Chipping an Altima

[jagr200]

If I were to install a Injen or some other manufactures Short Ram Intake on my 2006 Nissan Altima 2.5S 4CYL do I need to chip my car so it will run good with it? I have been told by a friend that I do. So Im not sure. Have you guys chipped your cars to install a Short Ram Intake? Thanks

[xeene]

no, your friend is wrong.

[jagr200]

no, your friend is wrong.

That is what I was hoping. A mechanic at work told him that he has to chip his truck and motorcycle if he wants to do the same to them so he thought it was the same on my car. The mechanic knows his stuff because he builds custom bikes but he has never looked at my car. Thanks for the input.

Now here is another question. Does Injen make a short ram for my car? I can't find one anywhere if they do.

[michaelthepsycho]

AutoAnything / Stillen both have them.

[jagr200]

Here is what I found. http://www.stillen.com/product.asp?id=INJSPINT01 For the 2.5 it doesn't say it converts to short ram. Only the ones for the 3.5. What is SP technology?
Modified by jagr200 at 8:49 AM 4/12/2009

[dldjros69]

Your mechanic friend is kinda right, but wrong at the same time. You dont have to chip your car to use an intake. But if you do chip the car you will see more performance gains from the chip/intake combo. I hope that made sense, prolly not lol.

[jagr200]

Your mechanic friend is kinda right, but wrong at the same time. You dont have to chip your car to use an intake. But if you do chip the car you will see more performance gains from the chip/intake combo. I hope that made sense, prolly not lol.

No that does. But I'm not gonna chip it. So I will still see better performance just not 12.5hp like they say. I would think probably around 8hp or so. Not bad. I might get around to chipping it eventually.

[Chuck2417]

With the intake your mainly getting better sound and throttle response. I have put intakes on a lot of different cars and they all work similarly. But yes a chip would help with the combo, but that's getting more and more expensive... and that sucks

[jagr200]

With the intake your mainly getting better sound and throttle response. I have put intakes on a lot of different cars and they all work similarly. But yes a chip would help with the combo, but that's getting more and more expensive... and that sucks

Spendy but worth it. I think I'm gonna get one with my enlistment bonus.

[Chuck2417]

If you do, you should post a tutorial or some pics.

[uprev]

If I were to install a Injen or some other manufactures Short Ram Intake on my 2006 Nissan Altima 2.5S 4CYL do I need to chip my car so it will run good with it? I have been told by a friend that I do. So Im not sure. Have you guys chipped your cars to install a Short Ram Intake? Thanks

First off. There is no chip for the new style Nissan ECU.

A proper dyno tune will generally net you more gain dollar for dollar than anything else outside of a huge shot of nitrous. It's also safer and good for better economy at the same time. Tuning is about efficiency, a side effect of having your motor run more efficiently is that you will create more power. Also while tuning they can make sure your car has stable and safe AFR and Timing if nothing else, so you should have a more reliable vehicle in the long run.

If you add modifications to the car without a tune, you will not get the most out of those mods on newer vehicles because the stock ECU doesn't know how to adjust itself for modification, all if can do is try to fall in line with the parameters it was set with by the factory. Often times in trying to do so it will make your car run rich or lean and both have their bad side effects.

This was not the case in previous cars because they didn't have intelligent ECUs, you could just chip them with a generic tune and they would work better. The stock "tune" was rudimentary and served it's purpose but it wouldn't adjust much of anything based on sensor input. Newer intelligent ECUs don't have static information, the "tune" is based on thousands of points of logic and often is totally regulated by sensor input. Change the way a sensor reads and you render the entire system ineffective.

You do a proper tune (each individual vehicle is different) and you'll allow for better economy, more power, and better reliability. A hand held flash programmer isn't much more than what the old "chip" was, a base tune, usually rather generic based on a car that probably doesn't run the same as yours nor does it have similar modifications.