I recieved my custom tunes from Mike Troyer this week. All I can say is DAMN! Worth the wait. I installed the Airaid CAI this morning, but the new tunes on the truck and could not be happier. Defenately worth the wait. And the intake makes the engine sound mean at WOT.

mikebaby

 

Really dude, great to hear that. how long did you wait and how much did he charged you.

 

Another satisfied customer! I've been running my Troyer Tunes since Aug of 2006 and I'm still thrilled with them.

- NCSU

 

It took about 20 weeks, and I don't think we can discuss costs in the forum, but most the tuners are running in the same ballpark. The device was an X3.

mikebaby

 

20 weeks = six months!

 

It took 20 weeks for you to receive a custom tune? Im new on here and I hear the word "custom tune" used quite often on this forum. The only way it would be custom is if you actually took your truck to somebody and they put a wideband on it and had a way to monitor how the truck is running (Knock, timing, etc...). With mail order tunes they just look up a previous tune and copy and paste the tables. I cant think of why it would take someone 6 months to send you a mail order tune. Also with these mail order tunes there is no way to know what your air fuel ratio is gong to be, therefore leaving a few ponies on the table. Most tuners will leave it a little rich so it will be extra safe for everyone.

I find it totally unacceptable for it to take 6 months for anyone to send me a tune. Am I the only one that feels this way? Im coming from the sports car world. I could build the craziest set up out there and a good reputable shop would have me a descent tune in a matter of days. Over here its taking shops 6 months to get people tunes with minor bolt on parts, why???

I apologize if my post rubbed some people the wrong way I just dont understand why it takes so long.

 

Respectfully, used2vtec, you are presenting opinions here as fact, and, I believe you are WRONG.

I know that Bill Cohron at PHP does not create "copy and paste tunes". Why? In his words, "They wouldn't be custom tunes!". I rather suspect Mike Troyer and Justin Starkey proceed much the same way. There's more to writing a tune than just knowing the machinery. You also have to factor in the customer's goals/needs, the operating environment of the vehicle, and perhaps many other factors.

I'm not a tuner, I'm a programmer and can appreciate what you're saying, but I simply don't believe it is true. It would not be to a tuner's advantage to make a customer wait weeks for a tune he could whip out in 5 minutes, would it? Ever heard of "economies of scale"? Why would they want to make less money when they could so easily make more? Maybe, just maybe, they ACTUALLY DO care about the product they are creating and it IS custom designed for each customer!

Sure - take your vehicle to a "live" tuning shop and yes, you can get a dyno-verified tune "while you wait". And, you don't think that kind of shop just tunes for some "numbers"? How closely does it model the real world? Is this tune done in 2nd gear due to dyno limitations? Do you drive your vehicle in 2nd gear?

So please, you're entitled to your opinions, but you simply cannot state those opinions as fact.

- Jack

 

Well, it's really only five months, but I think it's excessive. You never know. It could depend on the circumstances. But for a N/A stock tune, that's a long time, but perhaps there were problems, no tuning strategy for the specific calibration, etc. There are tuners that have a shorter turn around. You pay your money, you take your chances. VMP Tuning has a reasonable turnaround for SCT products. He's tweaked some tunes for me and I have no complaints. PHP has a different product, but the owner posts on here frequently and is obviously very knowledgeable. Do a search, there's lots of information here at your fingertips. A repetitive theme is a long turn around time with Troyer. Is the wait time justified? Is he really that much better than everyone else? I sort of doubt it. I don't know of anyone that has tried a bunch of tuners to see what tune was best. Troyer obviously does good work, or he wouldn't be so busy.

 

You don't suppose you answered the question you asked with your last sentence, do you?

- Jack

 

To OP glad to hear that you like the tunes and that they're worth the wait. I have the same intake and SIDO exhaust and am on week 19 as of yesterday. That means mine should be coming soon!!!!

 

I've talked with the guy. He's one hell of a salesman. He will convince you that only he can tune an F-150 and that programming is different for trucks than mustangs. I have the SCT software. I know what perameters are in the software. Can he find some obscure set of parameters and find more performance than anyone else? I'm skeptical, but he's doing a tune for me. I have no intention of putting it on a dyno to see who extracts the most power. I want overall drivability and performance.

I guess I'll know in another 15 weeks or so, based on this poor guy's experience, to see if he can top what I got in a week from someone else. It's a blown application, so if he has an edge, I guess we'll see. The difference is the tuner that did my work, gave me the files I need to make whatever additional changes I deemed work best for me in the SCT software. Troyer will not do that. Having limited control over what I want to change does not appeal to me. It will have to be leaps and bounds better than what I now have to continue to use it. But the cost is not significant to me, so I'm willing to see if there is an advantage (pun intended if you know the SCT software).

I'm no dummy when it comes to tuning. I've been doing this when hacking was the only route to go and you bought an EEC Tuner and got the GUI EEC tuner software as the only tools available to tune EFI. This is my first supercharger application and factory programming has gotten a bit more sophisticated, so I am a bit at a disadvantage. I don't do this professionally, and I don't care to. When I cut my teeth on this stuff, we used timing lights, carburetor jets and modified mechanical timing curves to tune engines.

I'm a boomer and use computers in my business and was destined to figure the computer programming route on my own. In my mind, if we couldn't tune our vehicles, hot rodding would die. Boy, was I wrong. Computers now control everything and tuning an engine is becoming a lost art. It's sort of a shame. I see the power of using a computer to control the engine functions, but it has gotten so complicated, that only a select few know how to do it. If you never tuned an engine the old way, you'd be lost trying to figure these programs out today.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that if you are that much better than eveyone else and not willing to share the information, then you should be charging a much higher premium for your tuning and not working nearly as hard.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

 

I would just like to know what all is so different from truck to truck? There are only so many parts out there available. 90% of the trucks on here only have bolt on power adders anyway. I understand some people want to tow and some just want the most power available. Seriously though, why would it take 5 months. They should be able to look at what you want and have your tune sent to you in a matter of hours. Only reason I can come up with is these shops are busy doing other things and just dont have the time to actually sit down and do it.

Reason im asking so many questions is I will be in the market soon for a programmer and am trying to figure out what all is involved. Maybe there is more to this engine than air, spark, and fuel.......


I apologize for the thread jack also. Glad you are happy with your tune!!!

 

I actually spoke to Mike from Troyer this week because I was thinking about getting a tune and some parts from him. He does sound very knowledgeble over the phone but 5 months to get a tune??? Anyone use JDM Engineering in New Jersey im thinking about going with them after reading this thread. What do u guys think??

 

I'll bet you were on the phone with him for at least 30 minutes. If he answers 3 calls a day, that's a big chunk of his time. I suppose it depends on the backlog of tunes you have to do. I know tuning is not the only thing Troyer does and there may be a small window of time he devotes to tunes. If there are 1,000 guys ahead of you, it's no doubt going to take a while. They just need to be honest with people on their wait times. They told me a month after they got my tuner back from me. I think it's only been 3 weeks since they got my Xcal back, so it remains to be seen. I've got a tune I'm comfortable with, so when it get it, I get it. Unless you have some mod that requires custom tuning for drivability or even just to make your truck run, waiting won't kill you.

Reading many threads on here, a lot of people are under the impression that you have to get a new custom tune every time you get a new mod. The whole point of controlling the engine with a computer is so that it can make complicated calculations of fuel and spark. So, if you get a custom tune and add an exhaust system, I don't see that a new tune is needed. However, if you add a CAI, tuning could very well be necessary.

 

may be apples to oranges, i'm a heating contractor in western pa-home heating oil-is another fossil fuel for burning in furnaces and boilers-unlike natural gas-they must be set-up correctly to get the efficiency and proper burning out of the fuel-supposedly- any contractor can work on them-truthfully-many shouldn't touch them as they have no clue what they are doin-hence- good contractors get a bad name for the hacks out there-i take pride in my trade, skills , and knowledge-i get more jobs than other hacks because i make their problems go away.funny-my oil buisiness picks up every single year as i am known for getting the the job done and fixing other guy's f-ups.i even have customers wait for me than have below acceptable work that can be done.my point, all this talk on mike troyer,main thing is his work load is always high and people will wait for his magic- especially the ones he built trust in and know his passion in his field...