Tuner question.

[toms89]

If you flash a new tune to your vehicle and return it to stock does the dealer have any way to identify if it has been done? Does anyone know with certainty??

Just curious with the many here that run a Livernous tune. I would love to purchase their 4 stages of programming package but at the same time do not want to be concerned about voided my warranty I purchased with the car.

Another question is for those that may have had tune issues stock which seem fairly common (hesitation or delay in acceleration, etc...). Did the Livernous tune eliminate this?

 

[Crash712us]

Answer to your 1st question, yes they can tell if your car has been flashed. Will they check if has been flashed. As long you don't bring your car with a rod hanging out the side of the engine they won't.
It's all relative to what warranty claim is.

Ive been around these forums for about 3yrs now, and there have been no engine failure due to tuning.

As to delays and hesitation, tuning will make your car run like a totally different car. Back when got my 2011 this is what made me decide to get a tune.

 

[twobitcoder]

Is it worth the cost of a device + tune without any other hardware upgrades? Tune only? I know my way around an X3 due to my Roush-equipped Mustang and am probably not going to be doing any major upgrades to the 2010 SHO. Of course I realize having the tuner is handy for reading engine codes, dyno runs, etc, so that becomes a valuable tool for the car, but in terms of JUST the tune, is it worth the $400-ish?

 

[Dave]

Very well worth it.

 

[bpd1151]

Absolutely worth it.

Ford left a lot of head room with the 3.5 EB & a tune alone untaps that potential.

 

[BamSHO]

Also having a good relationship with a dealer's service dept will help too, or knowing of a dealer who is tuner friendly. I bought my 2012 this past Feb, and was about one month later, I got LMS to tune the car. I never looked back, best thing I did, and now with the new 4X 3bar tune, my 2012 is even better.

 

[twobitcoder]

Don't mean to hijack Tom's thread (feel free to take it back, toms89)... Talking about stock tunes...

I can tell the stock tune is conservative. Spent many days in the garage with the stock Roush tune on my Mustang which was too rich, with similar hesitation I feel in the stock SHO, and a better tune gave it quick snappy throttle response. Roush left room in their tune for their CAI without tuning specifically for it. The SHO tune (taking into account it's a V-6) feels similar, less power but there's clearly a bottleneck.

I can't help but wonder about that 180* turn in the air tube going to the front turbo, and the small size of the tubes. No experience with turbos before but is it crucial that the air tubes be the same length for balance? I can't imagine that would be the case since both turbos eventually feed air into the same throttle body. Even if one is running faster than the other, you're getting increased PSI mixed pre-TB so IMO, FWIW, those intake tubes can be tinkered with.

My first impression is to relocate the battery to the trunk.


(not my photo)

 

[Dave]

I'm running the stock Ford air intake and have found that to be the best way for me to go. I did trim the outer hood molding in front of the intake scoop. I had a Typhoon and got rid of it. All those aftermarket "Cold" air intakes are a sham. They suck hot air from under the hood.

 

[wuzzzer]

The stock intake works excellent. It is one of the best factory ram air/cold air setups I've ever seen.

 

[EcoPowerParts]

Tune only is a great option, 100 octane with tune only is another great option for a ton of additional power, especially if you only have horrible 91 octane California gas available (they import that crap to AZ).

 

[twobitcoder]

I'm running the stock Ford air intake and have found that to be the best way for me to go. I did trim the outer hood molding in front of the intake scoop. I had a Typhoon and got rid of it. All those aftermarket "Cold" air intakes are a sham. They suck hot air from under the hood.

Well usually the top of the CAI box forms a seal with the hood that keeps engine heat away while allowing better breathing with a cone filter.

You won't see any improvement with a CAI on this car using the old pipe which has a bad 180* turn in it going down to the front turbo. The pipe going to the rear turbo isn't as bad but both are too small. It doesn't matter how big your filter is if the tube is only 2 1/2" after the splitter.

When you look at the Hennessy SHO that's the first thing you'll notice are two huge independent air tubes going to each turbo without a split. I'm sure that could be done for a **** of a lot less than $2,000 though. A company like JLT should step up.

 

[EcoPowerParts]

FYI multiple guys have verified Airaid (and all of it's variants from LMS, Rousch etc) you lose .2 and around 2MPH in the 1/4 mile. I tested it back to back at the track as did others and we all had the same results. They sound cool but at the track they lose you power.
I did an Airaid UBI setup with their 3.5" tube - put the filter into the fender on my Flex and it sounded awesome, don't know if it made any more power.
I also recently tested on dyno taking pipe off the air box entirely and blowing outside air into it, no power increase (factory U bend and piping to turbos).
Guy on my forum is working on a carbon fiber intake with cold air setup and new pipes to turbos.