RaceChip GTS Black Initial Review

[DBurd]

[MENTION=779]GT_Tyson[/MENTION] thanks for the info, and I will connect next time I?m heading down that way.


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[DBurd]

[MENTION=444]RaceChip[/MENTION] is there a limit to the octane rating of fuel I use. At the track they have 109 I believe. I am going to order the chip, just want to know if I should stay away from that stuff because if possible damage?


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[RaceChip]

[MENTION=444]RaceChip[/MENTION] is there a limit to the octane rating of fuel I use. At the track they have 109 I believe. I am going to order the chip, just want to know if I should stay away from that stuff because if possible damage?

Well, 109 is a lot (when we are talking about (R+M)/2 measurement which is used in the US). We did extensive tests with 98 Octane, but not with 109. I can't say that it is safe, because we did not test it.
A user tested 100 and it worked (this was short-term and not long-term).

 

[ihatecats78]

Hey everyone!

Recently, I've been testing the RaceChip GTS Black. Full disclosure, I was sent this chip by [MENTION=444]RaceChip[/MENTION] for the purpose of reviewing and testing the product.

Although the box they sent me wasn't "new" condition (they even warned me of this), on account of the fact that it was only meant to hold it so I could test it out, it was still packaged very well! Ample protection for shipping. Definitely more than I was expecting given the warning they gave me .

Contents include the cable, zip ties, the RaceChip, and ziptie holders that snap into the RaceChip. The setup they show in the manual does not use the zip ties or the zip tie holders, so we can forgo those.

I found the instructions to be quite clear; and although the I'm pretty sure the instruction of leaving the car out of range of the keys after locking it isn't strictly necessary (I found that the car essentially turns off the electronics in the engine bay as soon as you open the door after turning off the engine), it's nice that they added that to make sure there's no chance of *bad stuff* happening to the car.

Unlike the LAP3, the RaceChip connects the boost pressure sensor, the intake pressure sensor as well as the cam position sensor. There's a warning to not connect the cables backwards, but I found that to be near impossible as there's a tab on the connector that prevents that from happening. What is very possible, however, is connecting the cables to the wrong sensors. These cables are all labelled with A, B, or C, and it's labelled in the instructions which letter goes to which sensor, so it should be pretty easy.

This is the boost pressure sensor connection.

Intake Pressure sensor connection.

Cam Position Sensor connection. This is by far the hardest sensor to actually connect to, given that it's nestled between several tubes. Still, installation was relatively easy.

I used several zipties to bundle cables together so they weren't jostling around, but not too tight. I routed the RaceChip connections as shown in the document - inbetween a gap leading to the left side of the engine bay near the passenger. The RaceChip connection seems better than the LAP3 connector - much easier to attach and remove, and watertight, whereas I wasn't sure the connection to the LAP3 was watertight.

To attach the RaceChip to the fusebox, I used some 3M Dual Lock (withstands up to around 200F, so it should be fine... could somebody tell me if that compartment gets above that temperature?). This is so that if I need to remove it, I can easily do so. Unfortunately, the Dual Lock doesn't stick to the fuse box super well - I'm going to be trying to put some VHB on the back of the dual lock to see if I can get it to adhere better. Does anybody have a better way to attach this to the top of the fuse box short of just gluing it on there?

Moving on to the app, it is clear that there is some work to be done here - initial connection is very straightforward and easy, but there seems to be a bug at least with my setup (Galaxy S9) that makes it so every time I fully close the app (as in kill it away in task manager or just exit out of the app for an extended period of time), I have to make sure to unpair the device from the RaceChip before opening the app. The app will then reprompt me to pair, and everything will work. Otherwise, the app seems to just not be able to connect regardless of whether the phone sees the RaceChip or not. I also found the bug that if I go into demo mode, my car's serial and settings are gone after exiting demo mode. This isn't a big issue but it is a bit jarring. I applaud the RaceChip folks for a very nice user interface, but functionality could be improved.

Now on to the actual meat and potatoes: performance!

It would be an understatement to say I'm impressed with the performance unlocked by the chip. I previously owned a LAP3 chip - and although this chip is built nice and seems like it might do something, I was never sure that it was actually increasing performance. My 0-60 times stayed almost the same: 4.85ish seconds stock -> 4.75ish seconds with the LAP3 on 91 setting. As I am in California, I did not attempt to use the 93 setting on 91 octane fuel, keeping it in the 91 setting. I have a video of a 0-60 run with the LAP3 here:

[video=youtube;PiYOnTEgxU0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiYOnTEgxU0&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Timing it from frames, it seems about 4.75ish seconds.

On the RaceChip in Race setting, i could absolutely feel the difference in many different ways. Just pulling from 1st, second, and third gear felt way more powerful than it did stock or on LAP3. I usually couldn't feel too much of the "oomph" that you get at 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in 4th gear, but with the RaceChip it was much more noticeable. In fact, usually when I use launch control I don't hold the brake pedal all the way down, just enough to stop the wheels from spinning. With the RaceChip, I applied the same amount of pressure, and the car started to do a burnout . Here's a *not so great* 0-60 run on the RaceChip - counting by frames gives me around 4.25 seconds, but I leave that to your judgement.

[video=youtube;cNvgeOLF7i0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNvgeOLF7i0&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Not only that, but you can even hear it in the video - with the RaceChip on, you can hear a sort of whine from the turbo, sort of like an electric motor. Honestly, that was kind of cool. Then again, it might mean the turbo's being damaged... anybody want to chime in?

I actually just got some 100 Octane as well from my local 76 - feels even faster, and doing a *really* crappy 0-60 seems to give me a 4.17 second 0-60, but I'll be sure to take a better video of a 0-60 run on 100 octane later (hopefully by next week, since it's just started raining again in Norcal).

The RaceChip guys are checking if we can add even more power to the car, so I'll update this post as I think of more information to add/get more information to post. I'll answer any questions as well.

Eli

I?m curious.. have you tried driving the car in comfort mode with the chip? If so, how is that?

I ask because the RaceChip site claims a significant increase in fuel efficiency.. also, I find comfort mode to be just a tiny bit on the sluggish side. It?d be nice if the chip would pep it up a bit.

 

[GT_Tyson]

[MENTION=779]GT_Tyson[/MENTION] thanks for the info, and I will connect next time I?m heading down that way.


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Sounds good.

 

[eliwu26]

I?m curious.. have you tried driving the car in comfort mode with the chip? If so, how is that?

I ask because the RaceChip site claims a significant increase in fuel efficiency.. also, I find comfort mode to be just a tiny bit on the sluggish side. It?d be nice if the chip would pep it up a bit.

I haven't actually seen any real increase in fuel efficiency, but like I said, I don't drive very efficiently anyway. That being said, I haven't seen any decrease either, which is good. Comfort mode does feel a bit more peppy, but only if you step on it. Driving normally feels, well, normal.

 

[Chi-Guy]

Hi [MENTION=453]eliwu26[/MENTION], I know you're being bombarded by tons of questions and probably missed the one I posted previously. Wondering if you had a chance to inspect your plugs for any carbon buildup or cracks?

 

[eliwu26]

Hi [MENTION=453]eliwu26[/MENTION], I know you're being bombarded by tons of questions and probably missed the one I posted previously. Wondering if you had a chance to inspect your plugs for any carbon buildup or cracks?

I actually don't quite know how - if somebody could point me to a guide or something, I would be happy to check. So far, it doesn't stutter or anything like what other people with cracked spark plugs seem to have.

 

[Chi-Guy]

I actually don't quite know how - if somebody could point me to a guide or something, I would be happy to check. So far, it doesn't stutter or anything like what other people with cracked spark plugs seem to have.

The tricky part is getting the engine cover off, after that its a matter of grabbing a 10mm socket and removing the coilpack after its been unplugged. You'll need to get a 16mm spark plug socket and a needle nose pliers to remove the plug. You don't have to do all six plugs if its too much trouble, just one or two to see if there's any buildup.

 

[CaliSting]

Well sent my money off this week for a GtS Black. Should be interesting. While I?m in California I do have easy access to race fuel that I can blend to get higher than 91 octane. So hoping I can change tunes easily for when I want to run higher octane in the tank. Tune seems like the best investment as I?m not big on aftermarket intakes and mufflers. I like keeping car in stock trim with ability to turn up the boost a little.

My biggest worries are with drivetrain. No idea if the transmission is rated for this much torque? Will rear end hold up ok too? I m pretty easy on car and usually only get into power once car is rolling.

 

[powermatt]

Well sent my money off this week for a GtS Black. Should be interesting. While I?m in California I do have easy access to race fuel that I can blend to get higher than 91 octane. So hoping I can change tunes easily for when I want to run higher octane in the tank. Tune seems like the best investment as I?m not big on aftermarket intakes and mufflers. I like keeping car in stock trim with ability to turn up the boost a little.

My biggest worries are with drivetrain. No idea if the transmission is rated for this much torque? Will rear end hold up ok too? I m pretty easy on car and usually only get into power once car is rolling.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

 

[ATXStinger]

Well sent my money off this week for a GtS Black. Should be interesting. While I?m in California I do have easy access to race fuel that I can blend to get higher than 91 octane. So hoping I can change tunes easily for when I want to run higher octane in the tank. Tune seems like the best investment as I?m not big on aftermarket intakes and mufflers. I like keeping car in stock trim with ability to turn up the boost a little.

My biggest worries are with drivetrain. No idea if the transmission is rated for this much torque? Will rear end hold up ok too? I m pretty easy on car and usually only get into power once car is rolling.

Powertrain shouldnt be a problem just from a tune.

 

[MurlinatoR]

Well sent my money off this week for a GtS Black. Should be interesting. While I?m in California I do have easy access to race fuel that I can blend to get higher than 91 octane. So hoping I can change tunes easily for when I want to run higher octane in the tank. Tune seems like the best investment as I?m not big on aftermarket intakes and mufflers. I like keeping car in stock trim with ability to turn up the boost a little.

My biggest worries are with drivetrain. No idea if the transmission is rated for this much torque? Will rear end hold up ok too? I m pretty easy on car and usually only get into power once car is rolling.

I agree with [MENTION=12]ATXStinger[/MENTION]. The Stinger has been built to take the heat!

Here's what you have to remember to keep in mind; Kia built this car with the INTENTION of covering the drive train for 100,000 miles here in the states. Think about that. The turbos, lifters, bearings, cams, crank, shafts, differentials, seals, clutches..... They built it to be stronger than necessary because they know that their money is on the hook for a decade! LOL

 

[CaliSting]

Powertrain shouldnt be a problem just from a tune.

Im not as confident as you. And I have been building race cars for decades. In other well known platforms we usually know rated torque capacity of transmissions. Also people learn over time on more popular cars what transmission will hold safely . This tranny is not well known by me - im sure its stout to handle 378 ft lbs stock puts out but what is it rated at? 500 ft lbs? I dont think anyone here knows. Adding 100 ft lbs of toque is not just a tune. Thats real torque going to components that may not be rated for this level of power. We are all sort of guinea pigs when we try the more aggressive tunes on our cars. Eventually something is going to fail prematurely. Tune companies have pocketed their money and typically dont car much about driveline failures as much as engine issues and we are then left to sweep up the mess and pay for repairs or drive line upgrades. Concern I have with Kia is that Im not aware of any real drive line upgrades for people who add more power. Which means we likely dont have enough data yet on what tunes are doing to drive line components.

I also look downstream from transmission to and think about rear diff and axles and CV joints? I have broken plenty of parts in past with much less modest power gains than what we are talking about here from "just a tune". Was hoping we had some data on the tranny capacity. Anyone have connections with Kia engineers?

 

[CaliSting]

I agree with [MENTION=12]ATXStinger[/MENTION]. The Stinger has been built to take the heat!

Here's what you have to remember to keep in mind; Kia built this car with the INTENTION of covering the drive train for 100,000 miles here in the states. Think about that. The turbos, lifters, bearings, cams, crank, shafts, differentials, seals, clutches..... They built it to be stronger than necessary because they know that their money is on the hook for a decade! LOL

They also tuned power to accomplish this as well. Question is how much stronger? 50 ft lbs stronger or 150 ft lbs stronger?

 

[rooSTer]

They also tuned power to accomplish this as well. Question is how much stronger? 50 ft lbs stronger or 150 ft lbs stronger?

I'm not sure if this is any consolation but the Stinger's powertrain is also shared with the 5.0 V8 Genesis G90. The downside is they produce similar torque numbers.

 

[JonYYZ]

Should have mine tomorrow but I?m not exactly happy about the $165 brokerage fee that they are asking for...

 

[StingerMike]

Well sent my money off this week for a GtS Black. Should be interesting. While I?m in California I do have easy access to race fuel that I can blend to get higher than 91 octane. So hoping I can change tunes easily for when I want to run higher octane in the tank. Tune seems like the best investment as I?m not big on aftermarket intakes and mufflers. I like keeping car in stock trim with ability to turn up the boost a little.

My biggest worries are with drivetrain. No idea if the transmission is rated for this much torque? Will rear end hold up ok too? I m pretty easy on car and usually only get into power once car is rolling.

Spoke with the guys over at Tork who's been doing a lot of R&D on their Stinger and they said the drivetrain is good for around 800lb-ft.

 

[JonYYZ]

Just arrived will post a review once the snow leaves

 

[kamauxx]

Just arrived will post a review once the snow leaves

You re-gapping your spark plugs?