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Originally Posted by ChrisFastM3
I respectfully disagree. When the guys at ///M took upon the job of producing the next M3, it wasn't all about squeezing every last bit of HP. They also had to consider how many MPG this car would get, reliability, emissions, ect....
As I'm sure you all know, BMW plans on selling the most M3's in it's history by a long shot. It's an ambitious goal that would never be met if the car was producing 9 MPG and a $2100+ gas guzzler tax. There definitely is a possibility of some serious gains........ but at what cost in reliability & fuel economy?
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Just to hit the basics, a chip can do two things to increase full-throttle power. Timing and mixture. You can increase timing by a bit to run only on 93 octane (as opposed to 91 octane), which might be good for a couple of ponies (or not, since the standard software may already be capable of taking advantage of 93). You can probably lean the mixture a bit to gain another couple of ponies, but that's a slippery slope, since lean mixtures may induce more pinging under load, thus activating the knock sensing software and pulling back on timing.
The E46 M3 is a terrific example. One of the most aggressive aftermarket chips out there is from Jim Conforti - marketed by Turner and others as the "Shark Injector". He claims six horsepower.
You should research this, of course, but there are no easy pickings out there anymore for aftermarket chip guys - except for turbo cars, naturally.
Bruce
EDit: PS - Advancing the timing and leaning the mixture will generally get you better efficiency, thus increasing as opposed to decreasing mileage. Of course, running on the ragged edge means you may also grenade your engine even as you're passing by all those gas pumps.
