Hand held tuners for the 1998 model year...
10-20-2009, 09:10 PM
#1
Staging Lane
Thread Starter
Hand held tuners for the 1998 model year... Why am I having such a hard time finding any kind of hand held tuner for a 1998 F body? So far the only one that I can find is the Hypertech Power Programmer 3, and the stuff that I have read about it says that it's not so great. Other companeies like Diablosport, Superchips, etc only list 99-02. What gives?
10-20-2009, 09:50 PM
#2
The market demands products for the newer cars where has cars like yours and mine are now getting older. I have a Hypertech for mine but got it for other reasons like fan settings, shift points, tire size, etc. I also set it to the performance tune and it did run a lil better than stock so in my case I was happy for what I paid. Thats said, most guys don't like them and would rather take that money for a hand held and add some more money for a full dyno tune which can cost $200-500. However one alternative you should consider is a mail order tune, where you take your PCM out of you car, mail it to a tuner and they send it back "upgraded" One such tuner is FROST and just search around here for his info, he charges $125 and has gotten a lot of good reviews for his work. It really all depends how mild or wild you car is and exactly what your looking to do.
10-21-2009, 06:23 AM
#3
You do have other choices. Go with a full-on tuning solution, such as EFILive or HPTuners. This would require a computer (most use a laptop) and some study on your part. Upgrade the PCM to a 99 or newer, which would open up a whole plethora of solutions, including real-time tuning. Or settle for the HPP3, which will do the things listed previously, but the tune is useless.
10-21-2009, 08:24 PM
#4
Staging Lane
Thread Starter
Thanks for the info there, guys. I was looking at doing the Hypertech specifically for when I decide to put a set of 3.42 gears in the car(upgrading from 2.73). The car is not a full out drag car or anything, my finacee drives it to school everyday. I have just the basic bolt on stuff as seen in my sig. I would like to get the rear 02's tuned out, and maximize my a/f ratios. I just can't afford a large downtime with the car because she needs to drive it 50 miles a day round trip. If I went and put the gears in without recalibrating the ECM, the tranny would shift all weird and I don't want anything bad to happen to it. Guess I will just have to wait and get everything done at the same time. Thanks again!
