which hand-held tuner?

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RickETrash

Founding Member

Sep 27, 2002

54

0

0

Wilmington, DE

Oct 29, 2005

#1

• Oct 29, 2005

• #1

I was wondering which hand-held tuner is the best/easiest to use for our cars.. i am getting 4.10 gears put into my car and i would like a tuner to adjust the speedometer and allow for tuning.. also, if I were going to make other changes such as a CAI or something, which tuner is the easier to get custom tunes for applications? I hear good things about the Diablosport Predator, but theres talk about the Xcal2 as well.

 

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tmcolegr

New Member

Dec 11, 2004

30

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0

Lakeland, FL

Oct 29, 2005

#2

• Oct 29, 2005

• #2

Both are very good tuners. I would find out which product has the best support in your local area.

 

DarkFireGT

Playing with my wife's really makes me want one.

10 Year Member

May 23, 2004

692

10

89

East Moline, IL

Oct 29, 2005

#3

• Oct 29, 2005

• #3

I can only go by what I've used, but the XCal2 worked great for me.. see mods in sig.

 

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I8URVTEC

New Member

Sep 2, 2004

162

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0

Oct 31, 2005

#4

• Oct 31, 2005

• #4

XCal2 can do all those changes very easily. Go to www.sctflash.com and put in your zip code and it will tell you the local dealers in your area. Call around and get pricing with a custom dyno tune. IMO that is the best way to go. Just make sure the person tuning your car is knowledgeable. A little research before buying will go a long way.

 

FartBoy

New Member

Apr 22, 2005

58

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0

Houston

Oct 31, 2005

#5

• Oct 31, 2005

• #5

Call LFP (Lightning Force Performance). They'll put a custom tuned Xcal2 together for you at a great price. I had a diablo but sold it for the Xcal 2, the SCT writes a tighter tune.

 

Black2006GT

New Member

Nov 6, 2005

56

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0

Georgia

Nov 6, 2005

#6

• Nov 6, 2005

• #6

Can you explain a bit why you prefer the Xcal over the Diablo? I am a 5.0 liter guy who has just got a 2006, so I have a huge learning curve ahead. My mods will be limited to throttle body, CAI and exhaust . . .probably an off-road x-pipe. That depends on what I learn about the tuners and their ability to elimate the MIL. Thanks

 

S

ski

Member

Dec 14, 2004

380

2

18

Nov 7, 2005

#7

• Nov 7, 2005

• #7

The Predator 93 octane tune coupled with a C&L CAI works great with my manual 05 GT. It was fast before the mods, but now it flies. Plus, it has a much crisper throttle response with no more dead spots. Also, prior to the mods I could get a nice chirp in 2nd, but nothing in 3rd. Now I can get wheel hop in 2nd, and a nice chirp in 3rd. Just want to note that those are the only 2 mods on the car.
I don't have any track times to confirm the improved seat-of-the-pants performance, but the other day I was able to pull half a car length on a 2002 Trans AM by the end of 1st gear, and a full car length by the end of 2nd gear, which I was able to maintain thru mid 3rd gear before having to shut down due to the short stretch of road(BTW, the road is abandoned with no public traffic).

 

DoubleONegative

Active Member

Jun 30, 2003

1,528

2

39

Tioga Cty PA

Nov 9, 2005

#8

• Nov 9, 2005

• #8

In all honesty if you only plan to use it for speed calibration just go with the Dallas mustang Speedcal.

For the price of a hand held tuner you can have your car Dyno-tuned, and the Tune will be for your car only, and not some mail order tune.

If you must though my vote goes for the Predator. I know 3 people that have them and they work fine. However there was certainly room for improvment in each case. All three were eventually Dyno-tuned using SCT software and they all run better now