[alfa] Squadra Tuning Chip

["Chip Mutza" <alfaracer75@xxxxxxx>]

I ordered a Squadra Tuning chip and 164Q intake runners for my 24 valve
Milano project, and while I haven't had experience with the chip itself yet
because I haven't finished putting the car together, they were VERY helpful
via email and I received my order very quickly. I was amazed when my package
arrived just FOUR DAYS after I ordered and paid with PayPal! It takes longer
than that to get something from the East Coast!

I'm looking forward to trying the chip out, as I've heard so many good
things. I am interested to know what their answer was to the question about
octane requirements, since we get super-crappy gas here in CA. I'm not too
worried about it since the 24 engine has dual knock sensors and the ability
to adjust timing to ward off knock. I also like the fact that Squadra tunes
the chips using a dyno and they include the before and after dyno charts on
their website that show very real horsepower and torque gains.

I have had experience with two different cars using the Ricambi chip (my '93
164S and Shannon's '91 164L with S engine). The check engine light was on
permanently with those chips, and there was horrible knocking even when
using octane boosters (which do very little so it's understandable). We
eventually removed the chip from the 164s in fear of serious damage caused
by all of that preignition. The only time the knock ever went away was when
I mixed in half a tank of 100 octane unleaded with my 91 premium, not very
cost effective at $5 per gallon! The little bit of extra added "oompff"
wasn't worth the super-high octane requirement, bad gas mileage (way too
rich), and obnoxious CE light.

I'll let you guys know how it goes once the car is running and I can test
the car with and without the Squadra chip. I'll be putting the car on a dyno
sometime in the next couple months too, so I'll bring the stock chip along
with me and do some back to back runs to compare.


Chip Mutza
San Diego, CA
'87 Milano 24 valve project (almost finished!!)
'89 Milano race car project (temporarily disassembled)
http://www.fastalfas.com
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