Steve W Question

[MOMO3.2]

Steve:

I recently purchased an 87 Carrera with approximately 150,000 miles on the odometer. The motor checked out fine in a PPI and the car seems mechanically solid. Would you advise chipping a higher milage car such as mine? Does a chip add any extra stress to the motor? I use it as a daily driver.

The top end power of my 3.2 from about 4,700 revs to 6,000 revs is fantastic. I would really like more low end snap or grunt, however. I guess I got too used to my chipped VW 1.8T with 240 ft/lbs of torque at 3,000 revs.

Thank you in advance for your response.

Sincerely,

Mike

[ben parrish]

If the motor is sound then I see no problem. E-mail Steve and get his opinion. As a fellow convert myself and many others will attest to, Steve will not lead you wrong. He is a fan of performance and in the business of selling chips but he is first a gentleman and a pleasure to deal with.

[don911]

Mike,
I also bought a high mileage 87. (173K) It's also my daily driver.

As long as you keep the rev limiter low enough so you don't snap your rod bolts, I don't think you can add any stress to the motor. I've been tracking mine for 3 years now and haven't had any problems driving it hard. If you can get rid of your cat and put in a by pass pipe, you can get a little more low end grunt and add about 8 to 9 HP. Steve's chip is on my "list" as well.

[Steve W]

Hey Ben, nice hearing from you and your vote of support.

Mike, in stock form, a Carrera 3.2 will have the lackadasical response you describe. Whenever I drive stock Carrera, it is pretty uninspiring to me, especially after driving may of the cars of today. Porsche knows that the power and snap is there, and designed it in, but because it had to comply with legalities such as emissions regulations, it is held back like a speed limiter in the chip. Chipping a car such as yours should not present any issues at all. When you consider many of the cars of the guys I've worked with are approaching 15-20 years old, 150,000 miles is not uncommon. Porsche built that motor to last at least 300,000 miles, so with proper maintenance, you have a long way to go. Chipping only present issues with improperly mapped chips and I like to pride myself in getting it right and toward the safer side of things. My chip is proprietarily mapped to produce that low end grunt and response you are looking for, coding you won't find in any other chip out there. You should feel an immediate torque and response improvement from about 1500 rpm and up. Note that a stock 3.2 produces about 87 hp and 154 lbs of torque at 3000 rpm. If you assume that the first 40-50 hp is used just to fight frictional resistance and haul the weight of the car, that leaves you with about 37-47 hp for acceleration. If we could increase that to 100 hp and 175 lbs of torque at 3000, we now have 50-60 hp for acceleration, a nice 30% increase you can use to outrun that new 330 nipping on your tail. Considering that Porsche hp typically goes for $100-$150/hp, chipping your car probably is the simplest most cost effective modification anyone can do. My suggestion if you're interested would be to try the chip and if you're not 100% satisfied, just return it.

[MOMO3.2]

Thank you Ben and Don.

Don, if I get a chip from Steve, I would prefer to keep the stock rev limit. Six thousand RPM is about as high as I plan on reving under any conditions.

I have had my Carrera for two weeks now and I still can't get over the awsome medly of growls and whines that come from the engine bay. It is intoxicating. I took my son on a drive through Malibu Canyon and up North on PCH with the Targa top off and experienced motoring bliss today.

Mike

[MOMO3.2]

Thank you Steve. I think I am going to give one of your chips a try. I will send you an email in the next week or so to set something up. based on what my motor does at 5,000-6,000 rpm it is easy to see that there must be something more in the lower RPM ranges just waiting to be unleashed.

Again, thank you for the response. I will be in touch soon.

Sincerely,

Mike