mister

Just send him an email and he will get back to you.....

70MACH1OWNER

Hey Colby,
I just ordered my tune from Doug yeterday and he sent it today. How's that for service!! When I placed my order there is a message area at the end and I just told Doug there to set my OD at 55 mph. It worked for me. Now I have to figure out how to download it into my tuner. I have never done this before. Doug told me on the phone to just follow "Tacobills hot links" on how to download. He said he couldn't tell me any better than that.
Scott

colbymh

Sweet...Well cmon, cmon..We have been talking about this for months it seems. I want to hear what you think about it. I am ordering my CAI/Tuner/tunes this weekend. I was thinking the same about the OD speed. Would like to hear how that feels as well...

70MACH1OWNER

Colby,
Once the wife and I figure out how to download the tune into the SCTXCAL-2 and get it into the car I will surely post my opinion!!
Scott

70MACH1OWNER

I have received my tune this week from Doug and have had it loaded in the car for a few days now. First, I need to set the record straight about something first. Earlier on in this post I said I had ordered my tune from Doug and he was very slow at getting it to me. Well, that was MY FAULT. I was trying to order his tune thru his email and not order section for tunes. I decided to call him on Monday to see what was up and he told me where to order it. When I placed the order correctly I received my tune in 24 hrs. Now that's service. Way to go Doug.

This is now 5th different tune I have purchased for my automatic trans using 93 octane and the C&L CAI. My butt-o-meter tells me Dougs new tune has got more giddy up. I am not sure if it is truely putting out more engine horsepower or since the torque converter is now locked it is just getting the power to the ground better now. I asked Doug to set my OD at 55 mph and it kicks in dead on 55 and the torque converter locks. Going up thru the gears the trans shifts much like a manual now and you can feel the torque converter lock after every shift. At WOT I can now get a chirp hitting 3rd gear with my 275 Nitto's. The other tunes could do that with the stock tires but not the Nitto's.
Now for the only negative I see with this tune. After you have went up thru the gears and went into OD at 55 in my case and you than have to slow back down. It appears the transmission will stay in OD with the converter locked all the way down to about 40 mph before the trans will drop back into forth gear. At 40-45 mph in 5th with the converter locked and you start to accelerate it lugs pretty bad until you get back up above 50. I wonder if there is another tweak Doug can make that can adjust this issue some. If I hit the OD button it will drop right back into 4th. All and all I am very satisfied with the tune and Doug is just a great guy to work with. I intend to go to Brenspeeds dyno day on the 27th so I can compare Doug's latest tune with the others I have had.
Scott

blkstang06

Thanks Scott (70MACH1OWNER), for the concise feed back on your latest auto tune, I'm sure I speak just not for myself when say you truly are a pioneer in the exploration and experimentation of whats available in the way of auto tunes on the market! I do wonder if there is a detrimental aspect to tuning the auto transmission in this way! I do hope Brent makes it to Stangstock, I would like to hear his thoughts on it! I cant see any real problem other than some premature wear of clutch pads and bands and I personally could care less about either. I think these auto's can take a lot more beating than there given credit for !

GT John

Glad you like the engine and auto trans tune Scott.

I am assuming you disconnected the cars battery to clear the KAM before loading the tune. This will clear the auto trans adaptive learn.

The torque converter unlocks any time you step on the brake and I believe sometime during a shift period. Doug could explain it better than I.

When in OD and your slowing down below the OD shift MPH 55 but still in OD, somewhere in the 40 - 45 - 50 MPH range and then step on the gas, yes it will bog down. In my mind, if I was driving a stick shift I would have downshifted to 4th. But since these cars are "fly by wire" there should be no reason why this cannot be accomplished through programming to happen automatically. Personally I prefer to push the OD buttom to manually put the trans into 4th.

So, I guess the question is.......when the trans is in OD and the car is moving at 55+MPH, at what speed do you want the trans to automatically downshift into 4th when slowing down below the OD MPH setpoint of 55MPH without applying the brake.

The same question could also apply to all gears. Why wait until until the car is almost at a stop before the trans down shifts all the way to 1st. The PCM will not allow the car to downshift into a lower gear until the speed of the car is at a safe MPH this is programmed to prevent damage to the transmission.

If you want to experiment, drive the car and let it shift into 4th while cruising along in 4th, manually downshift the trans into 3rd. The trans will not downshift until the MPH is below 40 +/-.

I'm sure you have noticed by now that the auto trans shifts into each gear (except 1st) at about 3000rpm. (on my car this is the case with the rearend gears I have)

5th gear on the highway is really awesome. If the engine RPM is above 2000+ and you press down on the gas pedal you can feel your back sink into the seat.

The auto trans tune may not be for everyone. The tune emulates a 5 speed stick shift and shifts at points that keep the RPMs in the torque curve. Oh Yeah.
Not very good for gas milage , but it sure does feel good. 99% of my driving is all highway. (got 30K on her now)

The reason I like dealing with Doug is because.........he listens to his customers and will do whatever it takes to help. It may take a while but in the end........you get what you asked for. And no tune, auto trans or engine, is sent out until its thoroughly tested by himself and/or a selected group of customers. (need real world feedback)

If you want to do some reading I highly recommend buying this book:

"How to Tune and Modify Engine Management Systems" by Jeff Hartman.
Best $30 I ever spent.(Barnes and Noble)

Later.

70MACH1OWNER

John,
Thanks for your imput. To answer a couple of your questions: No.. I did not disconnect the battery before I loaded the tune. Maybe I should back up and do this. Second, I did not know that the torque converter would unlock when you stepped on the brake. Makes sense though. So does it re-lock when you take your foot off and start to accelerate again? And I guess if it was possible for Doug to adjust the downshift point back into 4th at say somewhere around 47-50 mph so there was not such a large variation of speed would be the best in my opinion. There will be a point that you don't want to go so far as to have the trans jumping from 4th to OD like the early day cars did when they first came out with OD on cars. Remember those days when at a certain speed they would go in and out of OD. Definitely don't want that. Or maybe the right answer is to see if he can just have the torque converter unlock at say that 47-50mph speed on the way down and stay in 5th so when you get back on the gas the rpm will be up about 500 and then have it re-lock when at 55 again. I am really in love with this tune so far but it is about 95% perfect IMO. With a small tweak it would clearly be superior. I know I am bouncing my ideas off you and should really ask Doug but you have been so involved with this from the start I value your opinion. And I know what your saying about just hitting the od button so it will drop back to 4th works but I bought an automatic so if Doug's tune can be tweaked to make it totally hands free that is what I would prefer.

Thanks Scott

GT John

Thanks Scott.

Run the tune for 30 days. You will find its a cool tune, the more you use it the more you'll like it. Come on back and tell us your story.

The guys at the speed shop where I get all my work done love the transmission tune. They test drive my car a lot.

There are somethings that I would like to see modified, it has to do with driveline slop and how to minimize it.

I'm running a Steeda Adj. UCA, Steeda LCA's and an Aluminum DS, the slop is noticable. You can feel it more than you can hear it. I would image that the transmission solenoid valves will have to be looked at. If they are "open" and "closed" rather than "variable" there may not be any way to get rid of it.

The stock setup absorbs the slop. You dont hear it or feel it.

We can attack this at a later date. All depends on Doug's schedule. He is a "one man gang" and is spread reeeaaallll thin.

Stay Tuned

colbymh

Nice write up Scott and John...

Scott..Would it be better to have the OD kick in at like 60mph then or would the change just be the same.

John. When you mention disconnecting the battery to clear the KAM. what exactly does that mean? So I disconnect, let sit for a few mins, connect battery and then load the tune??

70MACH1OWNER

Colby,
If you had the OD kick in at 60 the difference I between OD and 4th gear would be 5 mph longer. Don't let my one issue with the tune stop you from buying Dougs tune. This is an exersice in progress. Doug will continue to tweak his tune to make it the best it can be. You can aways get an updated tune at no cost once you have purchased his tune. As for disconnecting the battery to clear the KAM. It is just like any computer...if you cut of it power the memory will clear itself. So when you enter the new tune you are starting with a clean slate, I am not totally convinced it is necessary because when you upload a new tune you are erasing the old tune first. But I am sure it would not hurt a thing to do it. I am sure that has no effect on the 4th to 5th gear issue I am talking about.
Scott

colbymh

Oh no I think I have heard enough from everyone about how great his tune is. Before I buy something (if im totally new at it), I like to beat it to the ground to make sure I am doing everything right. This is one of those things I have no clue about, but thanks to you and others, I am learning.

This might sound stupid, but when you disconnect the battery, do you want to put the tuner/tune in place before connecting it again, or just disconnect, connect and then load up the tune.

I am guessing the tuner's are pretty self explanatory and wont be to hard to figure out???

70MACH1OWNER

Just disconnect for 10-15 minutes without your tuner on it. Re-connect the battery and load your tune of choice!!!
Scott

blaster

This is what I noticed too. Doug actually started doing this Torque converter tweak about a year ago. The first one I tried with TQ tweak and OD OFF was dated 10/20/2006. I noticed the lugging and didn't like it so I went back to my normal tune. These latest tunes however improve the TQ setting in regards to the lugging but it's still there. Maybe he will read these posts and try to do something else. I don't know what setting it is that does this but I think it's more related to the Torque Converter setting then anything...if I was to guess...which I am.
The thing is if you have a normal tune from Doug without the TQ tweak it doesn't do this lugging, just as the stock tune does not do it. That's why I think it's directly related to the Torque Converter settings.
But now that I've said that, I agree, this is the only negative so far. I've had about 3 or 4 versions of tunes from Doug and this is by far the strongest. I can feel a big difference in performance using this tune as opposed to previous tunes. So far this is the strongest my car has felt and I'm just running the 89 Torque tune right now. I haven't tried the 93 yet.

SoundGuyDave

I think I know what you're talking about, but I'm not entirely sure that it's in the trans tune. I JUST (3 hours ago) finished a full-day HPDE session at Autobahn in Joliet, IL., using Doug's 93 octane "Race" tune. Five 20-25 minute track sessions, and the smoothest combo for me was to lock the trans in third for most of the track, and go to fourth (OD off) for the straights. The vast majority of the day was spent with the engine between 4500-6400RPM, and there was no trasitional "banging" in the drivetrain at all between rolling out of the throttle, standing on the brakes, and then rolling into the throttle to balance the car in the apex and corner exit, to the point where the car would go into a true four-wheel drift. I was beating and banging on the pedals all day long, and the trans felt EXACTLY like a manual trans, with no converter weirdness, and no unexpected downshifts, which I was getting just running it in fourth. It's really disconcerting to be in a turn-out, rolling into the throttle, and have the car shift down into second, and have the rear-end kick out...

Getting back to the "clunk," though, my setup is a Spydershaft, poly/rod LCAs, poly UCA (with OE diff housing bushing), D-Specs, and the BMR swaybar on poly bushings. This setup did not bind, clunk, squeek, chatter, hop, or anything else. On the drive home, though, on a side-street, I accelerated moderatey through first and second, and then backed out JUST before the trans wanted to shift to third, where it hesitated for a second, then popped in with a resounding "CLANG!!" that I could hear (and feel) resonating throughout the car. Hanging near redline for extended periods of time could certainly have put a bunch of heat in the trans, and may have caused a solenoid to stick briefly, because this was a HARD shift, much harder than the shifts programmed in by Doug. Is that the kind of slop you're experiencing?

GT John

If you put someone in the drivers seat. And then put the car on a 4 post lift. raise the car up in the air. while someone is under the car have the driver start it then have them move the shift lever from N to D then from N to R you will see approx 3" of rotational slop on the drive shaft. Instead of the tranny moving slowly into a gear it slams into gear.

This could be programmed to go away.........I think. Have to wait for Doug to respond.

SoundGuyDave

That sounds like a gear lash issue, rather than a trans issue. If the shaft is making that much rotation, but not turning the rear tires, then it's in the rear end... Or am I missing something?

drckiss

I have the 93 tune loaded from doug that I got last year, and I have recently got the new tune from him about 2 weeks ago. I have not loaded the new tune yet because I am afraid I may not like it as much as the previous. My question for you is, what happens to the old tune, does it completely go away or is it saved somewhere on the sct or do I need to back it up online or what? just wondering in case I do not like the new one and I want to reload

thanks

70MACH1OWNER

How did you receive the tune from Doug last year? If it was emailed to you you should have saved it on your PC or disc. If you bought your tuner from him with it loaded on it and you have 3 tunes loaded on your tuner you will have to overwrite one of them. If you have an 87 octane tune on your tuner just overwrite that one. That's what I did. I know have 3 93 octane tunes on my tuner.

Rash

I had the EXACT same experience. Had to mash the pedal pretty hard to unlock the converter, otherwise just slllloooowwww lugging acceleration. For now, I've had Doug change the shifting back to stock, and I'm actually liking that. I may have him eventually adjust the shifting so it's somewhere between stock and his normal changes. This is my daily driver, and the lugging in OD, as well as the higher rpm shift points, was a bit much for me. Doug has been great in accomodating my needs.