Hey guys with the rocking 4.2's. I just talked to Bill at PHP and since they are running a crazy special on their gryphon's I asked if he can tune our engines. He said its not a problem, the only issue is that we cannot use the "canned" tunes since they are geared for a V8. Right now you can get a gryphon for $45 off and buy one get one free tune, and it ships for free!

Just an FYI

 

Cool. You'll be surprised at the performance of the 4.2 with a custom tune. Still no V8, but definitely more fun to drive then stock.

 

I want a tuner soooo bad! I want to get an SCT tuner tho. But dont know which performance company to go with just yet. Either way, I gotta save up first anyways so Ill do my research while saving up for it. I will be getting custom tunes for it since I have a K&N cold air intake. I will hopefully have one this summer. Have a 5spd with 3.55LS rearend so the extra power will be complimented nicely with the shorter gears to get it moving quicker. then i will hopefully be able to get my friend's 04 silverado off the line. i can stay with him from a roll right now so with a tuner i will be able to pass him. just my only problem is staying with him off the line.

 

I am seriously debating between the gryphon and the sct. I figure to go with VMP or PHP b/c I have heard that custom tunes from troyer are taking forever. The reason I am prob going to go with the Gryphon is because I figure if I am dropping $400 I want something that I can leave in the truck and see when I drive. I like that it will monitor 4 variables for you. And the color screen is only $30 more. Prob to go order this week or next. There goes the tax refund check......

 

I agree, having a screen for monitoring purposes would be nice. I don't believe they had anything like that back when I purchased my XCAL2 (in 05') as part of a Troyer "group buy" program. I think the '2' was just released and we were all talking about the advantages it would have over the XCAL1.... ah the memories...

But yea, definitely money well spent on your end. Good luck with which ever you choose.

 

For what it's worth, I'm happy with my X-Cal 2 from Troyer. It did what it was suppose to do. It loaded my custom tunes onto my PCM. From a consumer stand point, all of these devices are way overpriced. Think about the technology that you can buy these days for $500 or less. I can get a laptop computer for less than I'm paying for a simple box with a couple of wires and flash memory. Kind of crazy, isn't it? Wouldn't it appeal to the masses if someone wrote some simple software for us to do the same thing with a laptop computer? Imagine the possibilities of being able to tweak & tune, datalog, et cetera, with just your laptop & a USB cable.

 

Yeah and it depends on which engine you have as too how much a tuner is worth. According to SCT, the 4.6L only gains 11RWhp and 14RWTQ, whereas the 4.2L and the 5.4L gain 17RW and 20RWTQ. adding about 20hp to a 4.2L is a pretty nice gain from its 202 start point. thats also the 2V 4.6L and 5.4L i mentioned. Havent seen a number for the 3Vs yet. but hpoefully a custom tune will add 5 or 10hp on top of the base 20ish. a 4.2L kicking out 240hp and about 300Lb-Ft would be sweet! anybody ever have their tuned 4.2L with light mods like CAI and/or exhaust ever have theirs dynoed? just curious to see what a tuner does over stock.

 

A 4.2L tuned does not get you 20rwhp. my custom tunes got me 7-8rwhp, MAYBE

and these engines are dynoed at 200-210 at the flywheel, if you dyno'ed your truck, expect to see 160-170, I'll be lucky to see 185, with rwtq around 220-235

 

Within the next few months, i plan on buying a sct livewire and getting a custom dyno tune, so i'll have numbers for u. All i have left to do is install my screamin demon coil pack and livewires (waiting on a loom kit to hold the bigger wires), then put a UDP.

I want all the bolt ons i plan on having before the custom tune for 2 reasons:

1. So i can take full advantage of all my bolt ons when my truck gets tuned

2. Itll probably be the only time my truck sees a dyno, so if i want bragging rights, i want all my bolt ons on there

 

well I am still curious plus according to a hp estimate from my truck's weight and 1/4 mile time, it estimated about 185hp to the wheels with just the truck's weight. I know thats just an estimate tho.

I would appreciate it.

Is there any difference in rwhp between the autos and the manuals?

 

Yes, a manual will have a bit more power at the rear wheels because it robs less power than an auto. By how much? i don't know I'm no expert. My guess would be around 5-10hp more for a manual.

 

Well, I did it. Gryphon is on its way. Ill let you know what I think in terms of hp and mpg, the two reasons I did it.

 

Something is wrong there. With my CAI, efans, 180* t-stat, programmer, and stick shift my lighter truck would be lucky to see 185, I don't see how your NBS is making that on an air filter alone

Yes, transmissions lose anywhere between 15-25% of engine power, with manuals being closer to the 15% and autos being closer to 25%

 

Well check my sig for my Dyno #'s from April 09 and my best 1/4 time 17.2221 @ ~83 mph. My stock dyno #'s were way off..said I made 178 or something like that..they must not have corrected the #'s or the dyno was not calibrated properly.

 

Dyno was fine. You didn't have enough stickers.

HP @ the wheel is a lot different than HP @ the crank. HP is just one of the contributing factors to your quarter mile time. You have 3.73 gears. Mine came with 3.55 gears, and I now have 4.10 gears.

But if you want a faster & more furious truck, you need stickers.