Performance Chips, ...what the hell is it??? Options

[jaq1967]

Hi,

New to this still, but somebody mentioned I could upgrade the performance of my car with a chip! (I think he's been playing Grand Tourismo on his PS2).

My car is a recent import from Japan to the UK. As far as I am aware it has been 'chipped' to convert the milometer from KMS to MILES - something that is needed for the SVA rule I guess over here! I need to find out more from my dealer as I am now VERY interested! lol...

It is a ST-202 (3S-GE). The speedo I did notice only reads up to 120 MPH max! I know in Japan they do put limiters on their cars so:

1) How do I know if my car has or has not been chipped and what to look for? (...where is the damn thing kept on the motor and where do I find out what it does?)
2) If a new chip is available to replace this one what kind of gain could I expect from it? Is it speed or BHP or what???
3) If I do put a new chip in the car (performance one!) what is the cost and where do you get them (Net or UK). Is it easy to do and will I need to change the speedo dash so it reads properly?

Possibly all daft questions as I do not intend on racing my baby! The laws in the UK are strick anyway... so even at 120 MPH I'd have a heavy fine!

Come on guys...give us your brains on this one as I am not sure if my mate is on another palnet and the cars I used to muck about with didn't have computers (late 70's - yeap...old bugger!).

Hope this isn't such a stupid question.

Thanks

Jaq1967

[hi_rider]

In Quebec, many people chip their cars. I did change the chip on my gti vr6 for 200$canadian. This took my rpm cutoff from 6200 to 6800 and eliminated the speed cut-off. It also modified my power range on the engine cause before the engine didn't do any good past 5800, and after, it had good power till 6500.
Those were the mains differences on my vr6.
Let say I gained around 5-6 cars length on a 0-160km/h.
The chip on my vr6 was underneath the wiper section under the hood, celica, I don't know!

All the cars are different !!! On other models of car, you may not even feel the difference....on other you get good gain, hard to say about celicas ! As long as I know, you can get the celicas ecu to get reprogrammed for 700$ us, for a gain of 12 hp ? I think...
For me, at this price, too expansive.