Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Forced Induction Finally going to get a dyno pull... Complicated...

I actually have a dyno scheduled for next Thursday for the Cougar. Excessive Motorsports in Manassas, VA was where we held a chapter dyno a few years back- They were d*cks to us back then, but the dude I spoke to today seems cool. Told him what was up with the car, and he said he didn't want to tune it, but he'd let me on the dyno for 3 runs with the wideband O2.

Now here's the dilema. I still have my 2nd ADC chip (1st one was defective). It ran well, but didn't open the secondaries . The 4th chip is in the car (the 3rd ADC chip ran the car so lean it wouldn't pull much past 4k - Needless to say, I pulled it out immediately). Problem is the thing is drowning in fuel at its leanest of 3 settings Keith gave me.

Which do I dyno on? Pin the secondaries open and see what happens with the 2nd chip, or run rich as hell with the 4th chip? Running <10:1 A/F will crack piston ring lands over 3 runs, I fear...

After hearing about JD's dealings with ADC I wouldn't trust their tunes. After Keiser left all the tunes by Keith or otherwise have been very sub par. I'll be going with Brenspeed by the looks of it. Why is it so hard to find someone that can do our cars correctly?! I wish JD would post his experience. He is on his 3rd. When finally data logging he found he was dangerously lean. After pulling the chip the fuel trims were pretty much spot on with the stock computer. Just a word to the wise.

Dan, it sounds like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you pin the secondaries on chip# 2, you don't really get an accurate reading of what your power looks like down low. You use chip# 3 and you potentially say bye-bye to your engine. Or you use chip# 4 and leave disappointed with your numbers. If you're looking souly for number, I'd go chip# 2 and pin the secondaries. Sounds like the safest bet of the 3.

And Todd, I think you'd be making the right choice in going with Brenspeed. Unlike ADC, if you want to make some adjustments to the initial tune, Brent is willing to help you out at no additional charge. ADC told me I'd have to pay them I believe $80(?) for additional tunes, and that's if THEY messed up!!

Hell, my tune is pretty spot on with Brent's first series of tunes, but was more than happy to send me more files with some more timing added, just so I could see if it could handle it. Maybe I could contact him before SZ06 and he could get us a group buy on them in time for the dyno, if anyone is interested.

Mark

Return the "static" chip and get an X-Cal. ANYTHING that does not let you tune it on the dyno yourself (or via the operator) is a waste of money. It's as simple as that.

Concur.

Dans car is a Beast. He built a car unlike anything else that has ever been built. I would love to have it to tune in the shop. We have been working on getting his car tuned to its maximum potential over the mail. Dans tune was also being affected by his fuel pump problems. Chris was having the same problem with the Walbro pump until he figured out how to get the pump to work properly in the Contour. I have no idea to what extent the fuel pump issue changed the tune. It did change the tune enough to switch him from having lean problems to way to much fuel problems. There is no magical I just fixed my fuel pump switch on the chip. Now that the fuel pump issue has been addressed, Dan and us have been working on putting together a tune.

As far as the $80 charge I am a little lost??? Are you saying that if we sell you a tune and it doesn�t work we charge you more???? This I have never done before. If you make a ton of changes to the car and want for us to make you a new program then yes there is a fee evolved.

As far as mail order tunes go. They will not give you the absolute most power. If that was the case we would have not bought a $120,000 dyno. But since we do have a dyno and have tuned tons of Contours and Cougars, we have a lot of information which gives us the ability to get you a chip or program over the mail that will give you more power, raise your speed limit, turn off rear 02 sensors, ect. over stock.

The basic X-cal ($350ish) comes with either a stock binary (waste of money) or preset tune (find a good tuner) with some preset changes. It allows you to make changes in most of the key areas and up to a certain percentage based off the original setup. (i.e. yes the original guesstimate needs to be fairly close) Drivability will still likely be rough on highly modified cars. There are a few things you can't change that you'll want to be able to do.

The Pro package about doubles the price (~650ish) but gives you the awesome software that lets you make complete custom tunes yourself. This is a must for anyone that has made any serious changes to their car. $650 is NOTHING compared to the dyno time it will save verses a static mail order chip and the game of dyno tag you need to play with them.