WishIhadaTerminator

Greetings all!

This is my first post, and after searching through different threads I couldn't really find the answers a noob like me needs. I recently got a 2000 GT 5-speed. She's bone stock, and I decided my first mod was going to be exhaust. Unfortunately I live in California, so long tubes and mid pipes are a no-go. I decided on a magnaflow catback system with magnapacks, they get put on monday, I can't wait.

My next mods are going to be CAI, tuner, and gears (4.10). Maybe after that I'll throw on a throttlebody/plenum combo. Searching around I can see there is a lot of different options with CAI's and tuners. I just want to make sure I get the right one's and understand the logistics of setting them up right. I don't want to get a POS CAI that isn't going to do anything but look pretty, so I definitely want to get one that requires a tune (since that's where most of the gains are going to come from anyway).

I see on American Muscle I can get a JLT CAI/SF3 tuner combo pack. But I'm concerned about the tuner because the only computer in the house is a macintosh. Looks like I won't be able to update the tunes and all that business from my computer, especially since I'll be adding gears down the road. Are the bama canned tunes good-to-go? Can I tune moving forward? She's my daily driver, and I'm not going to take her to the track. I do however want to smoke the hell out of all the local ricer's off the stop light I'm new to all of this so any advice is much appreciated, thanks!

cliffyk

Don't waste money on a CAI, although if you do the JLT is the best choice. The CAI that came with the car is well-tuned and flows plenty of air for any n/a setup. The JLT is also a resonance tuned unit (not just a pipe) although I have never seen any convincing data that it produces any gains all by itself--tune or not, see below.

Our cars, the new-edge GTs, do not require a tune for any aftermarket CAI as the MAF is a separate stand-alone device. This is unlike on the '05+ models where the MAF is built in to the airbox, making re-tuning necessary if any changes to the airbox or airflow through the box are made.

As I am not an SCT user I do not know whether they have Mac software, however one of the Windows emulators (CrossOver, WineHQ, etc.) might work. I am sure someone with that answer will chime in...

Mike Hadz

i'm going to disagree in saying that if the man wants to buy some parts he should buy some parts that will show a good gain & also add some nice sound,

it is however true that for most of the upgrades you mentioned (apart from the 4.10's) you won't NEED a tune, however after tuning my car for the modifications i did to it, it ran MUCH smother and had a much noticeable difference in power etc, there is no doubt in my mind, you NEED a tuner, considering you won't be able to download a new tune for every upgrade/part, i suggest getting on the phone with a local dealer of sct/bama performance tunes and asking them if they will flash new tunes for you as needed. hope that helped.

cliffyk

Wow, you inferred a lot into what I wrote--I did not state that the fellow did not need a tune/tuner at all, what I said was that a tune was not needed--at all, never--just because the stock CAI was swapped out for an for an aftermarket CAI. The MAF will still meter however much air engine is pulling in just as accurately, and report same to the PCM, so nothing will have changed that requires any changes to the tune.

He stated he was going to buy the SCT and I certainly said nothing to discourage that, in fact my upgrade path recommendation (most often never followed) is exhaust, tune/tuner, gears, TB/plenum in that order. And if an owner can only afford one go for the tune first.

I have tuned several dead stock GTs and have yet to have anyone come back from the first spin with anything but a grin on their face. The stock tune is very conservative with laid back ignition timing (you can bump it by 2° globally and still run 87 octane fuel) and runs very rich at WOT in open-loop mode; pig rich on the late '02 and '03/'04 MY with the pink 21lb/h injectors. Fixing those two issues alone will result in a noticeable performance gain.

Getting back to CAIs, the OP wrote "I don't want to get a POS CAI that isn't going to do anything but look pretty." Since that is the definition of 95%+ of aftermarket CAIs, and that many, many aftermarket intake tubes will actually reduce performance¹, I recommended that he save his money. Two CAIs that are not bad, but that don't add anything either, are that cheaply made plastic thing from K&N which tends to fall apart after 30k miles, and the JLT which would be the one I would buy if I had a heavily modded n/a engine (cams/heads/etc.)


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¹ - Air flow in the intake is not a continuous flow, but rather a series of pulses with a lower than ambient pressure head, a near ambient pressure body and a higher than ambient tail (exhaust pulses are the opposite of this). These pulses can and will react harmonically with the tube/path in which they flow, and at certain frequencies (related to the shape and volume of the tube) will develop standing waves that interfere with the flow.

One design goal for intake plumbing is to place that resonant frequency at a point that is outside of the engine's normal intake air pulse frequency's operating range. When you see a CAI that consists of pretty pieces of straight-wall tubing you can be pretty sure it's a POS that will hurt performance.

I especially get a kick out of the real el-cheapos that come with a 75mm outlet gauze filter and sometime even 75mm tubes--how this enhances performance when feeding an 80mm MAF escapes me...

stevednmc

Thats pretty much the path I'm following.......