5.0rnery - Review of Bama Custom Tuning & Steeda CAI combo
09-17-2010, 07:48 PM
#1
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Alpharetta, GA
Posts: 321
5.0rnery - Review of Bama Custom Tuning & Steeda CAI combo
I've had CAI's on all sorts of vehicles, but I have never really felt much "seat of the pants" performance gains. My old 2001 F-150 5.4 was the only vehicle that really seemed to pick up anything, but it was a slow dog to begin with. My 2007 G35 had dual Stillen CAI and didn't really pick up much until I added the Stillen cat-back and had it dyno tuned by Forged Performance.
When I got my 2011 GT 6 weeks ago, I swore I wasn't going to get back into modding cars. It already had way more HP than I could actually use. Well, all you jerks on MF made me all jealous, and I was having sleepless nights with a bone stock GT in the garage. Quite a few of you responded to my thread a week or so back about which tune/CAI combo to go with. Everybody had kind words about all of the vendors I inquired about. I value service more than price (most of the time). There was only one vendor who jumped into that thread. AMChrisRose from American Muscle was super helpful and seemed like he wanted to earn my business.
Today, I received my SCT SF3 Tuner with 3 Bama Custom tunes for 93 octane and Steeda CAI. From start to finish, it took about 2 hours for me to have the old intake off and the new one put on. It would probably take others a lot less time, but I am meticulous in that all of the hose clamps have to be lined up with one another, the tops of the screws have to be lined up, etc. Putting together the Steeda is a royal pain in the butt. The edges of the Steeda intake box are SHARP. You can definitely tell that Apple engineers did not design the packaging or boxing of it. Don't get me wrong, the final product is gorgeous. I just didn't enjoy bleeding as much as I did today. It takes about 5 minutes to get the old intake off. It takes about 5 minutes to put the new one on. I takes me about an hour and a half to put the Steeda together to my satisfaction. There's not much to say about the SCT SF3 tuner. It's simple. It works. Plug it into the ODB II port and you're done in a couple of minutes (first flash takes a couple of extra minutes because it stores your factory tune).
On to the first test drive. I decided to flash the 93 Street tune first. I was stuck in traffic leaving my subdivision and couldn't get the car above 2,500 RPM's for the first couple of miles. Once I got out onto the main road, I punched it. Ummm.... My butt puckered. Holy crap what a difference. When it shifted from first to second the rear tires didn't chirp, they busted loose. After I caught my breath from being so pleasantly surprised, I turned the car around and headed out for dinner.
On to the second test drive. After getting a bite to eat, I flashed the 93 Performance tune onto the car in the parking lot of the pizza joint. A guy walked by talking on an iPhone and asked what I was doing with the tuner in my hand. I told him I was jailbreaking my car. He laughed and then asked to see the engine. Of course I obliged. When leaving the parking lot, I peeled the tires a little for his enjoyment and mine. I decided to take the car where I could really get on it and see what happened. That's when I came up with the term 5.0rnery. I've seen several people refer to their cars running like a raped ape. Now I know what they mean. I was the only one turning to get to the on-ramp of GA400. I was 0-100 in no time with half of the on-ramp left. I've never had an automatic get sideways shifting into second and then it chirped them going into third. I nearly shat myself when I heard the Escort Passport 9500ix say, "K A Band". Thank goodness the Forsyth County Sheriff's deputy was about a mile down the road and not at the end of the off ramp.
The Steeda CAI has a very different sound than the factory airbox. You can really hear a huge difference inside the cabin of the vehicle. It may just be me, but it SOUNDS like it is sucking more air. Maybe that's just what my ears wanted to hear, but it definitely sounds a lot better. My Roush Performance exhaust didn't come in this week, but the side stripe package #2 that I ordered from them did. Those are getting put on the car tomorrow. Hopefully the exhaust will be in next week, and I'll be done with mods for a little bit.
I'm heading down to Reynolds, GA, on Sunday to go to the http://www.silverdollarraceway.com track for the David Ragan Ford Mustang show/race. It will be the first time I've put Wile E. on the 1/4 mile. I will tune the car when I get down there on the 93 Race tune and report back how it runs. Sorry for the long-winded post. Too many people whine and complain when they get poor service and too few people sing the praises of those who give them good service. I would like to thank AMChrisRose and AMStanger for helping me out. All I'm putting on my Christmas wishlist is http://AmericanMuscle.com gift cards.
When I got my 2011 GT 6 weeks ago, I swore I wasn't going to get back into modding cars. It already had way more HP than I could actually use. Well, all you jerks on MF made me all jealous, and I was having sleepless nights with a bone stock GT in the garage. Quite a few of you responded to my thread a week or so back about which tune/CAI combo to go with. Everybody had kind words about all of the vendors I inquired about. I value service more than price (most of the time). There was only one vendor who jumped into that thread. AMChrisRose from American Muscle was super helpful and seemed like he wanted to earn my business.
Today, I received my SCT SF3 Tuner with 3 Bama Custom tunes for 93 octane and Steeda CAI. From start to finish, it took about 2 hours for me to have the old intake off and the new one put on. It would probably take others a lot less time, but I am meticulous in that all of the hose clamps have to be lined up with one another, the tops of the screws have to be lined up, etc. Putting together the Steeda is a royal pain in the butt. The edges of the Steeda intake box are SHARP. You can definitely tell that Apple engineers did not design the packaging or boxing of it. Don't get me wrong, the final product is gorgeous. I just didn't enjoy bleeding as much as I did today. It takes about 5 minutes to get the old intake off. It takes about 5 minutes to put the new one on. I takes me about an hour and a half to put the Steeda together to my satisfaction. There's not much to say about the SCT SF3 tuner. It's simple. It works. Plug it into the ODB II port and you're done in a couple of minutes (first flash takes a couple of extra minutes because it stores your factory tune).
On to the first test drive. I decided to flash the 93 Street tune first. I was stuck in traffic leaving my subdivision and couldn't get the car above 2,500 RPM's for the first couple of miles. Once I got out onto the main road, I punched it. Ummm.... My butt puckered. Holy crap what a difference. When it shifted from first to second the rear tires didn't chirp, they busted loose. After I caught my breath from being so pleasantly surprised, I turned the car around and headed out for dinner.
On to the second test drive. After getting a bite to eat, I flashed the 93 Performance tune onto the car in the parking lot of the pizza joint. A guy walked by talking on an iPhone and asked what I was doing with the tuner in my hand. I told him I was jailbreaking my car. He laughed and then asked to see the engine. Of course I obliged. When leaving the parking lot, I peeled the tires a little for his enjoyment and mine. I decided to take the car where I could really get on it and see what happened. That's when I came up with the term 5.0rnery. I've seen several people refer to their cars running like a raped ape. Now I know what they mean. I was the only one turning to get to the on-ramp of GA400. I was 0-100 in no time with half of the on-ramp left. I've never had an automatic get sideways shifting into second and then it chirped them going into third. I nearly shat myself when I heard the Escort Passport 9500ix say, "K A Band". Thank goodness the Forsyth County Sheriff's deputy was about a mile down the road and not at the end of the off ramp.
The Steeda CAI has a very different sound than the factory airbox. You can really hear a huge difference inside the cabin of the vehicle. It may just be me, but it SOUNDS like it is sucking more air. Maybe that's just what my ears wanted to hear, but it definitely sounds a lot better. My Roush Performance exhaust didn't come in this week, but the side stripe package #2 that I ordered from them did. Those are getting put on the car tomorrow. Hopefully the exhaust will be in next week, and I'll be done with mods for a little bit.
I'm heading down to Reynolds, GA, on Sunday to go to the http://www.silverdollarraceway.com track for the David Ragan Ford Mustang show/race. It will be the first time I've put Wile E. on the 1/4 mile. I will tune the car when I get down there on the 93 Race tune and report back how it runs. Sorry for the long-winded post. Too many people whine and complain when they get poor service and too few people sing the praises of those who give them good service. I would like to thank AMChrisRose and AMStanger for helping me out. All I'm putting on my Christmas wishlist is http://AmericanMuscle.com gift cards.
09-17-2010, 08:21 PM
#3
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: The Great State of Texas
Posts: 38
I'm new to the Mustang (actually haven't gotten mine yet but will soon). I don't quite get how a tune adds power in a NA engine.
On my 7.3L diesel Excursion, the DP Tuner chip I have increases boost, increases the flow rate the injectors, changes the throttle tip in, changes the shift points on the auto tranny, etc.
In an NA gas engine, you don't have a turbo, you don't have injectors at the cylinders and if you have a stick you don't have the ability to play with shift points.
So I guess the tuner richens the fuel / air mix? Gotta believe it's more complex than that.
Any info on how this all works? Thank you.
On my 7.3L diesel Excursion, the DP Tuner chip I have increases boost, increases the flow rate the injectors, changes the throttle tip in, changes the shift points on the auto tranny, etc.
In an NA gas engine, you don't have a turbo, you don't have injectors at the cylinders and if you have a stick you don't have the ability to play with shift points.
So I guess the tuner richens the fuel / air mix? Gotta believe it's more complex than that.
Any info on how this all works? Thank you.
09-17-2010, 09:27 PM
#4
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Alpharetta, GA
Posts: 321
This video: http://www.americanmuscle.com/custom-tunes-popup.html combined with actual dyno numbers sold me on it. Factory tune/no CAI running 93 octane vs custom tune w/ CAI was 27 RWP difference. The video does a good job of explaining it.
09-18-2010, 12:55 PM
#5
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 627
I'm new to the Mustang (actually haven't gotten mine yet but will soon). I don't quite get how a tune adds power in a NA engine.
On my 7.3L diesel Excursion, the DP Tuner chip I have increases boost, increases the flow rate the injectors, changes the throttle tip in, changes the shift points on the auto tranny, etc.
In an NA gas engine, you don't have a turbo, you don't have injectors at the cylinders and if you have a stick you don't have the ability to play with shift points.
So I guess the tuner richens the fuel / air mix? Gotta believe it's more complex than that.
Any info on how this all works? Thank you.
On my 7.3L diesel Excursion, the DP Tuner chip I have increases boost, increases the flow rate the injectors, changes the throttle tip in, changes the shift points on the auto tranny, etc.
In an NA gas engine, you don't have a turbo, you don't have injectors at the cylinders and if you have a stick you don't have the ability to play with shift points.
So I guess the tuner richens the fuel / air mix? Gotta believe it's more complex than that.
Any info on how this all works? Thank you.
The two biggest things in tuning a N/A gas engine are fuel curve and spark. Diesel engines don't have spark plugs, so obviously there's no tuning for that, but where the spark plug fires relative to the compression stroke makes a huge difference.
Generally, the sooner before the top of the compression stroke you can fire the spark plug, the more power the event will produce (as the expanding gases push down on the cylinder right as it reaches the top, producing as much torque as possible). Of course, having the spark plug fire too early results in the expanding gases pushing on the cylinder before it reaches the top of its stroke, resulting in detonation and an engine that goes kaboom. And, yes, having the proper amount of fuel at all throttle positions and all RPMs is important as well. Factory engineers tend to err on the side of rich (as a lean motor - unlike diesels - will result in a melted piston), so there is usually quite a bit of room to improve there.
A third area that this specific engine offers up for play is cam timing. Controlling where the intake and exhaust valves open in relation to the piston stroke can also play a huge role in how much power an engine makes. Since this engine allows you to control both, there can be a lot of room to play, giving you opportunities to go for both torque down low and HP up high. It's a wonderful thing.
A lot of tuning comes down to finesse, and understanding how the engine works.
09-21-2010, 06:31 PM
#7
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 42
Forsyth County has the coolest cop cars I have ever seen.
Not sure if you heard this but one of the best Mustang tuners in the country (Bob Kurgan) is relocating from Chicagoland to North GA.
I am working in Alpharetta for the rest of the week, perhaps I will see you around.
Not sure if you heard this but one of the best Mustang tuners in the country (Bob Kurgan) is relocating from Chicagoland to North GA.
I am working in Alpharetta for the rest of the week, perhaps I will see you around.
09-24-2010, 10:36 AM
#9
Wow, great review! I'm glad you're happy with the results. I've driven our 2011 around the streets a few time, and getting onto the highway is exactly like you're stating. I would have no problem getting pulled over in that car!
Thanks again for your continued business and support! Awesome car!
Thanks again for your continued business and support! Awesome car!
09-24-2010, 04:47 PM
#10
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 627
