Upsh1ft

Well I decided to bite the bullet. I managed to convince myself that you have to pay to play so I've been filling up on 91. I ordered a full set of 91 octane tunes Sunday and got em yesterday so I loaded the 91 street tune. Ran it yesterday evening and today for my commute. at first I was hearing some rattling at higher RPM and I got worried the weird thing though is there wasn't any power loss at all that could be felt at high RPM like I could originally feel with the 87 tune so I was suspicious of what I was hearing. I arrived home, grabbed the laptop and ran livelink. Turns out it's just my damn gearbox that rattles in EVERY GEAR now -_-.

The good news? NO MORE KNOCKING. I basically ran a "torture test" of sorts with different throttle positions in every single gear going through the whole rpm range in 1st 2nd and 3rd gear and not even a single nibble of knock. It feels amazing. The nonstop torque starts low and just never stops. It's f****g beautiful. I currently do not have the airaid CAI installed however seeing as it's currently winter.

So thank you Chris and to all of the Bama team for putting up with me and helping me and again thanks to Chris and everyone else who proposed I try 91 octane tunes because of the fuels' higher stability.

On a related note. I found out at my dealer that if I get the airaid installed by THEM, it will be warranty approved. I recently switched dealerships because I heard this one has much better customer service in the shop and so far I'm pleased. Plus it's only 10 minutes away, vs 40 minutes. And they say they are shelby certified so they can install a lot of stuff and keep the car's warranty intact hassle free. So I think I'll go that route next spring to get the airbox back on in order to avoid having to dismantle the whole damn thing every damn oil change.

Edit: I keep reading rumors that the Bama Race tunes are now "hybrid" tunes that offer both the high end punch of the old race tunes as well as the low RPM torque of the Street tunes. Could anyone confirm?

Fintile12

I hope your right. I've been following your thread here while I decide on getting the Airaid/BAMA combo. If so it might be my choice tune when I get it.

Upsh1ft

Oddly enough this time I feel a huge difference with 91 race.. It feels very "wired" and sensitive and whatnot. I can still adapt fairly easily. Im kind of feeling mixed about the low RPM torque, I can't tell if I feel more or just like stock below 3k RPM. However once 3k hits it's like the motor goes all honda like "vtec just kicked in yo!" LOL and gives you a huge punch. High RPM is definitely very strong. Also datalogging with about 100km on the tune shows no knocking whatsoever so it seems like 91 is the way to go if you wanna tune your car. Ill switch back to street see if I can notice a back to back difference in low RPM torque.

Either way I'm sold.

Now if only some company could tune a 2011 Kia Sportage SX Turbo in a similar fashion. it's not a mustang I know, but a buddy of mine has one of those things and they are quick and pretty fun. The 1800-3000RPM 260 ft-lbs torque peak makes for some awesome AWD launches and I just drool at the thought of a tune increasing timing, boost and quickening the stupid automatic's shifting. I think i'd actually need to be scared of racing him.

/sortahijackedmyownthread

That's it for my little moment of fantasy

dolbnyc

I have noticed on my 12 v6 that I am now getting a slight knock with 87. I tried 91 and the knock went away, but i felt that the throttle response was better on the 87. (would make sense since thats what its designed to run on. I am at 10K miles and there seams to be some valve train noise on 87 under light load and when i get on it with 87.
the issue could be something else. Its colder here in Nevada now and I am also starting to get the cold engine tick. I wonder if you are having some other issue similar to me?

Upsh1ft

actually you shouldn't be getting better throttle response on 87 than 91, even stock. Especially stock. The engine computer has what I like to call "suicidal tendencies" with the knock sensor. Basically if left to it's own devices, it will advance spark timing until it hears a signal from the knock sensor(meaning it heard a knock). Once it gets a knock it dials back the timing a notch to stop the knock and keeps it there. Basically it tries it's very best to eek as much performance as it can. If you run a higher octane fuel, naturally the timing advance will be higher and you will make a bit more power.

Essentially the engine is designed to run as low as 87 octane but can only benefit from running 91.

My issue was some knocking on the 87 octane tune that was not present stock. I upped to the 91 octane tune and it runs awesome. went back to the street tune. it's awesome! Can't wait till spring to get the cold air intake back on with the 91 street tune.

On a side-note. I swear the engine/exhaust sound is louder with the tune compared to stock. I can hear it over my music now. Unless I'm going insane.

OlPal

I would have to agree with Joe on this one; with the mods you have invested;
For my money, it makes common sense to run @ least 91 octane [with a street tune if you wish] this would make your car more enjoyable & make better use of your modifications.. IMHO...

jesse1125

Why did you reply to a thread that's almost 4 years old. Bama now has a V2 version of their tunes and they are better then they were in 2011

OlPal

Soory to get your pressure up, but i read the post not the date of it, it was from a search on Bama Tuners.

Also i saw the fella pretty much changed to 91 octane to take more advantage of his mods, later in the thread ...

Have Some !

jesse1125

I was just letting you and others know that the info is out of date and no longer is the case

heebe_geebe

I too have been looking for a more recent section on the v6 since I got mine in 2014 any help would be appreciated. Beside tunes I'd like to find updated results on supercharged v6's.