Can a Mustang be tuned ona dyno if the tuner doesn't know what cams are in the car?

[Chris B.]

I'm the 3rd owner of my 2005 GT. The first owner put in comp NSR cams. The second owner wrote down all the mods and all he wrote down for the cams was Comp NSR cams, but not a model name or number. The second owner owned the car for about a year and put about 1,000 miles on it. It was his third vehicle and only used on sunny summer weekends.

Every shop I called about a custom tune on the dyno said that unless they know the exact model of Comp Cams NSR cam, they can't tune the car. If I found what cam was in the car then I could get an email tune.

I haven't been able to get in contact with the first owner of the car. I found him on myspace, but not Facebook and he hasn't logged into myspace since 2009. I sent him a message through myspace, but he probably will never log in to check it.

The car came with a SCT SF3 with two tunes on it. The second owner said it was given to him with the car when he bought it. A 93 octane BAMA race tune and a 93 octane BAMA NSR tune. The Bama NSR tune may be corrupt or something is wrong with it because the car idles at 1,100 RPM when I load that tune even when I select options to set the idle at 700 RPM in the options and the NSR tune is also about 0.5 seconds slower at the track than the 93 race tune. So there seems to be something off with the tune.

American Muscle hasn't been able to help me with any info on the NSR tune even though I have the first owner's name. They apparently can't look that info up on the tune to see what modifications the car had when they wrote the tune. I was hoping they would have the info on what NSR cam it was when they wrote the tune.

If I can't get the model of the cam from the first owner of the car, can the car be custom tuned on the dyno without me taking the gear off the end of the cam to check for a grind number? Several shops said they can't, but wouldn't say why.

 

[white05gt]

I would think that American muscle would be able to look it up with the serial number on your tuner.

 

[Chris B.]

I would think that American muscle would be able to look it up with the serial number on your tuner.

So far the people I spoke with on the phone haven't been helpful with that. They said they would write me a new tune, but wouldn't look up the info about the previous owner. I have no idea why.

 

[05xgt]

If you can get the valve cover off there should be a # scribed on the camshaft. Call Comp and they can tell you where it's located on the shaft. Hope this helps.

 

[SteveP]

if the tuner knows what he is doing, it should not be a problem.

 

[Cammed 05]

That is what I was thinking.....

 

[BAKnBLK2010]

if the tuner knows what he is doing, it should not be a problem.

^^^^ This. Any tuner worth a shit who just doesn't take a SCT base file with whatever cams loaded on it and copy it over to a new tune for you can tune your car with no problems. Most guys who tune with SCT don't have a clue as to what they are actually doing.

 

[Chris B.]

^^^^ This. Any tuner worth a shit who just doesn't take a SCT base file with whatever cams loaded on it and copy it over to a new tune for you can tune your car with no problems. Most guys who tune with SCT don't have a clue as to what they are actually doing.

I contacted a coupe of highly recommended Ford shops in the Philadelphia area that do custom tuning and both of them said without knowing what cams are int he car they can't even do a custom dyno tune. I found that sort of unusual.

 

[AMChrisRose]

This is pretty cut and dry. Make sure that you're talking to a Bama team member and not just on of the representatives at AmericanMuscle. Our Bama team would be able to look up the file and figure it all out for you. The AmericanMuscle team members are really good, but are not tuning specialists and don't have access to SCT software or anything other than standard order/payment/shipping infomation. All of the technical stuff has to be done through myself or Bama.

I have no problem doing that. Shoot me over a PM with your name as well as the previous owners name, and the serial number on the back of the programmer. It'll take me literally a minute to pull up.

We tune for NSR cams all the time, as well as tons of others. There are many factors when tuning cams in, but we can get it perfect for you without the exact profile of the cam. Knowing that they're Comp NSRs is enough, because that will give us the VCT and idle characteristics that we will need. It will make tons of power and drive perfect when I'm done with it.

We should be able to get you knocked out in 10-15 minutes.

 

[Chris B.]

Thanks Chris. I sent you a PM.

 

[stkjock]

Can't the tune file be sent to SCT to be unlocked so a new tuner can read it and figure it out, considering the circumstance.

 

[Chris B.]

Can't the tune file be sent to SCT to be unlocked so a new tuner can read it and figure it out, considering the circumstance.

As far as I know, you can't pull tune files of the XCAL and SF3 tuners. Maybe if I sent my SF3 to SCT it could be done?

 

[stkjock]

You can. I did it.

 

[Swarzkopf]

How?

 

[stkjock]

IIRC it's an option on the PC software,however now that I give it more thout, maybe it was for the stock tune only.

 

[Mustang30212]

I installed cams and headers in the past couple weeks. I called my tuner today to schedule a dyno session to update the tune. I asked him if I needed to bring the cam card and he said it wasn't necessary.

RH

 

[Swarzkopf]

IIRC it's an option on the PC software,however now that I give it more thout, maybe it was for the stock tune only.

Yeah, it's the stock tune only.

This would be nice functionality- along with being able to read tunes on the PCM and upload/modify them.

It really seems like no one self tunes in the Ford world compared to GM world where EVERYONE self tunes. I don't know if SCT's limitations are a cause or effect of this.

 

[Steedman07]

Like noted above, if your tuner is good, he wont want/need the cam profile..Who is tuning your car?

 

[05stroker]

For a mail order tune they might but for a custom dyno tune they do not need to know the cam specs. They tune what they see. Good luck. If your shops in you area cannot tune the car then go elsewhere.

 

[Mustang30212]

You can. I did it.

I did it...took a couple trys to get it right bit I did it...LOL

Make sure you use the timing wedge tool!!

RH