Hey All!!

So I am new here(first post) and I have a few questions regarding tuning my engine. I have a 03 Mach 1 and have a few bolt on's(CAI and exhaust) awaiting springs arrival to meet the car. I am interested in getting a tuner(I've been looking at the Diablo) and my questions are as follows:

- Being that the car needs 91 octane already, will I see any benefits from a tune?
- Is the cost to benefit ratio worth the $380?
- Would I be better off waiting on more mods before doing the tune?

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!!

 

you should see some gains, i think it was worth the money due to the gain in power and that i could turn off the traction control and adjust the speedo for the gears i swapped in, and you can always modify the tune for any mods you do after.

 

+1^ Get the tuner. Most shops require a tuner for you to get the car dyno'd anyway if you're going to do that. I got lucky and bought mine off of craigslist for 300 bucks new. You can buy used ones but be careful for they may be locked to the original owners car. The only way to unlock them is to put the factory tune back on their car.

 

To be perfectly candid, I don't think you will see any noticable i.e. "seat of the pants" performance improvements from the Predator. You don't say whether your car is a manual or automatic, but if it's auto, you can adjust the shift points for crisper shifts, but on a 5-spd., not much you can do, besides turn off the traction control and diagnose computer codes.

I have a Diablosport Predator, along with an SCT Xcal 3, and in their factory setup, they really don't help a whole lot, as I found the built-in tunes to be pretty much useless IMO. To get the full benefit of either one, you need to go to a dyno shop that uses the respective software, and let them tune the car, and then load the tune into the handheld, then you will have something useful.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys!!

Mach1man: It is 5 speed. I have heard that while I'm not going to see MAJOR gains, the tune improves 'driveability' and makes the power feel more efficient. Would that still ring true for a 5 speed or would that statement lean more on the automatic?

 

Welcome,

You can find the Xcals for around 150 unlocked. and they do just as good as the Xcal 3, but not as many features as the sniper system or the SCT live wire. You won't see huge gains from just a tuner, but it can greatly improve drive ability

 

I'll stick by my previous statement, the built-in tunes, especially on the Diablosport, are more trouble than they're worth.

When I purchased my Predator, my car had basically the same mods as yours, I loaded the "high performance" tune that came with it, and the car ran like crap! It wouldn't idle right, it would stumble off the line, and I wound up loading my stock tune back in.

When I added nitrous to the car, the stock tune, believe it or not, kept up pretty good. But I took it to have it dyno tuned, and they cut me a custom nitrous tune and a street tune, both of which worked very well. If I were you, I would still buy the tuner, but I wouldn't rely on the built-in tunes to help performance, I would get a custom tune from a reputable dyno shop just for your car and your mods.

 

Awesome info guys, greatly appreciated!!

Based on what your saying I think I'll await a few more mods before investing in the tuner....I'll also begin my search for a good shop.

Thanks again!