Trevor
03-06-2004, 11:00 PM
Finally!
After a couple of hellish weeks at work I found 10 minutes to fit the new (Australian) performance chip that Mark D'Sylva sent me to test on the 535iA.
And no, being for Australia doesn't mean that it's installed upside-down!
I'm based in Sydney and run my E34 purely on Shell Optimax which has an octane rating of 98.4 For the tech-heads, Optimax has a density of 760 kg to the cubic metre (sorry don't know the imperial). I also add a bottle of Wynns Petrol treatment (with injector cleaner) every 3-4 tanks of fuel.
Okay, so running one of these beauties is not going to be cheap. I'm sure if you're like me, that was not why you bought your E34.........
Enough said.
Fitted the chip today. It's a damp rainy Sunday, so probably not the best day to get out on the road and trial a new chip. Oh heck!
The chip that Mark sent me has a 6000rpm limit. I believe there is also a 6500rpm limit chip so will look in to that also.
Firstly, the car started first time with the new chip (phew, did not blow the motronic). I let it run for a few minutes before taking it out for a spin.
Already there was a noticeable difference in performance with the idling. Exceptionally smooth and even. What really impressed me was when I turned on the air-con with no discernable alteration to the idling (winner!).
Previously, switching on the air-con made a huge difference to the idle, and impacted performance. Now I hardly know that it is on.
Acceleration showed a huge improvement, with a strong smooth increase right up through the power bands. Power seemed to be better than before. (This was in "E" mode). Put the trans in to "S" mode and the beast really performs Again, very strong smooth acceleration with rapid auto changes.
Now, it is pretty wet today so I have not been able to really open her up, but from the short drive I had I'm already really impressed with the results.
Apologies to the "P" plate driver in the ford station wagon who thought keeping up with me after I came out of the roundabout was a good idea. Smile on my face as I glanced in the rear vision mirror to see him fish-tail to a very interesting parking manouvre on the footpath.
Hopefully I can find a ricer or two and coax them in to an embarrasing (for them) duel. The real test is to find an SS Commodore or Monaro CV8 (GM Muscle cars) and see if I can keep up with them from a standing start.......
I've a week of driving to let the chip settle in, and will post a follow up on fuel economy and general performance.
After a couple of hellish weeks at work I found 10 minutes to fit the new (Australian) performance chip that Mark D'Sylva sent me to test on the 535iA.
And no, being for Australia doesn't mean that it's installed upside-down!
I'm based in Sydney and run my E34 purely on Shell Optimax which has an octane rating of 98.4 For the tech-heads, Optimax has a density of 760 kg to the cubic metre (sorry don't know the imperial). I also add a bottle of Wynns Petrol treatment (with injector cleaner) every 3-4 tanks of fuel.
Okay, so running one of these beauties is not going to be cheap. I'm sure if you're like me, that was not why you bought your E34.........
Enough said.
Fitted the chip today. It's a damp rainy Sunday, so probably not the best day to get out on the road and trial a new chip. Oh heck!
The chip that Mark sent me has a 6000rpm limit. I believe there is also a 6500rpm limit chip so will look in to that also.
Firstly, the car started first time with the new chip (phew, did not blow the motronic). I let it run for a few minutes before taking it out for a spin.
Already there was a noticeable difference in performance with the idling. Exceptionally smooth and even. What really impressed me was when I turned on the air-con with no discernable alteration to the idling (winner!).
Previously, switching on the air-con made a huge difference to the idle, and impacted performance. Now I hardly know that it is on.
Acceleration showed a huge improvement, with a strong smooth increase right up through the power bands. Power seemed to be better than before. (This was in "E" mode). Put the trans in to "S" mode and the beast really performs Again, very strong smooth acceleration with rapid auto changes.
Now, it is pretty wet today so I have not been able to really open her up, but from the short drive I had I'm already really impressed with the results.
Apologies to the "P" plate driver in the ford station wagon who thought keeping up with me after I came out of the roundabout was a good idea. Smile on my face as I glanced in the rear vision mirror to see him fish-tail to a very interesting parking manouvre on the footpath.
Hopefully I can find a ricer or two and coax them in to an embarrasing (for them) duel. The real test is to find an SS Commodore or Monaro CV8 (GM Muscle cars) and see if I can keep up with them from a standing start.......
I've a week of driving to let the chip settle in, and will post a follow up on fuel economy and general performance.