I'm what you call a "do it yourself" sort of guy. But I'm no expert, I have read alot on on various tuning software like EFI Live and HP Tuners which looks just a little to advance for me. Then you have these hand held tuner deals, that look perfect for me.

My question is from your experience which hand held tuner will give the most about of HP and function for a C5?

Thanks again for the help.

Doug

The two hand helds that you will find most talking about is the Diablo Preditor and the Hypertech unit. Both are great units so you can't go wrong.

I see alot of reviews on the Preditor, I'm going to say the Diablo hand held.

The C5s are tuned on the aggressive side (for factory tunes) so it leaves less room for improvement, but we see average gains of 15 rwhp on the LS1 powered C5s with our tunes.
You also get lots of end user adjustable features, and full A4 control if so equipped as well.

Thanks

The C5s are tuned on the aggressive side (for factory tunes) so it leaves less room for improvement, but we see average gains of 15 rwhp on the LS1 powered C5s with our tunes.
You also get lots of end user adjustable features, and full A4 control if so equipped as well.

Thanks

Not to bad gains? Anyone know what the Hypertech HP gains are? Are these the only 2 companies. What ever happened to Super Chip?

I'm what you call a "do it yourself" sort of guy. But I'm no expert, I have read alot on on various tuning software like EFI Live and HP Tuners which looks just a little to advance for me. Then you have these hand held tuner deals, that look perfect for me.

My question is from your experience which hand held tuner will give the most about of HP and function for a C5?

Thanks again for the help.

Doug

We're a dealer for DiabloSport for Fords. That being said, the actual handheld itself has no bearing on performance, they're both modifying the same stock values in the computer for better performance. My guidance in selecting a handheld is to suggest buying whatever your preferred local performance shop is most comfortable with. If you have a shop that you trust, when it comes time for a custom tune you'd like to be able to use them to tune your car so buy whatever handheld they have custom tuning software for.

The only real differences in the handhelds from an end user perspective are transfer rates and functionality/ease of use. Most handhelds are limited by the transfer rate of the computer in the car, not the handheld itself. Some handhelds are more user friendly than others and have intuitive software to upload custom tunes to your handheld. Also tech support comes into play, try giving some of the handheld companies a call, see if you can even get a hold of them to answer any questions. I know with some companies it's almost impossible to get a hold of a person to talk to (DiabloSport has been super easy to get ahold of for us).

The C5s are tuned on the aggressive side (for factory tunes) so it leaves less room for improvement, but we see average gains of 15 rwhp on the LS1 powered C5s with our tunes.
You also get lots of end user adjustable features, and full A4 control if so equipped as well.

Thanks

You will not get 15 rwhp even with a custom DYNO tune by the best LS1 tuner. You might get 5-10 at most.

With a hand held you'd be lucky to get 5 hp on a pure stock LS1. Now for changing shift points, firmness, fan temps, gear changes on A4s etc. they are OK.

Not to bad gains? Anyone know what the Hypertech HP gains are? Are these the only 2 companies. What ever happened to Super Chip?
Here is a dyno graph from a 99 C5 with Hypertech tuning. It picked up 17HP & 37TQ. What year do you have as diffrent year models have diffrent gains. For example on a 00 the gain is 11HP & 27TQ, but on a 01 the gain is only 8HP & 8TQ.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc308/Hypertech_photos/99Vette.jpg

Here is a dyno graph from a 99 C5 with Hypertech tuning. It picked up 17HP & 37TQ. What year do you have as diffrent year models have diffrent gains. For example on a 00 the gain is 11HP & 27TQ, but on a 01 the gain is only 8HP & 8TQ.


These are best case examples. On average you will be lucky to get 5 RWHP :(

Here is a dyno graph from a 99 C5 with Hypertech tuning. It picked up 17HP & 37TQ. What year do you have as diffrent year models have diffrent gains. For example on a 00 the gain is 11HP & 27TQ, but on a 01 the gain is only 8HP & 8TQ.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc308/Hypertech_photos/99Vette.jpg

I have a 1997, thank you. :cheers:

These are best case examples. On average you will be lucky to get 5 RWHP :(

Could you please expand on that little bit. I don't really understand what you mean by best case examples.

Could you please expand on that little bit. I don't really understand what you mean by best case examples.

Ok. The average RWHP for a stock 99 A4 is 285 rwhp. So by using a hand held on 99 that is 14 rwhp under the average your final net increase of 17 is not typical of the results most users will realize on their own cars.

We have also seen several LS1s that have actually Dynoed lower RWHP with the Hypertech tune then the factory tune.

Where are you getting these averages from? The numbers I posted for a 99 came from actual 99 on a dyno.
Ok. The average RWHP for a stock 99 A4 is 285 rwhp. So by using a hand held on 99 that is 14 rwhp under the average your final net increase of 17 is not typical of the results most users will realize on their own cars.

We have also seen several LS1s that have actually Dynoed lower RWHP with the Hypertech tune then the factory tune.

Ok. The average RWHP for a stock 99 A4 is 285 rwhp. So by using a hand held on 99 that is 14 rwhp under the average your final net increase of 17 is not typical of the results most users will realize on their own cars.

We have also seen several LS1s that have actually Dynoed lower RWHP with the Hypertech tune then the factory tune.

Tuning isn't magic, especially at WOT. Typically on a stock tune you'll lean out WOT fuel for best power and then advance ignition timing to best power. Delete torque management and that's pretty much it.

There are several variables that could have not produced the desired results. Air leaks or an altered induction system, bad fuel or improperly functioning knock sensors, fouled spark plugs, clogged injector(s), etc.

I guarantee every handheld tuner out there has those same adjustments made to a stock tune, because those are the only two variables that can be adjusted that will affect horsepower, fuel and timing. I've never had a handheld tuner lose horsepower because the tune was substandard, there is always some other mechanical variable that will hinder the results. This coming from a dealer for DiabloSport and SCT, who is defending Hypertech.