Custom tune for a lightly modded L'?

[lgn_carter]

Hello everyone.

please ignore my previous post.


i bought my first lightning about 6 months ago. i got a deal for it for 14,900 and had it for like a week before i deployed to Iraq (feel my pain lol )

anyway, when i get back im gonna throw a SBTB and a upper plenum on it (already has a CAI), im not too interested in stacking on the boost yet, atleast gonna wait till after i get the truck paid off. and im looking to buy a SCT X3 flash tuner. but my question is.

If all i have is an upgraded CAI, SBTB, and upper plenum. do i need to bother getting a "custom tune" from RET, which Greg told me will run 400$. or will a tune that comes with the SCT do fine?

any recomendations and advice would be greatly appreciated.


i have alot of modding i want to do. my goal is a built engine with a 2.6L KB and the Comp R kit. but i dont have the highest paying job and i have to work my way up =]

 

[wydopnthrtl]

No not at all.

IMO though if the truck is otherwise stock, get a 4lb lower and the mail order tune / tuner to match. Trust me.. the truck will take it all day long and the power increase is amazing.

Regards,
Rich

 

[inuswo]

Usually the first tune is the expensive one, and the retunes aren't so bad.

Getting a tune done on a stock truck can still tap into otherwise unseen power too.

I'd pass on the SBTB and other parts, and go straight for a 4# lower pulley and tune. Thats about the most bang you can get for your buck right there as far as starter mods go.

 

[lgn_carter]

i would love to throw on a pulley and tune and be done with it.... but the problem is. i Live in 29 Palms CA (High Desert, 3500 ft above sea level, very thin, dry, and hot air) and i drive down to Oceanside and San Diego quite frequently (very cool, dense, moist air. at maybe 100 ft above sea level)

and ive read about L's blowing up because they give it a lil too much throttle in a cool place.... thats a nogo.


see my predicament? i think i spelt that right.....

 

[inuswo]

Take a look at where I live (Corona)

Usually in those cases its a pegged MAF and the tune isn't appropriate for the conditions (IE: It was tuned in 80* weather and someone went WOT in 40* weather).

When you get it tuned, you can get a cold weather tune, or just take it easy and not go WOT when its super chilly outside.

If you're that concerned with it though, I'd drop the power mods for now and get a wideband and some gauges. At least that way no matter what mods you do, you can keep an eye on things and hopefully prevent assploding your truck. Given the right conditions, even a stock truck can be popped.

 

[fishin-nole]

It'll give you more power. I still run stock pulleys, have shorty headers and the full Basanni system,and CAI. It put out 375/442 on the dyno, with a single program chip. Held the stock pulley record(4 years)until earlier this year.

 

[lgn_carter]

It'll give you more power. I still run stock pulleys, have shorty headers and the full Basanni system,and CAI. It put out 375/442 on the dyno, with a single program chip. Held the stock pulley record(4 years)until earlier this year.

what will give more power? a cold weather tune?

and is that 375 RWHP? or at the crank?


and if i get a cold weather tune... how will my truck run when its 115* in 29 palms?

too much fuel + not enough air = ???

 

[inuswo]

I'm still confused as to why you think you need to worry about cold weather in southern california lol. Those guys popping their trucks are hitting like 30-40 degree weather and going WOT in it. When's the last time you've seen air that cold out here?

 

[lgn_carter]

lol you have obviously never been to 29 palms in the winter... or summer. it snowed while i was in the field last year. living in a tin building with no heat... that isnt fun


but thats not my worry. im asking how the truck is going to react to going from such a climate change as 29 in the summer or winter (115* in the summer, below 30 at times in winter. where the air is extremely thin b/c of the altitude) to san diego where in the summer the temp is some 20 - 30* cooler, with much denser air. at merely 100 ft above sea level.... as compared to 3500 ft above sea level in 29.



or am i honestly giving this entirely too much thought?

 

[Robert Francis]

Those are all good questions, but for the most part, you'll find there are thousands of Lightnings producing high power all over the country in varied weather conditions and altitude conditions.

Temps around me vary from sub-zero to near 100 - and we find that the sensors on a Lightning and the PCM is pretty adaptable to varying weather conditions and able to compensate. Now that doesn't mean as drivers we don't adapt to differing weather conditons: most of us don't do any WOT when the outside air is below a certain temp or in above a certain temp and/or high humidity, etc.

 

[lgn_carter]

will the PCM adapt with the custom tune as well?

 

[lgn_carter]

ya know this is a dumb question.... but nonetheless its one i dont know the answer to. if i upgrade to a SCTB, CAI, and Upper plenum. a new tune is not mandatory correct? would just help with performance?

 

[Robert Francis]

You'll find that on a stock engine, just installing a SBTB, CAI, and a different upper pleneum (such as the C & L) will result in little to no power gains.

Unless the engine is ingesting much more air than stock, a bigger plenum won't make any real difference - the stock plenum is more than sufficient for stock airflow. Same for the SBTB. And there is little evidence that any of the CAI's allow for any significant power increase over the stock air box on a stock engine.

No additional "tuning" for these mod's is necessary as none of them really increases the air flow significantly into the engine.

 

[jeffs]

Well, I live in Wyoming and lately it has been getting into the mid 90's and in the winter, I'm sure I'll drive it hard a time or two with temps in the teens, I'm running a set of dynatech longtubes, and full exhaust, and right now I'm waiting on my 6# lower, line mod valve, and custom tuning from Troyer performance, along with colder plugs. I fully plan on being ported with a MAF upgrade and maybe some other aftermarket intake stuff by the middle of next winter, and I'll bet you'll hear no blowups from me.

Without including the cost of the headers, wich aren't terribly effective at my near future power level any ways, I'll be in it less than 1K, but my truck was purchased with a CAI and catback exhaust, so there's a chunk I didn't have to spend right out of the gate.

I agree with the others that recomend the "4# lower and mail order tune" from a reputable outfit, you'll be safe and going a lot quicker than the SBTB and other intake parts IMO. Just tell them the conditions you'll be encountering, how you drive, the maintenence history, etc, and he'll tell you if you'll be safe. These top name tuners are well aware of how word gets around on the net and they do not want to hear their name and blown up in the same sentences. LONG STORY SHORT, "ADD BOOST"!!