert
Gary Hill
Paul Wade
Rodney F Laszlo
All were sent out today. UK takes 2 days, USA takes 3-7 days and AUS is about 5-7 days. All sent via airmail.
Regards,
Andrew
www.promaxmotorsport.com
04-01-2007, 11:35 PM
#19
3rd Gear
Join Date: Jan 2004
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Andrew,
Thanks again for this offer! This is my first post as I have been 'lurking' for gosh, 5 years?
Thanks to everyone on the 964 forum for some great advice and entertaining discussion . . . I'll give you my report in 3 weeks and hopefully it will give a 'non technical' perspective to and help someone as much as all of yours have.
Attached is a few token pictures (as required of a first time post . . . I have been paying attention) of 'ol blue' on a California trip a couple of years ago . . . we are in Hawaii now, never having the top on, which makes it even a better Targa as mine does leak (both water and oil . . . thank God for overpasses (for rain) and drip pans (for oil)!)
Report soon to follow . . .
Rod
Thanks again for this offer! This is my first post as I have been 'lurking' for gosh, 5 years?
Thanks to everyone on the 964 forum for some great advice and entertaining discussion . . . I'll give you my report in 3 weeks and hopefully it will give a 'non technical' perspective to and help someone as much as all of yours have.
Attached is a few token pictures (as required of a first time post . . . I have been paying attention) of 'ol blue' on a California trip a couple of years ago . . . we are in Hawaii now, never having the top on, which makes it even a better Targa as mine does leak (both water and oil . . . thank God for overpasses (for rain) and drip pans (for oil)!)
Report soon to follow . . .
Rod
04-02-2007, 12:02 AM
#20
Short of a before/after dyno, I would be interested in seeing some type of objective assesment of the performance improvement. Hopefully someone will have a Gtech and can do some before/after runs. You should be able to see some measureable improvement with a Gtech meter. If no one has one I would be willing to lend mine out in return for some comparison data.
Greg
Greg
04-02-2007, 12:56 PM
#22
"I would be interested in seeing some type of objective assesment of the performance improvement. "
Don't hold your breath.
"Hopefully someone will have a Gtech and can do some before/after runs."
Hardly a very accurate approach given the number of variables involved and the
methodology.
Don't hold your breath.
"Hopefully someone will have a Gtech and can do some before/after runs."
Hardly a very accurate approach given the number of variables involved and the
methodology.
04-02-2007, 05:10 PM
#23
[QUOTE=Lorenfb"Hopefully someone will have a Gtech and can do some before/after runs."
Hardly a very accurate approach given the number of variables involved and the
methodology.[/QUOTE]
A couple of runs in 2nd gear or 3rd gear from 2000 to 6800 RPM give pretty consistent results. Certainly better information than "it feels faster".
Hardly a very accurate approach given the number of variables involved and the
methodology.[/QUOTE]
A couple of runs in 2nd gear or 3rd gear from 2000 to 6800 RPM give pretty consistent results. Certainly better information than "it feels faster".
04-02-2007, 05:24 PM
#24
Drifting
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Dallas/FortWorth Texas
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Unless someone who received one of the 5 chips is willing to do before and after dyno runs and share the data, this excercise will unfortunately turn into subjective speculation. In other words, we'll hear "I think it feels faster, but it could just be my imagination..."
04-04-2007, 02:30 PM
#25
Instructor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: London
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Just a quick update to say thanks Andrew chip arrived today.
So far I'm impressed.
Chip arrived well packaged with good ESD protection, precise instructions and even a disposible ESD strap.
I will hopefully get some time over the easter period (this weekend) to do some quick comparison between the stock chip and the Promax. Currently I have a full tank of 93 petrol so will need to get some Octain booster to bring it up to the required rating. The plan is to connect the hammer and check the knock counts if all is good I'll get some RR time booked and have the results posted here.
So far I'm impressed.
Chip arrived well packaged with good ESD protection, precise instructions and even a disposible ESD strap.
I will hopefully get some time over the easter period (this weekend) to do some quick comparison between the stock chip and the Promax. Currently I have a full tank of 93 petrol so will need to get some Octain booster to bring it up to the required rating. The plan is to connect the hammer and check the knock counts if all is good I'll get some RR time booked and have the results posted here.
04-08-2007, 05:44 AM
#26
3rd Gear
Join Date: Jan 2004
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Got my chip today from Promax from half way around the world with the great instructions (thanks again Andrew!) and installed it in my haste to give at least the 'feels faster' rating . . . and it does 
I'm going to hunt around Honolulu and see if I can find a shop to get some type of HP rating comparison and will also attempt the 2000 to 6800 rpm and 0-60 tests as soon as I get back from business travel if that gives a little technical information. Again, I know this is not going to impress those that already are set on saying performance chips are not the solution (and there are quite a few!), but for those of us less (read not!) technically inclined, this simple DITY gets us novice shade tree mechanics started in learning about our car, which is also what this forum has done for me . . . off soap box.
For those those that are looking for that 'feel' comment (although there are clearly LOTS of better posts on this), a quick couple first impressions of what it did for my 92 C4 Targa:
1. I had a 'hunting' idle, even after warmed up a while, with the factory chip and for some reason, this new promax chip has cleared that up. Now, this could have been because of a myriad of reasons from the Fabspeed Cat and primary bypass install along with the airbox (?), lengthy time of tune up (2 years), or maybe just better gas, or something else I'm not smart enough to know about (this is probably the real reason). None the less, this was a bonus I did not expect . . . we'll see if this continues.
2. The urgency of how it pulls in the middle range of 2000 to 4000 rpms with the promax chip quite frankly surprised me and definitely was noticeable altough I was unable to get a specific timed run. The car for the last 5 years we have had it always seemed to pull well above 4000 and I really could not notice any major difference there, but the lower range was surprising . . .again, timed tests should help a bit.
3. For installation, splitting the motherboard was initially 'rocket science' for me, but referring back to one of the pages here on rennlist with pictures helped . . . again, promax instructions good, but could not quite understand the 'clips' near the plug to unsnap until I came back here and looked at one. If PROMAX does send out instructions to your 'paying' customers, you may want to make the pictures just slightly bigger and maybe circle the clips you are talking about . . . again this then makes it 'chips for dummies' and makes guys like me feel smart
So for right now in this initial 'analysis' from a guy living in paradise with his 2nd post the promax chip is a big thumbs up
More to follow . . . .
I'm going to hunt around Honolulu and see if I can find a shop to get some type of HP rating comparison and will also attempt the 2000 to 6800 rpm and 0-60 tests as soon as I get back from business travel if that gives a little technical information. Again, I know this is not going to impress those that already are set on saying performance chips are not the solution (and there are quite a few!), but for those of us less (read not!) technically inclined, this simple DITY gets us novice shade tree mechanics started in learning about our car, which is also what this forum has done for me . . . off soap box.
For those those that are looking for that 'feel' comment (although there are clearly LOTS of better posts on this), a quick couple first impressions of what it did for my 92 C4 Targa:
1. I had a 'hunting' idle, even after warmed up a while, with the factory chip and for some reason, this new promax chip has cleared that up. Now, this could have been because of a myriad of reasons from the Fabspeed Cat and primary bypass install along with the airbox (?), lengthy time of tune up (2 years), or maybe just better gas, or something else I'm not smart enough to know about (this is probably the real reason). None the less, this was a bonus I did not expect . . . we'll see if this continues.
2. The urgency of how it pulls in the middle range of 2000 to 4000 rpms with the promax chip quite frankly surprised me and definitely was noticeable altough I was unable to get a specific timed run. The car for the last 5 years we have had it always seemed to pull well above 4000 and I really could not notice any major difference there, but the lower range was surprising . . .again, timed tests should help a bit.
3. For installation, splitting the motherboard was initially 'rocket science' for me, but referring back to one of the pages here on rennlist with pictures helped . . . again, promax instructions good, but could not quite understand the 'clips' near the plug to unsnap until I came back here and looked at one. If PROMAX does send out instructions to your 'paying' customers, you may want to make the pictures just slightly bigger and maybe circle the clips you are talking about . . . again this then makes it 'chips for dummies' and makes guys like me feel smart
So for right now in this initial 'analysis' from a guy living in paradise with his 2nd post the promax chip is a big thumbs up
More to follow . . . .
04-08-2007, 09:51 AM
#27
Good to hear Rod Laszlo.
I just received mine on Friday.
Right now, I have all my wheels off the car the the tires dimounted. Going to paint the rims.
New tires arrive next week. So I sould have it back on the road by next weekend.
Will post findings in a week or so.
Bill
I just received mine on Friday.
Right now, I have all my wheels off the car the the tires dimounted. Going to paint the rims.
New tires arrive next week. So I sould have it back on the road by next weekend.
Will post findings in a week or so.
Bill
04-09-2007, 06:11 PM
#29
Instructor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: London
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Well I had a play with the chip today.
Instructions clearly state to use 98/99 octain fuel as I had a full tank of 95 the last couple of days I put some miles on the car to use the fuel up.Last night I got the low fuel lamp come on and filled up with 99.
Instructions although good,I have to agree with Rod Laszlo where it mentions seperating the two boards, things are not so clear and could be better defined. I admitted defeat (not wanting to put too much strain on the pcb) and resorted to searching the web and found some clearer instructions on this stage on a Promax competitors web site.
Once the boards are seperated swaping the eprom is straight forward with instructions clear on orientation.
There is a mention of adjusting the fuel quality switch to pos 0 but doesnt go into any detail.
Instructions state to check the web site , which i did but couldnt find the relevant info on the Promax site a URL would be good to add.
Everything was reinstalled and the engine fired up without any problems.
I let the engine warm to normal operating temp then connected a hammer ( wanted to check for any knock counts bearing in mind with stock chip there was 0.)
Keeping revs below 3000 in all gears initial impression was the car felt smoother and a little more responsive.
10 mins later and i'm at my 'test road'
Set the hammer to knock registration and I'm off.
Pickup is quick with what appears more pull in the 4000 and up rpm range.(I'm reving to 6k in 1st,2nd 3,rd)
A quick check on the hammer reveals 27 on the knock count (hmmm this cant be good).
A re run keeping the revs to 4500 reveals a count of 17.
Another run keeping the revs to 3000 reveals a count of 0.
So overal there does 'feel' to be a gain (i did just spend two days driving to empty the tank).
But more testing is required (perhaps adjustment to the fuel quality switch) to get the knock counts down.
More info and comparisons to follow with dyno runs.
Instructions clearly state to use 98/99 octain fuel as I had a full tank of 95 the last couple of days I put some miles on the car to use the fuel up.Last night I got the low fuel lamp come on and filled up with 99.
Instructions although good,I have to agree with Rod Laszlo where it mentions seperating the two boards, things are not so clear and could be better defined. I admitted defeat (not wanting to put too much strain on the pcb) and resorted to searching the web and found some clearer instructions on this stage on a Promax competitors web site.
Once the boards are seperated swaping the eprom is straight forward with instructions clear on orientation.
There is a mention of adjusting the fuel quality switch to pos 0 but doesnt go into any detail.
Instructions state to check the web site , which i did but couldnt find the relevant info on the Promax site a URL would be good to add.
Everything was reinstalled and the engine fired up without any problems.
I let the engine warm to normal operating temp then connected a hammer ( wanted to check for any knock counts bearing in mind with stock chip there was 0.)
Keeping revs below 3000 in all gears initial impression was the car felt smoother and a little more responsive.
10 mins later and i'm at my 'test road'
Set the hammer to knock registration and I'm off.
Pickup is quick with what appears more pull in the 4000 and up rpm range.(I'm reving to 6k in 1st,2nd 3,rd)
A quick check on the hammer reveals 27 on the knock count (hmmm this cant be good).
A re run keeping the revs to 4500 reveals a count of 17.
Another run keeping the revs to 3000 reveals a count of 0.
So overal there does 'feel' to be a gain (i did just spend two days driving to empty the tank).
But more testing is required (perhaps adjustment to the fuel quality switch) to get the knock counts down.
More info and comparisons to follow with dyno runs.
04-10-2007, 11:39 PM
#30
Racer
Promax Chip
My Promax chip arrived in the mail yesterday.
I will install it in the next week and offer feedback.
My thoughts are to proceed as follows-feedback appreciated:
I am currently running an Autothority MAF with a custom Autothority chip. Initially I will just change the Autothority chip for the Promax chip and leave the MAF in place (love the intake sound and it opens up the right side of the motor-easy to change fuel filters). If this does not work I will go back to the original air intake and air filter with the Promax chip.
Andrew has warned me that the results may not be what I have expected with the MAF in place-I am not really sure what he means but I guess I will find out.
I ran my car on the dyno a rew months ago after the MAF was installed. I will in the next couple of months run the car again on the dyno with the Promax chip so it should offer some sort of comparison.
The chip arrived well packaged and well documented. I want to thank Andrew for the opportunity to try out the Promax chip.
I will install it in the next week and offer feedback.
My thoughts are to proceed as follows-feedback appreciated:
I am currently running an Autothority MAF with a custom Autothority chip. Initially I will just change the Autothority chip for the Promax chip and leave the MAF in place (love the intake sound and it opens up the right side of the motor-easy to change fuel filters). If this does not work I will go back to the original air intake and air filter with the Promax chip.
Andrew has warned me that the results may not be what I have expected with the MAF in place-I am not really sure what he means but I guess I will find out.
I ran my car on the dyno a rew months ago after the MAF was installed. I will in the next couple of months run the car again on the dyno with the Promax chip so it should offer some sort of comparison.
The chip arrived well packaged and well documented. I want to thank Andrew for the opportunity to try out the Promax chip.