ATTN PAUL: I just got an 03 Lightning. I would like for you to do the tuning on it but I have a question. Is there any difference between the way you tune 01's and 03's? Two friends of mine have Lightnings with exactly identical modifications done by you and the 01 is much much faster. This has kinda kept me from modifying my truck in fear that it wouldn't be as fast. Both trucks have your filter kit, throttle body, ported plenum, 4# lower, and Diablo chip. I once heard from someone that the tuning you do on the 01's is somewhat better than the tuning done on the other years. I don't think this is true but the 01 runs 12.8@106 and the identically equipped 03 ran 13.9@100 the same night. Even on the street these trucks are not even close. I would like to do all the same mods in one shot but am worried I may end up like the slower of the two trucks. Can you explain this? Thanks.

 

13.9

it will run that bone stock...

even with no chip, the pulley should have it going faster than stock times.

must be having traction problems or something else?

there is an '03 L in my area that runs 16s but it's not the trucks fault, and it's not the tuner's fault, it's the driver.

he does a john force burnout halfway down the track on every run.

later,
chris

 

There is definatly something wrong with your buddys 03. Those are stock times.

 

I certainly can't answer for Paul, but I do know he has a "killer" file for '01's and I mean killer. It is one of the best tune's I have seen for '01 L's.

The '03's can be challenging, look at mine for example - he11 she wouldn't even accept a flip chip. I had to go to a single file Revolutions chip just to keep her running. Mind you now I am happier than pig in you know what, but it took a while to get there.

My recommendation, don't let the '01 influence your decision to burn a chip, you can always go back to stock if your not happy and Paul will treat you right if your not happy.

D-Day

 

13.9? I have never run that slow, even when I only had a filter I was hitting 13.7. I would be pretty upset with myself if I couldnt sqeeze off a 12 with that setup

Your friends should switch trucks for a run or two, I bet that '02 runs a 13.9 after that....

 

Yeah, I remember the problem we had with Dans 03. We had to take his whole PCM back out 2 or 3 times ,reinspect it and clean its contacts better. No luck, same problem with shut off. Finally, we got Willie and his engineers at diablo to look into it and try a different Romulus chip. Still same problem. But with a single file it ran perfect. Very strange indeed.

 

Paul tuned my 02 there at REM (on the dyno). And I'm pretty consistantly in the high 12s.

Just the speed alone from your buddies 03 say it all. 100mph is stock tuning.

 

I run one of Sal's four way chips on my 03 with no problems. I mod must be done on the 03's for EMI problems. Sal fixed me up.

Jerry

 

Sinister
We'd be happy to help you but let me adress a few things first.
The way we tune the 01's and 03's are really almost identical, there are a few differences in the stock bin file but the tuning methods are virtually the same. Granted the 03's have a few quirks but they have been worked out.
As an example Tim has an 03 which has a 6lb lower pulley,filter kit our Exhaust system and 555dr tires. At full weight including the ARE bed cover the truck runs 12.68 at moroso in the Florida heat.
Okay on to the 01 stigma, I think it really has more to do with the fact that I have an 01 and spent a considerable amount of time tuning it and have passed those tunes along to customers.
Now on to the chip issue, the problem with the dual program shutting off has nothing to do at all with the pcm,clean contacts etc..We have experienced the "shut off" issue on 3 vehicles locally, each time the switch was removed the problem went away. All three trucks were taken to Diablo for verification and they are working on the "fix"

 

Yea my 03 shuts down after switching from the street side to the race side but only sputters a little when going from the race side to the street. Then once it shuts down its has a hard start.