Custom tune by Henson

[Bobbylew]

For my Christmas present I purchased an SCT X3 Power Flash with custom tune from Henson Performance. There has been a lot of praise posted on this forum about James Henson's tuning knowledge and customer support. From my experience to this point in the custom tune development process the praise is warranted. James has been very responsive to my performance requests and my numerous questions. He has drawn on his extensive knowledge to provide a tune that enchances performance while maintaining and even improving driveability compared to the stock PCM program.

My 2000 SOHC engine, transmission and rear axle are completely stock except for the air intake system that consists of a Spectre high flow cone filter with 4 inch diameter outlet feeding a Ford Lightning 90 mm MAF sensor. The 4 inch diameter intake tube reduces to 3 inches just prior to the Ford 75mm ported and polished racing throttle body. An adapter transitions the 75 mm throttle body outlet to the 65 mm upper intake manifold inlet. The photo below shows the intake system.
View attachment 57365
The PCM utilizes the voltage output from the MAF sensor to calculate engine load. Increasing the MAF sensor diameter from 55 mm (stock) to 90 mm results is a large decrease in sensor output voltage for any given airflow. Therefore, a custom tune was required to prevent engine damage due to an excessively lean fuel mixture.

Well, this is an old post and I hope you are still enjoying the extra performance. Unfortunately, it looks like Henson Performance is no longer in operation. All I'm looking for is a way to get my friend's 2004 Explorer XLS back in operation. The poor guy has managed to lose every, single PATS Coded key and doesn't have the money to take it to a dealer for reprogramming, etc. I got an X3 used and contacted SCT about getting a custom tune to eliminate the PATS altogether. All I got in return was they told me to find a dealer near me and contact them.

I'm beginning to think that SCT wants to sell these tuners, take the money and to hell with everyone else! I'm also, thinking I've been sold a bill of goods in a handheld package! SCT make tuners, or SCAM Boxes?

Your friend's cheapest and least complicated solution is to find a PATS qualified locksmith and get 3 keys made. It will take about 45 minutes and cost around $300. The locksmith with his equipment must be with the vehicle. Either you tow the vehicle to the locksmith or comes to the vehicle.
Your X3 can reprogram the PCM to disable the PATS but only after it downloads an image of the PCM program which requires a PATS recognized key. Reprogramming also requires a custom tune to load into the PCM. The custom tune will cost about $150 or you can purchase SCT's custom tuning capability for about $400. If PATS was easy to defeat it would not be an effective theft deterrent.

As far as I'm concerned, PATS, VATS and all of the so-called "theft deterrent" are government mandated items that cause more problems than they solve, but we have to live with them. Who would want to steal a 12 year old P.O.S, in the first place? Oh well.

I found a firm who will sell me a programmed/updated PCM with 2, coded uncut keys for under $300.00 so that may be the way to go. I love the guy like a brother, but he gets goofy about certain things and one is trailering it to a dealer. What the heck. We're all goofy. How he could manage to lose every coded key is amazing to me! LOL Thanks for the input.

 

[2000StreetRod]

I have three different coded keys for my PATS vehicles. That way if I lose a key I can purchase another key and program the PCM to recognize it. However, there are now machines available at Ace Hardware that can clone a key at a reasonable price which makes that an option.