To Tune, or not to tune?

[Bo Young]

Please let me know if this belongs in another forum...

‘05 S-197 GT (4.6L v8) - my first Mustang & love every part of it! I want to start tinkering with the engine, but I get different answers from folks on whether the changes I’m after will require a tune or not...

The car is bone stock - ran on the dyno & had the air/fuel get as low as 10.8:1, which got me thinking about putting on a new intake (cold air w/ K&N) & headers, and some folks say I’ll need a tune, some say I won’t.

What are your thoughts? A few changes like these wouldn’t require a tune, would they? And when you do get into the hardware that requires a tune, what can the 4.6L handle? Any feedback would be great!

PS: I’m probably gonna swap spark plugs too with the air/fuel situation, but all the mods have to wait for Xmas money!

 

[RED09GT]

Some cold air intakes have a Mass Air Meter housing larger than stock so some do require a tune. The K&N, BBK, and a couple others do not require a tune.
That being said, getting a handheld tuner and getting the car tuned is a great investment. The stock tune is very conservative on these cars, even the canned tunes make a big difference compared to stock.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

Please let me know if this belongs in another forum...

‘05 S-197 GT (4.6L v8) - my first Mustang & love every part of it! I want to start tinkering with the engine, but I get different answers from folks on whether the changes I’m after will require a tune or not...

The car is bone stock - ran on the dyno & had the air/fuel get as low as 10.8:1, which got me thinking about putting on a new intake (cold air w/ K&N) & headers, and some folks say I’ll need a tune, some say I won’t.

What are your thoughts? A few changes like these wouldn’t require a tune, would they? And when you do get into the hardware that requires a tune, what can the 4.6L handle? Any feedback would be great!

PS: I’m probably gonna swap spark plugs too with the air/fuel situation, but all the mods have to wait for Xmas money!

What are your plans for the car? To keep it naturally aspirated, supercharge it, or turbocharge it? If you're going to keep it naturally aspirated, I'd highly recommend the JLT series 3 cold air intake/SCT X4 tuner combo from Brenspeed. Once you've installed the CAI, just upload one of the 87, 91, or 93 octane custom tunes via the OBD II port into your ECU and you're done. It was the first mod I did on my car (I use the 91 octane tune) and the first time I drove it after the install, my reaction was OMG. It was a night and day difference in performance and throttle response, and the induction roar from the CAI is intoxicating.

 

[Iceman62]

^^^Yes^^^

Dino's got you covered...

IMO, anytime you alter the AFR (Air-Fuel Ratio) = tune it.

 

[Laga]

I would avoid Brenspeed tunes. No support what so ever. Lito is the best by far. VMP is very good also. Whatever you choose, just make sure they have datalog support.

 

[skwerl]

Absolutely throw a tune on it. Another vote for VMP but I'm biased. Justin is a friend of mine. He tuned both my Mustangs and my F150.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

I would avoid Brenspeed tunes. No support what so ever. Lito is the best by far. VMP is very good also. Whatever you choose, just make sure they have datalog support.

Yeah, that's the only downside with Brenspeed tunes. They don't offer updated tunes based upon your datalogs so if you need anything beyond a tune for basic bolt ons, or a base tune for a forced induction set up, you're gonna pay extra for every new tune.
I agree that Lito is considered to be a 3V tuning god. Definitely the guy to go to for a custom tune. Other names like Justin @ VMP and John Lund also spring to mind, though the latter is probably considered more of a tuning god in the Coyote world. Just about everyone says avoid BAMA like the plague.

 

[Iceman62]

I would avoid Brenspeed tunes. No support what so ever. Lito is the best by far. VMP is very good also. Whatever you choose, just make sure they have datalog support.

That's funny, but I never had any issues w/Brenspeed support. Always helpful, friendly & responsive, every time I call. Even assisted w/ my son's '16 GT BAMA tune which wasn't even their work.

 

[ghunt81]

93 octane tune is a lot of fun, definitely worth the extra that 93 costs IMO. If you want to do headers, long tubes are the only thing worth putting on.

One thing to be aware of is that doing plugs on an '05 is a JOB. Look up the plug change procedure, they came from the factory with two piece plugs long reach plugs. The "nose" of the plug tends to get siezed in place with carbon and then break when you try to take the plugs out. I did mine at 80K and managed to only break one, but fortunately Lisle makes an extractor tool for pulling the broken tips. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[Disarray]

While I have no experience with Brenspeed, I felt I should point out they do offer data logging as a $200 additional option in a drop down menu on their listing for tuning.

 

[nfrizell]

Torrie at Unleashed tuning is great to work with also. He has done a couple cars in my area including mine.

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[Mach2burnout]

Absolutely contact Lito, he is the 3V tuning God and is on this forum. And he is very appreciative of the support.


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[Laga]

While I have no experience with Brenspeed, I felt I should point out they do offer data logging as a $200 additional option in a drop down menu on their listing for tuning.

I bought a supercharger kit and LT headers from them with no problems. Along with other goodies. The next year I added a Detroit Rocket cam. The car ran like crap. Super rich. It had to sit at idle for 10 minutes ( no exaggeration) before I could back it out without dying. I was told this is normal and when they start cars at the shop, everyone’s eyes burn. I was literally told to learn to live with it.
That’s when I called Lito and he fixed it. Now it needs 30 seconds to warm up and runs great. I now have it tuned to run E85 and it’s a beast. Lito has supplied 4 different tunes for various ethanol content, emissions tune, 100 octane racing fuel, 93 octane tune, and a tune for the dyno.
If Brenspeed has a datalog option, it’s fairly new.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

http://www.brenspeed.com/05-08-mustang-custom-tuning-e-mail-tunes.html

 

[SpecOps13]

Make sure you really research the spark plug change both in forum and on you tube... It can become disastrous. My cousin and I used a 2 day procedure and all of the 2 piece plugs came out fine... I spoke with Motorcraft about new plugs and he told us that stock replacement plugs are welded 10 times better. 2 piece plugs are in the 05, 06 and I believe some 07's. Dealers want over a thousand dollars to do it for you... Ford created the problem by ignoring Motorcrafts advice that they would be a problem with the weak weld...

 

[Snakethat]

Im another that has had a great experience with brenspeed. They have takin care of me. I know some individuals that haven't but there is always two sides to every story. With that said i would say that i see a lot of people saying to stay away from BAMA. American Muscle has really gone down the toilet. I purchased a wheel and tire package from them. I couldn't get them delivered without being damaged. Plus one never even showed up. Lost in transit I guess. It was a total pain in the ass. I did get my money reimbursed but I won't order from them ever again. In the mid 2000's they were pretty good. I believe they are just to big and customer service has really suffered.

 

[Mach2burnout]

Make sure you really research the spark plug change both in forum and on you tube... It can become disastrous. My cousin and I used a 2 day procedure and all of the 2 piece plugs came out fine... I spoke with Motorcraft about new plugs and he told us that stock replacement plugs are welded 10 times better. 2 piece plugs are in the 05, 06 and I believe some 07's. Dealers want over a thousand dollars to do it for you... Ford created the problem by ignoring Motorcrafts advice that they would be a problem with the weak weld...

There is a guy on this forum, I don’t remember who it is, but he sends his Lisle tool to people for the cost of shipping only and the promise to ship back to remove the broken plugs.

OP a little advice on the plug change. Set aside a weekend. Who’ll the engine is warm pull all the coil packs and spray a liberal amount of Kroil oil or other quality penetrating oil in the plug hole. Let set overnight at least. Make sure before you start you have a Lisle plug removal tool on hand along with a shop vac. Oh and some never seize grease for the new plugs.
Start the removal. If you don’t break any plugs feel lucky. Before reinstalling your new plugs, use the shop vac to vac out the plug holes and remove any debris that may have fallen in the cylinder. This is critical if you do happen to break some plugs and have to use the Lisle remover, because it crushes the ceramic and pieces fall down in the cylinder.

There are several good write ups on this forum.


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[skwerl]

Unless they are original plugs, it shouldn't be a problem. The bad plugs were redesigned over 10 years ago and old stock was removed from parts store shelves. At some point you would think this problem would just be a bad memory.

 

[ghunt81]

They might be original plugs though since the originals were 100K mile plugs. My wife's 2011 explorer had original 100K plugs in it and we didn't replace them until almost 150K when it started throwing a misfire code.