What exactly does it do???

 

It's like a racing chip. It has 3 or 4 electrical connections you you have to hook up to the ECU and you can hence switch it on/off whenever you like. When it's on, and you're going high throttle, it convinces the ECU that the engine needs more fuel than usual, and so it gives the engine a boost. This translates in a gain of 20-25% hp and tq on the powerband between 1000-5000 RPMs (however this is on later model civics/integras, I doubt the gains will be that high on a new RSX). It does absolutely nothing for high-end, though.

The good news for me is that I've been doing research, and even the people giving it bad reviews/saying the gains were not that noticeable/claiming it was a waste of money, said it would be a good upgrade for autos.

So I'm thinking in the future maybe a VENOM 400 and some VENOM hi-flow fuel pumps to work in conjunction with it. Although that might hurt fuel economy, because unlike the performance module, the fuel pumps are permanent. However, they only really perform at close to full throttle, so it may be ok for everyday driving at low RPMs, with the module turned off.

Also I was quoted at 515$ CDN for the VENOM 400 and 250$ for the fuel pump upgrade. Not too pricy. I think I'm just going to wait for now though, see what else comes out.


Any comments?

 

Scratch that

$299 US or about $450 canadian dollars (2-day shipped) is the price I got when I called boroperformance.com. At that price this may be my first performance mod, with an exhaust, when it comes out for the RSX. No fuel pumps.

I'm a bit concerned that no one has responded to this thread, do you guys think this is a product I should stay away from?

 

I'm just a little confused about the chip, you mentioned the 20-25% hp gain is only from around 1k-5k rpms. But then later you mentioned it will only work in full throttle, which means what in plain English? Sorry I'm car illiterate

Is there a reason why this chip works better with the auto rather than the manual? It also makes nervous to here others say the chip is useless and claim there is no performance gain. Is there a dyno for this product? Website?

If this product lives up to its claims of 20-25% hp gain, then I will be VERY interested because I drive a auto RSX and always in the need for more power.

 

I'm just a little confused about the chip, you mentioned the 20-25% hp gain is only from around 1k-5k rpms. But then later you mentioned it will only work in full throttle, which means what in plain English?

This is what I've learned in the past couple of months reading various sources, if someone can explain better or has corrections go ahead. Ok, when you're at a stop, and you take your foot off the brake, and place it on the gas, the gas pedal (throttle pedal), it activates the throttle butterfly, which is a kind of valve that regulates, through a series of connections, the fuel flow to your engine (flow that is also regulated by your engine's computer). Also, a car's throttle is a device that regulates the air/fuel ratio in different driving conditions (for high speed driving, you want a richer mixture, so more fuel, to produce more power), it is connected to the throttle pedal.
In relation to chips in general, what chips do, most of the time, is use your car's existing sensors to modify the signals they send to your engine's computer (or ECU-which already has pre-programmed fuel Map signals, usually toned down for emissions tests). For this particular chip, the "boost" is activated when your engine's RPMs are in the 1000-5000 range, and the amount of "boost" is dependant of your throttle angle, or how much gas you are giving the engine. At that moment, modified signals (from the car's throttle position sensor located in the car's throttle body) are sent to the computer and so it gives the engine more fuel than normally necessary (and that's where the hp comes from, from the richer air/fuel mixture that results from the modified signals) hence the bad fuel economy (loss of about 1-3 miles per gallon and varies from chip to chip).

but don't quote me, I'm not a mechanical engineer.

Is there a reason why this chip works better with the auto rather than the manual?

Good question, I guess it helps us get to high-rpm range qucker, but I don't know why manual cars don't benefit as much, maybe they just don't need it.

I drive a auto RSX and always in the need for more power

Maybe we could start some kind of performance thread for autos...

 

Don't waste your money on the venom 400 unit. It does nothing worth while. There was an argument on the 3Si message board about this. Basically all it does is convice the computer that your at a higher throttle than you really are(ie. at 50% throttle the comp. is pushing out 70%). It might help on basic acceleration, bu won't add any performance in a race. It also gives no additional hp or tourqe. The problem with this unit is that once you're at WOT you're at WOT. You can't tell the computer to give the car 120% throttle, it just doesn't work that way. Bottom line is, don't waste your money. You'd be better off giving yoursellf a 50 shot of Nitrous.

 

3000gt fan, yeah, I know once you're at wide open throttle it doesn't do shit. I just thought it would be a decent performance upgrade for an automatic car because I thought it could get you into your high-RPM range quicker between shifts (to possibly work with a nitrous kit in the future), which is what autos need, but it doesn't look like it can even do that.
I'm sure there are a lot of better chips on the market that are also plug and play. I'd go for the Superchips racing chip, but sending my ECU to them for it to be reprogrammed and not being able to drive my car for a week does not sound very practical.
Anybody know if the AEM engine management module is good\compatible with our cars? How about Jet chips? I know it may be a bit early to ask for the RSX, but has anybody had past experience on other cars?

P.S. Venom seemed like a good aftermarket company to go with, but after some research,I've found that 90% of their stuff is absolute garbage. VENOM 400, fuel injectors, fuel pumps, fuel rails, cam gears, etc... The only things worthwhile are their drag manifolds and of course their nitrous kits, otherwise just stay away.

Thanks for the input, 3000gtfan.