Good Tuner Chips For a 97' SHO 3rd gen

[AlexCT_3rdGenSHO]

Hey guys, i was looking into finally tuning my 97 taurus sho. was wondering if there were any recommended tuners or chips out there that you guys have used. thought i would ask before making any purchases.
thanks, alex

 

[fourofdiamonds]

Recently put an SCT X4 on my 97. Great tune.

 

[stephen newberg]

You should do some searching about here. You will find from years ago some very long threads on the topic that include who was doing what and how it all turned out.

pax, smn

 

[AlexCT_3rdGenSHO]

Recently put an SCT X4 on my 97. Great tune.

What kind of performance specs did you get out of the SCT Tuner?

 

[stephen newberg]

It is my memory from a lot of work done with tuner chips in the past that there really is not a lot of performance gain to actually be had, but you can substantially alter 'drive-ability' to get the sort of feel you might individually want. No one really claimed to be able to get any performance improvements of any note, though. With that in mind, you might hold any comments to that effect in a bit of a skeptic basket when you hear them. You can, though, change the seat of the pants feel a good deal, from what those that were serious about playing with the tuning finally came up with.

pax, smn

 

[GEN 3 SHO FAN]

Someone (don't recall at this moment) that had made a tune on his chip put his dyno sheet on V8SHO. When you compare the curves stock and after you can see an average 5-8 hp gain but for what is worth (400$)... (I will find the link later as I'm not at my house now.)

I have the impression you skipped some usefull steps, maybe it's not the case but before doing this and starting "driving it like you stole it":

Verif.:
-Weld the cam if isn't made, if it's made, check them anyway, some welders did this very badly
-If CEL light is on, try to repair bad parts causing check engine codes, because almost all is linked together on this car, even if it's a 97...
-Put good tires on it (at least medium grade with V shaped surface against water)
- Check the state of the suspension (watching how rebounds you have at each wheel), espacially the rear, the spring can broke easely there (my 2 were broken)
- Watch for misfires at idle (park and engaged) coils handle a lot of heat (when I bought mine, the originals ones seems still there and they were all cracked), you will have some performance gain with news if you have misfire (when you have no misfire, this motor surprisinly quiet, no vibration at a point that I think sometime on a redlight that my motor stalled)

Modif.:
- Rear brakes bias bypass (You will see the difference, probably one of the best security upgrades), this thing is clogging with time and you finish with almost no brake on rear wheels, by the way secure all 4 wheels, rear cylinders jams easely in salted area (hp gain isn't so good without brakes)
-Saxectomy (removing all intake parts in fender, saxocone and intake silencer)
-3rd cat delete (will cost a lot less for the same result in hp : around 7, this thing can also be clogged)
- Think about replacing the rear springs or at least putting a bigger rear sway bar to eliminate some bodyroll this car, with a good suspension, can handle curves like a Porsche, better than many Mustangs (talk about that with M. Newberg)

Good luck,
If you need infos or trick to find parts (in Canada), pm me.

 

[stephen newberg]

I am in complete agreement with the 'drive it like you stole it' system as likely the best thing you can do to effect engine performance overall. First disconnect the battery for 10 seconds or so, so that you are starting at base line, and then drive it hard all the time. If you have to do some soft driving due to traffic or circumstances, disconnect again to restart at baseline. It learns very quickly and will give you max output within a few minutes if you are driving it like you stole it. I actually disconnect pretty much at the end of every use when she goes back in the car shed.

pax, smn

 

[fourofdiamonds]

I put on the tune for primarily for drivability. There is not much more to get out of the engine in the Gen 3 SHO.

 

[RoadSHO]

Hey guys, i was looking into finally tuning my 97 taurus sho. was wondering if there were any recommended tuners or chips out there that you guys have used. thought i would ask before making any purchases.
thanks, alex

I have been using an SCT flash tuner I bought from Doug Lewis about 10 years ago. Firms up the shifts and extends the rpm range. I think it prolongs the tranny. I have 210K and still running strong.

Doug Lewis
[email protected]
Ford Performance Specialists Inc.
Atlanta Georgia
770-949-7191
http://www.fordspecialists.com

 

[kcobra]

I would guess tuning it and just taking off the torque management would make the car a few tenths quicker for sure. These cars were absolutely amazing though. My 97 was smooth, pretty quick, had a great sound, and got great gas mileage.
It's too bad Ford moved away from this small V-8 and the Lincoln small V-8 also. Great motors with economy and sound.

 

[GEN 3 SHO FAN]

I have been using an SCT flash tuner I bought from Doug Lewis about 10 years ago. I think it prolongs the tranny. I have 210K and still running strong.

I rode somewhere that the A/C going on and off all the time commands to TC to unlock and relock each time causing additionnal wear on the trans and this behavior can be retreived from the PCM program. (When I will find it, I will put my source here.) My A/C isn't working for years but the trans stills strong.

(Note : Concerning the trans, I also bypassed the radiator cooler and added 2 additionnals finned tubes air/fluid coolers to the trans lines to keep it cool.)

Moreover, we can still discuss about that but the guy who created the post is parting away his car right now...
https://shoforum.com/index.php?threads/3rd-gen-3-4l-v8-sho-parts-for-sale.136343/

 

[scphil]

I would guess tuning it and just taking off the torque management would make the car a few tenths quicker for sure. These cars were absolutely amazing though. My 97 was smooth, pretty quick, had a great sound, and got great gas mileage.
It's too bad Ford moved away from this small V-8 and the Lincoln small V-8 also. Great motors with economy and sound.

when you say take off the torque management , how does that work ? i.e. details ?

 

[luigisho]

when you say take off the torque management , how does that work ? i.e. details ?

I'd be interested in this as well.

 

[gamefanatic]

Holy raise the dead PCM management articles!

Your not taking off torque management, if there was such a specific thing. You can change the ranges the transmission engages or mapping fuels to different levels for different economies / power.

Just depends on your goals. Any particular goals? Do you have a tuning system, if so which one?

 

[Sho"ney"]

My Sho was tuned by Monster Motorsports in the Cali. lowered second butterflies opening @ 3500RPM and redlines around 7200.