My Powerchip tune vs EC Tune vs OE tuning Experience
Here's my first setup.
Johnson intercooler pump, Code3 Heat exchanger, code3 intake mod, code3 sc pulley and power chip tune.
I made pretty good power.

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As you can see i put down around 326whp and 12-11afr throughout the power band. This was the original tune that vadim used on his c32.
I got my powerchip tune installed when Jeremy and Travis both worked there. They were pretty friendly and knew there stuff about cars. I enjoyed the service and the initial pricing of $300 and they said it would be $150 for a retune.
I wanted more power like everyone else. I sold my code3 sc pulley and got a 185mm EC pulley. I also had a buddy of mine machine down the stock 74sc pulley down to 70mm.
So my setup was
johnson intercooler pump, code3 heat exchanger, code3 intake mod, EC 185mm pulley, 70mm Custom SC pulley, Powerchip tune.
The car ran fine except now in first gear the car would shake at 6200rpm. Other then the shake, the car ran fine. I killed a lot of cars on the highways of mexico. I was probably running around 20-22psi on average but i would hit 23psi+ at 120mph because I would get the map error.
Then there was the EC header and tune special in November. I decided to jump on this because of the pricing. The headers weren't ready in tune so i had Tony at EC just install a mail in 185 + header tune.
So my setup
johnson intercooler pump, code3 heat exchanger, code3 intake, ec 185 pulley, 70mm custom sc pulley, mag wires, ngk spark plugs, EC tune
In December I went WOT in a onramp so below 65mph and I heard a boom.
I took it to the guy that did pshek c32 engine swap. He said the piston ring blew and destroyed the silicon lining on the two of the cyclinder walls.
He said my block was done and to buy a used engine. I asked if I could just bore the block to 3.7L and just sleeve it with custom piston. He quoted me a price of $12k.
In hindsight, i should've just taken it to my japanese tuners, since they bore and build short blocks for around $2k.
The car is my daily driver, so I opted to buy a used c32 engine. I bought a used C32 engine for around $4k and i was charged around $3500 for install. Yes i know, $3500 for install. I just wanted the car up and running so i bent over.
Ok, so believe i caused the blown block from running stacked pullies which the EC tune wasn't designed for. I didn't blame them.
I installed the new engine except with just a regular 74mm SC pulley.
I finally got my headers from EC and i had them installed. I ran against my gtr and lost worst then I thought I would. I got my car dyno'ed.
Current setup.
johnson intercooler pump, code3 heat exchanger, code3 intake, stock spark plug wires, ngk plugs, 185 EC pulley, EC header, EC tune
The dyno in red is my current setup with a EC tune. The dyno in Blue is one my code3 setup with powerchip tune dyno runs.
As you can see the code3 is around 323whp and the EC setup is 337whp

You can see from the afr I went from afr from 12afr to 15afr....

.I scared to drive my car and so I tried to get powerchip to reinstall there tune. Unfortunately for me, Jeremy and Travis no longer works there. The customer service I received at powerchip wasn't up to Jeremy and Travis's level.
They tried to charge me $500 to retune when I was already a customer and Jeremy and Travis told me the retune would be $150 and I only paid $300 for the original tune. The guy on the phone tried to feed some other bs and top of the pricing. Anyways, it left a bad taste in my mouth about powerchip.
So I went back to EC. I contacted Tony, I told him of my blown engine. I did not ask EC for compensation for my engine. I know its a risk we run when we change the stock tune. I just wanted the tune fixed. Tony was very prompted and offered solutions and a place to do a custom dyno free of charge. I just have to pay for the dyno time. The EC response was pretty good responsive from about my requests.
This is the results I got after around 5hrs of dyno tuning

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As you can see the fuel ratio is horrible…but I’m not running lean anymore.
The new tune I’m running 313whp and 310wtq.
After seeing how lean the mail tune ran my standard 185mm and headers dyno. I’m positive that same tune is what blew my engine when I was running the stacked pullies.
Last edited by TemjinX2; Aug 9, 2010 at 06:59 AM.
You are comparing apple to orange on the dyno numbers here. The first dyno graph shows SDT 5 smoothing correction which is a lot higher than SAE 5 smoothing on the last dyno.
The A/F ratio on the first dyno was on 5-20 scale while on the last dyno, it was 10-13. If you stretch this 10-13 to 5-20 scale you will see the line a lot smoother. I am not saying it a perfect line, I am just saying it's a lot smoother.
I totally feel your pain on the blown engine, but you ran the file for 185mm pulley on 185/70 stackled pulley setup.

On a side note, I was probably one of the only ones running stacked and running strong. Did you replace the stock injectors? They go static when running stacked and hit full duty cycle around 80% throttle. (cars might be different but thats what mine did) I upgraded the injectors. Me and josh had talked about that a lot on his build. I know a srt6 guy who ran stacked and was having serious issues as well.
The PC customer service has gone downhill from what I have heard as well.
and CLKCLK hit the nail on the head for both points.. Stretch the scale an the data looks a lot better.
Guys, please remember that we offer free retunes for a reason. Please don't run a file built for one thing with other variables in the equation... NOT a bash on TemjinX2 just feel it needs to be stated again. We have seen people add a lot to the car and wonder why the origional file is not that great anymore.
Also, I have phormula knock sensors in all my cars that I have ever had. Great piece of equipment for the money.
TemjinX2- If your up for it, I would love to have Jerry look at your file. He knows the C32 better that any tuner in the market. I had over 200 files for my car....
I have 180 pulley with 55k intake and AFR below 12 with Jerry tune and i won stock E55's and M3's e92.

On a side note, I was probably one of the only ones running stacked and running strong. Did you replace the stock injectors? They go static when running stacked and hit full duty cycle around 80% throttle. (cars might be different but thats what mine did) I upgraded the injectors. Me and josh had talked about that a lot on his build. I know a srt6 guy who ran stacked and was having serious issues as well.
The PC customer service has gone downhill from what I have heard as well.
and CLKCLK hit the nail on the head for both points.. Stretch the scale an the data looks a lot better.
Guys, please remember that we offer free retunes for a reason. Please don't run a file built for one thing with other variables in the equation... NOT a bash on TemjinX2 just feel it needs to be stated again. We have seen people add a lot to the car and wonder why the origional file is not that great anymore.
Also, I have phormula knock sensors in all my cars that I have ever had. Great piece of equipment for the money.
TemjinX2- If your up for it, I would love to have Jerry look at your file. He knows the C32 better that any tuner in the market. I had over 200 files for my car....
I told Tony about it a long time ago when he still worked at EC. Tony and I spent two days and I spent $700 on renting the dyno. The last dyno was the results you see.
Even when i just installed just a 185 and EC header, i was still hitting 15afr's in the mail in 185+header tune that tony installed. Maybe its because the mail in tune is tuned with 93 oct where as california only has 91 oct???


I decided I would rather have a live dyno tune. I only posted this because I use to get numerous PM's asking how I blew my engine. I figure this would be easier then telling the same story 10 times.
You are comparing apple to orange on the dyno numbers here. The first dyno graph shows SDT 5 smoothing correction which is a lot higher than SAE 5 smoothing on the last dyno.
The A/F ratio on the first dyno was on 5-20 scale while on the last dyno, it was 10-13. If you stretch this 10-13 to 5-20 scale you will see the line a lot smoother. I am not saying it a perfect line, I am just saying it's a lot smoother.
I totally feel your pain on the blown engine, but you ran the file for 185mm pulley on 185/70 stackled pulley setup.
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Jerry and I had discussed many times running a stacked system with a custom 180 crank pulley, BUt I declined. I didnt want to sacrifice the daily driveablility and reliability for the potential to run er lean and blow er up. Just running the "Jerry Tune", the Code 3 SC pulley and Code 3 intake I run in the 12s all the time.
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But now, I'm running great. No problems and loving the power.
Jerry and I had discussed many times running a stacked system with a custom 180 crank pulley, BUt I declined. I didnt want to sacrifice the daily driveablility and reliability for the potential to run er lean and blow er up. Just running the "Jerry Tune", the Code 3 SC pulley and Code 3 intake I run in the 12s all the time.
So if i was running 15afr's with the hardware setup that the tune was designed for, i was probably running insanely high afrs with the stack pulley stock header setup.
Even afr of 15, i still run the risk of blowing my motor.
Anyways, i'm not asking for any person compensation for the engine. I know its the risk I ran when I use aftermarket tunes.
I'm going to update my tune one more time and if it doesn't fix my afr...i'll probably just opt for a 335i. Right now, i'm running pretty rich, so i run the risk of killing my cats.
So if i was running 15afr's with the hardware setup that the tune was designed for, i was probably running insanely high afrs with the stack pulley stock header setup.
Even afr of 15, i still run the risk of blowing my motor.
Anyways, i'm not asking for any person compensation for the engine. I know its the risk I ran when I use aftermarket tunes.
I'm going to update my tune one more time and if it doesn't fix my afr...i'll probably just opt for a 335i. Right now, i'm running pretty rich, so i run the risk of killing my cats.
You have to run really rich for a LONG time to kill the cats. My Kleemann S7 runs rich just to keep from grenading the engine according to Cory.
Jeremy started his own tuning company called OE Tuning which, as mentioned above, is being operated (at least temporarily) out of Gintani's performance shop.
[I]Jeremy started his own tuning company called OE Tuning which, as mentioned above, is being operated (at least temporarily) out of Gintani's performance shop.
[/I]
Except that hes hard to get a hold of.....................I am waiting to hear back for a tune for the Kleeman??
Jeremy started his own tuning company called OE Tuning which, as mentioned above, is being operated (at least temporarily) out of Gintani's performance shop.
Careful leaning too hard on that N54 or N55 you’re contemplating. They’ve been known to come unglued --or resorting to semi-permanent limp mode-- when getting after it, even before being subjected to those heady aftermarket tweaks.
Reference: Bimmer and GRM, among others.
Me thinks their S65B40 is likely more your style.


Knowing what you got makes me feel good about my C32. I'll need a time slip soon.
Sorry for the long post...take care
Last edited by ML500K; Aug 11, 2010 at 11:14 AM.
Sorry for the long post...take care
Jerry "road tuned" my car and since I've never had a "dyno-tune" on the C32, I really can't compare. I do know that he literally transformed my car from a mild mannered reporter to a beast!!! A buddy of mine had a highly modded MazdaSpeed 3 and he could almost run with my C32 when it was NOT tuned. After the Jerry Tune, it was lights out for the Speed3 and my buddy asked what I did and I just told him different octane until he got smart and asked if I had a tune. Jerry's tune over two years ago really made a difference in my car, BUT I've got a ton of stuff to put on it and when I do a new tune, it'll be on the Eurocharged dyno (after installing the new parts).
Careful leaning too hard on that N54 or N55 you’re contemplating. They’ve been known to come unglued --or resorting to semi-permanent limp mode-- when getting after it, even before being subjected to those heady aftermarket tweaks.
Reference: Bimmer and GRM, among others.
Me thinks their S65B40 is likely more your style.

.. Hopefully i can cash out on the equity in two yrs and get my 911 turbo...lol..jk.
if i get one imma get it with warranty and leave it stock until the warranty runs out.




