Propickup Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/150744
Diablo Sport inTune The inTune is a pocket-sized programmer from Diablo Sport that has a color touchscreen OBD-II Flash Programmer that installs performance programs on to your vehicle's computer. These pre-loaded performance tunes can increase fuel mileage and power delivery whether towing, driving around town, on the highway, or at the track. Provides automatic USB updates via the internet (with no cable kits to buy!) and covers a broad range of vehicles at an incredibly affordable price. www.diablosport.com; (561) 908-0041 Bully Dog Triple Dog GT Bully Dog's Triple Dog Gauge Tuner (GT) is four products in one: a vehicle engine tuner, monitor, gauge, and diagnostic device. The GT dramatically improves the utility of your vehicle by increasing horsepower, improving fuel economy and providing a comprehensive set of monitoring features and diagnostic functions. The GT has the largest feature set and the widest range of vehicle applications from a single product part number. The diesel unit works on Dodge, Ford, and GM vehicles, while the gas unit works on Dodge, Ford, GM, and Nissan vehicles. www.bullydog.com; (877) 285-5936 Use less fuel and get more power with Hypertech's E-CON economy power programmer. This tuner is designed for the driver who needs better fuel mileage and more power, but doesn't want to pay for other high-performance features available in Hypertech's Max Energy Programmer. Simply plug the E-CON economy power programmer into the vehicle's under-dash connector, choose your tuning program, then with the push of a button it will re-program your vehicles computer with improved power and efficiency in less time than it takes to drink a cup of coffee. Fifty-state street legal. www.hypertech.com; (901) 382-1888 REFINED TUNING Superchips VIVID LINQ Superchips pairs Bluetooth technology with high-performance tuning with the VIVID vehicle performance programmer. VIVID LINQ uses a wireless dongle to install the tuning. VIVID LINQ allows you use your own Android tablet or smart phone as the monitor/controller. Just down load the free Superchips VIVID app (available at the Android App Store), and you're ready to go. See gains of more than 75hp in GM diesels, 110hp in Ford diesels and more than 150hp in some Dodge diesels. www.superchipsvivid.com; (407) 585-7000. That tuning cycle continues back and forth until the programmers feel like they have reached the optimum combination of those two factors while keeping the engine's durability maximized. "From there we may go on to boost pressure, fuel-injection pressure or any other parameters we can adjust to fine-tune the program to optimize the power output for the quantity of fuel used," says Lambert. Setting up a tune for any manufacturer of programmers is very time-consuming and requires many, many hours of a truck sitting on a chassis dyno. It's also good to understand every manufacturer tunes a little differently; some take more time than others in fine-tuning fuel curves, timing, transmission shift points and other parameters through the entire rpm range. So ask a lot of questions before buying instead of relying on an upfitter's sales pitch. WARRANTY CONCERNS Asking questions also applies to your truck's warranty coverage. Contrary to what your local pickup dealer might imply, white-glove hot-rodding doesn't automatically void the truck's warranty. In fact it shouldn't impact the warranty at all. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 protects vehicle owners from such concerns. In a nutshell, this consumer protection law says that it is the responsibility of the vehicle manufacturer or representative (dealership) to show that an aftermarket part or component caused the failure before they can refuse warranty coverage. If it can be concluded that the aftermarket part on your vehicle caused the failure, the dealer/ manufacturer can refuse warranty coverage. But the burden of this proof lies on them, not you. The majority of aftermarket parts these days, including electronic engine tuners and the like, have their own warranty as well. So if you have an urge to boost the power in your truck's engine, electronic hot-rodding has its advantages – especially if it's a diesel. Our product showcase gives examples of the wide variety of power tuning options available. ENGINE PROGRAMMERS & TUNERS Hypertech E-CON headquarters. "So we make small, incremental adjustments to the injector pulse widths and watch how those changes affect the engine's power curve on the dyno. The longer the pulse width, the more fuel." Engine tuners also pay close attention to turbo inlet/outlet and exhaust gas temperatures (EGT), as those are critical redline areas that have a direct affect on engine longevity. The best "tunes" have built-in safeguards to protect the engine from any such event. Hypertech's programmers are also constantly watching brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) – the fuel-to-power ratio. Lambert says when they see either a "point of diminishing return" in power related to the amount of fuel being sent into the cylinders – or temperatures rising above a certain threshold that would endanger engine longevity – they dial-back those adjustments. "Once we have found the sweet spot on fuel, then we concentrate on adjusting timing," explains Lambert. "We make finite quantity changes in fuel timing and then follow the dyno results to see where the efficiency and performance begins to fall off. Once that's achieved we go back to the first parameter, fuel quantity, and fine-tune some more." propickupmag.com PROPICKUP 43 ProPickup_2013BB_Engine Programmers.indd 43 8/6/13 10:02 AM