jlee

I am considering "chipping" my 996tt and have looked into a number of companies that seem to sell similar products(GIAC, Powerchip, Evo, Upsolute, etc).

Are there major differences between these products that offer "stage 1" power increases, or are they pretty much the same?

Also, from what I have been able to understand, the technique and principle involved in "chipping" is pretty much the same for most cars with an ECU. I am having a hard time seeing why owners of more expensive cars have to pay more for a basically similar product.

mjc123

I am not planning on modding my car like crazy (not today anyway) so after much research I went with Upsolute and couldn't be happier. If you are looking to upgrade your car to Stage III++ etc. Upsolute would likely not be your best choice.

wilber

Jlee
If you want PowerChip give me a call 18004950777

mjc123

See this LINK

cobra06

Upsolute works for me. I did put a set of Kevin's Turbos in, as well as some other mods, and Up's programmed to make them work. So I wouldn't worry about being "stuck" at a nebulous "stage"

Trojan Man

Upsolute all the way. Don't be fooled by chips costing thousands more. Unless you are planning to go crazy with 700HP, the Upsolute more than does the job for a fraction of other chiptuners.

And since you're in LA, you will be dealing with Lanny Richardson. He is a great guy and if you don't mind, mention that Ryan Gaytan recommended him to you.

jlee

Ryan,

I will certainly do that. Thanks to all the other guys also for your input!

sharkster

AMD's Athlon 64 has really closed the gap with Intel's P4 so either would be a good bet right now.

AMG ETR

I would say either GIAC or FVD...yes I did witness the upsolute power, but I am still not convince on their service (that guy that got dynoed had problems...).
Evan

jlee

Evan,

If you don't mind, what kind of problems is the guy that go dynoed having?

AMG ETR

To be fair to Upsolute I should have been more clear...during install, somthing went wrong, and the car would not start for 2 days, finally they realized that a piece of dust of somthing got into somthing, which caused the ECU to fail... I am not sure exactly what it was, but I would say it was more an install problem then an upsolute problem...However I do have some friends that have had problems with the actual Upsolute company...IMO, I prefer to be safe and pay more for a flawless reputation (GIAC and FVD).
Regards,
Evan

boqueron

I have made a lot of research in the forum and exchanged some PM's with some installer and phoned a couple of them as I am also investigating which chip to buy.
My conclusion: If you want the best market recognition for quality ( and you don't care about price ) GIAC seems to be the one. If you care about price and an "average" quality Opsolute seems to be the choice. It also depends on the Hp's you want. The later for "moderate" Hp's and the first if you want to upgrade later.

If I would have both installers next to my home, I would try Upsolute and risk the bad choice . For the money you can allways shift later to another, and IF Upsolute was the right choice you would have done a very good business!!.

Hamann7

FVD is old news. Their stuff is ok, but their turnaround time absolutely sucks.

If you want better throttle response and safe performance that will not affec the reliability of your motor, I would definitely go with PowerChip.

The fact that they recruited Wilber to consult for them for business development shows their commitment to Porsche ECU development. FYI, Wilber is the one who designed my car with Protomotive, the first 996TT running Garrett ball bearing turbos when everyone balked at his approach!

Their customer support is excellent, they are local to you (Santa Monica), and they will even dyno the car for you to prove the power gains. They will also retune your software as you add mods such as exhaust or intake at no additional charge, unless you go crazy like some of us, then it's truly a custom job.

By the way, upon installation, they will not charge your card for the first 30 days to make sure that you are a satisfied customer. How many other companies can stand behind their product like that?

Once again, this is why PowerChip is used by Loren of 911 Design, 3 time winner of the POC Tribute to Le Mans, and Lucio of FX Performance, the 2001 North America Ferrari Challenge champion. That should be a pretty good testiment to their reliability and ability to tune.

If you are going to do any custom or "high level" mods on your car, IMO the absolute best ECU tuner for Porsche is Protomotive. Hands down. End of discussion.

Only downside is that Todd @ Protomotive is extremely busy so his turnaround times are a bit slow. He is also not the cheapest place to go either, but he is the best I have ever seen. But again, this may be overkill for you if you are doing simply mods or plan to keep your car otherwise stock.

If you don't believe me, ask CJV. While GIAC is still dicking around to get the Garrett ball bearing turbos to crank out the proper levels of power, Protomotive has developed this system for about 2 years now. They also had tremendous lead time over GIAC in getting 700hp. That should tell you something.

Those who are telling you GIAC is far and away the best hasn't seen what Protomotive can do. Simple as that.

Todd @ EVO

Come on Hamann7, aren't we all still "dicking" around. Lets be fair here, was your car "done" at German Auto Fest? Will we ever really be done? We will always be striving to make more power, better power and reliable power. Maybe I am speaking for myself here, but aren't all of our cars a work in progress? No disrespect, just trying to be fair.

Hamann7

Todd, my car has been way more developed than any of yours or PES' 996 Turbos and you know it. You also might as well admit that your Stage V concept was inspired by your exchange of information with Wilber.

While I believe that the Stage V is a beautiful bolt on package, and you have added some nice engineering touches to make it a refined and true bolt-on system without the need for custom fabrication, it is in essence an evolution of what's already been done. Seriously, no disrespect intended here either (especially since personally I think you are a great guy), but you guys are almost 2 years behind Protomotive in working with the Garett ball bearing turbos.

The problem that I had at German AutoFest was related to Iridium plugs and hitting the 1.3 bar ceiling, which was promptly resolved 2 weeks later. Also, after a few restarts, the Motronic resets and the car runs full power again. The difference is that my car has been making 650 at the crank since day one at only 1.0 bar. When the car hits 1.2bar it actually makes 700 at the crank. That ain't what Buddy was seeing on his first day!

Like I said, I have a lot of respect for you guys, but the truth is that Wilber and Protomotive made the Garrett ball bearings work well before you guys joined the fray. And that is my point.

BTW, once Protomotive and 911 Design do the next round of mods on my car, the powertrain aspect of the car will be "done."

There comes a point where peak hp is a pointless race. I am already at that point.