blacksnake

After reading the GMHTP handheld programmer shootout, I was thinking of getting the Diablosport Predator. I know a lot of guys say skip the programmers and go right for a full tuning suite, but that seems like overkill for a light bolt on car like mine. I'm not doing headers or any major mods in the near future. I'm just looking to pick up a gain with one of the canned tunes, as well as being able to do some "beginner" tuning on the street/track.

My main question is, in the article, it appears as though they did some dyno tuning with a wideband on top of the canned Diablo tune. How much will the Diablo tune itself give? Will this be difficult to duplicate the GMHTP gains on my own at the track, or with someone riding along with me in the car?

I'm aware of the limitations of the stock narrowband O2's, and trying to tune without a wideband. However, GMHTP picked up almost 3 mph on a stock M6 LS1 with their Predator. If I could come close to that, it would easily worth the $370 or so.

Bottom line, can I come close to their results without a dyno and a wideband?

rich Z

If you have a laptop then get Hp tuners or something equivalent. I have a predator and just use it for reading live data and codes that might come up. I have the old 1.03 version which has no adjust at part throttle so the new one's are better. I have no money to send mine in for a upgrade. However even with the base canned tune I felt a big increase in power in the cold weather. In the heat major kr and pinging. Doing a seafoam treatment help some with that. In all it's the best handheld unit. Also a 160 thermostat is a must with most tunes to reduce pinging and kr.

Mike@Diablosport

iTrader: (2)

The Predator is very easy to use, and if you strap the car to a dyno for a few pulls, you should have no problem nailing the tune, and seeing similar gains to what they saw in the article.

Thanks
Mike

mtuggle86

iTrader: (7)

Hmm I just got a 180 thermastat for my car Ive read the 160 is to cold for mich weather will the difference in temp really cause me to kr that much more or is the 180 cold enough?

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

The 180 is the same as stock, return it before
you get it wet and put the money to some other
use. And don't bother with a 160 either. All you
want is fans properly set, and all the crud blown
out of the radiator and condenser fins.

blacksnake

So without the wideband/dyno tuning, I cannot duplicate those gains? I was hoping I could get close by tuning at the track and getting a rough idea from the narrowband O2's.

mtuggle86

iTrader: (7)

my thermastat is stuck open so I need to replace it I know the 180 is close to stock but I thought the stock temp was 187? but anyways 180 with the fans tuned prop will not run hot enough for excessive KR?

Mike@Diablosport

iTrader: (2)

Well, without knowing what your A/F ratio is to start, you should never make changes in one direction or the other as you dont really know which way to go...

Adding fuel is generally safe, but it will kill power if you are doing it 'just because'...if the car really wants more fuel (which can be seen easily with a W/B), then adding fuel will help quite a bit.

Now, you will be able to get real close by simply installing the canned tunes, as I recall all they did was add a small amount of timing to our canned tune for the gains they saw.

ItsNotStock

iTrader: (24)

Jimmy was politely telling you not to waste your money on a thermostat. I was a victim of the 160 temp hype. But if you think about it it makes sense-Once a thermostat is open, it's open irregardless of if you get a 160 or 180. Once your engine warms up (10 minutes) it doesnt matter what degree thermostat you have as you will never get your engine down to 180, or 160 for that matter. LS1's seem to like to run around 210 and actually perform better with some amount of heat soak. The cooling is done with the with the coolant itself. Thus the fan on/off points are going to be the main contributing factors and not the thermostat. You will not get knock retard for an engine being "too cold."

They claim 20hp on an unmodified engine. I had one back when my car was bone stock and I felt noticeable gains. Narrowbands are meant to read stoic plus or minus a few. I wouldn't tune off of them.

mtuggle86

iTrader: (7)

I know he was just trying to help I didnt mean to sound Like an *** Im changing it because I was running at 150 all the time because the thermastat was stuck open I changed it today and set the fan timing its now running around 190-195 and seems to be running much better Also I intalled the diablo tune today and It seems like a nice sotp gain Im happy with it tommarow Ill try dail in the LTFT and advance the timing to 28 and see if theres any more power to be gained

BTW I did a wot run tonight my narrowband O2 sensor reading in 3rd gear where jumping from 820mv-850mv so running lean? Also when I get the LTFT dial in it should be dead on right?