I have the Steve Wong chip on my 964 and am very pleased with it. He cut his teeth on the Carrera 3.2 and makes a number of different variations (Euro or US, stock or modified exhaust, 24 pin ECU or 28 pin ECU since they switched mid way through 1987) and will do custom setups for 3.4 twin plug conversions etc. He's really knowledgeable and thorough and his products reflect that.

 

You can say the same about Porsche, except they have years of engine development experience on bench dynomometers, and additional years of competition experience along with road testing experience in every climate on earth including Death Valley USA.

"Fast, reliable, cheap - pick any two": The 964 is already highly developed. It is fast and reliable. It is not cheap. I have looked and have yet to find a proven way to get a measurable performance increase on the cheap. I put on a primary bypass to save some mass, and the stock chip seems to handle that OK. I spend a lot of extra time getting the valve clearance spot-on, and I feel the difference in smoothness. That is not performance - it is only getting back to factory specifications.

LWF makes a difference you can feel, and that is on my list when the clutch goes out. Then I will probably look at a chip that has the undershoot fix. I don't expect to get more power from a chip unless I also invest in some serious engine modifications.

 

I am selling it because the refund has a defined time period (90 days I believe), of which has passed. Thus, the desire to sell it. Plus, when I had a use for it, I was satisfied! If I had multiple 964's as I used to, I'd have a use for it!

 

"You can say the same about Porsche, except they have years of engine development experience on bench dynomometers, and additional years of competition experience along with road testing experience in every climate on earth including Death Valley USA."

That totally sums up what it's all about! As compared with those that use a
PC connected to an EPROM programmer and in 5 minutes add 3-8 degrees
MORE spark advance to the ignition maps, i.e your "performance" chip.

 

I'll add another vote in favor of the Steve Wong chip (911chips.com). My 964 has a primary muffler bypass and a cone filter instead of the stock airbox. I had a GIAC chip installed when I had the intake and exhaust mods done and the chip's ignition advance was way too strong -- it was pinging under load and generally didn't run well -- so I had it removed and ran the car with the intake and exhaust mods and the stock chip for a while. Once I had the Steve Wong chip installed, I noticed a subtle but noticeable improvement in low-end grunt and smoothness (as did my mechanic, who is generally a skeptic of performance chips and hated the GIAC chip). The change in power is like the difference between how powerful the car feels on a cold but clear day (with nice, dense air), as compared to a hot, humid day with low air quality.

By the way, I have absolutely no affiliation whatsoever with Steve Wong chips.

 

Keep away from cheap Authority chips offered on flea-bay!
After I nuked my engine last year (thanks to 7200 rpm redline)when taken apart showed fuel damage to all cylinders!
$14,000.00 later with all upgrades Im back to stock chip

 

Here in California with only 91 octane gas at the pump, any advance dialed in by a "tuner" is eliminated by the knock sensors during operation anyway.

 

garret376 -

How's the MAF working?

 

I have a Steve Wong 92+ Octane Chip for Cat Bypass + Muffler Bypass (and it's for sale). The chip worked well for TRACK and RACING applications where you need to very last little bit of power. For the street you will never notice any change. The reason I am selling my chip is that I am putting my car back to more street-ish trim because I now have a full time race car.

You can see in the plot below the red line is the chipped car, and the blue is standard. Sure this is not perfectly scientific, but it's shows that down the straights I had more velocity with the chip than without. These are two run sessions back to back, there is very little track condition temperature change between the laps. I am not a perfectly consistent driver thats for sure, but for me this proved the point (at least for Racing or Time Trialing)

 

My car had an Authority chip when I bought it and it did raise the redline to around 7200, which I don't care for. Jason graciously burned me a stock chip last year and I finally got around to installing it today (thanks again). As far as I can tell there is no difference, except the redline is now back to ~6800 where it should be.

 

"Here in California with only 91 octane gas at the pump, any advance dialed in by a "tuner" is eliminated by the knock sensors during operation anyway."

Another Rennlister who "sees" beyond the hyperbole and accepts the reality.
It's hardly "rocket science" here; i.e When "pushing" the late Porsche engines
(964/993/996), it just a tradeoff between how much "pushed" advance & the
octane required for it or how much pinging one is willing to accept under ALL
load conditions which the chip suppliers NEVER FULLY test for.

 

I agree, however, Porsche (and all companies) tends to leave power on the table in terms of programming for a number of reasons. Differences in fuel quality are important and vary across nations and states. Some schmuck out there is bound to put 87 in, and Porsche wants to be sure that the car won't suffer permanent damage from this. And yes, Steve Wong even makes two versions of his chips, 91 and 93 versions. They also want to be sure that the cars will continue to last even when they are mechanically neglected, so they will go with conservative tunes with the programming for that reason. For chip buyers, who maintain their cars better on the whole, and who fuel them properly, then it makes sense to have different programming to take advantage of this. In the interest of reliability, Porsche wants to be sure that the cars will last as long as possible, even if not cared for perfectly, so they use conservative tunes.

 

"Porsche (and all companies) tends to leave power on the table in terms of programming for a number of reasons"

Right out of the "performance" chip sales manual;
"How to Sell Performance Chips to The Naive"

"They also want to be sure that the cars will continue to last even when they are mechanically neglected, so they will go with conservative tunes with the programming for that reason."

The above statements ignore the fact that knock sensors have
allowed Porsche (and other OEMs) to max performance for
the specified (in the owner's manual) octane rating (RON=95, MON=85);
typical USA pump number (RON+MON/2 ~= 91) that's the stock MINIMUM.
And where's the 93 and better to allow the "pushed" timing, i.e. not here
on the west coast. And besides, who wants to always be on the "hunt" for
93 or better?

Bottom line: Those quoted statements ALWAYS help rationalize the naive's chip purchase.
Take from the experience of those Rennlist 964 (and 993) owners who understand the true reality.

 

I started to think about what you'd written and then I realised it was you Loren. Your reputation precedes you. I'll just disregard it now. Does anyone have any real concerns?

 

"Your reputation precedes you."

Typical! Ignore the facts/message, e.g. lack of competence, and attack the messager,
e.g. as what always occurs on the "Dark Side" (the marginal "other" Porsche website).