Custom tuning verses regular tuning
 

I talked to a guy at ford racing and he said that if I put long tube headers and a high flow catback system that I would have to get a performance shop to tune the car coating anywhere from $500 to $1000. He also said that it would be better and cheaper if I just put short tube headers cold air intake, and new 3:73 gears in the differential using a dioblo predator tuner. He said the difference in horse power between the two would only be about 5 horse. The money would be a big difference. What do you think.....?

You probably won't have to get a dyno tune if you're just doing long tube headers. I'm pretty sure Justin from VMP tuning could send you a canned tune for it. I'd ask him to be sure, though.

it would be better for you to get the tune, canned would be ok, but better to take it to a shop.

Of course a dyno tune would be better, but it certainly isn't required as the Ford Racing guy he talked to mentioned.

What year car is it?

Regardless you can get a tune sent to you that will make the car run pretty good. But a dyno tune is gonna get the most power out of it and run better then a canned tune every time. I waited a long time to get my tune and wish I had done it sooner. My car runs so much better being tuned with all my mods.

Longtubes require a tune change (o2 sensor delay) or your fuel trims get all fucked up and the car can throw codes or just run crappy. A full exhaust system might be worth 25hp and a little loss of low end. The tune on a dyno will cost you about 500 bucks all in. Sound improvement is awesome, power meh... s'ok. Headers cost 400-600, install will be 800-1000, tune is another 500. So you're at 2/3 the cost of a blower for 1/4 of the power gain.

Shorties are a fucking joke. They are not going to help much if at all for the cost they present. Install is a bitch just like longtubes but the returns are nil.

If you can't just save that money for a few more months and get a blower and be happy with it, then 70mm TB, C&L plenum, JLT ram air kit (non-fenderwell type CAI), 3.73's and a SCT LiveWire (that will really help as you progress with your mods). I hate diablo handhelds myself, and their tuning software. It's 680 for the tuner with a base tune, the gears and install kit are usually available for 250 bucks, install is going to be probably 300, TB and Plenum you can find used for 150 bones for the set, the CAI is 200. So you save a couple hundred bucks but the difference when you drive it will be nuts. Mostly because of the gears. Truth be told, you could slap some 3.73's and a canned tune in it and probably be really happy but I still think you're going to be way happier just slapping 8lbs of boost in it.

The car is a 2007 GT, If I were to decide to tune it myself what tuner would I get the SCT or the Predator? in your opinion.

I'd check out what your local tuner uses.

Im not for sure I understand, why would I have to see what the local tuner uses? A hand held tuner is just a hook up under the dash that ask questions about the car such as tire size, rear gears, headers so on.

Your local tuner will use your handheld tuner if you have one. The handheld device is just a means of uploading a tune to your ECU.

If your local tuner uses SCT, it will come in handy to have an SCT tuner should you ever decide to get it professionally tuned, and same thing applies with diablosport.

Ok, now if it all checks out that he uses a sct and I buy one, then a few months down the road I decide to put a rear 3:73 gear in can I go back and retune the car for the upgrade with no problems

yes. the gear change is a scalar change and can be updated without messing with the rest of the tune.

cool, Thank you for your help. Now I can start ordering the cold air and tuner