Does the afermarket chip make a difference?

[lyonsd]

Originally posted by dinomite
i'll second Mr 5 0 here, no. on a stock, or near stock motor (anything short of heads) a chip does nothing. if you are going to get a chip (because you have a lot of mods) get a custom one.

I disagree. I had a '88 Mustang GT, bone stock. Here's what it ran (60', ¼-mile et @ ¼-mile mph) with original "Gatorbacks" that have been on the car since new - over two years before these runs were made.

1. 2.424, 14.923 @ 94.868
2. 2.305, 14.551 @ 95.612
3. 2.302, 14.609 @ 95.135
4. 2.223, 14.484 @ 93.217 <--lifted to avoid breakout
5. 2.260, 14.569 @ 94.763

A year later, same tires, even more wear on them. BUt this time, I had a Hypertech Power Module installed as the only mod:

1. 2.489, 14.772 @ 97.756
2. 2.482, 14.853 @ 98.039
3. 2.315, 14.312 @ 98.303
4. 2.286, 14.502 @ 97.645
5. 2.372, 14.513 @ 97.507
6. 2.524, 14.765 @ 97.987

On average, I picked up 2¾ mph in the quarter mile.

ETs didn't improve because of traction problems. Look at the 60' times. On average, they got worse in the second set of runs because of the worn tires.

There were a couple other factors to be taken into consideration:

1. My timing wasn't set at the stock setting of 10º advanced. It was only about 6-7º actually. So the chip probably only advanced it to something close to the stock setting.
2. Like a ricer, I really didn't know what I was doing, and I used that high-octane race gas they sell at the strip in both these trips. Race gas in a stock, low compression street motor without a lot of advanced timing isn't going to help. If anything, it slowed by down.