[Patrickpsd]

I currently have the spartan tuner with the 310 tune but have recently saw that h and s tuner that has the shift on the fly capability which interests me, i like that spartan altho the custumer service is kinds lacks there and they are hard to get in touch with, just wondering if anyone out there has tryed them both and what ppl think of the hs tuner?



Moderator Edit: Here is a quick rundown of each tuner.

Spartan- Price $1249 For basic tuner. Additional $400 for the 310 and 275 race tunes. Basic package includes all of spartans tunes, DPF on 40,75,125,150 hp tunes, DPF delete tunes 40,75,125,150,175,210,210 heavy tow, and 250 race tune. The same tuning is on the fastest 6.4 today in a reg cab @ [email protected], and dyno's consistantly around 575 hp with the 310 tune. Features one of the best dash units for displaying guages, tuning info ect, has data logging capabilities, as well as a GPS add on option. Great tuning, engine and transmission, great set of guages, and data logging. Most expensive out of the group. It has also come to my attention that you can purchase tunes for the Dash daq through KEM performance, not sure all of the list of tunes available, but i do know that there is a 345 tune that was just released for 300 dollars

SCT livewire- Price basic live wire can be picked up for as little as $650, with Innovative custom tuning around $950. Basic tuning, is ok, can be done tuning with DPF on or off. Best when coupled with custom tunes by Eric from Innovativediesel. Offers 4 tunes. Including a tow tune, extreme street, and extreme race, The extreme race has put down over 600 hp on just a tuner, and has track times of high 12's with just a tuner, on crew cab pick ups. Great engine and transmission tuning, The sct does offer guages as part of the display, the livewire is a bit large and the gauges arent the best, but they do work. SCT livewire is best coupled with analog gauges, and Erics custom tuning, another benifit is having a wide veriety of tuners to choose from, such as Elite diesel, Rivercity diesel, Beans diesel performance, Dp-tuner, Gearhead automotive, and others im sure im forgetting. Great tuning capabilities, and the cheapest of the bunch, downfall is the guages, and size of the livewire.

Another great option is the TSX TouchScreen.

The TSX update will be released in a few days. It has some extra features like a better gauge display, end user display options, and most importantly(to me) the ability for me to write my custom tunes to the wireless dongle. Currently, the programs are written to the monitor and transferred wirelessly to the dongle the first time you use the program. My tunes are too big for the memory in the monitor, so I need to write them directly to the dongle. My guess is two weeks and we'll be ready to go with the TSX and custom tuning.

The TSX is the Touchscreen. Is has full monitoring and datalogging capabilities.

The price is $849 for the TouchScreen. The IDP custom tuning package is $399 additional.

SCT Diesel Part # SCT-TSX - SCT Touch Screen Xtreme 8900 - Diesel Performance Parts

H&S Performance- Price 1299, Includes 4 tunes, Only tuner that provides shift on the fly tuning, Digital guages and size of the unit are good, and easy to use. Power is decent, Highest setting dyno's around 515Hp, not alot of track times from this tuner. Decent price for what you get, good guages, downfall is you cant get as high of HP tunes as others.


DPF-ON tuning:
Spartan offers tuning up to 150 hp, some noteable mileage gains can be seen, 1 mpg is probably the most that you will see while maintaining the dpf on your truck.
SCT offers dpf on tuning as well. 120 hp is the most that sct offers with the dpf on, about the same mileage gains will be seen as the spartan tuning.
Banks, they offer the IQ, with or without banks tuning, banks only offers DPF-on tuning. 95 hp gains can be expected, banks also offers thier tuning with a shift on the fly, Havent actually heard of anyone running it, so anyone with feed back please chime in.

 

[Grunn]

The Ultimate DPF delete guide!

I had previously posted this at powerstroke.org and I was hoping to get more peoples input. I got great responses regarding Spartan and H&S but the SCT part was lacking so I want to post it here to get it more accurate.

If you see anything wrong, prices, facts etc... PLEASE post about.
DO NOT bash other companies product. This is just to help people get all the facts in one spot.

So, like many others, I am contemplating what DPF/Tune to go with.
I am making a list of pros/cons of each of the main three.

Since I can't edit posts here I will just re-post the updated list.

If you see anything wrong, prices, facts etc... PLEASE post about.
DO NOT bash other companies product. This is just to help people get all the facts in one spot.

So, like many others, I am contemplating what DPF/Tune to go with.
I am making a list of pros/cons of each of the main three.

So far what I have gathered is:

You can't go wrong with any of the three.
They ALL have a nice looking display for the most part.
They ALL have the ability to produce a TON of power.
They ALL seem to have great customer service.
All kits I priced with a DPF AND Cat delete. You could substract around $100 for just a DPF delete.

Spartan
$1448.99 from rudy's. (Does not include the 275/310 tune but it can be added for $350)

Pros:
1) By far the largest variety of tunes. Including a 210 HP Tow tune. 250HP is the max on the basic set of tunes. (up to 310/350 HP)
From Jeff: "Yes, we have a 210 Tow Performance tune. It has increased line pressure on the 1-2, 2-3, and 3-5 shifts. It also has early lock-up. We designed this tune specifically for towing heavy loads and at the same time keep your tranny alive. "
2) Nice display with data-logging and very easy to hook up.
3) So far seems hard for ford to detect?
4) EGR bypass in tunes.
5) GPS add-on option for the display.
6) DPF ON tune/s
7) Along with its tuning ability, the Phalanx offers a full line of parameter monitoring and datalogging, serving as a full set of digital AND analog gauges, with the ability to monitor:

* Exhaust Gas Temperature
* Engine Coolant Temperature
* Engine Oil Temperature
* Boost
* Transmission Temperature
* Fuel Rail Pressure
* Fuel Rail Temperature
* Injection Timing
* Fuel Delivery Volume
* Regeneration Status
* Diesel Particulate Filter Pressure
* Intake Air Temperature
* Charge Air Temperature
* and hundreds (literally) of other parameters.

Cons:
1) Known to be a little more expensive than the rest.
2) Rumor "puking" in cold weather on the bigger tunes? (But I think a fix has been released for this)
Sent Jeff a PM and was told this"Puking in cold weather occurs when the truck is not allowed to warm up properly before the truck is driven hard. Also, 9/10 times puking is going to signify blown head gaskets. Sometimes it can be thermostat, water pump, or EGR cooler related, but that is much less likely than the blown head gasket scenario."
3) Takes approx. 15 mins to change tunes.
4) Able to calibrate different size tires/gears but at a cost.
Jeff was also able to tell me this "Tire size adjustment is 3 tunes for $100. This is not a one time cost. Anytime you change to a different set of tires and want it done, we have to write you a new set of tunes."
5) $300 fee for use on a new vehicle? (Need to confirm)

Personal thoughts: Great selection of tunes.
Notes: Have packages for the 6.0, 7.3, 6.4 and 6.7. Rudy's has a nice mount for it.

H&S
$1178.99 for the Mini Maxx/$1398.99 for the Black Maxx both priced at Rudy's.
Mini Maxx is the same as the Black Maxx without the Active Maxx software.

Pros:
1) Change on the fly tunes.
2) Choice of 2 displays, one of which is nice and small and nice mounting options.
3) Tunes up to 250HP, can get the "Hot Dam" tune, 275 HP free of charge on their website. A user said "H&S 275hp tune comes on the tuner and should dyno 540ish"
"The 275hp tune is refferred to as a Hot Damn file, tuner is shipped with the standard Hot file, but can be updated to the larger Hot Damn file via their website free of charge."
4) Turn off EGR without removing any parts.
5) Reasonable pricing
6) Internet updatable w/included SD Memory Card, all updates are FREE to download
7) Allows removal of the DPF system and ALL related sensors (nothing needs to go into the race exhaust)
8) Speedometer recalibration for use of non-stock size tires or gearing
9) DPS ON tune/s referring to DPS on tunes "h&s has them too.but as stated above not good for the truck at all."
10) No re-licensing fees for use on a new vehicle?
11) Digital gauges to monitor 20+ parameters inc. EGTs, boost, trans temp, fuel pressure, RPM, load, etc

Cons:
1) No data-logging?
2) Haven't heard much about how detectable it is. Someone posted on another site, "Hey guys i just got a hold of H&S talked to them about the Blackmaxx tuner on the phone and he told me that it is traceable by Ford. He also told me that anything you do to the 6.4L is traceable if Ford looks hard enough????"
Keep in my mind with this statement he is not saying H&S is the only one that IS traceable. He is saying they ALL are traceable. Which I agree with to a point. I don't believe the average ford mechanic can find it, but I am sure a engineer or something could at least see where the factory tune may have been reloaded.
3) No towing tune?
"The 275hp tune is referred to as a Hot Damn file, tuner is shipped with the standard Hot file, but can be updated to the larger Hot Damn file via their website free of charge. As for a lack of a towing tune, the Mild tune seems to do quite well in my personal truck with a lot of weight behind it."
"Just my .02 cents, but just because HS doesn't title one of their tunes 'tow' doesn't mean it isn't good for towing. I've done quite a bit of heavy towing with my truck in the Mild tune, with the trans in tow/haul mode it works awesome for towing. Good trans strategies with the weight behind it. EGT's are virtually impossible to get over 1050-1100 degrees. Will maintain 75mph no problem, on just about every big grade I've tried."

Personal thoughts:Nice/Reasonably small Mini Maxx display.
Note: H&S is working on 6.0 and 7.3 packages. Rudy's also has a nice mount for this one also.

SCT Touchscreen from Innovative
$1149.99 From Rudy's.

Pros:
1) Nice wireless touchscreen display.
2) Data Logging / Monitoring
3) Power choices:
Xtreme Race - 325+rwhp
Xtreme Street - 285rwhp
Street - 215rwhp
Tow - 85rwhp
4) Eric says it is just as undetectable as a Spartan.
5) Reasonably priced.
6) Expandable memory.
7) Allows for calibration of different size tires/gears. (Not able to confirm on the website)
8) Trans choices:
Dyno Lock
Firm Shifts
Soft Shifts
Race Lock
9) DPF on/off
10) EGR on/off
11) Can adjust for gear/tire size.

Cons:
1) Last I read Eric was only able to load one tune at a time to it?
2) Roughly 15 mins to load a tune.
3) Uncertain if the display can be wired to run all the time or if it needs to recharged over and over.

Personal thoughts:A lot of versatility with running a SCT on different vehicles and plenty of room to grow in general. Have not seen any unique/custom mounts for this one yet.

PLEASE reply with anything you see wrong or anything I may have missed.
I am hoping to get this as accurate as possible for everyone and I don't wanna provide false information. This is just a list I ave come up with over the last few days.