which chip??????
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Joined: Dec 2001
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From: Calif
which chip??????
I am looking at the Diablo chip for my 2001 lightning. Has anyone heard anything about this chip or is anyone using this chip?
I have also looked at the superchips Chip also was wondering what you guys think of either of these chips?
Thanks your input will be grateful.
Blwnsvt01
I have also looked at the superchips Chip also was wondering what you guys think of either of these chips?
Thanks your input will be grateful.
Blwnsvt01
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Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi Barton,
We carry the Superchip (actually, we are America's oldest distributor of the Superchip) and also carried the Diablo line for some time, so we can share some data with you on that, and let you know what our customers preferred, etc.
Superchips has significantly more sheer raw R&D into the Lightning engine application compared to any other chipmaker, producing the very first performance program for the Lightning. They have had more Lightnings on the dyno, at the track, and on the street, thoroughly testing their applications under any number of conditions & circumstances.
Superchips basically invented this industry about 20 years ago, and makes the best available powertrain programs for these vehicles, as well as many other vehicles. We have tuned literally thousands of Lightnings in every configuration from bone stock to the heavily modified 11-second (on the motor) Lightnings and everything in between with the Superchip, and we are very happy with the results. Here at Performance we worked very closely with one of the individuals in charge of the Lightning powertrain program development at Superchips to test various features & improvements each model year of the Lightning that best benefitted the performance of these vehicles in each successive model year. You can count on safe A/F ratios, maximum safe power gains and improved shift characteristics from the Superchip.
The Diablo units have made a number of people happy, to be sure. The Diablo chip will certainly add power, and it will make the transmission shift hard. In comparison to the Superchip, we found that they (Diablo) make the transmission shift harder than the Superchip does, for the simple reason that Superchips does not crank up the line pressure in the program as high as Diablo will, due to concerns of causing premature wear on the pump. We also had concerns about the Air/Fuel ratios we saw in testing some of the Diablo Lightning programs, they were leaner than we like to see on supercharged motors.
However, in all fairness, that lean tendency is not something limited to Diablo, a *lot* of tuners have done that in response to customers screaming for always more power, and wanting the "hottest" possible program. The Lightning is heavy, at about 5000 lbs. it's actual load is significantly larger than teh static load on an inertia chassis dyno, and so in some cases it takes a richer A/F ratio to make them run the quickest at the drag strip as compared to what A/F's will show the absolute highest peak HP numbers on an inertia chassis dyno.
The bottom line here is that in reality, you would probably be happy with either product. We use the Superchip because we've literally used just about everything out there at one time or another, and we feel most comfortable with the tuning capabilities of Superchips, they've been doing this longer and have done it for more Lightnings than any other company. We count on the Superchip and the results it delivers for our customers, as well as on our personal & company vehicles.
The Superchip is used by a much larger percentage of Lightning owners than the Diablo for basically the same reasons we do, simply because most prefer to turn to the company that has the most R&D (research & development) into their programs, and the company that has tuned more Lightnings than anyone else.
No chipmaker is perfect, to be sure, every company has it's strengths & weaknesses. Superchip's core strength is in their engineering, they are not a marketing driven company, they are strictly engineering driven, and it shows in the quality of their powertrain programs. Overall, in our experience we have seen better powertrain programs and better results from Superchips for these Lightnings, and so that is what we use on our Lightning, and what our customers have always preferred to use in their Lightnings.
How you feel about all that is of course up to you. If you'd like to give us a call to go over this in more detail, we'll be happy to speak with you about this or anything else performance-related about your Lightning.
Best of luck whatever you decide, & have fun with your Lightning!
We carry the Superchip (actually, we are America's oldest distributor of the Superchip) and also carried the Diablo line for some time, so we can share some data with you on that, and let you know what our customers preferred, etc.
Superchips has significantly more sheer raw R&D into the Lightning engine application compared to any other chipmaker, producing the very first performance program for the Lightning. They have had more Lightnings on the dyno, at the track, and on the street, thoroughly testing their applications under any number of conditions & circumstances.
Superchips basically invented this industry about 20 years ago, and makes the best available powertrain programs for these vehicles, as well as many other vehicles. We have tuned literally thousands of Lightnings in every configuration from bone stock to the heavily modified 11-second (on the motor) Lightnings and everything in between with the Superchip, and we are very happy with the results. Here at Performance we worked very closely with one of the individuals in charge of the Lightning powertrain program development at Superchips to test various features & improvements each model year of the Lightning that best benefitted the performance of these vehicles in each successive model year. You can count on safe A/F ratios, maximum safe power gains and improved shift characteristics from the Superchip.
The Diablo units have made a number of people happy, to be sure. The Diablo chip will certainly add power, and it will make the transmission shift hard. In comparison to the Superchip, we found that they (Diablo) make the transmission shift harder than the Superchip does, for the simple reason that Superchips does not crank up the line pressure in the program as high as Diablo will, due to concerns of causing premature wear on the pump. We also had concerns about the Air/Fuel ratios we saw in testing some of the Diablo Lightning programs, they were leaner than we like to see on supercharged motors.
However, in all fairness, that lean tendency is not something limited to Diablo, a *lot* of tuners have done that in response to customers screaming for always more power, and wanting the "hottest" possible program. The Lightning is heavy, at about 5000 lbs. it's actual load is significantly larger than teh static load on an inertia chassis dyno, and so in some cases it takes a richer A/F ratio to make them run the quickest at the drag strip as compared to what A/F's will show the absolute highest peak HP numbers on an inertia chassis dyno.
The bottom line here is that in reality, you would probably be happy with either product. We use the Superchip because we've literally used just about everything out there at one time or another, and we feel most comfortable with the tuning capabilities of Superchips, they've been doing this longer and have done it for more Lightnings than any other company. We count on the Superchip and the results it delivers for our customers, as well as on our personal & company vehicles.
The Superchip is used by a much larger percentage of Lightning owners than the Diablo for basically the same reasons we do, simply because most prefer to turn to the company that has the most R&D (research & development) into their programs, and the company that has tuned more Lightnings than anyone else.
No chipmaker is perfect, to be sure, every company has it's strengths & weaknesses. Superchip's core strength is in their engineering, they are not a marketing driven company, they are strictly engineering driven, and it shows in the quality of their powertrain programs. Overall, in our experience we have seen better powertrain programs and better results from Superchips for these Lightnings, and so that is what we use on our Lightning, and what our customers have always preferred to use in their Lightnings.
How you feel about all that is of course up to you. If you'd like to give us a call to go over this in more detail, we'll be happy to speak with you about this or anything else performance-related about your Lightning.
Best of luck whatever you decide, & have fun with your Lightning!