How much do the JWT chips cost for the Q?

Post by **bgilly** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

I emailed Jim Wolf Tech, but I guess they decided not to respond after a week or so. I am just curious as to how much the chips cost for the transmission and the motor?Thanks!!

Post by **AZhitman** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

I've called them, emailed them and sent a snail mail to them.

NEVER a response.

Makes me think their after-purchase support would suck too. Save your $$$ and buy the 4.08 rearend.

Post by **Q45tech** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Retail price to modify your engine ecu to accept a plug in prom and the plug in prom itself with the WOT software was $595 and you pay freight of your ecu both ways.

Small companies usually don't answer email unfortunately as the bulk of shoppers don't buy. "I am just curious"

What after market support do you expect for so little money!

Post by **AZhitman** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Q45tech wrote:What after market support do you expect for so little money!

I hope you're joking. Especially since a new PC can be had for a hundred dollars more, and you'd expect aftermarket support from them....

I say any business that can't/won't respond to customers (even "curious" lookers) deserves to go belly-up. Lookers eventually become buyers, but some of these aftermarket companies are too busy being "exclusive" to recognize the larger market.

King Motorsports (Mugen distributors) was kind of that way in the 90's.

I HAD $600 in hand when I tried to get through to them - Screw Jim Wolf Technologies.

Post by **bgilly** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

OK, at least now I know how much that costs. Regardless of their size, I don't believe its any excuse to not respond. I might be "just curious" now, but since they're the only people that do this, when the time comes for a purchase I sure as hell won't consider them, which means I just won't be getting a chip.

Post by **bgilly** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

hahahaha, that's funny I think we both replied at the same time, and both said pretty much the same thing!

Post by **Q45Viper** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

I just called them yesterday. I got right through and talked with a knowledgeable tech. Interestingly they quoted me differently, $694 for ECU, $495 for TCU. $500 Core charge for ECU, $400 Core charge for TCU. Takes at least 4 weeks once they receive your ecu/tcu so you're kinda stuck with the core charge unless you have an extra driver. They will put it all on a credit card and they take them all exccept they charge a little extra for Discover. They do not bill the credit card until they ship the units so depending on the closing date of your card the charge might come on and then off again and you would never pay interest on the core charges. They did say that if I bought both the TCUand ECU they would give me a deal of $1000 for both. They also have 3 versions of the TCU. First gear start only, first gear start plus a harder shifting sport mode, and a 3 way switchable mode that includes a snow mode which I think still starts in 2nd gear.The first two are both $495 and the later is $650. I did a lot of searching both here and on fresh alloy and found old posts that mentioned going through NICO for a discount. anyone know anything regarding that? Or maybe we could all get a goup deal going perhaps through T3 or someone, any interest?

Post by **bgilly** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

That is exactly the type of info I was originally inquiring about. Thank you for taking the time to type that all up here.

Post by **fxjackso** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

When I've had questions, I've called, and both times I have spoken with- Jim Wolf himself. Very helpful and straightforward.

I bought mine thru Stillen.

Post by **Q45tech** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Since volumes are so low for Q [90-95] compared to the hey days of 1992-1993-1994 when they sold quanties. I believe they send the ecu out to remove the prom and install the socket then they plug in their chip and send the old oem chip back to you.

In the 8 years T3 has been in business we probably sold 25 JWT ecu and newer had anyone ask for their money back!In fact we just sent 4 ecu away for reprogramming for customers.

Your TERRIFFIC loss in not getting a $1,000 [or $1150]upgrade/s for a Q doesn't hurt me or them a bit as they have long since moved away from ecu reprogramming [impossible with OBD2]......they still keep it around as a service for older cars {Q/Z] but it distracts from day to day business thus the 4 weeks delay. Don't know any other product that will increase [90-95] Q torque or HP by close to 10% for 3 times the price.

Post by **bgilly** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

I understand what you're saying about it being a great product, but I don't buy great products from bad companies. So yeah, I guess I will just have to suffer with a TERRIFIC loss.

Post by **Q45Viper** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Q45 Tech, what would be your opinion pro or con on the 3 versions of the TCU mentioned. the switchable version sound slick but I wondered if in your experience you know of any downside to that version?

Post by **AZhitman** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

$700 for an ECU upgrade (even at a 10% power increase) is steep... I'd love to have it, but that's a chunk of change.

Post by **GEOFF** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

I EMIALED THEM WITH THE SAME QUESTIONS AND NO REPLY!

Post by **JEC** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Tech, I've got all of the respect in the world for your opinion on these things; but, "whew", for $600+ for a chip upgrade...as a potential customer, I'd better get some attention. Even if it's a loss-leader for them, I'm not going to own the old Q forever, and I always go back to a vendor that treats me right.

Post by **greg_atlanta** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Remember that a lot of businesses have e-mail phobia. E-mail is not the best method of communication.

Call!

Post by **bgilly** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

AZhitman wrote:I've called them, emailed them and sent a snail mail to them.

NEVER a response.

Post by **Eswift** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

too bad ashley powers does not make an ECU for the Q45. He has overthrown JWT's VG30D- ECU machine, although it was teetering all along. JWT's maps tend to overly-conservative in terms of making the base maps extremely rich at wot. factor of safety is really too fluffy to be of any fun.

so now that JWT is beat in terms of -price: half the costperformance: about 20 more at the wheelscustomer service: actually answers emails/ phone regularly

just too bad its only for the VG family.

i feel for you all, because JWT is in a pretty sad state if they cant answer emails.

a company should not advertise a tech and a normal email address when responses are never sent from either.

i have emailed them about 5 times in the past few years, receiving a single, and completely worthless response, saying that they have nothing that will work for the J30, or that it would be "at my own risk." what BS. i look forward to never having to deal with those pedegree chums over at JWT.

Post by **Reminissan** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Beg, borrow or steal the dough if you must, you will not be sorry, I repeat, you will not be sorry. Got JWT equipped 94 alitma and 00 QX4 to prove it! Yeah it's alot of money but if you're going to keep your car for awhile then just do it. I bought my jwt ecu back in 96 for $595 plus core. I now have 186k miles and haven't even had to worry about it. Who needs to talk to tech support? Talk to the ones who have experienced the results. Their R&D dept. is off the hook. Should I decide to use NOS and I have and will, but it would only cost me another $1200 for a jwt system that would deliver a 65 shot anytime the pedal is floored and above 2900 rpm all the way through redline. Modifying a vehicle is a science, though some perceive it as art. Each component should complement one another and work to maximize the potential of an engine. JWT maximizes everything. Just my 2 cents.

Post by **Q45denver** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Much better to call JWT by phone. Also, I was able to get the CPU for $495 from Avalon Racing (JWT distributor) and they had pretty good customer service. Don't buy any other versions or you will be sorry. LOL

Post by **Q45tech** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

$495 is cheap they charge us $450 [for Q ecu] [plus bothways shipping] and we must have purchased 100 of various models over the years.Although we never buy in over four set [4ecu and 4tcu]quanties at a time.

The problem is shoppers vs buyers with 50,000 [90-93 Q sold] and maybe [at best] 500 units sold 1% redemption rate.

Thats about our ratio 1 out of a 100 Q owners care to spend money on a ecu.

Post by **docsmile71** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

So what's the downside to the JWT ECU/TCU's?

Does it negatively affect drivability, emissions, or fuel mileage?

It seems like the Q's are very tempermental cars that require meticulous maintenance. My thought is that by trying to extract more performance out of the car, maintenance requirements will also increase.

Post by **PalmerWMD** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Doc:

The main drawback is you have to take more care to gas up on hi octane gas, as the chip takes away safety margins (less rich).

But no one really has had any problems with drivability, emissions and milage.I myself have driven a JWT chipped Q and had no problems at all with any of those.

Fred...

Post by **Q45tech** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

"I'm not going to own the old Q forever"

Then the point is fairly mute since the old software changes only work on pre 96 Nissans anyway.

Modern OBD2 software is closer to the edge and even if you would/could spend the $2,000-$4,000 for a reprogram you would be lucky to get half to a third the improvemnt.

There is half the safety reserve in modern cars because all the engine sensors are checked 3 ways and multiple times now. The HP race has put the squeeze on engineers to work closer to the edge.With the same displacement a new Q/M engine produces just 5 lb/ft peak less in the showroom than a JWT ecu 90 Q, as you can see the new Q is only 6.5% away from exploding, but is probably safer and more controlled in adverse conditions than a 90 Q squeezed to produce 338 lb/ft.

Modern accelerate by wire [vs old direct connection] means the ecu can let off the throttle if things get unsafe.

$600 in todays dollars is sure a lot less than $600 in 1992 dollars. JWT has been giving people a discount for the past 13 years by not raising prices.........they should be charging $825, just to match inflation.

TRIMODE TCU:I have had this unit in my car since 1994 works great [T3 has sold 2 others] and the 2nd gear start feature is perfect for those snowy mountain trips in winter. Otherwise it stays in 1st start high shift Power mode 98% of the time.

The 1st gear start lux mode [normal shifts less engagement shock] was tested and never used thereafter.

The nice thing [about trimode] is the 2nd to 1st down shift [via WOT] still works up to 25 mph....... [manual via gear shift knob above 25 works to 45 mph] so you don't lose that with some of the other options.

Understand fully that it is one thing to spend a couple of thousand upgrading a 3 year old car worth $25,000 and another thing spending $1,000 on a car worth $4,000.

Post by **EWT** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Q45tech wrote:"I'm not going to own the old Q forever"

$600 in todays dollars is sure a lot less than $600 in 1992 dollars. JWT has been giving people a discount for the past 13 years by not raising prices.........they should be charging $825, just to match inflation.

Considering just about all the costs are sunk, it would make a lot more sense to lower the price and increase sales. The cost to burn the revised programs (only relevant cost at this point) has to be pretty minimal. Even at a sales price of $200, they'd still probably be making about $195 per unit. Not many people are willing to spend $1200 for both chips on cars worth <$10K.

Post by **maxnix** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

But they are engineers and not businessmen.

Post by **Eswift** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

they really should look into lowering the price because its not like these eproms are copy protected.

everyone says the price is to compensate for the capital they invested in tuning and dyno pulls. whatever, i call BS on that.

even IF they derived the maps themselves, not that much labor or time would be required.

i have a hard time believing these maps didnt originate in the JDM. of course, change a bit here or there, and its completely different, right?

typical US company. stagnant. think that their product will sell itself, with no revision in 10 years. come on, now - no code is that perfect.

multiple ECU maps? noswitchable ECu maps? no wayany further development since release? hell no

so, either their code is perfect (its not!), or somebody's got a big ego and is overcome with sloth.

Post by **AZhitman** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

Well said.

I have many of the same thoughts about companies like Stillen.

Post by **bgilly** » Fri May 02, 2003 5:24 am

yep, and Saleen. yuk!!!

How much do the JWT chips cost for the Q?

How much do the JWT chips cost for the Q?

JIME WOLF QUEATIONS

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