N Guage ??

[Andrew C]

Has anyone had any experience with NGuage ? I just seen it on youtube in a new ranger and it's looks pretty cool. Just wondering if anyone has any practical knowledge about this particular product.

 

[15SHOPP]

Has anyone had any experience with NGuage ? I just seen it on youtube in a new ranger and it's looks pretty cool. Just wondering if anyone has any practical knowledge about this particular product.

HP Tuners is not the go-to tuning program for this platform. It is my understanding that SCT has a lot more tables and ability to dive deep(er) into the ECU than what HPT offers

 

[krewat]

It works. I got it as a tuner, and it's installed in the car 24x7. The one thing I'm not OK with is the brightness. It doesn't auto-adjust, so at night it's really bright. There's an adjustment, way down in some settings menu, if I recall correctly. But hard to find when you're blinded by the light

 

[chrisjobe]

Hp is working hard to bring more functionality to the eb platform but not sure they are totally there yet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FiveLeeter918]

We've tuned a few cars with HPTuners. 10-12 I would stay away from HPTuners on, 13+ is a lot better, but still lacking compared to SCT. We have several requests in to add features to HPTuners as they are more receptive to adding support than SCT, but it's still slow moving.

 

[b4black]

We have several requests in to add features to HPTuners as they are more receptive to adding support than SCT, but it's still slow moving.

They need to add the option to see the current gear display on the dash!

 

[FiveLeeter918]

They need to add the option to see the current gear display on the dash!

Yep currently that's only SCT

 

[High on Ethanol]

Hptuners is light-years ahead when it comes to datalogging and displaying information. They don't seem much off in terms of tuning...in some areas they beat SCT. The primary issue is SCT is the common tuner so most companies sell SCT tunes...but some sell both.

 

[b4black]

Seems most SCT users just upload tunes from aftermarket suppliers. Or does it give the vehicle owner that ability to add/subtract timing, make AFR adjustments and increase boost on their own?

 

[High on Ethanol]

It's very expensive to become able to tune your own vehicle using SCT.

 

[FiveLeeter918]

Seems most SCT users just upload tunes from aftermarket suppliers. Or does it give the vehicle owner that ability to add/subtract timing, make AFR adjustments and increase boost on their own?

SCT tunes are completely locked from editing aside from tire adjustments and gearing. In order to make your own adjustments you'd need the Pro Racer Package, and even then you only have basic adjustments available until you take the advanced courses for Ecoboost and Coyote Performance to unlock advanced features. Even still, you can't take a tune from a professional tuner and modify it, it's all proprietary.

 

[FiveLeeter918]

Hptuners is light-years ahead when it comes to datalogging and displaying information. They don't seem much off in terms of tuning...in some areas they beat SCT. The primary issue is SCT is the common tuner so most companies sell SCT tunes...but some sell both.

Other platforms yes. We prefer HPT for the Coyote Mustang, but the SHO leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[High on Ethanol]

You can actually have any missing tables or parameters added to hptuners. So I'm going to say, if you want to tweak it, it can be tweaked. I've used the various tuners and in addition you can copy SCT locked tunes using HPTuners and then adjust them to a degree...but this requires hex editing of locked files. SCT adds a chunk of garbage info to corrupt the OSID aka the strategy name. This is terrible because it basically makes your PCM unreadable to most OBD devices. So basically you have to compare the files and edit the OSID back to the original name.

Ford is actually behind in advancements because of tuner locking which isn't as prevalent in GM tunes. This is one of the reasons LS swaps are so popular. Eventually people will realize you pay a tuner for their knowledge, not the actual file. I always push gearhead because of the extremely detailed tune they offer, specifically the transmission adjustments. When you compare all of the top tuners,they are very similar, some go a different way of achieving the same results but in the end it's splitting hairs which is best.

Sorry for the TLDR but in the end you pick what you like. Torrie for unmatched response times, AJPTurbo best explained changes and possibly highest HP, Gearhead for best overall and top notch shifting, and I'd say Ortiz for best "I didn't know it could do that" features. I haven't tried Ortiz yet but I do plan to in the near future. I have followed them very closely. As far as I know Torrie is the only one to offer full tunes for SCT and HPTuners.

 

[FiveLeeter918]

There are certain advantages to HPTuners over SCT, and the open source format is great for individuals but sucks for tuners. And I disagree, you are paying a tuner for the file, if they sold the knowledge there eventually wouldn't be a need for a tuner anymore. Can you do it? Sure, but is it ethical? To be debated.

It's like taking your car in for an issue, the shop gives a "Free Estimate" and spends hours digging through the car, troubleshooting it for you, and giving you a detailed estimate of work then you run to AutoZone, buy the Chinese parts and do it yourself. Can you do it? Sure, but you aren't helping to improve the industry by doing so.

We don't like remote tuning with HPTuners because of that exact reason. Customer buys our tune, then instead of datalogging and sending to us to revise they decide to tweak it themselves, cause an issue, then blame us on social media for providing the tune that caused damage. It's a slippery slope and we spend hours and days trying to figure out what went wrong only for it to eventually come out that they modified the tune. I get the DIY desire for working on your car, but certain things need to be left to the professionals.

 

[High on Ethanol]

You hit most of it dead on. Slightly off track in some aspects but I agree with you on tuner knowledge and feedback/blowback. Personally I have unmatched respect for Gearhead, just because of the extras they do. I also know Brad is probably the guy I'd choose if I wanted to be the fastest yet still safe. I would choose Torrie if I wanted to run revisions or make changes at any hour of any day. All 3 have my total respect for what they do. I would never share any of the information from their tunes. But personally I like to change the small stuff and I don't like to hassle someone to add a degree or remove a degree of timing or change the fan settings, etc etc etc. I also realize there are people who would steal the tunes and resell them, but the tuner still holds the power of knowledge and experience at least in my opinion.

So be aware that I fully understand and almost fully agree with you. I also have my eyes set on Ortiz as soon as I find a reason to try a new tune.

 

[b4black]

But personally I like to change the small stuff and I don't like to hassle someone to add a degree or remove a degree of timing or change the fan settings, etc etc etc.

Exactly my thoughts. If I go to the track on a nice cool day, make a run with zero KR, I'm going to add a degree or two of timing. Just like the old days of twisting a distributor. Or maybe I'll lean out the AFR. Or maybe a little more boost. I'm not going to send off an email asking someone else to do it and email it back to me between runs.

Personally, I want to know what was done. Like setting the KR from global to per cylinder. That led to my Aeroforce gauge not displaying KR anymore (stayed at zero all the time). That could have been very, very bad . I got no information other than a 'tune' to upload.

 

[High on Ethanol]

Exactly my thoughts. If I go to the track on a nice cool day, make a run with zero KR, I'm going to add a degree or two of timing. Just like the old days of twisting a distributor. Or maybe I'll lean out the AFR. Or maybe a little more boost. I'm not going to send off an email asking someone else to do it and email it back to me between runs.

Personally, I want to know what was done. Like setting the KR from global to per cylinder. That led to my Aeroforce gauge not displaying KR anymore (stayed at zero all the time). That could have been very, very bad . I got no information other than a 'tune' to upload.

Nailed it.

 

[FiveLeeter918]

Exactly my thoughts. If I go to the track on a nice cool day, make a run with zero KR, I'm going to add a degree or two of timing. Just like the old days of twisting a distributor. Or maybe I'll lean out the AFR. Or maybe a little more boost. I'm not going to send off an email asking someone else to do it and email it back to me between runs.

Personally, I want to know what was done. Like setting the KR from global to per cylinder. That led to my Aeroforce gauge not displaying KR anymore (stayed at zero all the time). That could have been very, very bad . I got no information other than a 'tune' to upload.

Unfortunately that's not how it works, and not a liability that most tuners are willing to expend in exchange for their name being tarnished when things go wrong. I'm sure you know more about tuning than the average customer, but unless you negotiate with a tuner to purchase the actual tuning file and sign away any liability on their part for destruction that may potentially occur, I don't see that happening.

 

[High on Ethanol]

This brings up an interesting point. Are tuners liable for damages? To what extent? I've always looked at it as an at your own risk type of purchase.

What's the standard tuner warranty?

 

[FiveLeeter918]

Legally there is no liability, but still doesn't keep a customer from getting upset and blaming the tuner and leading to a negative image of the tuner for something they didn't do. Just a slippery slope.