Ecu tuning

[Lgibbi]

Hey yall. New to the forum. But does anyone know of tunes available for a 97 5.0 monty. Just got wrapped up with a 306 build. TFS 1 cam, ported gt40s, intake spacer. Removed secondary cats 2.5 inch exhaust from headers to just before rear axle it going into a 2.5 dual to single 3 inch muffler with a turn down.
**I know i need to get TMH’s**LOL. Didn’t want to wait a year. And i know im losing low end with the cam selection and i know i shouldve went with a custom grind but i didn’t and this is what i got.
With all that being said i need a tuner. I am open to options but I’ve been looking at the SCT tuner. But I need someone to write me a custom tune for it. And it looks like speedy Dyno closed up shop and Henson did too. Does anyone know of any others who can write a sct tune for a 97 monty

 

[vroomzoomboom]

LaSota Racing Technologies

LaSota Racing Technologies is one of the first SCT Dealers in the country and the first in Ohio. When SCT needed experts to train new dealers to tune cars, they called on the experts at LaSota Racing to help with that task. LaSota Racing has been traveling and training new dealers since SCT started.

lasotaracing.com

Performance Car Services in Dallas, GA | MO’s Speed Shop

Get your muscle car or performance automobile working optimally with the help of MO’s Speed Shop in Dallas, GA. Contact us now.

mosspeedshop.com

 

[TribeZ]

Second voucher for Lasota Racing!

First, get the TMH!!!

 

[JoshT]

Hey yall. New to the forum. But does anyone know of tunes available for a 97 5.0 monty. Just got wrapped up with a 306 build. TFS 1 cam, ported gt40s, intake spacer. Removed secondary cats 2.5 inch exhaust from headers to just before rear axle it going into a 2.5 dual to single 3 inch muffler with a turn down.

Thank you for making this post. I've got a similar build and was about to ask for recommendations myself. Biggest difference being that I have got the knockoff TMH headers, but the factory pipes through the rear O2s. All 2.5" pipe from there back to a single 2.5" muffler turned down infront of the rear axle. Only intended to be temporary while I sorted suspension hanges, now I got to get it fixed before my ears start bleeding.

I was planning to use a different tuner than those listed here. He's fairly popular and I think good, but a few things he's insisting on are driving me off. I've already picked up an X4 tuner, so I'll give these guys a look before I make a comittment.


@TribeZ and @vroomzoomboom

​

I take it that at least one of you has personally used Lasota? Can you personally vouch for Mo's?

Lasota sound great, but Mo's is relatively close if I need in person support. 10 hours away in Ohio vs 2 hours away in state.

How do they do on after sale support, after sending the completed tune. Like if you upgrade throttle body, MAF, Injectors, gear ratios, or other things that need minor adjustments in tuning? How about bigger items like changing heads or cams?

I see that Lasota mentions needing a wideband O2 sensor for datalogging to finish the custom tune. I'm pretty sure any tuner would like to have that. What is involved in setting up and using one? I'm not limited to the X4 handheld device for pulling logs fromt he ECU, I also have ForSCAN on my laptop and OBDII cable that should do it. Works on my F-250 anyway, and probably logs faster than the X4 handheld.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

ive used both tuners. lasota for when i had my sct in the truck, mo's for when i switched to a holley terminator x.
don - super smart guy to the point i believe he teaches a lot of the guys that tune with sct. he has also spotted problems that you might have that you dont know about by looking at your tune, and can tell you how to correct it.
mo's - marty and jeff know their stuff as well. granted they did a holley in my truck, but i dont have a common set up either, nor was my install. both of them were able to get my truck running after switching to a terminator x system where others couldnt. i had also ran out of time to tune the truck but there were more then happy to pick up in the spring time where they left off.
both were great to deal with, happy to help you with any problems you had, and very patient as well, and that is something i look for when someone is tuning my truck. just because they know how to do it like the back of there hand, doesnt mean i do and both shops know that.

 

[410Fortune]

Can we do a group buy? I would love to do a little tuning on my setup as well hahaha let us know what comes of this

 

[JoshT]

Group buy... I doubt it'll happen, but sounds interesting.

I'll reach out to both when I get other issues sorted, or when I get to the point that the tune itself could be causing my problems.

May be there already, kind of chasing my tail with poor idle and misfire. Almost ready to fire the parts cannon a little bit. I'll hash that out in another thread if I can't make headway soon. Tonight, I'm too tired to think about it very much.

 

[JoshT]

Thanks again @vroomzoomboom

I accidentally contacted Lasota this week, and I think Don may have earned a new customer.

I was running through their tune form seeing what information I had and what I was missing. Intending to copy to a text document and save for reference in a few weeks. Well somewhere during the process I accidentally hit enter and they contacted me the next day. Even though I'm not yet a paying customer and hadn;t filled half of the form, Don took the time to answer several questions I was going to have about the truck and process.

Over the next few weeks I'll be building or buying a smoke machine to leak test my intake and exhaust. Was already considering that and he highly suggested it independent of my saying anything. I'll be locating an exhaust shop to build me a full header back 2.5" dual exhaust system, probably with high flow cats. I'll also be ordering a set of 24lb Ford Performance injectors, they'll run ~30 lb with the 65 psi system, and hunting for a good price on the wideband 02 setup in prep for the tuning.

Mo's may be a lot closer, but I was already going for remote tuning and you can't argue with the customer service or reviews.

Now if only I could get someone with CS like that to build me some custom control arms. One problem at a time...

 

[vroomzoomboom]

you wont go wrong with either. don was always very quick with his turn around for emailing revisions of tunes. i have never had any problems recommending him to anyone.
if i had the wideband out of my truck i would let go, just dont have the time at the moment to pull it, and that might not happen until next spring hopefully. good luck with your tuning, never be afraid to as don anything, there is no dumb question with him.

 

[JoshT]

Thanks

I don't have a problem buying a wideband, I'm just trying to figure out which one.

Lasota is recommending a Zentronix ZT-2 because it has it's own logging software inputs and logging software. According to them it is easier on the user to put one of those inputs to the MAF, and they will crossreference the maf signal between the Zentronix and SCT datalogs. They say a lot of people have problems with connecting a wideband through the X4 and this is easier. I'm not really seeing that issue and not sure that taping a signal from the MAF and running two loggers, is any easier than inputting the signal to the X4 and connecting in livelink. Also not sure that "ease" is worth around the cost for something I don't intend to keep installed. I did spot a used one on ebay for $135 BIN missing the sensor, but that sensor is ~100 by itself.

Searched your post history to see what wideband you use and it looks like an Innovative LC-1. I can't tell if they are still building that one, but did you have any issues getting it connected through the SCT and working in Livelink? I'm computer savy so I don't think that the computer end will be an issue, and the instructions for analog inputs on the X4 don't look difficult either.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

member @Dono and i put that in the truck 12 or 13 years ago. i really cant say how it went. i do know dono did the majorly of it because he had just finished putting one in his black truck that he had at the time. i remember for what ever reason we cut his out if his truck and put it in mine, but i dont recall why.

 

[Dono]

I did not go the zentronix route. I looked seriously at it since Don Lasota really cerommends them for accuracy.
I don't think its any easier to tune with using SCT livelink.
The price chased me away.

The innovative LC1 works fine. Before doing any serious tuning, I like to re-calibrate, and adjust for any ground offset.
I am quite confident this makes the LC1 extremely close. We are not worried about a slight error for what we are doing.

 

[JoshT]

I did not go the zentronix route. I looked seriously at it since Don Lasota really cerommends them for accuracy.
I don't think its any easier to tune with using SCT livelink.
The price chased me away.

The innovative LC1 works fine. Before doing any serious tuning, I like to re-calibrate, and adjust for any ground offset.
I am quite confident this makes the LC1 extremely close. We are not worried about a slight error for what we are doing.

Thanks for the feedback, but my wideband literally arrived in the mail today.

I guess I kind of went middle ground and splurged a little where I probably shouldn't have.

I ended up settling on the 14point7 wideband products. Liked the featureset for the price. My plan is to use this wideband for this tuning job, then stick it on the shelf for a future project. I've got an 85 Ranger with the 2.3L that I want to start fixing up when I get "done" with this one. I fully intend for it to end up turbocharged with a PiMP ECU, that's a Megasquirt 3 based ecu customized for that generation of Fords, and I'm going to need the wideband for it too.

With that in mind I selected the Spartan 3 v2, because it has more features that would be beneficial using with the MS to include CAN interface. Then I splurged a little extra and went with the newer Bosch LSU ADV O2 sensor. Buy once, cry once. Really it was more that I liked the feature set again. Better accuracy, higher resolution, and allegedly more robust from my reading.

Came out to be $240. About $100 less than the basic ZT-2 system that Lasota suggested. More than I wanted to spend, but within what I felt was acceptable given the added features. Realistically I could have ordered the equivalent to the ZT-2 which would be the the "Spartan 3 Lite v2" w/ LSU 4.9 sensor and spent less than $150, but I think this was the better choice given future plans.

Now I've just got to get exhaust and everything else squared away so that I can use it. Magnaflow cat pipes were ordered today, so hopefully not too much longer.

 

[donalds]

I used an AEM wideband and don lasota for the tune.
Both work great

 

[Dono]

I went with the 4.9 on my mustang, just because the older sensor died. Josh, you can't go wrong with the choices you made.