educate me on hand held tuners....

[98COBRA281]

ive been looking at sct xcals, but i dont know what one to get, ive also looked a the diablo predator, but the only guy near me that dyno tunes only uses sct, i can buy a hand held and bring it to him and he can use it to tune my car right?, and what if it used, and has a tune in it, can it be deleted? and what does it mean when they say "unlocked"?

thanks:SNSign:

 

[BurningRubber]

You should double check with your tuner to make sure that he will tune it with your SCT tuner if you buy one. Most will do it that way, but there may be someone who does it differently.

If it is used, you should be able to send it off for a re-tune from a place that does mail-order tunes. I'm not 100% sure if it needs to be the origional company it was purchased from or not, though.

"Un-locked" or "Un-married" is just reffering to the tuner being un-installed from a vehicle. You can't use a tuner on your vehicle to do any tuning if the performance tune is allready loaded into another vehicle. I know that with the Diablosport's you can use it as a diagnostic tool an another vehicle, just no tuning with it.

 

[ItsStock02]

you can read and delete dtc's with the xcal even if its vin locked to another car as well.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Greenscobie86]

Useful info in this thread so far...
I don't mean to hijack but.... Which handheld tuners will be able to turn off the automatic transmission functions if you do a manual trans. swap? I ask because I'm doing the swap this weekend and would like to know if I need to buy a new ECU or just disable the auto. functions with a handheld tuner...

98COBRA, hows the motor build coming along btw? I'm gonna be doing the same exact thing soon so I am following your threads closely.

 

[98COBRA281]

98COBRA, hows the motor build coming along btw? I'm gonna be doing the same exact thing soon so I am following your threads closely.

very good, i have everthing i will need, except new spark plugs. it will all be going in in about 3 weeks or so, i cant wait!!!

i will post pics of the process, and a few vidoes

 

[kalvick]

Useful info in this thread so far...
I don't mean to hijack but.... Which handheld tuners will be able to turn off the automatic transmission functions if you do a manual trans. swap? I ask because I'm doing the swap this weekend and would like to know if I need to buy a new ECU or just disable the auto. functions with a handheld tuner...

98COBRA, hows the motor build coming along btw? I'm gonna be doing the same exact thing soon so I am following your threads closely.

I dont think any of those $400 or less hand held tuners will do what you want

 

[LaserSVT]

Im really thinking of getting the Sniper setup since it can do both cars but IDK if anyone around here will dyno tune with the Sniper software. Or if mabey I can get the data log file and send it to Sniper for a custome tune.... I guess I should call them on Monday.
Bet that softwar would be able to re write for the transmition swap though
The older (95 and earlier) Mustangs used the same computer for the auto or stick and the only difference was the auto version had more initial timing in it

 

[SilverBullet01]

I have the Diablo Preditor tuner. I does what i need it to. You can adjust timing, wot fuel delivery, axel ratio, speed limiter, adjust for new tire sizes, and if you have an auto-you can adjust shift points, redline, idle rpm...a bunch of stuff. Very usefull, I keep two seperate tunes on my car. One for NA and another for the spray, It only takes about 5 mins to load either tune.

 

[hotcobra03]

What about A/F ratio?i have a predator and heard u cant change or watch it?is this true?exsamle you put on a cai and need it tuned .does performance tune do it for you?

 

[liv4him]

Go get it dyno tuned....bottom line, dont waste your money on a mail order tune. I got a mail order tune and 4 months later found a shop that does dyno tunes and I got a big 1hp and 3trq from my mail order. After the shop tuned it I got like 12hp and 15trq.

 

[SilverBullet01]

What about A/F ratio?i have a predator and heard u cant change or watch it?is this true?exsamle you put on a cai and need it tuned .does performance tune do it for you?

I havent seen anything about the a/f ratio on there, I'm just going to buy an a/f gage and a nitrous gage and put in on my a-pillar.

 

[98COBRA281]

Go get it dyno tuned....bottom line, dont waste your money on a mail order tune. I got a mail order tune and 4 months later found a shop that does dyno tunes and I got a big 1hp and 3trq from my mail order. After the shop tuned it I got like 12hp and 15trq.

it will be dyno tuned, but i have to get a hand held for the dyno tune....

 

[BurningRubber]

What about A/F ratio?i have a predator and heard u cant change or watch it?is this true?exsamle you put on a cai and need it tuned .does performance tune do it for you?

If you have the cold air intake before the Predator, some places ask you to list your modificiations so they can burn you the best tune. Even so, it isn't garuntee'd that your A/F ratio will be correct.

If you put the intake on after the Predator, no... the performance tune wont do anything to help.

All the "canned" tunes do is lean the engine out and add timing.

As far as checking your A/F ratio, no the Predator can't do that. You can adjust wide open throttle fuel curves to add or subtract fuel to make adjustments though. To read the A/F ratio you need a wideband o2 setup, or you need to put the car on a dyno with a wideband setup.

For what it's worth, my car was really lean after I put the Predator tune in. I drove it like that for a while and nothing bad happened (noticably), but when I pulled the plugs to change them you could tell they were on the lean side.

I put the car on the dyno, and my A/F ratio was about 13.8 or so... Brought it down to around 13.3 which was still high, but I was out of time on the dyno. I just added some more fuel to it after that though, within reason so I am not concerned about it anymore.

 

[2002BLGT]

Im really thinking of getting the Sniper setup since it can do both cars but IDK if anyone around here will dyno tune with the Sniper software. Or if mabey I can get the data log file and send it to Sniper for a custome tune.... I guess I should call them on Monday.
Bet that softwar would be able to re write for the transmition swap though
The older (95 and earlier) Mustangs used the same computer for the auto or stick and the only difference was the auto version had more initial timing in it

if you get the Sniper from me , I do the custom tuning for free .......

 

[LaserSVT]

if you get the Sniper from me , I do the custom tuning for free .......

PM sent

 

[Greenscobie86]

Im really thinking of getting the Sniper setup since it can do both cars but IDK if anyone around here will dyno tune with the Sniper software. Or if mabey I can get the data log file and send it to Sniper for a custome tune.... I guess I should call them on Monday.
Bet that softwar would be able to re write for the transmition swap though
The older (95 and earlier) Mustangs used the same computer for the auto or stick and the only difference was the auto version had more initial timing in it

Thanks for the replies....

Just did the swap this weekend. Car drives fines except for the blinking o/d off light. I think maybe I'll just pick up a manual ECU for now and then look into the tuner route.

 

[joshheat25]

Get a price on the Xcal 3 with the tune from your tuner then ask him how much If you bring him a tuner for the tune. Either way get SCT and get it custom tuned.

 

[hotcobra03]

I have a predator with basic tune.unit comes with bs manual on how to use.when reading (little black box) tuning in a mustang mag it showed scolars and stuff i know nothing about but want to know .anyone with a link to educate us on this?

 

[2002BLGT]

I have a predator with basic tune.unit comes with bs manual on how to use.when reading (little black box) tuning in a mustang mag it showed scolars and stuff i know nothing about but want to know .anyone with a link to educate us on this?

Tweecer Manual is a good teaching tool for learning some basic stuff ........takes lots and lots of reading , asking questions , even getting hands on with it before you will ever understand it all