Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance Just say No to Chips

Could you tell me more about these "cheap headers"?

Nevermind Blorton, he's being a smartass. He's talking about the ones at BAT I'm sure, and he knows they won't fit, but he wants me to buy them anyways.

I always did have a hard time believing that a header, by itself, could make any substantial difference...

I've been warned that certain exhaust mods, like gutting the cat, can lose power because it scares the computer into playing it safe and assuming something is not working right. Hopefully it would show a CEL if this happens, so you'd know.

Well, ya never know till you do it. I gained 11hp and 6tq from off road Y-pipe from sho shop. Check my dyno's in my sig with the mods.

Check these dynos on a ZX2. UDP was the only mod, but you can also see the gains of a header above the already installed mods.
http://www.zx2racing.com/stockdyno.htm

Not "substantial" but about what would be gained with a superchip. About a 10% gain. Unfortunately, the company that made that header isn't around (at least I can't find their website).

40-50 hp increase with the S/C could be the "take home" hp, not the total, thats something to think about too. As far as the chips go I was told that maybe our cars are calibrated well enough and thats why a $300.00 chip may only give you like 4-6 hp, is it worth it?

Roger R

I agree that the "off the shelf" chips like Superchip and Hypertech will typically only give you a 4-5hp gain at the wheels. These companies simply use the computer code from your EEC to make a "general" program. The best chips to get are programmable ones like Autologic. They can hold 4 separate programs. They can be custom made during dyno-tuning sessions. On-the-spot changes can be quickly made. An experienced shop usually has a Dyno-Jet, wide-band O2 sensor, and Autologic software. I personally recommend Johnson Motorsports www.jmschip.com

After doing some mods to my '95 5.0 Mustang, I encountered some drivablity problems. After a couple of dyno pulls with the wide-band O2 sensor hooked up, we discovered that my new Pro-M mass air meter was leaning out my A/F ratio. A few more pulls and a couple of gradual changes to the total timing and A/F tables in the chip, and we found the "sweet spot" my car needed. When all was said and done, I gained 13rwhp and 10ftlbs torque. Because of my underdrive pullies, we set the idle speed at 900rpm for a full charge at idle. When I got the Vortech installed, we dyno-tuned it with same chip. The drivablity issues are gone. It now has docile street manners with an explosive rush of full-on power.

I was pleased with the results of the JMS chip and Chris Johnson's tuning knowledge. I plan to get another Autologic chip dyno-tuned for my '98 Contour SVT. I will post the results when it's done.

any aftermarket chip should be dyno tunable. i know for a fact superchips is. ask gschomi.