Steve W's Chips

[SeaDweller]

As hard as I've worked to keep the mindset that my Targa be 100% original, this talk of chips, and mufflers, and of course Dr. Mark's wheels, is wearing at my ability to avoid upgrading my car.

My '85 Targa has 29K original miles, and is in turn 100% original, except for the tires. I know these cars are destined to be upgraded, but I'm just afraid that these "upgrades" will devalue it. Does originality have anything to do with value when it comes to chips, exhaust and such? Ah well, I guess that's another question entirely.......

Regarding Steve W's chip, is anyone using one with a 100%, bone stock 3.2L? The one thing I notice about the 3.2L, is it's not as "peppy" out of the gates as my 3.0L. Once going, there's a noticable difference in torque, but there's a slight hesitation from a dead stop. Also, I notice that I get a mild pulsing on acceleration, that is likely the O2 sensor at work.

I'd be curious to know if anyone has chipped a stock (I mean stock) 3.2L, and what you gained from it. I don't need (yet, at least) new exhaust and such, but I am interested in better drivability.

[CarreraS2]

Chips, exhausts, and wheels are all easily reversed. Just keep your old parts.

[mwbaum]

I just chipped my bone stock 85 Coupe with Steve's chip. It is awesome. The "Carrera lag" is totally gone. Much better throttle response. Much faster and zippier, and it pulls very strongly right to redline. He is careful to not be too aggressive so the car will not predetonate. You'll need 91 or 92 Octane gas after chipping. It is by far the best money Ive spent on my car. I still grin over the difference every time I go for a drive...

[BGCarrera32]

Let's assume you want to sell the car, and a buyer is looking at yours vs. another, both cars "appear" equal.

I don't know of too many folks realistically looking for an all original '85 Targa.

So if the buyer test drives both, and yours is smoother/quicker etc. from the chip, guess which one he will buy?

Start tacking on certain wings, wierd wheels, window tint, changing bumpers...thats when you need to be careful.

[Mike Feinstein]

Make it the car YOU want. Heck, the next guy doesn't even own it yet.

If you bought your 85 Targa as an investment, I've got bad news for you.

Mod away and enjoy your car. Just one man's humble opinion.

[smoak]

I have done each of the mentioned mods and kept the original parts. If you sell the car at a later date you can always offer it with the mods or with the original parts or both. It should not scare someone off if you have the original stuff and will put it back on prior to the sale or better yet, if you are going to sell it, put it back to stock and offer the mods too. Either way, these are the types of mods that will not hurt your sales opportunities.


As the peer pressure is heard resonating through the Bay Area P-car community, "come on Michael, don't be afraid everyone's doing it. If you were cool you would do it."

[JeremyD]

Come on over to the dark side Michael - The cars are faster, the beer is colder and the women rarely wear bras!

[targa911man]

Mike--

Here's my appraisal:

Steve Wong Rules!!!

Given the similarity of our cars, even down to color, you should have the same improvement (on the engine--can't improve on the color.)
Oh, and as to originality, you can switch the original chip back in in ten minutes.

[burton73us]

Michael,

First I put in just the chip at Steve’s place in my 86 Cab. Big difference. I have had several 911’s before.
70s, 73s, 78sc, 79sc, 81sc. With just the chip put in my ca, it r was running like I remember my SCs and like my 73s when it was just back from tuning the mechanical injection. It is a big difference at $230. and you can move back to the stock chip any time you want. If you do not like it Steve will give you back your money. How can you do better than that.

You do not need to pre-muffler but it did help a little more. Take it one at a time.

Bob

[carreradpt]

Michael, I had installed Steve's chip, I think prior to installing the premuffler and muffler. Seat of the pants difference and I can sway back to the original though I can't think of any reason that I would right now. It just made the car come alive. I felt the same way about my car as well, wanting to keep it stock. Well I just keep all the original parts and haven't done anything too weird other than just upgrading. You have a great looking car and potential buyers can tell when it has been well taken care of, they'll pay a better price for that, I think regardless of the not be original anymore. BTW I got third this weekend and the judges loved the motor. The fan makes the difference.

[Jeff Alton]

Steve's chip in enroute to me right now. I will let you know what I think of it when I put it in. I also have a sport muffler and a euro pre muff so I am interested to see how much difference it makes.

Jeff

[jyl]

I notice the guys with the Steve W chips seem to only have exhaust mods - premuffler, sport muffler.

Are there no intake side mods worth doing - "worth" in the context of a relatively frugal approach to getting some moderate gains? Do you Steve W chip users also have MAF, bored out throttle bodies, Extrude-Honed manifolds, or anything like that on your Motronics?

[ChrisBennet]

You folks keep this up and Steve's hats won't fit anymore!
-Chris

[911/914gary]

Jyl…."Are there no intake side mods worth doing - "worth" in the context of a relatively frugal approach to getting some moderate gains? Do you Steve W chip users also have MAF, bored out throttle bodies, Extrude-Honed manifolds, or anything like that on your Motronics?"

Actually Steve has the mods listed above in his. My Targa has the same except no MAF. The chip was configured for these mods. I did "feel" more performance and improved drivability through out the throttle range. Particularly at the lower end.

[smoak]

And Jeremy is now on the bandwagon too. Lots of Dansk being shipped from Pelican to Tampa Bay.

[targa911man]

The only mod I've got is the chip.

OK, looks like I've been in the dark...does Steve have a website I can check out? I need to look into this. I'd appreciate any info, past threads etc... Thank you.

[Steve W]

Hi everyone - I've tried to stay out of this discussion as my opinion might be though of as biased. But here it is anyways. I don't think there is a simpler reversible mod you could do to your car than a chip. It takes all but 10 minutes to swap from one chip to the other and back. JYL, I actually have done all the intake mods you specified, and so have quite a few of the guys I've worked with. I actually have quite a large matrix of codes I've developed to keep up with all the combinations - I needed to keep track of them on a spreadsheet. However, as you stated, exhaust mods are some of the more simple and easier ones to perform, and therefore are the most common.
Kevin, I actually do have a site now, but it's really rough right now. Put on your hardhats and watch out for falling bricks.

Most of it I slapped together all through the night, so I'm pretty sleepy right now and there's lots of missing things and non-functioning forms. It's all preliminary, but here it is and I welcome everyone's input and criticism as to what changes or information you would like and I should do. My new email is steve@911chips.com if you guys want to contact me. So without further adieu welcome to www.911Chips.com

[targa911man]

Steve--

Nice job with the site. One suggestion--make the dyno chart bigger.

[RickM]

Steve,

Any progress on a turbo capable chip for the Carrera? Ala Proto