I'm on my second tuner so far. The first one was taking 2 weeks plus to adjust my Predator tune. Went to vendor #2; took 4-5 days for the first one (too rich plus a couple changes I wanted didn't get done) so I am now at 11 days and counting for an adjustment to the tune.

The selling feature of the Predator was that I could adjust it, but it still has to be close for me to fine tune it. Plus things like torque reduction, what speed it shifts into and out of fourth gear, etc. must be done by the tuner. The other selling feature was how quickly tunes could be e-mailed instead of waiting to re-burn a chip. Well, I got my chips back within a week tops, and I can't get the Predator tunes in 2 weeks!

I need a tuner that is familiar with KB's and 91 octane. There is a guy in my state that can do it, but he's wants $250. for a Predator tune........... just the tune!


Jody

 

I had a similar experience. It takes a long time because the tuners are out racing and no one is in the shop to create the tunes. The price we have to pay for the tuners to stay on top of everything in the mod world.

Who the heck is the tuner in CA that wants $250 for a tune? I've been thinking about having Danny Swanson tune my L. Hope it wasn't Danny's shop.

 

Well, that was his quote. I called back today and he said he'd do it for $175 if I sent the whole programmer back to him to load it. Sounds like he wants to do something to prevent any "secrets" getting out or something, not sure. Still sounds like a hassle and would be at least a week, probably more to get it back.

Jody

 

Give SoCal Diablo a shot. They've been working with me for over a year now, I've never had any issues or problems, and have been pleased with my results.

http://www.socaldiablo.com/

 

I think you guys need to realize that you're not the only one getting a tune. There are many people getting tunes and I'm sure it takes even a small amount of time to do it right... These guys are also working on trucks and building motors, answering the phone, etc.. These are not huge corporations by any means.... patience grasshopper.........just my opinion however. JR

 

I get that. But these are the same guys who could turn my chip around in 1-2 days, every time. The same guys who's selling feature for the Predator was that they could e-mail the tune which would save shipping time. It was actually faster for me to ship the chips and wait for them to return.

Bottom line, I know I'm not their only customer, but this comes up all the time on every Lightning board I'm on. It's frustrating when you're trying to get the tune right and you have to schedule dyno time in advance, but have NO IDEA when you might receive a tune.

Jody

 

I think it was Sal who said it takes about an hour to create a custom tune. They have to start with your stock tune each time, they can't just tweak an already modified tune. Even if they didn't race, install mods, or answer the phones and email, they can only do 8-10 tunes a day. Burning a chip didn't take nearly as long.

I predict that somethings going to have to change, probably the tuner software, to decrease the time they have to invest in each tune. Either that, or they'll have to hire a computer operator to create tunes all day.

 

I think that was true only for the FIRST time. After that they only have to deal with a few changes. Maybe Sal will chime in to clarify.

-Mark

 

Jody asked this same exact, maybe even word for word, question about a month ago. I replied to that one, as did others. I guess he's just seeing if anyone new has popped up since then. As far as I'm concerned, the only place you will get to send you a CMR re-tune within a day or so (on a normal basis), is someplace that's just started out and isn't doing 30-50 tunes a week yet. And is that really who you want tuning your truck?

 

No Sal, but you aren't going to convince me that it takes as long as you want people to believe to re-do your own custom tune! No way, no how. If all I need is to lean it out a point or so you do not have to go through everything like you're building a tune for the first time. I'm talking about my custom tune I received from you that was dead-rich; 9.5:1 a/f throughout under wot. Shut the alcohol off and it was still high 9's. Took weeks to get you to lean it out, and unfortunately it was still about 10:1 and I finally gave up.

I know you and I discussed this on IM when you told me that you were going to be carrying the Predators. You said it would be great because I could get the tunes so easily and quickly. I even bought a second Predator from you even though I already had purchased one from someone else before I knew you were going to carry them. That's because you were my tuner. Unfortunately I won't live with the amount of time it takes to get a simple change done on my (your) program.

Jody

 

You are right, it definitely doesn't take as much time to tweak an already done program. But when you have 20 other "new" programs to do before your tweak, that adds up. I try to do tunes in the order I get them. If I stopped to do the quicky tweaks all the time, people waiting on their first tunes would be waiting much longer and that's not fair.

I had no problems working with you on your tune, and I still have no problem working with you on it. Your truck was WAY richer than any other truck I'd done with the same mods. I have no idea why. I took TONS of fuel out of your tune, and yet you still said it was in the 10s. I was really starting to worry about what was up with your truck after taking out so much fuel and not seeing a change. But like I said, I'm still happy to work on it with you, I never said I didn't want to do your tunes anymore.

 

Time for changing a program is 5~10 mins. I was standing watching my tuner as he made changes to the program and then loaded them onto the predator. The proceded to load them onto the truck, and re-dyno it.

We started out with a base program; run it on the dyno and saw where we were at. Then adjusted and fine tuned from there. A little over an hour and probably 6 or more changes later we were done.

 

I've had the sme problem with more than one shop so far...so to correct it I'm going to go get a dyno tune at one of the local tuners around here...it'll cost more, but atleast it will get done right the first time and I won't be waiting...the way I figure it, I've already spent $240 checking my A/F's for predator tunes, I could add alittle to that and get it tuned right the first time...

-dennis

 

Sal,

You're a very good tuner. I just have problems with how long it takes to get a change made. I also was worried about the A/F so I installed a complete exhaust (again). Really didn't affect the A/F hardly at all. Went to another tuner and his initial tune is 10.5:1 to 11:1, much closer. He of course (my luck) forgot a couple of changes with the 4th gear shifting I wanted and am now on almost 2 weeks waiting to get that changed.

I still send you customers. I just am having trouble waiting so long for a simple change. I understand why it's happening now, just can't believe every tuner is that busy. I'll just have to live with it I guess.

I am just used to being able to do my own tuning. I've done the aftermarket EFI tuning on my own 480 rwhp to 828 rwhp setups and enjoy it. Just wish I could do the same on the Lightning and keep it smog legal.

Jody

 

You know Dennis, that's a great idea. Unfortunately there's nobody anywhere near me that tunes the Predator on a dyno! Maybe I'll have to make a 16 hour round trip to Swansons.

Jody