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Good place to get a tune in Cleveland area?

B

bullion

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
132
Location
Cleveland, OH
Anyone know of a good place in the Cleveland area to get my CSVT tuned? I can't say I know much if anything about tuning so any help you can offer me would be appreciated!
 
mmm akron horse power.. in well akron lol

and CRT performance in norwalk are two off the top of my head...
 
I would say to go to akron horsepower. Thats were i got my 98 Mystique tuned at. Great guys and they love these cars.

Billy
 
What is a ballpark price I can expect to pay at Akron Horsepower? Also, is it fair to assume by getting a tune I will have to ditch my Superchip?

I used to work in Twinsburg, OH and I know there is a place called Mustang Dynamometer there but I don't know anything about the company other than they have a nice website. Has anyone heard anything good or bad about them?
 
Id say probably expect $500 for a tune. That may or may not include dyno time. Personally, I would get a chip or SCT X-cal from Nautilus then go to Akron to make a couple dyno pulls with AFR readings so Nautilus can fine tune it after that.
 
Really? $500 for a tune? I just want to know what to expect so I don't get ripped off.

Has anyone tried having their Superchip re-flashed with a new tune? This is assuming that I could have a place like Akron Horsepower program a new tune onto my Superchip.
 
well is it a super chip or is it a SCT chip? if its SCT (superchip custom tuning) then you can have yours reflashed, if its non-sct then i doubt that they will be able to flash it, due to lack of software to do so.
 
It is a Superchip. Assuming they would not be able to burn a tune into my Superchip, what SCT hardware would I have to buy from them? Do I have to buy the SCT X-Cal 2 or is there a cheaper solution?
 
I'd give them a call and ask, maybe they can re-burn what you got :shrug:
But to answer your question, SCT is the best tuning option for '96+ Fords IMO. They can burn you a custom chip cheaper than buying an X-cal 2 or 3, but the X-cal allows you to read/clear codes, change parameters in the tune you get, return to the stock tune, and store several tunes.
Xcal 2 will allow you to datalog with a laptop in the car and the X-cal 3 will datalog directly on the handheld. So, it is more but gives you some good options.
If you don't plan on using any of those, you could have them burn you a custom SCT chip and save money---same performance, but not the options I listed.
Good luck, J
 
I got my pricing answer....$450 if I already have an SCT chip or $550 if I don't have an SCT chip.

I have one last question. Does anyone have some ballpark estimates as to what kind of performance gains I could expect to see after getting a tune done on my stock 2.5L SVT engine? I know this answer will be partially influenced by the performance modifications I have done, but I am just trying to convince myself that the tuning will actually be worth $550.

Not sure if this will help your answer, but my engine performance modifications are as follows:

*SHO-Shop y-pipe with hi-flow catalytic covnerter
*TruBendz 2.5" non-resonated, Magnaflow cat-back exhaust
*Optimized throttle body
*Superchip (which I will obviously get rid of if I decide to get a tune)
*Intake (BAT inlet pipe with MAF adapter and K & N filter)
*Lower degree thermostat (but that probably won't make a difference)
 
if i were you, i wouldnt get a tune just yet. if you are planning to buy more performance parts in the future, it would be best to tune the car after all of the parts are put on.
 
I don't plan on doing much more which is why I am considering a tune. Besides, there really isn't much more you can do to these cars other than get headers or go forced induction. Neither of which I want to do.
 
bullion said:
I don't plan on doing much more which is why I am considering a tune. Besides, there really isn't much more you can do to these cars other than get headers or go forced induction. Neither of which I want to do.
Click to expand...

3L is a big upgrade
 
Sure it is, but I am talking about mods to the stock 2.5L. In my opinion, these cars are not worth spending that much time or money on to do the 3L swap or forced induction. Not to mention, you stand a much higher risk to have premature part failure. Also, if these cars ever do become highly sought after or even a collector's car, it would be wise to keep things fairly stock.

Any ways, back to the topic at hand. Are you guys saying that tunes are not really worth it on the naturally aspirated 2.5L SVT engine?
 
bullion said:
I got my pricing answer....$450 if I already have an SCT chip or $550 if I don't have an SCT chip.

I have one last question. Does anyone have some ballpark estimates as to what kind of performance gains I could expect to see after getting a tune done on my stock 2.5L SVT engine? I know this answer will be partially influenced by the performance modifications I have done, but I am just trying to convince myself that the tuning will actually be worth $550.

Not sure if this will help your answer, but my engine performance modifications are as follows:

*SHO-Shop y-pipe with hi-flow catalytic covnerter
*TruBendz 2.5" non-resonated, Magnaflow cat-back exhaust
*Optimized throttle body
*Superchip (which I will obviously get rid of if I decide to get a tune)
*Intake (BAT inlet pipe with MAF adapter and K & N filter)
*Lower degree thermostat (but that probably won't make a difference)
Click to expand...

Geez, they are making a killing on that SCT chip. Jerry, the guy that tuned my car...if he had to reburn a chip, he would just trash the other the chip and flash a new chip. Of course, most of the stuff he did would just reflash the pcm anyways so it cuts out that step.

Anyways, depending on how its running right now, I would say AT LEAST 10 hp. Y2KSVT with his pretty much perfectly tuned modded 3.0L hybrid from the get go, picked up 10 whp from an X-CAL 2. I'd say with a good tune, you could probably get into the mid 180 whp.
 
beyondloadedSE said:
Anyways, depending on how its running right now, I would say AT LEAST 10 hp. Y2KSVT with his pretty much perfectly tuned modded 3.0L hybrid from the get go, picked up 10 whp from an X-CAL 2. I'd say with a good tune, you could probably get into the mid 180 whp.
Click to expand...
I've never had a Contour tuned, but from my experience with Mustangs, the tune will give some extra peak HP (in a mildly modded NA application like yours) but help mid-range power (and possibly driveablility) more.
-J
 
Well, I am in no rush to get a tune done especially for $550. There is a tuning place locally that my previous employer worked with on a project so I might explore that option if I can talk them into giving me a deal. I wasn't planning on getting headers for this car because of their cost and the stories I read about how much of a pain they are to install, but now I am realizing they might be a cheaper option than a tune. Although, adding headers might make the car too loud for my taste since I am only running a hi-flow catalytic converter and a non-resonated TruBendz cat-back. Has anyone tried running headers with just a main cat and a non-resonated cat-back?
 
I hate to resuscitate an old thread, but I'm in the Cleveland area as well and thinking about getting a tune. Wondering if you did anything about it.

My mods are much milder than yours though, just a Magnaflow resonator and an AFE Pro-Dry filter.

So $550 to gain maybe 5whp doesn't sound worth it.
 
bxd20 said:
I hate to resuscitate an old thread, but I'm in the Cleveland area as well and thinking about getting a tune. Wondering if you did anything about it.

My mods are much milder than yours though, just a Magnaflow resonator and an AFE Pro-Dry filter.

So $550 to gain maybe 5whp doesn't sound worth it.
Click to expand...

dont bother. where in cleveland are you? ive only seen one stock T-red in cleveland and it was an older man driving(60's)
 
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