Xcal2 Custom Tunes are Perfect!
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Xcal2 Custom Tuning results ...
Hi.
Just now got the clean bill of health from Crystal @ TP.
As Marc Carpenter had previously indicated, Mike can get pretty darn close right out of the box on his custom tuning, in most cases, on an otherwise stock truck.
But being the **** old dumb guy that I am, Salesman Mike got me an LM-1 to play with so I could check 'em anyway, to be sure.
Well, turns out that mine, as delivered, were spot-on. After I provided the datalogging & it was reviewed - no changes were necessary - how great is that ???
This means 7 things:
1. He is the Maestro !
2. I didn't pecker up the datalogging
3. I can now sleep at night (5,000 mile trip to FLA on perf tune & all is well)
4. I can proceed with the moddin' & loggin !
5. Next up - AF1 - 3.5" ( unless you can now recommend the new S&B, Mike).
6. While I will always advocate datalogging as a beneficial step, It's good to know how close the tunes are.
7. I can stop bugging Crystal & Anita ( for now
)
...Now - can you safely drive your vehicle once you first get our tuning BEFORE you datalog? Yes, you sure can in most cases - meaning, if you have a 2003 or earlier F-150, yes, and if you have a 2004 or newer 5.4 3V truck, the ones that are most sensitive to air intake tract changes, yes, you can still do that as long as you use a properly installed Air Force One or Airaid brand intake kit - for any other intake kits we will no make any such assurance, you;re going to have to datalog right away on the rest of the brands of intake kits. Those are the only 2 intake kits we approve of on the 5.4 3V F-150's, as they gain the most power and have the best design in terms of A/F ratio control while still making nice power gains, so that is why we mention those specific brands of intake kits for the 5.4 3V F-150's, just to be clear.
But it's NOT going to be fully optimal until you datalog & get us that info.
Let me explain something - See, our custom tuning package is designed to give you the same result as if you brought your vehicle here to us and we have it on the dyno and are tuning it on the dyno - we can do that very same thing without ever seeing the vehicle, and that is by doing the simple & easy datalogging via our thorough and easy to follow instructions.
So yes, the baseline tuning we provide is safe to drive on, but it's not finished, it's not fully finalized (in our opinion) until the *data* is in and we can verify exactly how each individual vehicle is running. That kind of precision is why the majority of people who have their F-150's tuned come to us - for our expertise, as nobody else has the kind of info, experience & skills on these trucks that we do.
So while yes, it is true that you can take your tuning once it arrives from us and drive the vehicle and never datalog it and it will be basically safe to drive in most (but not 100%) cases - we really like to dial in each vehicle spot-on - but then we're tuners, so we're born data hounds.
I know this can be a bit confusing, perhaps even nerve-wracking - so just so we're clear, in these 2004 & up vehicles with the newer ETC systems (as it seems to be those who have the most questions on this in this thread), yes, we can tune the vehicle and it will be safe to drive without you datalogging it - but it's not going to be all that it could be until you datalog & we make those fine adjustments that make the difference between a baseline custom tune and a fully & properly completed custom tune, that's all...
BTW, Mike - any plans to do some knowledge transfer on the review aspect of the tuning lifecycle? It may help with the *ahem* wait time - hehe.
Great job as always !
Thanks, MIke!
Vic
Just now got the clean bill of health from Crystal @ TP.
As Marc Carpenter had previously indicated, Mike can get pretty darn close right out of the box on his custom tuning, in most cases, on an otherwise stock truck.
But being the **** old dumb guy that I am, Salesman Mike got me an LM-1 to play with so I could check 'em anyway, to be sure.
Well, turns out that mine, as delivered, were spot-on. After I provided the datalogging & it was reviewed - no changes were necessary - how great is that ???
This means 7 things:
1. He is the Maestro !
2. I didn't pecker up the datalogging
3. I can now sleep at night (5,000 mile trip to FLA on perf tune & all is well)
4. I can proceed with the moddin' & loggin !
5. Next up - AF1 - 3.5" ( unless you can now recommend the new S&B, Mike).
6. While I will always advocate datalogging as a beneficial step, It's good to know how close the tunes are.
7. I can stop bugging Crystal & Anita ( for now
)
Originally Posted by Superchips_Distributor
...Now - can you safely drive your vehicle once you first get our tuning BEFORE you datalog? Yes, you sure can in most cases - meaning, if you have a 2003 or earlier F-150, yes, and if you have a 2004 or newer 5.4 3V truck, the ones that are most sensitive to air intake tract changes, yes, you can still do that as long as you use a properly installed Air Force One or Airaid brand intake kit - for any other intake kits we will no make any such assurance, you;re going to have to datalog right away on the rest of the brands of intake kits. Those are the only 2 intake kits we approve of on the 5.4 3V F-150's, as they gain the most power and have the best design in terms of A/F ratio control while still making nice power gains, so that is why we mention those specific brands of intake kits for the 5.4 3V F-150's, just to be clear.
But it's NOT going to be fully optimal until you datalog & get us that info.
Let me explain something - See, our custom tuning package is designed to give you the same result as if you brought your vehicle here to us and we have it on the dyno and are tuning it on the dyno - we can do that very same thing without ever seeing the vehicle, and that is by doing the simple & easy datalogging via our thorough and easy to follow instructions.
So yes, the baseline tuning we provide is safe to drive on, but it's not finished, it's not fully finalized (in our opinion) until the *data* is in and we can verify exactly how each individual vehicle is running. That kind of precision is why the majority of people who have their F-150's tuned come to us - for our expertise, as nobody else has the kind of info, experience & skills on these trucks that we do.
So while yes, it is true that you can take your tuning once it arrives from us and drive the vehicle and never datalog it and it will be basically safe to drive in most (but not 100%) cases - we really like to dial in each vehicle spot-on - but then we're tuners, so we're born data hounds.
I know this can be a bit confusing, perhaps even nerve-wracking - so just so we're clear, in these 2004 & up vehicles with the newer ETC systems (as it seems to be those who have the most questions on this in this thread), yes, we can tune the vehicle and it will be safe to drive without you datalogging it - but it's not going to be all that it could be until you datalog & we make those fine adjustments that make the difference between a baseline custom tune and a fully & properly completed custom tune, that's all...
BTW, Mike - any plans to do some knowledge transfer on the review aspect of the tuning lifecycle? It may help with the *ahem* wait time - hehe.
Great job as always !
Thanks, MIke!
Vic
Last edited by MGDfan; Feb 20, 2007 at 08:43 AM.
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi Vic,
Yeah, your data came in looking pretty good and the tunes were actually fine, given everything we looked and how everything was done, I didn't feel we needed to adjust it.
I still recommend the 3.5" AF1 for the intake that makes the most power, both down low and up top - in fact, I spent about 2 hours going over all the comparative data between 3.25" AF1 & 3.5" AF1 with Jason K (F150 Duke) yesterday afternoon, as we ungraded him from 3.25" to 3.5" on his AF1, and did the comparisons on his before & after dyno data, and it showed very nice gains over even the 3.25" unit - especially in the lower rpm ranges, up thru the upper mid range the gains were very nice. Now up at the very top, it's only about a 3 HP difference, but there are areas under the curve where it was upwards of 20 HP in his case - usually what we see is about 12 more Hp fro the low end to mid-range, and then just a few more peak up top - but it's enough so that it's a win-win scenario, so the 3.5" AF1 is the way to go.
So now we offer the 3.0" AF1 for those who want a nice intake kit that requires no tuning, and then the 3.5" unit for those who are getting tuning and want the best power & performance gains, and over time will be phasing the 3.25" unit out, just for convenience sake, as there's no sense in having 3 sizes - one size that works well and needs no tuning, and then the top dog for those who are getting tuning and want the most.
SO that is how I feel about that.
For anyone with a 3.25" unit, we can just swap out the 3.5" tube and give you the tuning changes required at a very low price, so it won't be like buying a whole new intake kit - just FYI.
Thanks for your data Vic - oh, and by the way - yes, we are speeding up the review of data - I have trained one of our people here so that he can review the data and make sure we have what we need before it ever hits y desk, so that by the time it gets to me, I know I haver the data I need - this is why some people get calls from someone other than me telling them they need this, or they need that, etc.
However, it will always be true that it takes longer to analyze the data and make corrections than it takes to do the original baseline custom tuning - a LOT longer - that is just the nature of the beast, I spend more time on that than anyone else I know of - but in the end, the results are what counts - I guess that's really the best I can tell you on that, Vic.
Thanks for working with us on this, Vic - & of course, thanks for your post!
Yeah, your data came in looking pretty good and the tunes were actually fine, given everything we looked and how everything was done, I didn't feel we needed to adjust it.
I still recommend the 3.5" AF1 for the intake that makes the most power, both down low and up top - in fact, I spent about 2 hours going over all the comparative data between 3.25" AF1 & 3.5" AF1 with Jason K (F150 Duke) yesterday afternoon, as we ungraded him from 3.25" to 3.5" on his AF1, and did the comparisons on his before & after dyno data, and it showed very nice gains over even the 3.25" unit - especially in the lower rpm ranges, up thru the upper mid range the gains were very nice. Now up at the very top, it's only about a 3 HP difference, but there are areas under the curve where it was upwards of 20 HP in his case - usually what we see is about 12 more Hp fro the low end to mid-range, and then just a few more peak up top - but it's enough so that it's a win-win scenario, so the 3.5" AF1 is the way to go.
So now we offer the 3.0" AF1 for those who want a nice intake kit that requires no tuning, and then the 3.5" unit for those who are getting tuning and want the best power & performance gains, and over time will be phasing the 3.25" unit out, just for convenience sake, as there's no sense in having 3 sizes - one size that works well and needs no tuning, and then the top dog for those who are getting tuning and want the most.
SO that is how I feel about that.
For anyone with a 3.25" unit, we can just swap out the 3.5" tube and give you the tuning changes required at a very low price, so it won't be like buying a whole new intake kit - just FYI.
Thanks for your data Vic - oh, and by the way - yes, we are speeding up the review of data - I have trained one of our people here so that he can review the data and make sure we have what we need before it ever hits y desk, so that by the time it gets to me, I know I haver the data I need - this is why some people get calls from someone other than me telling them they need this, or they need that, etc.
However, it will always be true that it takes longer to analyze the data and make corrections than it takes to do the original baseline custom tuning - a LOT longer - that is just the nature of the beast, I spend more time on that than anyone else I know of - but in the end, the results are what counts - I guess that's really the best I can tell you on that, Vic.
Thanks for working with us on this, Vic - & of course, thanks for your post!
Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
From: Mansfield, PA
Hi Mr. Troyer, I was wondering if it would be worth waiting and saving to get the livewire over the xcal2? I would prefer your custom tunes over canned tunes but i like the flexability of the edge with the monitor and viewing various specs on the engine.Also do you custom tune your chips with the knowlegde of mods we have on our trucks, or do you tune to the engine we have and then wait for our datalogging and tune further from there?Last question, I went with BBk throttle body and BBk air intake over the AFI for no particular reason, how do you feel teh bbk part#1720 campares to the af1 you sel.. thanks hope to hear back from you. mark