Pleasantly suprised this morning when a little box of happiness was delivered in the early am with a TP logo on it. Been waiting for 2 months on this puppy. I'll be updating this periodically with data for peoples review (and opinions of course) so they can educate themselves on the product.

Had to install the transgo shift kit before install, which I had procrastinated on till arrival. PIA if you ask me, but it wasn't all that hard. (as I had anticipated) The worst was having it all together, torquing the bolts to the pan, and realizing the little filter from the acumulator body was laying next to me. Then the tune goes in and.....

I got an error immediately. No communication between the xcalII and the pcm. Tried repeatedly, all failures. crap.....Call TP, they are looking into the problem and will call back.....remember diablo chip still installed ;removed chip, install done in 5 minutes

Fired it up, sounded meaner immediately. Drove it down the street, great disappointment abound. Studdering, sputtering, kicking and bucking I limp back to my shop hotter than the fires of hell. Re-read instructions. Nothing there I didn't do. Leave it idle for like 20 minutes. Its misfiring, raising general hell just sitting there. Slowly, the sputtering begins to go away. Remember adaptive technology, damn. Wait for a while, drive around the lot a few times, idle, around the lot, .........and so on. Then off to the homefront after we close, it began. The shifts feel like a slingshot firing you off, with just the slightest hesitation and then BAM your gone. (not really a bam, just like someone gives you a good shove from behind and its off to the races) The throttle response has increased vastly in just 10 miles. Its like a little miracle, the damn thing just has awakend off the line like someone lit a fire under its ***. And the shift points, oh boy. It gets up to almost 5500 on the 1-2 and that blower is kickin a$$ at that point. (ran down a 3 series convertible up a hill) Overall at this point, I can't find a negative. The difference is overwhelming and only getting better as it learns whats going on. On a quick (and I mean real quick) comparision, in 1/2 mile on the same stretch before and after I gained 11MPH.

The only real downside isn't from the tuning by mike, but where diablo upped the tranny line pressure so much its popped the front main tranny seal. Can't think of a better reason to get a built tranny though. More updates will follow as it adapts, after the dyno pull and the fine tuning by mike.

 

Comedy of errors.

 

Adding to the comedy of errors, last night I decide to run out and put a few miles on it for the helluva it. Leave my neighborhood hammer down, get up to 80MPH and all the sudden, no power steering. RPM's go to nothing, then jump up to 1500, then crash back to 0 again. Power steering is coming and going and I am about to leave a gallon sized crap in my pants. Ease off at the next neighborhood (coasting from 80 I had plenty of time to choose my pulloff spot) and pop the hood to inspect. Intercooler pipe blew off. Over the last 1500 miles, all of the clamps had become somewhat loose and at
8psi, the pressure was more than it could bare so it popped off.

Besides that, I got my first real good test. Imagine this, two left turn lanes with about 1/4 mile of two lane ahead before it reduces to one lane immediately following a light. Dude in a new chevy 1500 with edlebrock and summit racing stickers sitting next to me at the light. (his exhaust was so loud, it was audible over mine which is nascarish) We left that light in a blaze of glory running for that next green light, knowing one of us was either gonna have to give up or run out of road. (sounded like a nascar race between the two of us) I can't sit here and tell you I pulled away from him, but I did get a full Navigator length ahead of him when he finally gave up as the road was running out. All things considered, I had about 8000 pounds, he was probably around 5300 or so, and there's no telling what had been done to it. Had the wife and kids in the car to, with my 5 year old screaming go faster daddy. Quite funny it was.

 

I absolutely love these posts - and I also want to publicly thank 98Navi for his very kind phone call to me.

As many of your probably know, 98Navi & I used to bump heads here quite often, and many,m many times - once day he finally decided to give me a call so we could really talk, and just feel each other out a bit, as I really hate it when I';m at loggerheads with someone, I feel it's always some kind of failure on my part. Well, to Brett's (98Navi's) credit, he was very candid and right up front declared himself to be a bit hard-headed (just like me, I must add), and we really enjoyed speaking with each other - long story short, he decided to take a chance and let us tune his vehicle.

Now this is a highly modified & supercharged 1998 Lincoln Navigator, which we have never seen - so we sent out our tuning, which he is not enjoying. Now I did my usual 7-9 pages of highly detailed docs, but one thing I did NOT do was to explain in detail like I normally do how during the first 10-20 miles, it can spit, sputter, etc when you have the 42# injectors 90mm MAF & our tuning combo installed, simply because those are huge changes to the PCM and the PCM needs to go thru adaptive strategy a bit. Normally we include a detailed paragraph about what to expect in this regard, but in Brett's case I didn't, simply because I figured he probably already knew about that from his Diablo chip - well, I really should have included that info, that would have saved him a bit of concern over the first few miles.

Anyway, long story short, the truck is running better than it ever has, and we still need to get his data so we can do the final tweaking of the A/F's, etc.

The main point of this post is simply to point out that 98Navi & I have been able to work things out, and we have been able to make him a happy believer in what we can do tuning-wise in these vehicles - and that always makes me happy. It's always a win-win situation when you can turn a former "foe" into a friend.

The most important thing is that he is now happier with his vehicle, so he can really enjoy all the work he has done to it over the years!

He'll probably want to give a quick double-check over every nut & bolt & clamp, make sure everything is tight & ready to rock, as it is now making more power than it ever did before - and I can't wait ti see his data and get it finalized!!

So a big THANK YOU to Brett for his faith in us, and we're just delighted things turned out so well - have fun Brett, & don't get any BIG speeding tickets!

 

I told Mike, after installing his tunes it was like cutting off the anchor that I was dragging behind me (just like the castrol commericals) I, as he stated, wasn't a believer in what was being said those custom tunes would do. Matter of factly, I downright thought it to be marketing mantra and that someone was full of it.

I stand corrected. I couldn't have been more wrong about what the potential of his expertise could provide me. I could have spent an ungodly amount of money on this puppy, and been doing it in vain without these tunes. Its like fishing for sharks with 10 lb test when you don't have the very heart of the machine right. Well, data logging and fine tuning aside, it is absolutely amazingly kickass!

I would also like to publically thank Chucksbp for taking the time to get me to call Mike and talk with him. Chuck, without you to get the whole process going, I'd still be cussing and yelling and throwing chit in my garage for all the aggravation it was causing me.

And finally, to those of you thinking of tuning for any vehicle stock or extreme, there's only one way to go, and only mike can show you the way. I spent just a few dollars less on my diablo stuff than I did on the xcal 2 and didn't get half the results. If you want proof, search back in my posts several months, like before january, and you'll see what I thought before I tried it. There is no comparision, and you'll be extremely happy you made the call.

Thanks Mike

 

I think we need to thank both of you for your candid honesty.THANKYOU Both.

 

Great story Navi. I’m looking forward to the day I slap some bucks in a S/C, transmission kit, etc, etc and really go for it. Big fast luxury trucks are so nice to drive.

Enjoy that bad *** 98; I’m jealous as heck but real happy for you too. Best part is that you and Mike got the communications squared away

 

That is wierd about the MAF and tuning issue. You would think that it would either work or it wouldnt! Is the 90 mm MAF meter the SCT Big Air unit?
I need 42 lb injectors for my Cobra (my 36's are maxed out) and will need a new MAF unit too and was looking at the SCT unit. My Cobra has an EEC4 processor so an xcal2 will not work plus it doesnt have adaptive strategy. I wonder if the Big Air will work without adaptive strategy....

 

The MAF and injectors work, it just took them a few minutes of going WTF? to work properly. What year is your cobra? I've kinda fallen out of the mustang (the new one anyway) loop since I sold my last one. You can't I assume use the lightning products as we have for your cobra? If not, as much as I hate to promote anything diablo sells nowadays, they have a maf extender for fords.

Also, isn't your cobra a returnless fuel system? I remember a couple years back reading about people converting the newer models back to return systems for about $1500.

 

My cobra is a 95 5 liter. I "thought" that the 42lb injectors are a new style which require an electrical adapter of some sort. My car has the old style recirc fuel system. I guess i need to call SCT and find out.

 

I believe what you're talking about is the EV1 vs the EV6 injector type. Your car has the EV1 injector that is the same as the lightning 42's. You can read all the differences here... http://www.redpulsar.us/~coldfusion/injectors.html

That'll explain it very indepthly. You could get mike to make you a chip if your computer won't take a flash. He can probably make a 5.0 stand up and shout.

 

Glad hear about your navigator. I love to see this thing in person. You probably scare the sh*t out people. You smash it off the line and take mostly anyone. A guy down the street from me has a 1500 SS and I want to race him badely. I am guessing he will beat me tho. I have in the intake, exhaust and the tuner from the man Mike T. Interseted in racing this guy but never see him around but his truck always is.

 

Its kinda funny. YOu're sittin there are a light, exhaust pounding out a harmonious sound, and up next to you comes someone with some random supposedly quick car or truck. They look over at you like you're a fool for having flowmaster on a Navigator of all things, and then proceed to think they'll dust you to the next light and get in front of you. Then the light turns, and of course the little cars jump off the line and start to think it wasn't worth the effort, then all of the sudden that 5.4 red mammoth comes outta nowhere and goes by in a fury.

I get lots of drawdropping WTF's? A couple have even stopped at stations that I stopped at (pass anything on the road I want but a gas station) and asked me what hte hell I had in that thing. I just laugh and say a 5.4V8

 

LOL. That got to be great!!!! How many miles you have on that Navigator? Glad here you kicking peoples a**

 

CLosing in on 97000.