First Impressions/Review of the Lund Racing's Ghost Cams Tune
6/29/11, 06:52 PM
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First Impressions/Review of the Lund Racing's Ghost Cams Tune
I decided I wasn't going to let the ghost cams disappear again without picking up a set to add to my arsenal. With that, I ordered them Sunday night, and received them Tuesday morning. I got it loaded up and have been driving non-stop everyday after work, testing the tunes in all different scenarios.
First, a few comments on the first start up post-tune. Dead cold, the car will immediately jump to 1500 RPM, and will stay there until the temperature needle gets to about 1/4 to the right. Once the needle gets to almost 1/2 way, it drops to about 1200 RPM. Just after reaching 1/2 way, it drops to about 1100 RPM for a few minutes. When the motor is fully warmed up, it dips down to anywhere between 900-1000 RPM while loping.
So as you can tell, quite a harsh warm up procedure compared to stock. My car has an off-road x-pipe and muffler deletes, so this is loud. I'm contemplating contact Lund to determine if this can be tamed down a little, although, I believe the reason this is done is so that your time from dead cold start to loping is shortened - the car definitely warms up faster. I don't think a car with mufflers would have this problem, or at least, it wouldn't be so bad.
While cruising around, this tune won't allow you to engine brake below 2000 RPM; the stock tune let you engine brake down to around 1000-1100 RPM, so I consider this to be a big annoyance. On the highway, when people slow down, I'm used to just letting off the gas and quickly matching their speed; now engine braking is not anywhere near as effective, and I imagine this may be a large part of the reason many people report bad gas mileage with the cammed tune. I haven't had mine long enough to report on whether or not my gas mileage was affected, though.
Also, while in motion, the tune will only lope below about 20 mph. It's pretty cool to be able to roll through a parking lot with the car loping. A truly unfortunate downside to this, is, above 20 mph, the tune will not allow the engine to go below 1200-1500 RPM. For some reason the revs just hang there when coasting in neutral.
As far as driveability goes, if you're decent at driving a manual transmission car, you shouldn't have a problem. Take note, however, that if you let the revs dip below 1200-1300 RPM while in gear, the car will start to buck and jerk. This means, in extremely slow-moving traffic, you won't be able to just get into first and go slowly; you'll need to either be constantly slipping the clutch, or wait until there's a bit of a gap and then pull forward, over and over and over.
I back up my driveway and into the garage, so this can be quite a challenge with this tune. Generally I'd get it into reverse, and just slowly back up and in. Now, I have to slip the clutch a little to get it up and into the garage without it trying to stall/lope. Not a big deal, but then again, I've never owned an automatic car, so.
So yeah. I know that sounds like a lot of negatives, but I feel like you should all know what you're getting into before making the purchase. I mostly see nothing but positives comments posted, aside from the few saying they've been getting check engine lights, but you should know this is not something you can drop in and expect to be able to drive it just the same as before. It's definitely a more challenging car to drive smoothly - but it's super rewarding when you're able to.
On to the good stuff! The sound at idle is unbelievable. The whole car shakes back and forth, and with my cowl hood it's pretty much perfect to me. Heads snap all around; people pull up closer to me at lights and roll their windows down to listen! I can only describe this as ecstasy in a tune.
Tomorrow, I plan to do some more testing/logging. I left my car sitting outside for a few hours tonight, and let it cool down a bit. I then went to back it into my garage, and the temperature needle was about 1/3 over. The car didn't lope at first, and then I backed it into the garage, temperature needle still about 1/3, and suddenly the car started loping! I'm not sure if this is the tune learning, or if my gauge was just a little behind. I'm sure it's possible the tune uses a different coolant sensor's reading than the gauge does.
Finally, here are two short clips I took when I got home. There were neighbors out walking, so I had to make them short and sweet. This thing is ridiculously loud now. I'm hoping to take some more footage tomorrow, if I can find a nice empty road or parking lot somewhere to take some proper footage, including revs of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0YImG-UKtk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdsapW1cCYo
First, a few comments on the first start up post-tune. Dead cold, the car will immediately jump to 1500 RPM, and will stay there until the temperature needle gets to about 1/4 to the right. Once the needle gets to almost 1/2 way, it drops to about 1200 RPM. Just after reaching 1/2 way, it drops to about 1100 RPM for a few minutes. When the motor is fully warmed up, it dips down to anywhere between 900-1000 RPM while loping.
So as you can tell, quite a harsh warm up procedure compared to stock. My car has an off-road x-pipe and muffler deletes, so this is loud. I'm contemplating contact Lund to determine if this can be tamed down a little, although, I believe the reason this is done is so that your time from dead cold start to loping is shortened - the car definitely warms up faster. I don't think a car with mufflers would have this problem, or at least, it wouldn't be so bad.
While cruising around, this tune won't allow you to engine brake below 2000 RPM; the stock tune let you engine brake down to around 1000-1100 RPM, so I consider this to be a big annoyance. On the highway, when people slow down, I'm used to just letting off the gas and quickly matching their speed; now engine braking is not anywhere near as effective, and I imagine this may be a large part of the reason many people report bad gas mileage with the cammed tune. I haven't had mine long enough to report on whether or not my gas mileage was affected, though.
Also, while in motion, the tune will only lope below about 20 mph. It's pretty cool to be able to roll through a parking lot with the car loping. A truly unfortunate downside to this, is, above 20 mph, the tune will not allow the engine to go below 1200-1500 RPM. For some reason the revs just hang there when coasting in neutral.
As far as driveability goes, if you're decent at driving a manual transmission car, you shouldn't have a problem. Take note, however, that if you let the revs dip below 1200-1300 RPM while in gear, the car will start to buck and jerk. This means, in extremely slow-moving traffic, you won't be able to just get into first and go slowly; you'll need to either be constantly slipping the clutch, or wait until there's a bit of a gap and then pull forward, over and over and over.
I back up my driveway and into the garage, so this can be quite a challenge with this tune. Generally I'd get it into reverse, and just slowly back up and in. Now, I have to slip the clutch a little to get it up and into the garage without it trying to stall/lope. Not a big deal, but then again, I've never owned an automatic car, so.
So yeah. I know that sounds like a lot of negatives, but I feel like you should all know what you're getting into before making the purchase. I mostly see nothing but positives comments posted, aside from the few saying they've been getting check engine lights, but you should know this is not something you can drop in and expect to be able to drive it just the same as before. It's definitely a more challenging car to drive smoothly - but it's super rewarding when you're able to.
On to the good stuff! The sound at idle is unbelievable. The whole car shakes back and forth, and with my cowl hood it's pretty much perfect to me. Heads snap all around; people pull up closer to me at lights and roll their windows down to listen! I can only describe this as ecstasy in a tune.
Tomorrow, I plan to do some more testing/logging. I left my car sitting outside for a few hours tonight, and let it cool down a bit. I then went to back it into my garage, and the temperature needle was about 1/3 over. The car didn't lope at first, and then I backed it into the garage, temperature needle still about 1/3, and suddenly the car started loping! I'm not sure if this is the tune learning, or if my gauge was just a little behind. I'm sure it's possible the tune uses a different coolant sensor's reading than the gauge does.
Finally, here are two short clips I took when I got home. There were neighbors out walking, so I had to make them short and sweet. This thing is ridiculously loud now. I'm hoping to take some more footage tomorrow, if I can find a nice empty road or parking lot somewhere to take some proper footage, including revs of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0YImG-UKtk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdsapW1cCYo
6/29/11, 07:35 PM
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6/30/11, 08:57 AM
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My exhaust, for instance, sounds like a whailing banshee once the tach is spinning up in the red...but has an annoying rasp/tinny sound to it between 2500-3500 RPM (light acceleration). Is it actually worth the trade off, just to have it sound ridiculously awesome at high RPM? Probably not, but I deal with it anyways!With these things, and other upcoming mods..it would seem my car is turning more and more into a weekend warrior. I've been daily driving it less and less with each change I make...not necessarily a bad thing, though, as I hit 23k miles in less than a year of owning it. She's never failed to put a huge grin on my face, though!
6/30/11, 10:47 AM
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It idles so high on cold start to keep from dying.
As awesome as it sounds There are five times the cons to the one pro.
Thanks for the detailed description though. Clears things up for a lot of people, myself included.
As awesome as it sounds There are five times the cons to the one pro.
Thanks for the detailed description though. Clears things up for a lot of people, myself included.
6/30/11, 01:43 PM
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Poseur would indicate I'm trying to appear to have something I really don't, I.E. a turbo whistler in the exhaust. Brenspeed has already proven that even a hot cam in the new 5.0 doesn't cause lope at idle, due to the TiVCT. The only way to achieve lope is by way of tuning.
Considering the fact that most built NA 4.6 with cams, head/port work, etc still make less at the tire than my little X-pipe and tune 5.0, I fail to see why this is 'posing', really.
Oh, not to mention, this isn't the time or the place for you to swing your nuts..make your own thread, pretty please
Considering the fact that most built NA 4.6 with cams, head/port work, etc still make less at the tire than my little X-pipe and tune 5.0, I fail to see why this is 'posing', really.
Oh, not to mention, this isn't the time or the place for you to swing your nuts..make your own thread, pretty please
6/30/11, 02:00 PM
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Different strokes for different folks. Some people prefer a quiet, smooth ride; myself, when I think pony/muscle car, I think loud and raunchy, with a big burbling V8 hanging out over the front axle. I think about sitting at the track, taking in the smell of burnt rubber and gasoline.
I was raised around my dad's Monte Carlo and Corvettes. All of them had big, loping cams and could raise the dead when he got on it. Some people might find the cammed tune to be a bit too close to the rice side of things, but to me, its just made the car a bit closer to my interpretation of what it should be.
I was raised around my dad's Monte Carlo and Corvettes. All of them had big, loping cams and could raise the dead when he got on it. Some people might find the cammed tune to be a bit too close to the rice side of things, but to me, its just made the car a bit closer to my interpretation of what it should be.
6/30/11, 02:08 PM
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Different strokes for different folks. Some people prefer a quiet, smooth ride; myself, when I think pony/muscle car, I think loud and raunchy, with a big burbling V8 hanging out over the front axle. I think about sitting at the track, taking in the smell of burnt rubber and gasoline.
I was raised around my dad's Monte Carlo and Corvettes. All of them had big, loping cams and could raise the dead when he got on it. Some people might find the cammed tune to be a bit too close to the rice side of things, but to me, its just made the car a bit closer to my interpretation of what it should be.
I was raised around my dad's Monte Carlo and Corvettes. All of them had big, loping cams and could raise the dead when he got on it. Some people might find the cammed tune to be a bit too close to the rice side of things, but to me, its just made the car a bit closer to my interpretation of what it should be.
7/1/11, 12:44 AM
#20
Cobra R Member
I love it!! I hope to one year buy it for mine. Maybe I. The 5 yrs 4 mths it will take to buy it, they will have ironed the kinks out?
There's nothing ricey about it, to me! They wish there's could do this.
There's nothing ricey about it, to me! They wish there's could do this.