Honestly anything I say is going to come across as biased and disingenuous. There is a reason everyone here runs JB4 or Lap3 and it's not because they've never heard of RaceChip. The FAQ nicely sums up the technical differences.
On something like RC keep the boost settings low and it *should* be fine. Just keep in mind you have no way to monitor knock, air/fuel, fuel trims, so what you're talking about doing is just trying each boost level to see which ones don't damage the motor, lol. Not a good tuning strategy.
o.k. so I am learning more all the time and I have been emailing racechip Germany, since the U.S.A. one gave up on me, as I kept asking more questions and them Stupidly telling me some questions was Proprietary info they can't release, which I was not asking that. So Fck U on that part, Jerks !!
So Germany has been replying and being a bit more transparent, but Still not answering every question I asked, or with some details, but not thoroughly, even though I asked please for detailed replies.
As Terry said above, I verified with a friend I trust as well, that if the Racechip can't monitor knock, which it can not, then it's risky. Also as Terry said, if using the first few maps, likely no worries, but higher ones as boost really gets up there, it's risky, if no feed back.
Germany did reply that their chip is designed to leave the factory safety features in tact and not override those.. So, does that mean if there accidentally is too rich or to lean mixture that gets hazardous to the car, our Stinger's computer will take over and adjust timing or do whatever to stop knock and keep the car safe ?? I honestly don't know that yet ? I know our car can sense knock and adjust timing when using 87 or just a bad gas of some kind, but can it sense to lean mixture and immediately make adjustments overriding the racechip and protect the engine ?
Germany also avoided answering, twice now, my question on how much psi does each map give, approx ?
one of their replies was:
The RaceChip is safe to use, since it does not removes any of the safety parameters of the engine. It works with the tolerance of the engine without risking it.
There's 1000's of these out there and I can't find many serious issues, but a few check engines and many of those were install issues and fixed. Only found one saying there was an engine issue, major oun.
So, likely buying the S model for some boost and extra power/fun is likely safe and good, of which I was only interested in the lower model, as I don't car to beat everyone at the drag strip, but went with gts for the warranty and not for the 6-7th maps... but it's here in delivered package in my foyer and I haven't opened it, and likely am returning it for a full refund, as Tdot has agreed too.
It seems they've designed a good plug and play system, but it's the nervous risk of something going wrong, that's nagging me and will likely send it back.. Just saying it's designed to leave your engines safety protocols in place is o.k. but still uncertain, as I my self do not know if my engines safety protocols will be able to react and stop possible damage if the issue is coming from over boost or dangerous air/fuel mixture ?
JB4 does seem to be worth the value, due to it's features of how diverse it is, how you can input stuff and get feedback, and not just about paying extra for higher maps you can't use.
I see that now, but I know this because of asking lots of questions and trying to learn, and not just because of someone just saying it's the best just get it. I am anal about knowing more, and I didn't know enough to start.
I am temped to keep it and use it only up to map 5 max.. do some cool runs at the strip, make new cool videos beating more V8's and German cars for my youtube channel viewers, make report on it and then sell it over the off season (Canada, not much longer left) and get JB4 next spring... update videos on the diff. etc.. but everyones got me worried my engine will blow up and out $10K...
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