I saw this on another board and thought I'd link to it http://www.*********.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266536 (replace all the *'s w/ "dodge talk" w/o a space). Basically he says on the dyno he lost 30 hp w/ the stage 1 chip and gained gained 40 over the chip by taking it out and putting on a power wire. I asked him to see the numbers, so hopefully he can get them posted. I know Derrick isn't happy w/ his truck right now, maybe you should do a run w/ the chip then pull it and do a few and see what you get when you go to the track.

 

he probably lost hp but gained a crap ton of torque.

i can only vouch for the stage two being a good enough product...so i'd assume the stage 1 is good too =/

 

Yea, I thought mine gave me gains and I'm not planning on going to the track or dyno anytime soon so the butt dyno will have to do. I asked the guy to try and post the dyno numbers b/c my experience w/ the chip conflicts w/ his, hopefully he'll post some up.

 

Well I guess he couldn't get any numbers. Anyway if I ever dyno my truck I think the best way to test the chip's effectiveness is to dyno it after the chip has been on there awhile, at least a month. Then remove the chip, reset the pcm, and drive around for another few weeks and re-dyno and compare. Then we will really know if the pcm adapts over time, negating the chip's alleged performance improvement. You could also slap the chip back in after the stock dyno run to see if those Jet vidoes where they just stick it there and instant power are BS. Now if only I wasn't too embarrassed to take a v6 ram to the dyno...

 

I personally do think that the PCM will adapt and tune out any minor mods that are done to the truck under normal conditions, IE not wide open throttle. I suspect this because no matter how I drive my truck, I get the same MPG. I babied it one week, floored it the next, then drove around with the carcass of a honda in my bed. Same mileage, same performance overall. It doesn't even matter if you use premium gas!

 

does the chip change the signals coming into the ecu or does it just change the ones going out, because if it doesn't change the ones coming in then the I can see how any gains could be tuned out over time as the ecu changes its outputs so that it gets the right inputs back.

 

I think it changes the signals coming in, but I don't know. I have reset my pcm a few times while the chip was on there b/c of other work I was doing, and I assume if the pcm had adapted the reset would negate it and cause performance to go back up. I never noticed any difference in the way it drove after a reset. I've read some explanations of the chips saying that they teach the pcm new parameters which is how it increases performance.