I believe the Pro Racer Tuning Package is located on SCT's website.

LINK

 

http://www.sctflash.com/PRPFord.php

 

I'm a novice at this and just do it as a hobby. So to me it's fun.

The thing I've found out now that I tune myself.. is how horrible some "tuners" are. They pay no attention to what the customer asks for. They also don't spend much (if any) time tuning the tranny. Sweeping the mouse across the stock parameters and scaling them is not tuning in my book.

Life is so much more than WOT on the dyno or at the track. And blanket scaling for tranny functions is no different than drilling a few holes in a VB seperator plate.

Rich

 

It dosent matter what level on board diagnostic it is. Every computer is a different animal. The software you use to make your changes is also different. I hate handheld tuners.

 

I've never worked on, or owned anything with 2 pedals, so I wouldnt know. The closes I come to automatic vehicles is the occasional oil change for a girlfriend - or doing cosmetic work. I always say automatics are for women because they can cross thier legs when they wear a skirt and still be able to drive.

 

Ah come on.. stop holding back and tell us what you really think.

 

That's dumb. No human can shift as fast as an auto can. Some of the worlds fastest cars are auto.

 

Going fast, and being a good driver are different. I like stick because it is fun, and barely anyone today knows how to really drive stick. Not to mention automatic transmissions scare me: I don't know how the gerbil wheels inside actually work.

 

Still saying that if you have a fast, and I mean really fast, car then a stick wont cut it. You can be the best driver in the world and still not be able to shift fast enough.

Oh and I have no idea how those gerbil wheels work either. LOL. Sun gears????Blah!

 

The rs200 speed 0-60 in the 2's is plenty fast enough for me.

 

On a auto car you'll need to know for tuning. The "load" is determined by the tranny... which drives an awful lot of the tables. They are inter-connected and rely on each other from a tune perspective.


btw, I'm a manual tranny kind of guy... usually. IMO there is nothing like a WOT 1-2 shift in a 5.0L stang.

But for a daily driver ranger in a big metropolitian traffic.. it's worth the extra cost.

Rich

 

Rich, what and where is the sensor in the trany that "measures" the load?

 

Towing tune:

I've written a towing tune and had to wait for a fill of 93 octane. So this morning my low level light was on and I filled with some 93 shell and loaded the towing tune.

So far so good. I've turned off the 1-3 skip shift, raised the shift points and have the convertor lock right after the shift. This way the motor stays in the meat of the TQ curve and going into lock so quickly doesn't make the truck feel lazy. For all intense purposes it's operating like a manual when above 19mph.
Timing is significantly higher too and boy you can feel it at road speed. (I've been tuning on 87 octane for some time now)

Unfortunately it'll be 5 months before I can get the boat out and really test this. But .. so far so good. Turning off the 1-3 skip shift was an *unknown*.. I don't know of anyone who's done this and didn't know what might happen.

Rich

 

I don't believe there is a single sensor. I *think* they use math alogorithims to derive this. I know that the MAF and speeds of differing tranny shafts are used for calculations. Beyond that.. I don't know.

For what I do it doesn't really matter. It's interesting stuff.. but it doesn't matter.

I'd say that 1/2 the charts I adjust have "load" as either Y or the X axis.

 

Hi Rich.



so....are you able to change vin #'s and add tunes to an Xcal2? Right now i'm at a stage of figuring out who to go to for my tunes and vin change on this used Xcal i picked up. I know the truck that the Xcal used to run is back to stock, as said when i plug the xcal to my truck...it says stock. SO...no shipping to SCT for a $200 charge! lol.

What are your opinions on who i go to for my tunes?? Fred i've talked to once months and months ago. Bama doesn't seem to like to respond to me either.

 

No. My software license is tied to my trucks PCM.

And honestly.. if a truck/car is not in my possesion. I don't want to tune it.
However.. if *you* bought the pro racer software? I'd gladly share my settings with you.

Doug at bama gave me a good engine tune. The tranny functions were stock.. even though I clearly listed in the order form what changes I wanted. Went down hill from there... until I gave up trying to get him to communicate with me. He never returned my calls.

I'm using Don at Lasota racing. He's not a ranger expert. But he is a ford and SCT expert. Just take some time to list out what you'd like all three tunes to do and then go to him and have him prep your x-cal.
In the two base tunes Don gave me.. I've found only one parameter that I didn't agree with. And it's a minor one... Henson & bama tunes were dis-graceful when it came to tranny functions. And I'm lucky I didn't blow my motor with hensons tune. (went lean up top)

Personally.. I've now written 4 solid tunes that I'm now doing extrememly small changes to.
1) 87 octane daily driving
2) 93 octane daily driving
3) 93 octane towing tune (turned off the 1-3 skip shift + raised shift points to keep the motor in more of the TQ range)
4) A 75hp dry shot nitrous tune.

My daily drivers and the nitrous tune are nearly identical except for timing, fuel, and egr. The towing tune has identical engine tuning as my 93 daily. But the tranny shift points, skip shift, and TQ convertor lockups are significantly different. I must say.. turning off the skip shift makes a world of difference in acceleration at light throttle. Gotta wait til summer to really test it with the boat though.

Rich

 

^^Very good Sir. Thank you. OH...forgot to mention....transmission functions mean nothing to me...i shift it myself via a stick out the floor and an extra pedal. lol. Thanks for the insight sir, i'm sure i'll ask advice again soon...

Shane

 

On the stick vs. auto. i have an auto in my truck because its easy to drive and I dont have to work getting around town. However, For real play I wish I had a manuel so I can get more control gear to gear.This argument can go on forever. So if some rice rocket driver want to think hes the man by driving a stick then all I have to say is jump in a semi and lets see if you can hang with a real manuel tranny

 

I agree with that.

On my ranger I've used a mindset for tuning the tranny. Above a certian speed the convertor goes into lockup *right after the shift*. And it's at a low speed too. I've tried to make it kind of like a clutchless manual.

This took much time of trail and error. I found that too low a rpm and the drivetrain will lug and vibrate. There is a part throttle sweet spot for lockup where the truck won't bog... yet the rpms drop maximizing mpg as well as acceleration. And to make it MUCH more complicated this in not on a linear curve either. It took mucho trial and error to get it right and to learn what does what.

I suspect this is why the tuning companies don't do much more than WOT tuning on a dyno then sell thier "product" for $300+
All the small part throttle areas is where you'll put the time in.

For example.. there are two roads I travel on for my work. One is a 25mph zone for 2 miles and the other is a 40mph zone for 6 miles. In the 25zone my ranger as stock wouldn't go into lockup. And in the 45mph zone I can either be at 2000rpms locked in 4th. Or in 5th and not locked. Both areas are now done in lockup where I just bump along as if I had a manual tranny.

Rich

 

What does manuel think about this? Have you asked him?

 

gross...

 

Maybe you could answer a question for me. I finally bought an X3 to correct my speedo. I have 33's with a 4.30 gear(I think stock was 225/70/15 with a 3.55). I thought my truck was over geared, or....putting on miles too fast. I used 615 for revs/mile and it seems like it's even more in that direction. Does a lower number revs/mile = higher speedo reading and odometer runner faster?

 

a stock auto ranger with a tune, towing, performance, whatever tunes are available, are able to get better shift points, but what exactly are you doing?

i mean are you basically lagging the computer? not letting it upshift and keeping the governor pressure steedy or what. kinda confused

wouldnt this cause more wear on the convertor since you are not letting it shift therefore causing more heat then stock.

Have you messed with stall at all? any convertors out there for performance for us 4-banger guys that youve seen that would work well with these tunes?

 

You know what I meant, nice try though I'll give ya credit for digs however lame they were.