Pro Racer Package with Xcal 4 question

[Fanged03]

So I bought the PRP back in 2005 when it was an Xcal 2. Haven't messed with the car much since then. The laptop PRP was on crashed since then. I just got the Advantage 3 update and found that the Xcal 2 doesn't work with it, even after updating the firmware to the most recent. Also found the old advantage file format is different than the new one's. The only way I can tune is to build a tune send it to SCT to convert to LL3 format for me. My version of Advantage won't convert the files.

Does anyone else have this issue? If I upgrade to the Xcal 4 will the Advantage 3.0 load direct to it without any file conversion?

At a point of do I get an Xcal 4 or a different tuning package. Is there anything better out there?

Thanks,
Brent

 

[badcobra]

Xcal2 works fine for SCT PRP. That's all I ever used before I sold it off last year.

 

[cj428mach]

Before spending anymore money with SCT you might want to look at
www.coretuning.net

You can buy Binary Editor and a Mongoose cable for around $600 and you can pull the existing tune off your car and into BE to tune it. Binary Editor also gives you complete access to any strategy they have made so you can look at other things besides just 03-04 Cobras. You can also tune any car they have a strategy out for just an extra $96 per license.

If you add a quarterhorse chip to the package you can tune your car on the fly while its running....lets see SCT do that.

 

[Fanged03]

Thanks guys for the replies.

Bad - My xcal2 always worked good up until now that I have the latest software, the advantage 3 for some reason doesn't connect with my xcal 2 even though the software has a button for programing the xcal 2. What did you get to replace your sct stuff?

CJ - thanks for the reply. Do you currently have this setup? Would you be up for a phone convo? I did some looking on moates site but seems almost as confusing as sct's multiple devices and programs.

Anyone know anything about the HPtuner SW and Ngauge device?

 

[cj428mach]

Sct has dropped support for the xcal2 and some xcal3s. Its one of the things I hate most about sct, is anytime they want some $$$ they can drop support for an xcal and make you upgrade.

I do have BE and have ran it on my terminator for probably a year. I bought the mongoose cable and qh along with the software. I wanted to be able to tune on the fly so I added the qh. If you just get the mongoose cable then you must flash the car with the car off just like sct.

Ive also been a user of BE since 2010 on my street rod and love it. In my opinion the datalogging is 100x better. The guys at coretuning are awesome to deal with. They tried to talk me out of buying extra equipment even though I wanted an qh so I wouldn't have to swap it between vehicles. They also wanted to remote in and do an initial walk through even though I'd used their products before.

You can pm me if you'd like, I know Steve and Malcolm both use BE as well.

 

[badcobra]

Thanks guys for the replies.

Bad - My xcal2 always worked good up until now that I have the latest software, the advantage 3 for some reason doesn't connect with my xcal 2 even though the software has a button for programing the xcal 2. What did you get to replace your sct stuff?

I went to a Holley EFI system. I needed better control of fueling with the amount of compression I have and boost I run.

 

[MalcolmV8]

You should call SCT and see if they can help you. Having to do file conversions etc. doesn't sound right but then again I have the dealer version of the software so maybe its different for me.

If they force you to purchase more hardware / software I'd agree with Mike that you should look at Binary Editor with the Quarter Horse chip. For in person personal tuning it's a wonderful solution especially if you're new or tinkering with a lot of options on a complex combo and need to tune the car on the fly with the engine running and experiment with a lot of options.

I tune people's cars with both BE and SCT. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. In your situation I'd go BE.

 

[Fanged03]

Malcolm - I have been in talks with SCT tech support they are giving some effort however it always comes back to the X2 is to old and unsupported. Tried a tune SCT converted from mtf to cef for me but now with firmware version 1.28 on the X2 I can't connect to the eec.

I'm really liking the QH/BE combo from what I've been seeing. It seems BE is stronger than PRP in most areas, the areas it's are negligible. I haven't yet used it just reading and YouTube vids.

 

[MalcolmV8]

You're probably going to spend around $350 for a brand new X4 and probably more like $600 to get into the BE/QH setup from scratch but you'll really like it. It's a lot more powerful and feature rich for what you're doing.

Not to mention every change you make in SCT is a shutdown of the car, re-flash of the ECU where as BE/QH it's a click of the mouse and within a spit second the change is applied all while data logging and monitoring without any interruption to the running engine. Once you experience it you'll struggle to ever go back to SCT for what you're doing.

 

[GodStang]

Man you guys have my interest peeked. Since I change my setup so so often I go broke on Tuner Fees... I have always wanted to go PRP just never have.

 

[Fanged03]

godstang, my interest was peaked enough to buy the coretuning package after talking with Ben at Core Tuning. I could have got another SCT handheld and continued on for much less than what it cost me to go with BE, but I have such a bad taste from SCT now and the real time tuning aspect will make things so much easier. I'm real excited for delivery this coming week.

 

[cj428mach]

Man you guys have my interest peeked. Since I change my setup so so often I go broke on Tuner Fees... I have always wanted to go PRP just never have.

A big advantage of BE is being able to rip an existing tune off the car. So if you're pretty happy with your existing tune and want to just start tweaking on the edges BE will allow that.

With sct prp, unless you get a copy of your tune from the tuner in an mtf format you have to start from scratch.