[dhoggm3]

Another GB customer checks in:

The host: Ben shoeed great hospitality and opened his great Alexandria home to all of us. More importantly, he labored the day before to get a pot of chili going for us. This stuff is killer good! I was a judge for the annual chili cookoff in Evansville, IN when I lived there, and I can tell you Ben's chili has the flavor. Unexpected pleasure. Thank you, Ben!

The process: there was a logjam at Powerchip that meant I was at Ben's for more than 4 hours. Waiting for Powerchip. We figured since they're California types they were out surfing or doing illegal substances or something. Ben managed to read all of our ECU's (7 yesterday) and I was the first one finished.

My mods: AA pulley and AA exhaust, plus Sunoco 93 (sorry, Calif). MS filter on the way but not here yet. Powerchip gives you the option of raising the rev limit and top speed - or not. I elected not to do that because I want my beautiful V8 to go for a long time, and I don't track the car. Nobody will let me...

The result: Before I pulled out of Ben's garage I noticed a smoothness in the motor I'd never felt/heard before. Some on the board have noted this with the AA tune as well. I liked the harsher firing sequencing of the stock tune, but I like this more. On the way home (2 hour drive) the BD noticed substantially more torque throughout the range. No CEL's whatsoever. What drove this home was that I had the iphone sitting on the passenger seat, cruising along at 75, and I punched it in 6th to pass. The phone immediately slid to the back of the seat and smacked up against the seatback. This had never happened before. DonDon's dyno run will tell more scientifically, but for now I'm totally satisfied.

The sound: We should probably start a new thread on the exhaust comparo we did with 7 gearhead M3's there - you could imagine the mix. For me, I had gone for the most Ferrari-like sound I could find, and got the AA. It is indeed the one that sounds the closest to the prancing horse. Now, with the tune, it sounds almost dead-on. Sick.

Summary: From the results the Powerchip boys were probably not smoking dope out there. Just a little snafu. I highly recommend this mod so far. When you compare it to the price of lots of other silly things we buy for our cars, it's a bargain.