TacoBill

I'll be getting my SCT Xcal2 from Doug later this week.

I'm a newb to this. Any quick tips to get me plugged in and going?

Also, what program/drivers do I have to download from SCT in order to download any e-mail tunes and transfer them to the Xcal2? There's several on that page and it looks a bit confusing. What other benefits are there linking the unit to the PC?

Bennyandthejets

Just one lame tip to suply. When programming the car, it is never necessary to take out the fuses. It states in the intstructions to do this but there is no point. Hope this helps. You just bought an exelent product from an exelent guy.

don_w

Bill, one thing I had trouble with was getting the Xtreme Tune drivers to work right on my laptop. After three failed attempts, I decided to try it on my desktop computer. Voila... worked first time. I never did figure out why it didn't work on the laptop... and I even had Doug providing guidance along the way. Must have been something funky with my laptop.

Also, occasionally when I have the handheld connected to the computer and I'm trying to upload a file, it says the X2 is not connected (even though it is). I just re-start the upload when it does that and it works OK.

TacoBill

Don- So can tune files be uploaded from the handheld into your PC and vice versa?

I'm just unsure which program/driver I need to install in my desktop PC so when Doug sends me a file (via e-mail), I can download it into the handheld.

And as far as plugging the handheld into the car for the first time, you just select 1 of the 3 files (ie. 91 Torque) and it automatically downloads the stock tune before uploading the new one?
(I'm sure it'll make sense to me when I get the darn thing!)

don_w

As far as I know, only from PC to handheld.

Unless things have changed, you will get ".xtr" files from Doug on a CD and/or via e-mail (depending on what you bought). When I bought the X2, I got backup copies on a CD... he had three tunes already loaded in the X2. As far as the SCT software, I actually downloaded Xtreme Tune and SCTLiveLink (and the drivers). But I have only used Xtreme Tune for transferring the xtr files from my PC to the X2.

Yes, when you first flash it, you'll select which custom tune you want to flash. The X2 will copy your factory tune to the X2, then flash the tune of your choice into the car. If you decide to change tunes (like from 91 Torque to 91 Perf), it will just reflash that tune. The stock factory tune stays on the unit.

TacoBill

Thanks for explaining things, Don. It's crystal now.

Reminisce

Also just a note, your first flash will take quite a LONG time, and this is because it is uploading the stock ECU program to the XCal2 first, and it only does this once. After that, each flash will take about 50 seconds from the time it starts downloading it to the car to finish.

Good luck!

pouterson

Does anyone have a picture of where the computer port is in the car? Or, a good description on where to find it? Thanks.

TacoBill

It's above your left knee when seated in the driver's seat.

I'll do a little write-up when I get mine tomorrow.

tricky02GT

Just got mine now from Doug. I am going to go play and burn all the 87 in my tank (data logging.. ahem) so I can fill with 91 and have some serious experimenting.
Poor tires dont know whats about to happen.
You get yours yet Bill?

pouterson

Got my first tune loaded from Brent at Brenspeed. Man, what a difference!!! It's almost like a completely different car. The only thing I've run into so far is that it revs at 3k at the initial start when the engine is cold. I read somewhere on SCTs forum that this is to warm up the cats. Brent is going to fix it for me. This is an 89 torque tune for an 07 GT/CS stock.

I'm going to run with this for a bit and then try Doug's 89 torque. We'll see how that goes.

retfr8flyr

Got my SCT tuner from Doug today and loaded the 93 torque tune. All I can say is !!WOW!!, this is a completely different car now. I don’t have a CAI just the tune. If anyone has been on the fence about getting an SCT tuner and trying an upgraded tune don’t wait any longer.

Earl

TacoBill

Yup, see my post here.

BuzzyStang05

Bill,

You probably figured this out already from the stuff Doug gave you. For the sake of explanation though...

Doug likely sent you *.ll3 files for your tunes, and loaded them onto a CD as a backup. The CD may also include all the necessary SCT applications you need. *.ll3 files use the Live Load application to download tunes from your PC to the SCT device. You cannot upload from the SCT to the PC.

Xtreme Tune won't work with *.ll3 files, only *.xtr files. *.xtr files are the older technology, whereby you would have used Xtreme Tune to make changes to the xtr files' parameters on your PC and then load it back onto the device. ll3 is the file type that works with the SCT2, that lets you change the parameters right on the device. The parameters are the same as were on Xtreme Tune, so you're not losing out on not having Xtreme Tune.


If you can figure out how to use Live Link to datalog and then document that in one of your usual write ups (which are always great), then you'll be pushing the envelope of learning here on TMS and make everyone happy (maybe even Don_W). My laptop is pretty old and just loading the SCT datalogging program on it slows it waaaaaaay down. Using a laptop in the vehicle is the only way to data log continously for more than 30 seconds.

TacoBill

Hey Chris, I haven't loaded the programs/drivers yet into my PC. but will soon play around with that.

Once I do and get it figured out, definately look for another write-up!

blaster

Hello Don, just ordered the X2 from Doug tonight. Since you can't transfer from the X2 unit to a file I guess that means you can't back up your stock settings to file? Has anyone actually tried with a laptop and the software to see if it can be done? Doesn't make sense that it's all a one-way deal.

pouterson

I've done it. Use the XC2Dump program located in your Program Files\SCT\SCTLivelink directory. It'll backup the stock file as an encrypted file to your notebook. It backs it up but I haven't figured out how to get it back on the XCal2. That's next.

blaster

LOL!...that's useful! So if it backs it up does it change the filename extension ( something like .bak), or does it leave it the standard xcal name.file-extension?
If it changes the file extension what happens when you rename it to a standard xcal file extension? Oh well I'll mess with it when I get it.

pouterson

It actually creates two files, factory.dat and factory.idx. Outside of that, I haven't messed with it. Let me know if you figure out the other half of this scenario. Thanks.

mhk

So what happens if you don't have your factory settings backed up on file and your x-cal gets stolen/lost or breaks down? What if you need your factory settings again?