Sct Bama Tuning

[darthcual]

I have gone about as far performance wise as I wish too on my current build. Besides mainly maintenance stuff and some paint and body which I am leaving to the experts. So, will the tune help add anything power wise? I don't have any drivability issues so it wouldn't be for that.

 

[NXcoupe]

On a fox, a canned tune is a waste of money/time imho. Only thing that could bolster performance is a dyno tune, to ensure your a/f is correct at wot and part throttle. You can do so much with a screwdriver and a timing light on a foxbody. When you get into larger injectors, forced induction, etc, a tune is paramount to maximize performance. again jmho.

 

[Noobz347]

On a fox, a canned tune is a waste of money/time imho. Only thing that could bolster performance is a dyno tune, to ensure your a/f is correct at wot and part throttle. You can do so much with a screwdriver and a timing light on a foxbody. When you get into larger injectors, forced induction, etc, a tune is paramount to maximize performance. again jmho.

What he said. ^

 

[darthcual]

Okay, I will hold off untill I build another motor. Thanks for the input, didn't want to waste money.

 

[ratio411]

My son just picked up a 3 stage Bama chip for his 94, and the difference is amazing.
Free tunes for life.

A dyno tune in my town is $400 for the chip, $400 for the tune, and $100 for the final dyno results.
The Bama chip comes with 3 tunes, stock tune, and anti-theft lockout.
Well under 300 bux, and they can email you different tunes.

 

[srtthis]

there are better tuners out there...

 

[darthcual]

there are better tuners out there...

Yeah I think most of us are aware of this fact. I'm looking for ease of install as I don't have the spare time to mess with a moates, etc. plus cost is a huge factor for me

My son just picked up a 3 stage Bama chip for his 94, and the difference is amazing.
Free tunes for life.

A dyno tune in my town is $400 for the chip, $400 for the tune, and $100 for the final dyno results.
The Bama chip comes with 3 tunes, stock tune, and anti-theft lockout.
Well under 300 bux, and they can email you different tunes.

What kind of power difference?

 

[srtthis]

Yeah I think most of us are aware of this fact. I'm looking for ease of install as I don't have the spare time to mess with a moates, etc. plus cost is a huge factor for me


What kind of power difference?

even guys out there who can burn chips for you... there are better options.

 

[darthcual]

Out there where? That's what it's threads about. Please elaborate where I have better option for under $300?

 

[srtthis]

im not sure what the price would be but i prefer rick@amazon... he tuned my 95 Gt and my 01 lightning. both of them had great drivablity and ran great

 

[ratio411]

Yeah, we don't have a dyno, so it's all seat of the pants, but it's night and day.
The car will pin you to the seat in the street and performance settings.
We have not tried the race setting because it requires 93 octane.
The car is an auto trans too...

I am sure there are better tunes out there, but for 250 bux, and free tunes for life, you can't beat the price.
First dyno tune at a shop is 900, and then if you make changes to your setup, and need a tweak, it's 400 a pop from there.

 

[ratio411]

Keep in mind that we have three 5.0 cars between myself and 2 sons, so we are on a budget, AND we have only had the Bama chip in for a few days, so all this is first impression. I am by no means an 'expert' on the subject. I just know that the shop local to me wants way too much for a proper tune, if there is even such a thing.

The 94 GT is an AODE car with 4.10 gears, and over 200k miles!
It was running a bit rough and tired. Bama cautioned us that a chip might make it run worse, but could help, especially since we tuned out all systems that were not needed. The car runs much smoother, and has a definite gain. It was lazy, and now it is crisp. By no means did it become anything like my LS1 Camaro....
But it is night and day from what it was the day before we put the chip in.
It pushes you in the seat now, which it never did before.

 

[srtthis]

Yeah, we don't have a dyno, so it's all seat of the pants, but it's night and day.
The car will pin you to the seat in the street and performance settings.
We have not tried the race setting because it requires 93 octane.
The car is an auto trans too...

I am sure there are better tunes out there, but for 250 bux, and free tunes for life, you can't beat the price.
First dyno tune at a shop is 900, and then if you make changes to your setup, and need a tweak, it's 400 a pop from there.

you guys are paying WAY to much for tunes if thats the case

 

[ratio411]

You're preaching to the choir!

I wish it was like OBD2 and you just buy a disk and cable, then plug in the laptop and go to town.

 

[ratio411]

Just to do the QH, correct me if I misunderstand it, but you have to buy a chip for each car, then you have to buy the rights to use the editor for each car and/or each laptop you might use it on. The software doesn't seem user friendly, and the copyright is not multicar/multilaptop friendly.

 

[ratio411]

The only thing that irks me about the Bama chip is the selector switch.
There is no way at all to mount it. It can only be stashed away, like in your glovebox, and hang from the wires.
It's not like any sort of toggle switch, where there is always some method of mounting the switch.

 

[Noobz347]

You REALLY need to get yourself an AFR meter. You have no idea what that boxed tune has done to your car. If you have any engine mods at all, YOU SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING A BOXED TUNE. (period-dot)

Those tunes are intended to be installed on a set of known engine conditions. The more you mod, the further away your engine combo is from the margin of error built into that boxed tune.

 

[srtthis]

I agree 100% canned tunes are pointless! When I get a tune from Rick I call him up tell him what the mods are the computer code and he does his thing. With an OBD1 I'll report back with how it runs where it needs tweaked and any issues. With obd2 I'll data log a few pulls on the street and street driving then any feed back I can give him. Then he will burn another tune that will be closer and most of the time right on the money. All his tunes he has are built on his dyno so he has a good starting point of where a car should be and has a base tune to send you.

 

[ratio411]

I don't know what you mean by canned tunes, then say you need to tell the tuner the mods to your car?

That is how Bama works... They ask about every aspect of your car, all the way down to the manufacturer of your CAI.
They ask measurements, specs, manufacturer names, part numbers, anything you can think of... then they ask for any mod you have done that they didn't ask about.

 

[srtthis]

canned tunes are what come from SCT diablosport and all the others...

i know with amazons nothing even starts with those tunes...