Anyone bought a performance chip off of eBay?

[sfhighroller]

They have a bunch of chips for the E30 on eBay, and I was wondering if anyone has tried them out? I was just wondering how legit they are and what you guys have to say about them.

Here's on of the many:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7929901557&category=33597

[Rob]

yup, dont waste your time.

[MR 325]

Mine is my Eta is alright, but I bought that before I was ever on the forums or anything. If I were to go back, i would buy one from a real company, like Turner Motorsports

[bimmerphile]

Don't listen to these guys, I bought one of the Alpina chips and got ~35HP with my CAI and chip combo.

[Mike 91 318ic]

buy or beware I got burned. The chip caused my check engine light to stay on and the seller gave me no refund or exchange... Other people have been lucky, but why bother... Just buy a genuine chip like JC, Dinan, Mark D, AA etc... I wouldn't touch the ACS or Alpina chips since they never made chips for E30's...

M

[Mystikal]

There's a thread on maX right now, some guy wasted money on one and got the CEL in his face. Don't do it.

I am very happy with my 93-octane MarkD. :D

[MR 325]

Check Engine Light

[Charlie]

The few remaining companies that want to build quality aftermarket products for an e30 will dry up real quickly if cheap asses keep buying knockoff crap on ebay.

-Charlie

[Screaming_bmwe30]

I bought one for my 86 325. I had an extra ecu, so i g-teched the car with the stock ecu plugged in, then with the ecu with the chip, and i got 12rwhp, which is like a little over 20 at the flywheel ( ebay auctions are quoting at the flywheel) Maybe the chips don't give as much power as they say, but they do give you more power, and raise the revlimiter for about 50$. I think it's a good buy, could feel the power gain, and don't have any check engine lights etc. I'm not sure what the hell would cause a check engine light, has anyone checked the fault code when this has happened?

[bimmerphile]

I bought one for my 86 325. I had an extra ecu, so i g-teched the car with the stock ecu plugged in, then with the ecu with the chip, and i got 12rwhp, which is like a little over 20 at the flywheel ( ebay auctions are quoting at the flywheel) Maybe the chips don't give as much power as they say, but they do give you more power, and raise the revlimiter for about 50$. I think it's a good buy, could feel the power gain, and don't have any check engine lights etc. I'm not sure what the hell would cause a check engine light, has anyone checked the fault code when this has happened?

Yeah dude I used a g-tech pro too when I tested my car. God bless those things.

[BimmerKris]

i had got one in my car, and it was noticable and nice. Says AC Shcnitzer but i don't think they ever made a chip for an e block. But i was happy im not looking for huge power but it was nice. that was until it wore out my valve springs from revving it to high.

[Mystikal]

and i got 12rwhp, which is like a little over 20 at the flywheel

You have over 67% drivetrain loss? :shock:

[Screaming_bmwe30]

haha, no, i'm afraid eta's aren't that underpowered....it made about 112 with just a cone filter and flowmaster muffler, and 124 with the chip at the wheels. That's about 160+ hp at the flywheel, gettin close to a 325i.

[MarkD]

Don't listen to these guys, I bought one of the Alpina chips and got ~35HP with my CAI and chip combo.

Your joking, right?

You can't get anywhere near 35 hp with those two mods.

[Jarvis]

Don't listen to these guys, I bought one of the Alpina chips and got ~35HP with my CAI and chip combo.

Your joking, right?

You can't get anywhere near 35 hp with those two mods.

Of course he's joking. He's using rice-math. Kinda like this guy...

haha, no, i'm afraid eta's aren't that underpowered....it made about 112 with just a cone filter and flowmaster muffler, and 124 with the chip at the wheels. That's about 160+ hp at the flywheel, gettin close to a 325i.

I'm calling BS. I want to see dyno graphs.
And manual E30s have roughly 15% driveline loss. 124whp to "160+"bhp is 22.5%+