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

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
 
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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 :D

Do you have a dyno pull you can post up?

1/4 mile results are so dependent upon driver skill :shrug:

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
 
Grady, stock inj with stock maf. I had the 30lbs inj with matching pro m meter but the meter didn't work on my car, for some reason, so I sold them and kept my stockers. I have been wanting to go to the dyno but I haven't had time. I'm pretty sure it'll tell me that I'm leaning out up top, hence why I'm running 41-43 psi of fp.

Matt, I really think my inj. have reached their limit. I increased my fp to 43 psi and that's how I managed to hit almost 105 mph. The previous run I had run a 13.1 @ 102 with a 1.72 60s. I have no idea where I left the slips.

Don, good to see you're an honest guy and not try and get a sale at any cost. I want to go to the dyno soon, but I don't think I'll have a chance til the week of Feb 19-23. I'll keep you guys posted.

Thanks
 
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 :D

Grady
 
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
 
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

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.
 
I know ... I know ... Money matters for most :D

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 :nice:

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 :D

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 :shrug:
New SCT ... $1K plus ........ help needed here as well :shrug:
Mega Squit ... I got no clue :shrug:

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

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 :nice: 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 :nice:
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 ........... :rlaugh:

Grady