Tuning, is the grass greener on the other side?

[N1ck]

First off, this is based on my experience only. These are my findings and just want to share with the community.

My truck:
2014 Ram Sport RCSB
4x4 w/ 3.21's
stock wheels, 3.21 gears
18" Magnaflow
Trinity T1000

I purchased my truck and immediately put the Diablo Performance 87 tune on, I ran it for 6-8 weeks before I claimed my free tune from Sean.

Impressions of Diablo 87 Tune - Has been extremely reliable and the most consistent. Best 0-60 was 5.64, most fall 5.75-5.85

Impressions of HF 89 Tune - Excellent throttle response, noticeable loss of 1st gear power from a dig, literally night & day difference. When my wife would drive the truck she would complain about the truck bogging down in low speed areas 10-20mph then taking off pretty quick. I dismissed it, later started to notice it, i've read on here about other guys experiencing it. I posted about my feeling of lost low end torque, one respected member here said i need to send Sean a log to see what is going on. I emailed him and he dismissed it immediately saying that it is impossible for my truck to have slower times on the HF tune Vs Diablo. That rubbed me the wrong way, but it was a free tune, right?

Best HF 89 0-60 was 5.88 most were 6-6.30

Fast forward a few months and i go to the track with high(er) expecations based on what other members have run with stock(ish) Rams. With the HF 89 tune i got 6 runs in, consistent 14.7's all night. Matt did a DA correction and it didn't make the times sting as much but curiosity got the better of me.

I sent Jay a few messages, he told me if i wasn't satisfied he'd refund my money. I figured i've got nothing to lose, so i paypal'd him and with 24hrs I had two 89 tunes sent to me.

First Impressions - The 'race' tune is pretty cool, not something i'd run every day as traction control is completely eliminated. Would be fun for friday night 0-60's were dissapointing, out of 12-15 runs the first evening they were all 6.20-6.30.

Jay was very quick to reply back to me, i began sending logs to him, he kept sending me new tunes. Ive been working with him for 8 days now and i've received 20-25 emails from him and 7 tunes from him. His service is literally A+.

To date the best/quickest time i've gotten on Jays tune is 5.94. Still slower than HF and my Diablo tune. I'm hoping this gets corrected with more logging and tunes from JG.

Before people start saying the Diablo isn't accurate, blah blah blah.

I did ALL my runs (Diablo, HF, JG) on the same stretch of highway, on the same tires. i've ran all 3 tunes one after another on the same evening. I've probably done 25-30 0-60's per tuner, imho this is as accurate as an average joe can get.

As of right now my truck has the Diablo 87 map installed.

 

[Etroze86]

Nice findings Nick, that is interesting that the diablo tune works that well for you.

 

[BigSloth]

I was waiting for someone to do this. Interesting to see and it gives a nice perspective. That being said, I think your results from both tuners are atypical. I cant see why they would be only marginally faster, if not sometimes slower than the canned tunes. And thats from Sean or Jay.

I dont have a JG tune to compare, but I did make some comparisons at the strip the last time I was there. All made in the same night, allowing truck to cool for 20 minutes between while i changed tunes. Made 2 eighth mile runs on each tune. I'll try to find the slips to post, but results were(copied from a text I sent to a friend)

HF93: 8.54, 8.59
Diablo93 9.02, 8.99
stock 9.47, 9.56

I was happy with that.

 

[DavidRam]

Great write-up Nick, thanks for putting the time and effort into it! Just curious why you are only running lower octane tunes?? I don't know if this is typical, but I don't feel the tunes true potential when I first install it, it seems like my truck needs a day or so to "acclimate"... It was the same thing with all my tunes: Bullydog's 93 tune, Diablo 89 and 91 tunes and HF 89 and 91 tunes.

 

[N1ck]

Great write-up Nick, thanks for putting the time and effort into it! Just curious why you are only running lower octane tunes?? I don't know if this is typical, but I don't feel the tunes true potential when I first install it, it seems like my truck needs a day or so to "acclimate"... It was the same thing with all my tunes: Bullydog's 93 tune, Diablo 89 and 91 tunes and HF 89 and 91 tunes.

I run 89 all the time. My employer pays my fuel bill so I don't want to **** hen off with 91+ lol

 

[DavidRam]

I run 89 all the time. My employer pays my fuel bill so I don't want to **** hen off with 91+ lol

Ah hah! Well then you are a good employee, lol!

I only mentioned that, because my 89 HF tune is not as impressive as the 91 tune which I am always running... I can't get 93 in Cali or I'd run that.

 

[Hemi450hp]

I'm also very surprised that the Diablo tuning is outperforming both of your custom tunes. I have a handful of customers that have done back to back runs at the track, and they are dropping anywhere from .2-.5 in the 1/4 mile with the HF custom tuning over the canned Diablo tunes. Now, these are all on 91 and 93 octane tunes, but its just strange to see a generic canned tune outperform custom tunes from a couple of well know Hemi tuners.

 

[Sillygoose]

interesting, although i think full 1/4 mile comparisons would be a better indicator

 

[BigSloth]

Hell, I dropped almost .5 in the eighth between canned and HF 93 tunes.

It's strange indeed.

 

[N1ck]

I do plan on running all 3 at the track. The track is 3 hrs each way which makes get tough getting there, I will do not though.

 

[N1ck]

HF93: 8.54, 8.59
Diablo93 9.02, 8.99
stock 9.47, 9.56

I was happy with that.

At the track w/ HF 89 my best 1/8 was 9.49. The same race I was against another rcsb '13/'14 with a "bigger" passenger and he did 9.81.

I will be doing a JG vs Diablo 1/8 comparison later tonight.

 

[Etroze86]

Man that's kinda crazy to hear, planets must have aligned perfectly for no knock what so ever.

 

[Hemi450hp]

At the track w/ HF 89 my best 1/8 was 9.49. The same race I was against another rcsb '13/'14 with a "bigger" passenger and he did 9.81.

I will be doing a JG vs Diablo 1/8 comparison later tonight.

Nick, take a look at your MPH in those slips. You ran 5mph faster than that other truck which is a HUGE power difference. There is so much more to racing than many people realize when looking at ET's posted online. Gearing, weight reduction, track prep, fuel octane, weather, wind direction, and even the track itself will affect what times are posted. Best way to compare your trucks performance is against other vehicles at your local track. The simple fact that you ran 5mph faster than that other truck shows that you have an easy 30-40hp over him. Now its just a matter of getting a good launch and a little track prep to knock your ET's down.

 

[YellowDUc]

Nick, take a look at your MPH in those slips. You ran 5mph faster than that other truck which is a HUGE power difference. There is so much more to racing than many people realize when looking at ET's posted online. Gearing, weight reduction, track prep, fuel octane, weather, wind direction, and even the track itself will affect what times are posted. Best way to compare your trucks performance is against other vehicles at your local track. The simple fact that you ran 5mph faster than that other truck shows that you have an easy 30-40hp over him. Now its just a matter of getting a good launch and a little track prep to knock your ET's down.

I do not have much experience dealing with vehicles with four wheels and performance upgrades and go faster stuff. I do have many years of experience in the motorcycle world. I have heard new teams and inexperienced teams in the pits become very excited about only being a few tenths of a second off of the pole setter during qualifying. However, over a 20 odd lap race that equals out to many seconds behind the leader. A few MPH and a few tenths of a second per lap faster is how championships are won or lost depending on point of view.

 

[R/T_Fire]

Nick, take a look at your MPH in those slips. You ran 5mph faster than that other truck which is a HUGE power difference. There is so much more to racing than many people realize when looking at ET's posted online. Gearing, weight reduction, track prep, fuel octane, weather, wind direction, and even the track itself will affect what times are posted. Best way to compare your trucks performance is against other vehicles at your local track. The simple fact that you ran 5mph faster than that other truck shows that you have an easy 30-40hp over him. Now its just a matter of getting a good launch and a little track prep to knock your ET's down.

You forgot to mention tire pressure, track temp, type of tire etc etc.
I don't have much experience with street trucks on the track but more experience with alot higher HP vehicles and there are so many variables makes it hard to compare one truck to another.

But on a more related note I'm wondering if his gear ratio has alot to do with the differences between tunes on the truck and some of the higher tunes needing more air and fuel mix that the set up just cant support???

 

[BlownGP]

Tuning, is the grass greener on the other side?

I see what you did there......

So you trying to put hemi fever and Jay out of business.. lol

Sounds like Jay is on the right track and like every vehicle. There all a little different, just when the LS1 F-body came out, there was a lot of factory freaks that would be faster than other stock F-bodys. Made on a Wednesday I guess..lol

 

[N1ck]

No no no, not trying to put anyone out of business, just posting my results. For the record, I'm very happy with Jay to date, even though my truck is running slower. His service has been top notch and I think he'll get t worked out.

 

[xrsman]

This is what we need lol! Good work Nick, great to hear some comparisons!

 

[Hemi450hp]

Nick, how many 89 tunes has Sean sent you so far? Did you send him a log, or just mention that the Diablo tune was showing faster 0-60 times on the tuner?

 

[N1ck]

Nick, how many 89 tunes has Sean sent you so far? Did you send him a log, or just mention that the Diablo tune was showing faster 0-60 times on the tuner?

To be honest Matt, No he hasn't received a log and I've only received the initial 89 tune.

I emailed Sean with my concerns, he dismissed my issues as a gearing problem saying "they won't let the rpms wind up efficiently from a performance perspective". He didn't ask for any logs to verify anything. He also said it is not possible for the Diablo to be quicker vs his tune as the HF eliminates 100% on the torque management.