I was watching Horsepower TV yesterday and they did a story on a 03 Cobra that they dynoed in their shop stock - at 364 HP. They then used a Hypertech tuner to put it's standard street tune on the car and it dynoed at 407 HP, a 43 HP increase. I was pretty impressed. Anyone have any experience with Hypertech tuners and their standard tune on stock trucks? I've heard lots of horror stories now on the Predator and it's stock street tune. Apparently too much timing for pump premium.

 

These Cobra's respond very well to minimum Mods, but WOW that is a great result.
I see a lot of hype on the Hypertech and my guess is they sell tens of thousands of them, it actually seems like a very nice piece, I think one or two from here may have originally used one,
but you surly don't see or hear about many using it on a Lightning. I don't think you have the flexibility of Custom Tunes,
only what they offer, a 87 or 93 Octane Tune

I love the way they always state, this WILL NOT void your Wrrnty

 

I think the tunes they offer is a peformance tune, and then two pulley tunes. I dont think that offer custom tunes.

 

I have a hypertech chip sitting here that was in my 99L. It sucked then probley still sucks

 

I think 03whitelightning is right. They also tried two different upper blower pulleys with the same programer and ended up at 428 hp with the smaller of the two. Most of the gain was with the programmer alone. Sounds like a heck of a deal if it will work similarly with a stock Lightning. It may be rerunning on Horsepower TV right now.

 

I saw that program too. 43 hp is huge with just a computer tune. Those Cobra's must really be responsive to that sort of thing. Could part of the reason be the DOHC nature of their drivetrain?

Also, am I correct in thinking that the HyperTech tuner reprograms the computer rather than utilizing a chip?

Also, if I recall, they mentioned that the reason they only went to another pully and didn't also add a different air intake and/or an aftermarket exhaust system is that the HyperTech unit will only program certain mods?

Mike

 

Yes, it's their programmer and not a chip. It stores the factory tune and replaces it with their tune. The story mentioned it had 3 tunes; completely stock, stock with a slightly smaller blower pulley, and stock with an even smaller blower pulley. They made a point that it wasn't calibrated for any exhaust or intake system mods. They also didn't state the blower pressure increase for the two pulleys although I think they did mention diameter. The first pulley only picked up about 7 HP and the second (smallest one) about another 14 or 15 HP. From that it sounds like they must be only about a 1lb and the second, a 2 or 3lb pulley. Or maybe the programmer has a really conservative tune for them. I would like to hear from someone who has tried their programmer on a Lightning.

I thought it was also interesting that a 390 HP Cobra pulled 364 HP at the wheels. Who knows what dyno they use or it's calibration but a lot of Lightnings seem to pull as much as 340 to 350 stock on this site, so sounds not unreasonable.

 

364 sounds about right.

 

The first pulley was the size of a stock Lightning upper and the second one was a 2.80 upper. They did get a good hp gain out of the programer and mods but they never did show/say what the A/F ratio was to see if it was running safe with these improvements.

Not sure how the programmer will work on a Lightning but back when the 99s came out a local guy had his truck used as a test truck and they never got much out of it. They are coming out with new software to be more competitive with other tuners so maybe the new programmers are worth a shot. All I know is I am happy with my Custom tune on my Predator and will not switch to another brand/tuner.

Later
Damon

 

James is the man

 

Are you sure that was with just a new tune or did they add a "package" with a pulley, etc...?

 

The 43rwhp gain was with out the pulley, just the programmer. They added the pulley later on in the show.

Later
Damon

 

Anyone tried one (Hypertech tuner)?