I tried out the SC XCal 2 today and to say the lest I am UNIMPRESSED. Can someone post observed RWHP numbers?

Through several sessions of tuning I only saw very nominal increases in the Performance Tune versus the Street Tune. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 HP on the supposed 110 HP setting. Now keep in mind the advertised ratings from SC was 110 HP RWHP. This same truck two years ago produced exactly the advertised 100 RWHP increase from a Predator Tuner.

All software on the tuner was the most current from the website. And there was only a 1.02 correction factor for humidity and temp. Now I did enjoy the data logging capability and found the user interface very easy to configure and operate.

Any inputs are welcome

 

I've got one out of the group buy and so far I love it. It gave me a huge power increase, all I need to do now is get some pipes and I'm set.

Be a little more detailed with what happened.......

When you first tune with SCT, your throttle among other things has to re-adjust themselves to accomodate the new program. Drive your truck around for a day or so and you may notice a change. (Remember, when you tune, you're wiping your truck's memory.) When I first tuned mine, the power was there it's just that the Throttle position sensor, the transmission, and few other things had to re-learn how I drove and adjust accordingly. As I drove, the power was managed better and shifting among other things improved. So give it some time and you may notice a big improvement.

 

Mike, do you have a Preprogrammed XCal 2 SF, or a custom tuned XCal 2?

 

Since you have a 7.3 I would talk to Jody or Diane at DP Tuner and see if they can get you some decent programs. I haven't heard of too many running the XCAL on a 7.3 but I am sure Jody can/has gotten her done.

 

Toreador,
Thanks for the input but I do not believe the 7.3 has adaptive learning capabilites either in the accelerator or the transmission. The logic circuits simply are not there. I can confirm this by using my 100 HP tune on the Predator and see an instant 100 HP to the rear wheels on a corresponding dyno pull. Yes our 7.3's are a smarter diesel but adaptive learning capabilities are beyond them at this time. That is not to say that there is no adaptive capabilities but these are "learned" from sensors relaying MAP and other parameters not necessarily our driving habits.

Eric,
I used a Preprogrammed XCal 2. I tried both the Performance and Street Tunes with only an eight horsepower difference between the two. A tech at SCT suggested that I loaded the wrong program twice and thus the low numbers. Well, I reloaded the Performance tune twice more and did corresponding pulls with the same effect. Not bashing anyone just trying to figure out why the power levels were so low.

CB,
Thanks for the info. I know I can get the numbers I want by simply loading my Predator 100HP tune. My reason for the post was to ascertain observed power gains.....ie from Dyno pulls. I realize my truck is far from stock but I expected higher numbers. After all, I can see a 100 HP increase to the rear wheels with the Predator but not even half the advertised gains with the SCT XCal.

 

I may be wrong about this, but I think you may need to completely return the vehicle to stock before loading a different program. While this may not be necessary, I de-tuned my X and loaded different programs accordingly. I tuned, drove around to see how it felt, de-tuned, drove around, then tuned again. (that's how I settled on the 80hp tune) I found that when I just loaded another program after another, things kind of went together and I didn't notice too much of a difference. It even caused some shifting issues. But when I de-tuned, drove, and tuned up, all was well.

 

The "canned" software isn't as good as the tunes you get from a good SCT dealer, as I have had tunes two dealers.

If you really want good tuning, got to the Pro Racers Package which gives you total control.. I learned how to make adjustments with the PRP.

 

You can't stack a SCT.

 

What does that mean?

 

If you already have a chip, you can't use a SCT Tuner on top of it, or stack it on top. Mikes sig says he has an Edge juice/ attitude. I don't know if that would effect the SCT or not.

 

Sorry didn't realize that post about stacking was referring to me. I am not trying to stack the XCal with my Edge although I believe it does work. Keep in mind that my edge module is simply a "piggy back" system that does not touch the code of the PCM. It simply intercepts and modifies the signals coming from various sensors such as the ICP, MAP...etc. I was simply evaluating the XCal tune with the Predator tune and wondering if others were getting similar results on the dyno.

I work for a company here in San Antonio that specilaizes in tuning for performance, economy and driveability so as part of my job I get to evaluate existing products that are on the market. So when a compnay advertises that I going to get 100 horsepower or so I expect to see those numbers on the dyno. Which I did not see with the XCal tune; however the Predator did deliver on its promise of 100 horsepower which I reported here back in '04:

Dyno Report

Yes misterb I realize that custom tunes are far more "configureable" than the "canned stuff" but not everyone wants all the control. I myself have tried numerous products and have found to date that the Predator offers the best all around performance without swapping injectors and what not. I chose the Edge Attitude simply for its gauge functions and the ability to change settings on the fly.

Thanks for the great inputs I will continue to investigate.