promaxmotorsport and other chips

[timward]

whilst I'm here, anyone have any experience of promaxmotorsport ECU chip upgrades? their website promises a 20bhp increase from the 968 chip, and from what Ive gleaned elsewhere they do seem to be very well respected 944/968 specialists. they also advocate air filter changes - again any comments? Oh and the Cat bypass - presumably this renders the engine even more environmentally unfriendly - with the barrier reef already dead I'm not sure I could tolerate this one, but again, a worthwhile upgrade?

 

[Diver944]

Hi Tim I have the chips that Promax sell in my Turbo and a dyno reading confirmed they made the power claims as advertised [8D]. My next MOT test was passed with no problems on the emissions and I know a couple of 968 owners from other forums who have reported similar results. Removing the cat will obviously increase emissions but would still pass an MOT. Andrew, the owner of Promax is a club member on this forum under the name of Sweetea and is having an open day at their new premises near Newark on January 30th so why not contact him and come along. []

 

[Guest]

Hi Tim,

I am probably the least likely 968 owner to modify my car - I like my cars to be standard and consider modifying cars for road use to be a bit pointless. HOWEVER...Andrew gave me a chip to test and keep when he was launching the 968 chip, so I thought "what the hell" and put it in my car. I really wanted to not like it, and I was sure I would pull it after a week or so, and send it back to him. But I was impressed, and it is still in my car. I don't know about performance gains - not interested in figures all that much, as I never track my car. What impressed me was the smoothness it added to my car - ironing out a flat spot in low revs, and seeming to pull that much harder at higher revs. The extended rev limit (now even higher) is not something I use much, but it certainly gives the car longer legs. Even on my otherwise standard car, I would be surprised if there wasn't at least some power gain. It subtley changed the character of the car, for the better in my opinion.

I do believe that if you are going to highly modify intake/exhaust and other things, then an "on the fly" bespoke chip tuning method is the way to go, but for an off-the-shelf chip, the promax chip is excellent value for money. Isn't there a 14 day money back guarantee? Nothing to lose, give it a whirl!

Cheers,
Dave

 

[timward]

thanks for that. Likewise I have little interest in tracking and consider my cab entirely sufficient for years of fun. BUT - there is this weird turbo-ish lag thing with almost pedestrian initial torque, then more obvious pull to 4000rpm then a great big surge thereafter. I'm really looking to make the whole thing a little more linear without doing anything drastic to the car. The only mods I'm seriously consdiering are ones that wont overly strain the engine or chassis, and can be very rapidly reversed. Hence the chip and the air filters, but not the cat bypass.
Did you need to notify your insurer about the chip, and if so, did they care?

 

[Guest]

err...no comment regarding that last matter!

The chip won't suddenly give you more low down oomph, but it seems to smooth out the delivery through the rev range.

There are other things I would rather spend my money on than mods - getting the car to optimum standard spec takes up enough cash! It can improve performance simply to get the injectors cleaned, head stripped and cleaned (gas flowed?) valves reseated and the like. I am looking into getting my injectors cleaned soon, as it appears to be quite cheap.