HP Tuners?

[krue]

Is it worth it to get the HP Tuners tuner? I'm doing a 6.0l/4L80E swap from an 03 Savana into my 70. Need to delete VATS, emissions and rear O2 sensors and turn electric fan controller on. I'm pretty sure I don't need a tuner suite for that, but I also want to be able to check all of the trouble codes and by the time I get a decent scanner and have my ecm flashed I'm getting close to the price of HP Tuners. Not to mention my sons both drive 03/04 Silverados and will get similar use of it as a scanner. What say y'all?

[mongocanfly]

tuner may be nice to have but ive never fooled with one...but after you unlock the ecm and get it running i would go straight to a chassis dyno....they got me about 50-60 more hp than the stock unlock tune they did on the ecm...said he could turn it up more but I said that's enough...

[BR3W CITY]

HP Tuners is worth it if you plan on learning the program, but IMO not worth it for someone that wants to just get in-n-out, flash the truck, and be done.

The stuff you need to do is all pretty easy in HPT without any real experience with the program, and LS1tech or the HPT forum have step by steps on how to do it. Its not hard to branch out further and learn more of the program, you just need to be good about saving versions, backing up tunes, and file management so you can review/recover if you make a change that causes problems. In the first 3-5 hours in the program you'll feel a little lost, but you can use HELP and the repository to learn your way around.

Also, if you do want to use it on your kids trucks, they will need to be licensed on that box as well (credits for each truck).

[4x4k30]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

tuner may be nice to have but ive never fooled with one...but after you unlock the ecm and get it running i would go straight to a chassis dyno....they got me about 50-60 more hp than the stock unlock tune they did on the ecm...said he could turn it up more but I said that's enough...

dang 50-60 more h/p from a chassis dyno tune ? who did your tuneing ? I was going to get a chassis dyno done here local on my lq4 6.0 but they wanted $500 which I thought was high but if I can get more h/p numbers like the 50-60 I would go get that done . I didn't want to go thru head and cam swaps.

[mongocanfly]

a guy close to huntsville did mine....the other guy that unlocked my ecm evidently just used a generic tune on it...the first pull on the dyno turned 286hp....when he got done I had 344 with a stock engine....that's been several yrs back and it was 3-350 then so 500 now wouldn't surprise me...

[Willie Makeit]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

a guy close to huntsville did mine....the other guy that unlocked my ecm evidently just used a generic tune on it...the first pull on the dyno turned 286hp....when he got done I had 344 with a stock engine....that's been several yrs back and it was 3-350 then so 500 now wouldn't surprise me...

lane or ricky?

[krue]

So if I don't buy the HP Tuners, what do y'all recommend as a scan tool?

[Dustytrix]

I have a hptuners, its good to have but hard for me to learn. I ended up sending my ecm to EPS in Baton Rouge . Geoff tuned it for me and I am very pleased. It runs as good as a brand new truck. The mail order tune was 350, and its worth every penny.

[sprint_9]

I decided to buy HP tuners and sell my scanner. I bought it because I planned on atleast getting my C10 going with it and I was having trouble with my daily driver. I used it to adjust the TCC lockup duty cycle on my daily and fixed the issue I had with it. Now I have a enough credits to get my C10 going and maybe get a spare ecm for sake of having a spare.

The thing I like about having HP tuners is the ability to fine tune specific things that might pop up. For example when I was messing with my daily I wanted to change the duty cycle on the torque converter, I also wanted to change where it locked and unlocked. I normally drove right around 38 mph which was lock up, so it would be right at range of locking and unlocking right away if the road changed. I raised it to 40 mph and it got rid of the unnecessary cycling. Its little things like this that make HP tuners worthwhile to have. I plan on taking my truck to a dyno and having it fine tuned, but small drivability issues will still probably pop up and with the program you can fix them.

[krue]

Originally Posted by Dustytrix

I have a hptuners, its good to have but hard for me to learn. I ended up sending my ecm to EPS in Baton Rouge . Geoff tuned it for me and I am very pleased. It runs as good as a brand new truck. The mail order tune was 350, and its worth every penny.

So do you still use HP Tuners? I don't want to buy something I'm going to use once or twice then watch it gather dust.

[mongocanfly]

"lane or ricky?"
lane

[suburban99]

Originally Posted by krue

So if I don't buy the HP Tuners, what do y'all recommend as a scan tool?

I've got the Bosch 1100, it is easy to use and works for Transmission and anti lock brake codes...I think I paid about $120 for it. Has live data as well for diagnosing..it will even read porsche codes.

[krue]

Originally Posted by suburban99

I've got the Bosch 1100, it is easy to use and works for Transmission and anti lock brake codes...I think I paid about $120 for it. Has live data as well for diagnosing..it will even read porsche codes.

Is this similar?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOSCH-OBD-I...ty!40299!US!-1

[suburban99]

Originally Posted by krue

Is this similar?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOSCH-OBD-I...ty!40299!US!-1

Yes very similar...1 step better than mine...the 1100’s are $89 at Oreilly’s usually now..

[davepl]

If you want to enable/disable all that stuff I think you'll need HPTuners (or Diablo or something similar). Can't do those things with a typical scantool.

And it's handy to have!

[krue]

Originally Posted by davepl

If you want to enable/disable all that stuff I think you'll need HPTuners (or Diablo or something similar). Can't do those things with a typical scantool.

And it's handy to have!

Basically what I'm trying to decide on, buying HP Tuners and trying to do it myself or paying for a tune and just buying a scantool.

[Trackman101]

HP Tuners is a great tool but it has a steep learning curve. If your computer savy and efi literate it is the way to go. I use it for datalogging and have a guy that does the tuning remotely.

[Wildkarde]

If all you want to do is scan trouble codes and the like after install, and get a stock engine setup for swap you would be much better off with a mail order tune, and a good blutooth obdii dongle and the torque app. Probably half the cost of just getting HPtuners, and if you really want to tune an engine you also really need a wideband O2 sensor.

[davepl]

Sounds to me like if you had HPT you could do what you needed:

"Need to delete VATS, emissions and rear O2 sensors and turn electric fan controller on"

...and you likely don't need a full tune of every cell, it'll run fine out of the box I imagine. So you don't need an expert "tuner" and should be able to do the things you need by yourself with HPT. I think, at least!

[Heavymetl]

HPTuners has a HUGE learning curve if you're new to EFI tuning.

Turning off VATS is one thing, but working with the multitude of tables and understanding how they interact is another. Want to set the IAC becuase the rolling idle js hanging? Use complex tables in g/sec airflow. Going lean on tip in? Back to the bizarro throttle cracker tables. Aftermarket EFI such as Holley have thankfully simpified the tuning tables and made it easier to understand.

[cebra]

I am in a similar boat as the OP, I got a mail order tune from BP Automotive and they didn't even turn the fans on, the tune runs like crap, and their customer service is really bad (I am one of those people that are overly nice to CSR's too because I know all they do is get yelled at by disgruntled customers all day which would suck). Rather than pay for another tune, like everything else I outsource, if I don't do it myself than it just isn't done right. I would also like to learn as I go so when I change cams or transmissions, etc. I can do the tune myself. With that said, is this all I need to be able to unlock and edit my ECU with HPTuners?

[skyphix]

Originally Posted by cebra

I am in a similar boat as the OP, I got a mail order tune from BP Automotive and they didn't even turn the fans on, the tune runs like crap, and their customer service is really bad (I am one of those people that are overly nice to CSR's too because I know all they do is get yelled at by disgruntled customers all day which would suck). Rather than pay for another tune, like everything else I outsource, if I don't do it myself than it just isn't done right. I would also like to learn as I go so when I change cams or transmissions, etc. I can do the tune myself. With that said, is this all I need to be able to unlock and edit my ECU with HPTuners?

Yes, that's all you NEED, assuming you have a Gen 3 PCM (pre 2007.) Plus a laptop and the software which is free to download. And wifi while you do the tune so it can validate the credits.

If you want to get into actual tuning, a wideband O2 is critical. The "Pro" level allows you to connect the wideband directly to the MPVI2, but a lot of people just use any unused 5v signal in the PCM and add a custom monitor when they use the scanner to log. EGR is the most common that I've seen.

If you get stuck, hptuners has a great forum with a lot of helpful people.

[cebra]

A related question, if I get the above $400 package can my local tuner use his pro/wideband with my credits or do the credits stay with me/my MPVI2 (not sure how to ask that)? I would like to be able to tune here and there but want my local tuner to tune it to start using his wideband/pro software.

[Willie Makeit]

credits stay with the dongle. if tuning from two different dongle/seats of HPT then two sets of credits is required.