Computer tunes evaluation: Phase 1

[aldive]

The first phase of the evaluations ( http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125327&highlight=computer+tune ), the subjective evaluation of overall drivability, power, and shifts, has been completed and the data is presented below.

I was one of the test drivers, a 32 year old male was another tester and the third tester was a 45 year old male. All of the drivers are experienced high performance car drivers.


Overall driving impression
Driver A Driver B Driver C
Apten
93 economy A A A
87 economy A B A

Hypnotic Illusions
93 max power C B C
93 economy C C C
87 economy D C C

BAMAChips
93 torque A A A
93 performance A A A
93 economy A A A
89 performance A A A
89 economy A A A
87 performance A A A
87 economy A A A

Stock B C B
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Power
Driver A Driver B Driver C
Apten
93 economy A A A
87 economy B B C

Hypnotic Illusions
93 max power A A A
93 economy A A A
87 economy B C B

BAMAChips
93 torque A A A
93 performance A A A
93 economy A B A
89 performance A A A
89 economy A B A
87 performance B B B
87 economy B B A

Stock C C C
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shifts
Driver A Driver B Driver C
Apten
93 economy A A A
87 economy A A A

Hypnotic Illusions
93 max power C C C
93 economy C C C
87 economy C C C

BAMAChips
93 torque A A A
93 performance A A A
93 economy A A A
89 performance A A A
89 economy A A A
87 performance A A A
87 economy A A A

Stock B B B

What the letters signify:

Drivability overall:
A excellent
B good
C average
D poor

Power:
A excellent
B good
C average
D poor

Shifts:
A snappy and crisp
B smooth
C harsh

This first of the evaluations was very subjective and is the opinion of the test drivers based on no previous knowledge of the tune involved.

The Apten chip that Brian Herron originally customized for me ( November, 2002 http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62783&highlight=apten+install ) was not included in this evaluation since I no longer own the chip, however, my impression of that tune was excellent in all three of the areas ( overall drivability, power, shifts ).

Apten ( http://www.apten-us.com/ ) : Brian went out of his way to help me via E Mails and phone conversations. However, since I want to go the Flasher rout to make changing tunes easier with no hardware ( chip ) involved. I had been very pleased with the service Apten provided by Brian, therefore I decided to get my Flasher from them even though I knew Brian was now at SCT. Another member on this site always bad mouths Apten but I can truly say that I was provided with prompt and admirable service. I had many E Mail communications with Gene Fine at Apten.. Yet, recently, the service from Apten has taken a slide, they are non responsive to queries and slow or mostly not willing to return phone calls. It appears that Brian was the heart and soul of this firm and when he moved on, they just dropped the ball.

Hypnotic Illusions ( http://www.hypillauto.com/ ): Wayne Foy was very easy to deal with and customized the tunes based on my input. The scores of the tunes by Hypnotic Illusions are lower based solely on the very harsh shifts. In all fairness to Wayne, I am certain he will adjust the shifts to make these tunes acceptable. I shall contact him about that right away.

BAMAChips ( http://www.bamachips.com/ ): I have had many phone as well as E Mail conversations with Doug Studdard of BamaChips. Doug truly cares about his costumers and goes way above and beyond to provide outstanding service. Further, it would be hard to fins anyone with more knowledge about the Ford 4.0 engine than Doug. He created a performance 93 octane performance program, a 93 economy tune as well as an 89 economy tine. Doug would fine tune his tunes based on my input and often based on what he thought “would work” for me. I bet “we” retunes the tunes a dozen times.

Stock: The factory tune had average power and smooth but mushy shifts.

The next phase of the testing will be gas mileage.

 

[celly]

Al, interesting analysis. If you're referring to me as the one who "always bad mouths" Apten, (and that's a big assumption, but when you leave that person nameless it's easy to jump to conclusions especially since I just reviewed my own chip two days ago), then I think you're a tad over the top. I liked Gene Fine, when I could finally get him on the phone. He was a nice guy. He was the first person to tell me that aftermarket MAFs were a waste of time and that throttle body spacers were plastic snake oil. I wasn't going to buy the latter based on the low incidence of good reviews or empirical evidence that they do anything, but was ready to drop the bucks on a Pro-M. He also finally returned the odd email after we made phone contact. Before the call I sent several emails over the span of a week and not a single reply. I was satisifed with my Apten chip for the most part, but often had issues with it once installed (never did solve the problem with CEL errors on highway drives, a different code thrown each time which disappeared once I removed the chip). Probably related to connection issues, but that doesn't explain why it still doesn't feel as good as the other two programs to ME. I bought my Apten chip in August/September of '04, which is well beyond Brian's stay with the company. I feel a bit cheated that I never got to deal with him, but the alternatives are better.

For the longest time I actually steered people Apten's way and told them to call Gene directly to cut through the apparent poor customer service that plagues the "new Apten". That was due to MANY other people bad mouthing Apten and I thought they were a bit harsh.

Looking forward to the dyno results.

 

[smiley1]

Very nice job.

I wonder how different the shifts are on your truck vs. mine with Wayne's program. I really like the shifts. Under normal driving it is very tame, almost seamless. Under heavy throttle it will put you back in your seat. Just the way I like it.

 

[celly]

Very nice job.

I wonder how different the shifts are on your truck vs. mine with Wayne's program. I really like the shifts. Under normal driving it is very tame, almost seamless. Under heavy throttle it will put you back in your seat. Just the way I like it.

That's sort of how my Hypnotic programming feels too.

 

[Premier]

subscribe. Looks like BAMA is the way to go.

 

[MONMIX]

Cool job Al.

 

[Doug904]

Where's your dyno results?? ahahaha...Just Kidding!!

I'm glad your happy with your tuning Al and look foward to seeing if we can squeeze anymore MPG's out of it in the future as that looks like one thing I may need to do some more research on. Still it is truly hard to get both MPG's and performance as there is a fine line in between the two in tuning.

Thanks for all your effort in short.

Doug.

 

[Interstate]

Are you going to make a new thread for phase 2, or continue here? Can you list how much you got eash flasher at as well?

 

[aldive]

Are you going to make a new thread for phase 2, or continue here?

Can you list how much you got eash flasher at as well?

Each Phase of the testing ( 3 in all ) will be presented as a separate thread.

I am not sure what you are asking? I only have 1 Flasher ( the SCT Microtuner 9100 ). I purchased the Microtuner from Apten ( http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108461&highlight=flasher for $410.00 including 2 custom tunes ).

The tunes are e mailed to me as a file (.xtr ) and I load them into my Microtuner using the software, Extrme Tune, available free from SCT [ http://www.sctflash.com/xtreme.php ]. If you are asking what the individual tunes cost, you can get this information by contacting the tuner directly, I shall not post these proces.