Superchips Tuner or Predator

[Uncle Meat]

A good resourceful tuner should be able to do this. It's something that can be built easily.

Why though? For what purpose? Why in the world would an average Joe want to go through all the trouble of designing an interface so he could talk to his ECM once it's been removed from the car? Why remove the ECM to begin with?

The point I was tring to make was that you can't use the Predator or the Superchips 1725 tuner to talk to the ECM via the OBD-II port once the ECM has been removed from the vehicle. Neither the Predator or the 1725 can interface with the ECM through the J3 connector.

U.M.

 

[tschlientz]

From what I've seen with mine, and read with others, the main issues seems to be the wide variance in these cars. Even with cars built in the same time period with the same PCM, there seem to be differences in the way they react to mods and tuning. I think its very difficult to make a "generic" level performance tune that will fit everyone's situation. Therefore I beleive the service isse to be important. If you buy a unit and it has a custom tune option at little or no cost, it will be much more useful than just the unit alone. Shop your area for a tuner you trust. Just my $.02. Oh yeah...buy my Predator!

 

[terrydf]

Meat... so help me understand the product. The Predator comes with a performance tune, but you didn't use that? Instead James put a custom tune into your Predator, and you can still go back to factory tune if you choose? Am I understanding this right? Is this how both of these products work?

 

[Uncle Meat]

Meat... so help me understand the product. The Predator comes with a performance tune, but you didn't use that? Instead James put a custom tune into your Predator, and you can still go back to factory tune if you choose? Am I understanding this right? Is this how both of these products work?

The Predator comes with 2 tunes built in. One is a performance tune designed for Cobra's with the basic mods like CAI & cat back. It also comes with a pulley tune for people who have the basic mods plus a smaller pulley. I used the standard performance tune but my A/F was not exactly where I wanted it when I checked it on the dyno. This may be because I had more than just the basic mods. I have full exhaust on my car, Headers/X-pipe/Cat Back in addition to my CAI.

Sometimes these tunes are spot on and sometimes they aren't. My A/F ratio was not exactly where I wanted it with my mods and the canned Predator performance tune. I emailed my wide band dyno sheets to James at RWTD and he emailed me back a "Custom Tune" which I downloaded into my Predator and then uploaded into my Cobra. My A/F is much better now, but could still use a little tweeking. It has a bump at 4500 that needs to be smothed out and it now goes pig rich at 5500 all the way to redline (which is better than the lean condition I was having). My stock Ford ECM calibration is still saved in the Predator's memory and I can re-load it at anytime if I need to go in for warranty work.

Plus Diablo just released the software neccessary for real time data streaming for the Predator! The 1725 does not have the ability to do this.... yet. So, to answer your questions...

The Predator comes with a performance tune, but you didn't use that?
Correct
Instead James put a custom tune into your Predator, and you can still go back to factory tune if you choose? Well he emailed it to me and I put it in the Predator. (You will need the communication software for your PC so it can talk to the Predator, this software is free. You'll also need an interface cable to connect the Predator to your PC, costs about $8 at Radio Shack.) And yes... I can go back to the factory tune at any time.
Am I understanding this right? Is this how both of these products work?
I can't speak on behalf of the 1725 tuner... you'll have to ask Vic the specifics on it.

U.M.

 

[Vic_Ferrari]

...

A good resourceful tuner should be able to do this. It's something that can be built easily.

It isn't necessary unless someone is sending you PCM's without the car.....there are quite a few tuners that perform this service.

A programmer is the easiest thing.
Just make the file, load it in and ship it.......no down time for the customer.
Still, there are times when you will need to read a PCM to verify a read, check the stock file, or take a read on a vehicle that isn't local.