Svt Tuning

[sstony]

my tech with an 01 Lightning needs to get tuned. RWTD in mobile and Race Related in clearwater have already been contacted. is there anyone closer or cheaper?? so far the quotes have been around $550 and thats with buying a predator programmer from them and having them put it on the dyno and doing there thing.

any suggestions?

[slowLX]

Tuning device--> SCT - http://www.sctflash.com/
Tuner--> JMS - http://www.jmschip.com/dyno.php

[sstony]

YEAH--ill let brett tell you about his tune:t:

but thanks for the input

[towelie]

Tell him I will tune it

[TylerGT]

YEAH--ill let brett tell you about his tune:t:

but thanks for the input



I would hold off on trashing my opnion of JMS untill He finds out exactly what the deal was. Tony and Lloyd had such good dealings w/ them Im gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.

[hotrodnut]

Don't know much about these guys but they are an approved Predator Tuner.
Dyno Tune Performance, Jax, FL (http://www.dynotuneperformance.com/index.htm)

Also Panhandle Performance in Lynn Haven, FL.
Panhandle Performance (http://www.panhandleperformance.com/default.asp?id=37)

[sstony]

I would hold off on trashing my opnion of JMS untill He finds out exactly what the deal was. Tony and Lloyd had such good dealings w/ them Im gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.


The proof is in the pudding--or melted pistons i should say

[Gt]

If he goes with RWTD, have them do a SCT tune not the diablow.

I don't recomend Panhandle for anything.

One thing to remeber about N/A tunes, you are not going to normally see great increases in HP unless its dyno-tuned and then still you aren't going to see more then 5-15 rwhp difference. Unless the car has a lot of mods. Being its a lightning, he will see a lot beater results with any tune.

That being said, just go with JMS.

[Gt]

The proof is in the pudding--or melted pistons i should say

Melted pistons in a n/a car?

[Slush]

www.fastpartsnetwork.com

[hotrodnut]

If he goes with RWTD, have them do a SCT tune not the diablow.

I don't recomend Panhandle for anything.

One thing to remeber about N/A tunes, you are not going to normally see great increases in HP unless its dyno-tuned and then still you aren't going to see more then 5-15 rwhp difference. Unless the car has a lot of mods. Being its a lightning, he will see a lot beater results with any tune.

That being said, just go with JMS.
Why not Diablo? I've seen same vehicle S/C Fords tuned with both tuners and the Diablo net better results.

I've not had experience with Panhandle but I guess since you say so I'll not in the future. :D

If I was going with the SCT tuner I would take it to Modular Powerhouse in Atlanta.

[slmdLS1]

brett kills rod bearings, he hasnt branched into the piston melting phase yet.

[sstony]

brett kills rod bearings, he hasnt branched into the piston melting phase yet.


IF YOU SAY SO

and thanks andy--i was looking for that place--its south of jax right??

[Gt]

Why not Diablo? I've seen same vehicle S/C Fords tuned with both tuners and the Diablo net better results.

I've not had experience with Panhandle but I guess since you say so I'll not in the future. :D

If I was going with the SCT tuner I would take it to Modular Powerhouse in Atlanta.

Quite honestly, if you saw better results on the same car with a different tuner in it. The difference you are actually seeing is who tuned it and how safe they consider it to be. When it boils down to it, its who is doing the tuning, not really the software used. They both can access the same fields in the tune. They just might have different ways of doing it. The person controling the software makes a BIG difference in the outcome. Thats the reason I push JMS, They have been in the tuning game longer then Panhandle, RWTD, etc. They have such a long history of tunning different combos, they can 99% of the time hit it right on the head via mail order. It also helps that Chris Johnson (JMS = Johnson Motorsports) is one of the owners/creators of SCT.

[luv_my_z28]

I had my a pretty generic tune done on my truck at RWTD and am thoroughly impressed. James really sounds very knowledgeable about tuning and was a great guy to work with. When i talked to him he said that a dynotune ran $300, maybe its different for some reason with a lightning. But i highly recommend RWTD.

[Greg Kulbick]

SCT, hands down. Look who uses it and who wins races.

[sstony]

the description of the xcal2 does look very good. would ya'll recomend to get that one and try playing with it here on at a local dyno, or get one and go straight to a tuner with it??

[BreBar21]

Melted pistons in a n/a car?

That's what I'm told happened. James said the oil pressure was fine and as he put it, "something was causing it to lean out and that's what killed it." Needless to say I'm not very happy with JMS right now and need to have a talk with them.

Edit: Just think about it, what are the odds that I'm going to spin 2 rod bearings on two different engines in 2 months??

[slmdLS1]

IF YOU SAY SO

i apologize as i was uninformed at the time. it seems as though BFH's resident rod bearing killa has indeed breeched the piston melting barrier in his n/a car.

[Greg Kulbick]

Frankly, if it was the tune, its the first time I've ever heard of JMS sending out a tune that hurt a car. Not to say it hasn't happened, but I'd bet willing to be its not common and if it is the case, Chris and Monty will handle it.

[BreBar21]

Chris and Monty will handle it.

We'll hope that's true.

[Gt]

I have never heard of a N/A normal compression engine melting a piston due to leaning out or high timing. Maybe if it was 12:1 or higher, but not a 4.6. Something is sure screwy.

[Slush]

IF YOU SAY SO

and thanks andy--i was looking for that place--its south of jax right??


Yep, great guys.

[Gt]

I have never heard of a N/A normal compression engine melting a piston due to leaning out or high timing. Maybe if it was 12:1 or higher, but not a 4.6. Something is sure screwy.

K, guess I am wrong here. I talked to some people and they claim it is possible to melt a piston on a n/a car. His 95 Gt melted the piston, 4 spark plugs and a wristpin frooze up due to running 16 base timming and bad gas. Learn something new every day.....

[BreBar21]

K, guess I am wrong here. I talked to some people and they claim it is possible to melt a piston on a n/a car. His 95 Gt melted the piston, 4 spark plugs and a wristpin frooze up due to running 16 base timming and bad gas. Learn something new every day.....

Yeah, I'm going to talk to James again to make sure I have everything right before I try and talk to JMS. I'll let you guys know the specifics when I know them.

[DustnF]

Yeah, I'm going to talk to James again to make sure I have everything right before I try and talk to JMS. I'll let you guys know the specifics when I know them.
Good luck. If it is thier fault, I hope they do the right thing.

[Slow5.0]

as far as lightnings go, I know, as I told you on the phone, that fordpartsnetwork.com or some such thing based out in St. Auguatine is who Mark at Lightning force performance reccommends. But, If he wants to make the drive, I have also heard alot of good things about Lammotta (sp?) performance out in Winter Park. Those guys do SCT XCal tuning, but there's another place in Tampa thats supposed to be really handy with the Predator tunes. Unfortunantly, I can't recall the name. In any case, for a good portion of the tuners on the Lightnings, Robbie will need to grab a handheld tuner for them to work with.

[rjcobra]

Can't go wrong with RWTD.

[fishin-nole]

The prices qouted sound good for a handheld and a tune. Is he changing the lower pulley, I'm still on the stocker and have a mailorder chip which has me right at 12's (13.03) in the 1/4. He could get by with a canned tune if he's staying with the stock lower. As for the melted piston in the Cobra this is interesting reading and may be causing the lean out condition that some cobra owners are having.
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214849&goto=newpost

[sstony]

Can't go wrong with RWTD.


thanks for all your imput guys.

rj cobra--that tune looks right on the money. killer power with great air/fuel:headbang:

[Gt]

http://www.blownstangs.com/cars/dyno/89dyno.jpg

http://www.blownstangs.com/cars/dyno/02gt-dyno-12-03.jpg

These were both very safe JMS mail order tunes, not many places could get A/F that close on the first guess mail order tune.

[sstony]

so an xcal2 was ordered from rwtd. and apparently there is no tune with it. wtf?


:wtf:

[Gt]

uh, what? lol

[Slush]

so an xcal2 was ordered from rwtd. and apparently there is no tune with it. wtf?


:wtf:


I would ask james why it wasn't loaded when you got it. You can ask him to post the tune on his website and/or have him email it to you (but of course then you will need the data cable)

[Gt]

data cable on Xcal2 = normal USB A-B cable.

[sstony]

he's got all the cables--but shouldn't there have been a tune loaded?? i think i've heard of this being a problem with them--and people have been awaiting for a tune from them for a while.

so andy--will there be tunes already up on his site, ready to just download? or will a specific tune have to be uploaded on his site or emailed?

[Slush]

he's got all the cables--but shouldn't there have been a tune loaded?? i think i've heard of this being a problem with them--and people have been awaiting for a tune from them for a while.

so andy--will there be tunes already up on his site, ready to just download? or will a specific tune have to be uploaded on his site or emailed?

I am not sure how he handles it anymore. I would check his forums and go from there.

[rjcobra]

so an xcal2 was ordered from rwtd. and apparently there is no tune with it. wtf?


:wtf:
?
What did you discuss with James before you ordered it?

[sstony]

?
What did you discuss with James before you ordered it?
well it was for my buddy's lightning--he personally spoke with james weaver(not the tuner) @rwtd about a custum tune for his mods. he called james and asked about this and was told that all there tuners are ordered from sct with tunes in them. and the last batch they received--out of the last 10 they've sold, 7 customers had called back with the same concern--NO INDEX-under vehicle programming. so a tune was supposed to be e-mailed to him last night--but none ever was.

SCT will be contacted today about this concern. its very easy to blame a 3rd party when they're not there to defend themselves.

[Greg Kulbick]

Why would SCT send out a flasher that is VIN specific with a tune already on it to a vendor to use on his customer's cars?

[sstony]

Why would SCT send out a flasher that is VIN specific with a tune already on it to a vendor to use on his customer's cars?

ahhhhh! you user title is correct.:clap:

[Greg Kulbick]

Is RWTD blowing smoke again?

[DustnF]

Is RWTD blowing smoke again?
Absolutely, guys on ls1gto.com have been waiting forever to get their "custom" tunes. The only reason I got mine @ a reasonable time is because I called and was luck enough to talk to the person writing the tune and convinced him to do mine while I waited on the phone. I will not be doing any further business with RWTD.


ls1gto.com threads that may be of interest:

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68196&highlight=RWTD

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66927&highlight=RWTD

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57107&highlight=RWTD

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62998&highlight=RWTD


I know they are going through some changes right now but this is rediculous...paying customers deserve better.

[rjcobra]

well it was for my buddy's lightning--he personally spoke with james weaver(not the tuner) @rwtd about a custum tune for his mods. he called james and asked about this and was told that all there tuners are ordered from sct with tunes in them. and the last batch they received--out of the last 10 they've sold, 7 customers had called back with the same concern--NO INDEX-under vehicle programming. so a tune was supposed to be e-mailed to him last night--but none ever was.

SCT will be contacted today about this concern. its very easy to blame a 3rd party when they're not there to defend themselves.

Not sure about the SCT tuner, but the Diablosport Predator I used came from the factory with some canned performance tunes, which are usually suboptimal. My 1st CUSTOM tune came via E-mail, and was near pefect when I dyno'ed. Never had any problems with waiting for anything from RWTD though, but I know they've had their problems in the past.

[Greg Kulbick]

Are Predator tuners not locked to a particular VIN?

[Gt]

None of them should be VIN locked, till it is used on a vehicle. Then it should unlock from that VIN when the vehicle is flashed back to stock.

[rjcobra]

Are Predator tuners not locked to a particular VIN?
Yes, when the new tune goes in, the predator downloads your stock tune. It's then married to that car until the stock tune is put back into the car.

[slmdLS1]

someone from RWTD and SCT is registered on here...:whistle: :blink:

[SaUcE]

question -(not for this situation, but in general) if the programmer is vin locked, but the engine and ECU are swapped in out of another car, how does that work? you have to figure out what the vin was on the car u got it out of? showing my ignorance of the whole topic, but i was just wanting to know

[Greg Kulbick]

Yes, when the new tune goes in, the predator downloads your stock tune. It's then married to that car until the stock tune is put back into the car.
No, the new tune. With an Xcal, they have to know your computer code before they even put a base tune on it. Without a vendor putting a tune on it specifically for your car, its blank.

[sstony]

a tune was finally e-mailed yesterday--actually 3 tunes came from rwtd. one has 15 degrees timing, 17 degrees, and the last one is labeled race. he is running the 17* now and is pretty happy since he can utilize his new maf now. he said the tune has given a lot more lowend power now.

he should be at the track this weekend so we'll see just how good it works out.

is that enough timing??--seems low to me, but he hasn't tried the race tune which is 19 degrees.

[rjcobra]

a tune was finally e-mailed yesterday--actually 3 tunes came from rwtd. one has 15 degrees timing, 17 degrees, and the last one is labeled race. he is running the 17* now and is pretty happy since he can utilize his new maf now. he said the tune has given a lot more lowend power now.

he should be at the track this weekend so we'll see just how good it works out.

is that enough timing??--seems low to me, but he hasn't tried the race tune which is 19 degrees.

Mine has 23 degrees max timing. He may be running much higher boost requiring a lower timing to be safe.