tuners again

[thegr81]

I know this has been covered before now I have more details. When it comes to handheld tuners or plugin tuners basically if you're not a tuner the more things you can adjust on your own without having to actually have a tuner do it is more beneficial to you. Having said that and knowing without a doubt that Lonnie is probably the greatest mark VIII tuner out there just from sheer repetitive mountainousknowledge that he has can write a great tune for your car. Or someone at SCT or if one of the other companies can write a tune. Unfortunately as Mark 8 owners the tuners haven't caught up with our cars so they're not onl compatible list of vehicles so when ordering a tune you have to get a custom tune. This is where the rubber meets the road. When buying a custom tuneit's no doubt encrypted and if you change or go to modify anything else on your car you have to go back and have them change it by making a phone call or sending emails back and forth it's not going to get fixed right then at earliest maybe next day.I've argued with people on this and other chat rooms say that they allow you to adjust gear ratio, etc but no, only if you are on THE SUPPORTED VEHICLE LIST.will you be able to change anything but your socks,which you are not.on any tuners list except one and that is sniper. And even if you were some of those adjustments won't be made available unless your vehicle is 99 and newer. need to change your gear ratio your shift points your tire size things like that if you're on the supported list you can change them if your not you still have to go back to the custom tune and tweak it. Whether or not you'll have to pay to have that adjusted remains to be seen but I think the ability availability to be able to do it without having to call in to somebody to change it is a thousand times better hence the sniper Delta Force programmer. For anybody that would order a chip or get a programmer the basic tuning elements they take the same information the sniper programmer goes through with all the questions and write a performance tune for your parameters no matter what you do you can always go back and change your gear ratio change your shift firmness change your shift points yada yada yada. But when it comes to final all out performance as has been told me nothing beats a dyno tune. That should be the end all be all when you're done with everything the dyno tune until then if you were still going and building and you want it to her the sniper is the way to goas far as I can tell.
bottom line especially for entry-level people who haven't done a thing to their car but put gas in it who ask us for the first thing they can doto their marks a chip or tuner, yes great place to start but get one that will allow you to grow with the car and not have to go back and forth.the sniper programmer plug it in iadjust anything you want you can always go back and change it at 2 o'clock in the morning if you want to just because you can or get a mail order tune from someone you probably can get you five or 10 more horsepower and every time you do something to the car will be calling them to tweak out your tune...I'm just saying

 

[driller]

Have you considered the SCT Pro Racer Package?

 

[thegr81]

yes I've researched and considered everything and that is great software as an expansion. But when ordering and SCT tuner or anything for the Mark 8 is going to require a custom tune whether someone write it, you have a dyno tune and someone else writes it or you if you're knowledgeable enough.but once you get said tuner you're stuck with it if you decide to change something you're on the phone. You may just want to adjust your transmission or put a taller or smaller tire onor anything that would affect the tune you have written and the only way to do that is with the sniper. You can buy it first as a stock vehicle put your information in and get a base tune which is what those programmers doand you can grow with your vehicle and adjusted your self without having to call someone have them write a tune email it download it and then put it back into your car only to change something else down the road. Because we all work on carsand it's a continuous project always something to do or change and the fact that the price has gone up a hundred and fifty dollars in two years basically because of its ease of operation and accessibility range on your vehicle.

 

[chris2523]

But when ordering and SCT tuner or anything for the Mark 8 is going to require a custom tune whether someone write it, you have a dyno tune and someone else writes it or you if you're knowledgeable enough.

this is true of every tuner on the market. there are no "canned tunes" preloaded on a tuner, nor will there ever be.

but once you get said tuner you're stuck with it if you decide to change something you're on the phone.

the only way to do that is with the sniper.

no, this is wrong. the SCT PRP can do this quite easily.
SCT PRP is a program, not a tuner.
the XCAL 2/3/4 is the handheld tuner.
SCT PRP is what the guys writing the mail order tunes are using to create and modify the tune files anyway.

by purchasing the SCT PRP yourself, you just eliminate the middle man and tune the vehicle it yourself.

people use Sniper because it is more "user friendly," but the professional community seems to nearly exclusively use SCT PRP.

 

[Roadboss]

Some of our members have taken the time and resources to become familiar and capable to write and alter their tunes as they see the need. This is especially helpful for those that are racing, in order to compensate for atmospheric and track conditions. Most, I believe have tied their wagon to the SCT offering of software and hardware, and for good reason (there is more technical software help available for SCT products).

Seeing that I am not into racing anymore I have been quite comfortable to trust LIdio to develop the tune for "Whiner". This was not a 2 or 3 pull event. He had the car for a week and put some miles on it, after break in, to resolve any drive issues, and trust me that a heavily modded setup, such as "Whiner's" is going to need some tweaks. I do not see the need (almost 10 years later) for any adjustments to what he did, which brings me to believe that unless you have a wide rang of performance issues to deal with a good shop that does full service dyno tuning is "worth more" that all the software and hardware you can purchase and use at home.

My advice to the majority of Mark Vlll users is to you a competent shop as first choice, if that's not possible do business with reputable mail order tuners such as Lonnie and discuss with them your needs and expectations, and as a last choice purchasing a complete SCT package. If you go the SCT package be prepared for a learning curve that will take some commitment from you. I felt for me that I'd let the experience and talents of the expert carry me as I didn't want to get that much involved in all that is required.

 

[Ford nut]

Its more the plan then the tune.

If your going to keep changing your cars setup go SCT and put on your thinking cap.
If your going to build your car and have a plan in place, execute your plan an have it tuned.

Sniper has not had a good track record on these cars, there is no easy button when it comes to tuning.

 

[driller]

I've been down the road and around the block with tuning on the Blue Flame. :wink2-green

I started with a used 'LMS' chip back when the car was stock (or near stock).

Later, as mods progressed, I upgraded to a custom "mail-order" tune from Lonnie at Blue Oval Chips. The improvement was dramatic and the four-way SCT chip provided differing levels of performance from street to full out power at the track.

My first dyno-tune was done shortly thereafter by "JW" himself. Power and drivability was definitely improved, albeit more of an incremental change rather than a day and night difference.

After many mods, much research and a couple requisite dyno-tunes later, I decided since I would probably always be changing things (and the fact that no one knows my car better than me), I bought the Pro-Racer Package from SCT. Sure there was a learning curve (and I'm still learning ), but it is definitely the solution if you are obsessive compulsive and always looking to optimize tuning parameters to the Nth degree.

I'm not familiar with the Sniper programming but I've known a few satisfied users and read more than a few disgruntled user experiences. You may find it to be just fine if you want to be able to change drivetrain parameters such as shift points, gear ratios and tire sizes at your discretion. Other parameters, maybe not so much? I can't really say.

In my overall assessment there is probably no perfect tuning software but SCT is likely the better choice available. There will certainly never be any better options in the future for this limited production and now aged platform. You could probably count on one hand the tuners that have the knowledge to successfully tune a Lincoln Mark VIII and I'd be willing to bet they exclusively use SCT software and hardware.

 

[Roadboss]

Lidio does. Great response JP.

 

[driller]

OK, one hand... let's give it a try:

• Lonnie(Blue Oval Chips)
• Lidio(Alternative Auto)
• Don LaSota(LaSota Racing)
• Torrie(Unleashed Tuning)
• Aric(Injected Engineering)

No particular order... There's been a couple others but I'm not sure they're still in the game.

Feel free to add, but please no flaming.