Need Tune

[canadiancougar]

I've been reading alot of the articles here in the tuning & calibration section, and have decide that I might try to get my 99 v6 mtx tuned. So what do I need to do? Do I need to buy this xcal2? Once I have this unit I just take my car to the local performance shop and they'll tune the car for me? Please fill me in whatever else I need to do.

[StealthyWeasel]

what mods do you have on your car?

[canadiancougar]

As of right now I've only got a sri and catback installed. But I just got my MSDS headers and y pipe on Friday so they'll be getting installed soon. Also I'm waiting for my GMK cai extension to get shipped to me. Also thinking of a test pipe and light svt upgrade in the near future.

[StealthyWeasel]

wait until EVERYTHING is installed to even think about a tune.

[warmonger]

I've been reading alot of the articles here in the tuning & calibration section, and have decide that I might try to get my 99 v6 mtx tuned. So what do I need to do? Do I need to buy this xcal2? Once I have this unit I just take my car to the local performance shop and they'll tune the car for me? Please fill me in whatever else I need to do.

Well you have a standard V6 cougar so you can definitely benefit from a performance tune any time you want.

You can order a strategy flash device with a tune on it directly from www.sctflash.com ($400 approx)
You can order a blank Xcal2 and go to the nearest SCT tuner and do it. ($379 for the device)
You can go to the nearest SCT tuner with a dyno and buy the xcal2 or chip from him and have him dyno tune it right there on the spot (will run you about $1000 with dyno time)

You can order an xcal2 with a tune from a variety of online tuners. Their tunes are hit and miss. THey range form $399 with a base tune (from Us at www.nautilusperformance.com, go to the website to read up on the available services) to $800 for the xcal2 and performance tuning service.

www.brenspeed.com does a good job of a basic tune but he is mainly a Mustang guy. His customer service is decent too.

So lots of options. If you are interested in this product go to those three websites I listed at a minimum and read up on what is available.

[warmonger]

wait until EVERYTHING is installed to even think about a tune.

Negative. I think I see what you are saying but this is only true if you are about to boost your car with some sort of Forced induction or change significant hardware like MAF/Injectors.
Otherwise for NA peformance the computer system is adaptable and if the tune is done correctly then improvements in the intake and exhaust system can be done at any time.

[StealthyWeasel]

ah fair enough.

The reason I said this:

Many tunes (warmongers company aside, which I recommend, FWIW) created by generic tuners will turn adaptive learning off, to keep the car from "detuning" itself, which will stop it from learning new mods.