Anyone had any experience of the plug in chip boxes? Are the manufacturers claims of more power and economy true or too good to be true?

Tried one on my Civic some time ago - all they contain is a 5p resistor wired into a connector and generally sealed so you cant see how cheap it is. On performance all it does is overfuel the injection system by feeding a signal to the ECU telling it the air temp is lower than it realy is - a bit like driving with the choke on in the old days.

May give you a tiny bit more power on some days, nothing like the claims they make, but will increase fuel consumption, no matter what the add might say, and wash the oil off the cylinder bores giving more wear.

Not worth it

Digital tuning boxes, normally only available for oil burners do work but they are just as expensive as a decent remap and not quite as good

^^ i think octavia5 has more or less summed it up perfectly... they are a waste of time

^^ i think octavia5 has more or less summed it up perfectly... they are a waste of time

I thought they seemed too good to be true!

so what about re maps? are these worth it?

so what about re maps? are these worth it?

Oh yes, but I've never heard of one for a Feli tho?

Fitting racing spark plugs will give you "Up to +5bhp" according to a certain sponsors website!!

Oh yes, but I've never heard of one for a Feli tho?

Yeah, they are available. Can't find the link I found ages ago, but this:

http://www.dnatuning.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112&Itemid=255

Says a MASSIVE 9BHP for your £249(!!!!!!)

I'd be dubious about +9 on a base of 68 or 75. Most reputable claims I've seen have said more like 10% from just a remap on an atmo. You could get more with a filter and Zorst as well, but realistically tuning an atmo engine is always going to get into heads and/or cams if you want to get the sort of power gain a remap will give on a turbo motor.

The Trophy-spec Felicias with the new ECU went a LOT better than standard - the rev limiter was higher, and they had a lot more advance in them. Never saw one back-to-back dynoed with a standard car, but they were night and day to drive compared with the standard ones.

The Trophy-spec Felicias with the new ECU went a LOT better than standard - the rev limiter was higher, and they had a lot more advance in them. Never saw one back-to-back dynoed with a standard car, but they were night and day to drive compared with the standard ones.

exactly which felicia's are you talking about?

I want to know what the rev limit is on mine but too scared to try lol, have taken it up into the red before..

mine is a 2000 Felicia Classic 1.3mpi - goes like stink, dont believe its only 68bhp

I have the spark plugs mentioned above, seem to improve reliability but not sure about performance. looking for other ways to improve it though, currently saving the pennies to replace exhaust

exactly which felicia's are you talking about?

I want to know what the rev limit is on mine but too scared to try lol, have taken it up into the red before..

mine is a 2000 Felicia Classic 1.3mpi - goes like stink, dont believe its only 68bhp

I have the spark plugs mentioned above, seem to improve reliability but not sure about performance. looking for other ways to improve it though, currently saving the pennies to replace exhaust

He's talking about Skoda Trophy rally cars. I've got this vague notion that they were Gp N (or possibly A) legal, but that still allows things like blue-printing by matching parts sets, different cams...

They were Grp N. No changing of cams or anything like that.

The Felly HAS no limit, it will just explode when it has had enough!!!

My son over revved to 7,000 RPM once, when learning to drive; I gave him a right *******ing!!!!

The engine developed a slight "ping" that faded over several hours of use at lower revs.

Pretty certain they all have rev limiters? (Unless they've been toyed with). The rev limiter is electronically governed, once revs reach a certain level I think it cuts the spark to stop it going faster? I have felt the slow down of the rev limiter in the Fabia but don't think I ever took it far enough to notice the rev limiter in the Favorit, (the engine was somewhat noisy, probably timing chain). Rev limiter is round about where the red line is on the rev counter. As long as the engine is reasonably good condition and kept in good order (oil + filter changes) I doubt taking it to the rev limiter would cause any issues so long as you don't keep it there

Edited 22 June, 201015 yr by anewman

the rev limit doesnt kick in on the red line, some point beyond there. i know its unmodified in any way because my mother bought the car brand new and only her and myself have driven it, well maintained though ill be going for a drive shortly, maybe ill put my wellys on..

Red line is 6k, It went Waaay past that line!!

And you achieved this by? Putting the car into too low a gear?

i'm sorry but are we talking about the same engines here?? i've always found the 1300 skoda engines completely gutless :wonder:

oh and don't spend too much time on the redline folks or you'll kill it

They were Grp N. No changing of cams or anything like that.

Ok, that's limitting in what you can do, but matching sets of parts and carefully selecting favourable tolerances is still possible and reputedly worth several bhp before anything you do with custom maps (or rejetting and custom advance curves on carbie engines).

The Felly HAS no limit, it will just explode when it has had enough!!!

My son over revved to 7,000 RPM once, when learning to drive; I gave him a right *******ing!!!!

The engine developed a slight "ping" that faded over several hours of use at lower revs.

Well, John Haugland reported the practical limit on the Estelle as being 7_000 rpm, beyond which you start to bend pushrods. Getting the standard EMS engines to 7_000 I'd have thought would require something like changing down a gear instead of up one.

My Fav rally car regularly went to 6800-7000rpm, the bottom end was fine for that, so much so that years later it managed to do duty on Rally GB and win its class. They're a good little engine up to that speed, beyond though, as said, pushrods and other things can give up the ghost...

He managed to miss the gear and then floored it