[Jared72886]

I was searching around for stuff for the car, and I found this one company that makes peformance chips. They actually make one for the insight I was shocked, I don't know if anyone has heard of the company but they are called Jet Performance Products. ( http://www.jetchip.com )


Anyway, I contacted them to get a little more information and this is the response I got:

We do have an ECU upgrade available for your application. Since your ECU does
not have an easily replaceable chip we do require that the ECU be sent to us for
programming. Our ECU upgrade kit contains everything needed to pack and ship the
ECU to us and includes complete instructions, ECU location chart and our
programming specification sheet that you fill out so we know what upgrades have
been done to the vehicle. Next day air return shipping is also included in the
price. The part # to fit your vehicle is 65001, which retails for $329.95. The
kit is available through JET directly or through any of our dealers.

Once we receive your ECU it will be programmed according to the vehicle
specification sheet to optimize the fuel and timing curves for your specific
modifications. For best results the ECU upgrade should be done after you
complete all of your other upgrades so we can program specifically for them. We
also recommend using at least 89 octane fuel due to the modified ignition
advance. Horsepower gains will vary depending on how the vehicle is modified,
but average gains are 8-10 horsepower to the drive wheels. If you have any
questions you can reach our tech department toll free at 800-535-1161. Our hours
are M-F, 8-5 PST.


They want $329 for the chip with $14.95 for shipping. If you look at their website they make lots of chips for numerous vehicles, but I've still never heard of them...so who's going to be the first one to try this out on their insight? Hehe.




-Jared

 

[Guillermo]

The most effective and safest way to get a highly experienced engine tuner to reprogram or re-flash the ECU by taking O2 and air/fuel ratio readings while on a dyno. And it's important to tune for full, partial and light throttle conditions using the lowest octane fuel you intend to drive with (many people tune for 91 or 94 octane fuel).

I would be reluctant to blindly hand over the ECU and expect them to blindly tune the ECU to safely make a significant improvement. But to be honest I hope you dyno your car before and after the ECU upgrade and report back to us
I would like to see dyno pulls with full IMA assist and dyno pulls without assist (after draining the battery).
The pulls without assist would be more consistent because it's just the gasoline engine.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Remember too that the Insight is not "designed" for _power_performance.

There have been credible posts in the past of higher than expected component failures from Insighters that apparently consistantly drove their car "outside" the envelope.

And there's no substite for bigger displacement when you want more power. At 1.0L is always gonna be "weaker" given the same tweaks vs a 1.5L.

 

[Aaron Cake]

It's probably a generic listing on their website for all Hondas of a specific year range, and a tech answering email who has no idea what an Insight actually is.

Personally I'd find it amazing if they could access the ECU and reprogram it while maintaining things like lean burn...Send an email back and ask specfiically about how the reprogramming effects lean burn, auto stop, IMA assist, the NOX cat, iVtec, etc.

 

[liveforphysics]

Hmm...

Observe this dyno graph they have.

http://www.jetchip.com/pdf/dyno/acura/Gsr.pdf

Now, at 2700rpm, they indicate 180Ft-lbs @ wheels... This curve is nothing remotely similar or realistic to a b18c engine signature.

After looking over a few more graphs, these are all poorly fabricated bullsh*t.

The best they could do with the ECU in any OBD2 honda vehicle would be cutting a trace on the IAT sensor input and installing a resistor in series to cause the ECU to believe that the temperature outside is colder than actual. This causes additional fuel and spark advance, which indeed does make more power over the generally very conservative factory maps.

If the company was very clever, they could install the resistor and use a transistor activated anytime TPS sensor voltage drops below X point to jumper the resistor. In this mannor, only during WOT operation would your engine be thinking it is drawing in colder air, so economy and all other aspects of driving would be unchanged.

Best not to deal with companys that can't even make a semi-possible fake dyno graph, it's insulting to the perspective consumer intelligence.

BTW- we do not have iVtec.

 

[K-Sight]

Agreed, I would not send an ECU for tuning without the car. The only way to tune ECU is to tune it running the engine . I have tuned many engines, and what works very well on one setup, maybe way off on another.
Unless, they can tune just the full thottle/open loop part on a dyno I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Jared72886]

Interesting to hear all your replies. Trust me I was skeptical. But I knew your answers would take it to the next level, like liveforphysics interpretation of the dyno graph. Smart group of people on this forum, that's why I love to hear your feedbacks.


-Jared

 

[Dougie]

I might be interested in an "improved economy" chip. I think I've only had my engine up in the VTEC speed zone one time...