High altitude

Hello,

I have a 2000 camaro super sport and live in Colorado. I have a SLP cold air, cat back exhaust, 160 degree thermostat, a mass air flow sensor and k&n air filter.  Besides that the car is stock. I have heard conflicting reports about getting a performance chip for it. Would this benefit me at this high of an altitude and be worth the money?

Thank you.

Bart

Bart, you probably accidently stumbled into a situation where the engine rus pretty good and develops better power than it did originally. But fuel economy is probably down from the OEM condition.

The reasons I expect this would be the case are that cold air package, cat back, mass air flow sensor, and K&N filter all increased either air density or mass flow through the engine. All of these things want more fuel and you tripped into that with the 160 degree thermostat. A 160 degree F. thermostat is below the computer's threshold of a warmed up engine, therefore, it's fueling the engine rich because it thinks the engine is still in cold start mode. This is providing additional fuel for the extra air that now pumps through the engine.

Correcting the computer should keep power up but will also improve cruise fuel economy by bringing the mixture ratio back in line. In addition to improving fuel ecomony the corrected mixture reduces the amount of unburnt fuel in the cylinder (this is necessary evil with a cold engine but is non-the-less undesireable), this reduces oil wash from the upper cylinder and that reduces upper end piston to cylinder wall friction, this in turn frees up some extra power but more importantly reduces wear and tear on the upper cylinder, piston and ring package.

Here's some reference sources;

http://www.fastchip.com/

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http://www.hypertech-inc.com/

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http://www.superchips.com/

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http://www.kcspeed.com/

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http://www.jetchip.com/

Bogie

Most computer upgrades or performance chips require you to run a higher octane fuel. I know that it is hard to find higher octane fuel in high elevations.  

bogie,

Thanks a lot for the reply and the resources.  I will definately look into getting one.   Do you also think that shorty headers are worth the high cost.  I wanted some SLP long tube headers but they wont pass emissions. 

Thank you for your time,

Bart

Lets see where are here; first let me hit one for high octane fuels being difficult to find in some high altitude areas. The reasoning behind this is that at high altitudes the atmospheric density/pressure is reduced (8000 feet the pressure is down to about 7 psi from 14.7 at sea level). So the story goes that absolute cylinder pressure is also lower, therefore, real compression is down and high octane is no longer required. That's at least is the theory. Frankly, when I run a compression test in Denver, I don't get that much of a pressure reduction compared to Houston. Soooo, I don't know how much of this you can really bank on, especially when one considers that mountain driving tends to use more throttle and generate more heat and heat is one of the issues that dictate octane requirements. Anyway the end of all this is if you live in the high country and hop up your engine you may be in trouble for finding enough octane.

Shorty headers often don't show much of an improvement over cast iron manifolds and certainly less than long tube equal length or even Tri-Y configurations. Unless I've got an installation issue where factory manifolds can't fit I don't think I go through the expense and effort for shorties.

Bogie

bogie,

I'm glad you said that.  I was trying to talk myself out of buying them anyway and you just got me over that hump.

Thanks again for the help,

Bart