[Flame suit ON]

I just came from our chapter sponsored driving school at Watkins Glen (July 10-11) and performed some chip comparisons...

We did NOT do any timed comparisons YET. This was done to avoid the errors associated with weather conditions, tire adhesion, braking point, driver ability, etc. There were just too many uncontrollable variables associated with timing a car.

We used two identical 1995 E36 325iS. In fact the cars are EXACTLY the same down to the color and options!!! Anyway for those familiar with Watkins Glen, there is a very nice full throttle acceleration section starting on the straight before the "esses" and ending at the end of the backstraight. Top speed in 4th is between 115 and 120 mph.

Our comparison involved visually identifying which car accelerated faster through this section. We took A LOT of data points. One car was the "control unit" and the other was the "experimental" unit. Both cars had the same amount of gas and about the same weight according to the scale at the Glen. The control car and the experimental car would swap positions (who was in front and who was in back) and see which car would out accelerate the other.

STOCK
With both cars in stock form (but with K&N filters), the cars were dead even in acceleration.

SNOUT REMOVED
With the Jim Conforti (JC) chip and the snout coming from behind the grill to the airbox, the stock car was slightly FASTER but still noticeable. With the Dinan chip, the Dinan was barely slightly faster than the stock.

SNOUT REPLACED
The JC chip was noticeably FASTER than the stock car. The DINAN was significantly MUCH FASTER than the stock car.

STREET IMPRESSIONS
The JC chip feels much better than the Dinan on the street. It seems to have better and stronger throttle response in the low/mid rpm range than the Dinan. The Dinan seems to pull faster towards the higher rpms (5-6.5k rpms)

We also had the chance to do a one time test against an AutoThority (AT) chip equipped car with the Korman Ram-Air intake on a much longer stretch of road. The AT chip/Korman Ram intake car was able to significantly walk away from our Dinan chipped car up until the higher rpms. Our Dinan chipped car very slowly crept back up to the AT car in the 6k+ rpms. Note, however, that the AT equipped car was much heavier by about 130 lbs... According to the owner of the AT car, the Ram-Air definitely helped a lot although, this was "by the seat of the pants".

My own personal conclusion is to go with the Dinan chip at the track and the JC chip on the street. But the Dinan chip is definitely faster from what I've seen. I believe that the Dinan would even be faster with the Ram-Air intake - which is why I have these parts on order..... For a cost of $64 shipped, I can't go wrong!!! Removing the snout that comes from the grill and into the airbox DEFINITELY REDUCED performance. But the increased audible growl did provide a significant psychological advantage.

Please note that I have neither affiliation with JC or Dinan nor do I aspire to. The results noted above were just the facts. I currently have a Dinan chip for my car...BUT I'd still like to get a hold of a JC chip for my car to drive on the streets (up until I get the supercharger)! Yes, it does feel better.

BUT...Just how good is a product if you can't get a hold of it?