Does my car need a tune, Don and everybody else?

I don't think it would hurt anything to get one. You definitely have the MPH to get well into the 12's with a little more practice. I'd definitely be interested in seeing your timeslip. If your car is running on stock injectors, you're probably leaning out a bit up top (I'm also running stock injectors now with my mods). Without seeing an AF ratio for your car, I'd bet that's holding you back the most if anything, but there's always something to play with as far as timing and fuel curves to maximize performance. Personally, I'd go the self-tuner route so you can continue to play with settings until you get the desired results, and you can also obtain a pretty good understanding of what makes it tick at the same time.

Well ... I'm guessing since you went A9L ............

You be a stick trans kinda guy

Do you have a dyno pull you can post up?

1/4 mile results are so dependent upon driver skill

Grady

Meter type and size

Inj size

Grady

Way back when my old convertible Mustang was NA - it had heads, intake and 3.73's it went 13.4/105ish and it did not have a tune (didn't have time to do it) - but I was - and you are, pretty close to maxing out the stock MAF and probably the injectors.

If it idles and drives OK and runs like that, you are probably fine the way you are. I think a dynotune would help you by getting more power for you - there'd probably be gains form a mail order chip, but they would not be as much as a dynotune.
Don

Yes ... You are done with those little 19's

You most likely will have better luck with an aftermarket
meter and larger inj's with the 24# flavor as opposed to
to the 30# setup you had

Good Luck to Ya Man

Grady

95Vert said:

Do you guys think a chip would be worth the money?

Click to expand...

no

when i put on my gt40p heads/crane 2031 came/ explorer intake i went in to get a tune expecting to get a ton more power.....turned out the mixture was pretty good.....i got maby 5 rwhp.....

BUT it WAS worth it to buy the chip because my car woulden't idle

95Vert said:

You can see my combo in my sig. The reason why I went with the a9l swap was to avoid needing a tune, but if it'll help my car, I wouldn't mind buying a chip. My car drives fine, idles fine, and feels strong. I hit a 13.0 @ 104 a couple of weeks ago. I'm still running my stock inj. and maf. Do you guys think a chip would be worth the money?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I admit to being a TwEECer snob. I'm going to go out on a limb and make this statement: A bone stock mustang will benefit from a tune. Especially the stock GT tune, its pretty bad. IMO, its worth it just to eliminate the tip in retard after shifting.

Since you have the 30s already, pick up a matching MAF and get a mail order chip. Or a TwEECer if you want to go that route. I don't think you need 30s, but there's no sense in trading down when you can tune them in. Might be more of a bear, but you'll get some room to grow or add a dry shot.

Adam

if the car is running fine i dont see how spending 500 on a dyno tune would be worth it. maybe a mail order since they are alot less but i still dont think it would be worth it. i think you should go to a dyno and pay for an hour and play with the timing and fuel pressure. im sure you could get the a/f ratio in the right range. if not you will at least have proof that you need more injector but i really dont think so.

how many people have done this computer swap and what are the positives and negatives? why is it more mod friendly? ...sorry to jack the thread

I know ... I know ... Money matters for most

I know it sure does for me

However ... setting money to the side for just a moment

Lets talk about ....... tuning

Lets talk about tuning a stock GT

Adam was right on about a stock GT benefiting from a tune

PCM access will allow one to optimize fuel and spark tables to a
degree far enough beyond what can be done with dizzy twisting
and elevating fuel pressure that in most cases ... IMHO ... you
will feel the gain for sure.

Like Adam said ... you can remove the tip in spark retard too
and
You can take care of drivability issues with pcm access as well

As delivered from Ford ......
The GT is too sparky and too lean ... (common ping issues)

Now ... about the money

In general terms or a wide price range .........

Pro Tuning
Mail Order Pro Chips ... $200 to $400
Pro Dyno Tunes ... I've seen $400 to close to $1k

Self Tuning Equipment (with Wide Band)
New Tweecer ... $1k
New PMS ... $1K plus ........ somebody please help me with the price
New SCT ... $1K plus ........ help needed here as well
Mega Squit ... I got no clue

anyway ... as you can see ... the tune is gonna cost you
no matter which method you choose

If you go self tune ........
Many options are opened up to you and your investment is only
a one time kinda thing ... no reburn cost ... etc

Would I spend money on tuning a stock GT ...... NO!
As legalize420 said the gain doesn't justify the cost

however ... for myself ... and ... my long term goals

Did I spend money on tuning equipment to tune ...........
a mild self ported E7 combo ... YES!

Did it make a noticable difference ... Very much so ... YES!

Most importantly
I knew I was gonna be doing a lot of changes to that combo
and
at that time ... I knew I was doing a totally different combo later
so
that equipment was gonna be able to be used over and over

Final thoughts .................

Like all the other stuff in this hobby ..............
The answer to most of these Questions on all these boards is .........

It depends upon ...........

Grady

Here is the route I'm headed: $650 4-position SCT chip from Don and the Wideband to datalog for him to fine tune my car in.