TheReaper

I stand corrected it's not even close to the GT motor. A little research always helps.

AMChrisRose

Not true. The chances of a tune blowing up the car are so slim it's crazy. The car has to be under a large amount of stress to begin with, and THEN a moderate-huge amount of neglect in the tune could cause failure. Even at that, you already have a large amount of stress elsewhere (pistons, rods, cylinder temps, etc.) We're talking about forced induction, which at that point, is out of the realm of warranty coverage anyway.

I could run a naturally aspirated GT ridiculously lean for thousands and thousands of miles. You'd go through spark plugs like crazy and the car would feel like crap and ping it's *** off, but it would be hard to cause all out failure. You'd literally have to try.

cdynaco

Yet isn't that what damages the hyperwhatever pistons?

I am still hesitating because although I'm at 4000' most of the time, I regularly drop to 1000' and to sea level, and the next weekend might be at 7000'. That ranges from moisture laden air to high desert air. So I'm concerned about going away from the factory 'advanced spark ignition system' that changes with conditions to avoid ping. Been wanting to ask you about that.

There have been other posts about your competitor's tunes that ping like crazy and dog on power big time when they are going over the Rockies.

AMChrisRose

Over time, yes. My comment was more directed at the people who expect for a rod to snap because of a custom tune. Over time the top of the piston will be burnt, and like I said you'll go through plenty of plugs, too.

Altitude really shouldn't matter if the MAF calibration is exact and the knock sensors are fully functional. It will pull when it needs too. I have done some remote tunes in different areas of Colorado for supercharged vehicles, for example. I tune them as if they're going to be running a lower octane than what they tell me. They're not going to actually lose any power, they're just going to have a slightly larger margin, so to speak , before the knock sensors have to intervene.

karman

Yeah, remember the crappy "lean-burn" Mopars from the mid-70's?
They used to ping like crazy under hard acceleration with the factory set-up.
My '74 V8 ran fine, but dad's identical 1976 engine pinged like crazy.
His engine still never ever hinted of failure, but it pinged every time you hit the gas. He even towed with it.

rhans

Chris, I know you understand any impact on the engine and I am sure you are correct about the low probability of failure there, but what about the rest of the drivetrain? In particular, it sounds like the GT has an issue with excessive centrifugal force causing the clutch to stick to the floor. If the tune raises the redline, isn't that going that going to increase the chances of that happening?

cdynaco

That's because they used real metal back then. lol

AMChrisRose

AMChrisRose

Any weak point or flaw that is apparent in stock form (like the clutch issue) is going to still be there. So yes, the tune is going to move you closer to the chance of having the clutch stick. You're absolutely correct. Some we can get rid of (the annoying "bump" when coming to a stop on the factory 2011 auto, the annoying throttle hang on a 3v GT, etc.) and some are mechanical and need a fix (like the one you mentioned). Those little flaws are different than the big picture of engine and trans longevity.

We ran 10.43 this weekend on a stock trans, stock converter. We've been beating the crap out of our 2011 Auto for months and months and months. We're spraying 150 shot, we sprayed 100 shot, we've done hundreds and hundreds of dyno pulls. These newer platforms from 2005+ are built alot stronger. Going 10.43 on a bone stock 2004 GT auto trans - good luck with that! That, and we know the limits well (not just us, but as a community).

We know that at about 500RWHP, the stock 3V engine is taking a beating. We know the stock rods from the back two cylinders are screaming at anything higher than 11PSI. Again, it's back to forced induction and pushing the motor to its' limits.

If we digress back to naturally aspirated - 85% of the Mustangs out there are NA - <-- that's not a real statistic - we find that there isn't much too be worried about. Actually, 350RWHP out of a 3V with cams, manifold, long tubes, cold air, really doesn't sound that horrible now. We know we're WELL within the constraints of the motor.