BlakDak71
07-27-2013, 05:59 AM
Backstory
Had Hemifever for when I had bolt ons as well as heads/cam combo. Kept his services for when I put the Kenne Bell on my truck. Got this done last fall, took it to the track one time - ran 13.3 @ 102. Great, I was happy. Put the truck up for the winter.
Got the truck out this spring and realized that on the street, it wasn't really driveable. I was two-footing it at every stop light or sign, constantly having to catch the truck before it died. Was very rich at idle...as well as everywhere. While WOT performance was good, I felt there was more in it. Was also was ready to start spraying methanol. Was told that the tune that was in the truck "should be good enough to spray methanol with." This sounded fishy, and I knew that especially on a forced induction setup "good enough" doesn't cut it, so I switched services.
Holy fucking Santa Claus shit, I don't regret it.
Upon talking with Ryan extensively before we even started tuning, he explained to me that the 1998 5.2 5 speeds were finicky, and he had never done a setup such as mine before. Before he had even received a dime from me, he got the details from me and was already working on a setup for me. As soon as the money went through, I had a tune waiting in my inbox. Upon initial startup the idle quality was already better than what was previously in the truck. We focused on part throttle and street driveability for the first few tunes. I was amazed at the difference...when not in boost it drives like a truck that is stock. You can't even tell how radically it's been modified. After the 3rd revision, my handheld took a shit, and would not accept updates from my computer. This was shortly after the 9550 had been discontinued by SCT. I had a deadline I wanted to meet for an event at the drag strip - Ryan went out of his way extensively to make sure that I would receive a new handheld prior to the event so we could wrap up tuning and get it going. He even went to the point of purchasing a used handheld and overnighted it to me. Alas, this handheld was out of PCM changes, so all his troubles were for nothing. I sent my hand held as well as the one he sent me to him so he could hash it out with SCT and get it taken care of.
Fast forward a few weeks, I was still without a handheld. This was not Ryan's fault at all, although apologies were thorough. I had another very special event coming up at the beginning of this month and I emphasized that I HAD to have a handheld by this or I was going to start investigating other options (such as standalone). I don't know how he did it, but somehow Ryan pulled one out of his ass and got me a NEW handheld (not refurb'd) because I was not going to get my original one back in time. I still don't know how he was able to do this. The customer service alone was worth the money I put into this. There have been other set backs along the way, such as his laptop taking a dump on him as well as personal illness, and my wideband O2 flaking out on me. Long story short, it's been an adventure with many setbacks that neither one of us could control. Both of us understood this, but Ryan still went very far out of his way to make sure that I was satisfied and the truck was ready to rock.
Tonight, we were finally able to get some solid tuning in for the first time. It's incredible, the truck drives like a completely stock truck....until you open up the throttle. Then it's an animal. It's basically just tire smoke everywhere. Fuel economy is up, power is up...the exhaust note even sounds different. At idle, it's very smooth and crisp. There's no two footing, no black smoke at start up, and it doesn't smell like it's pouring raw fuel out the exhaust anymore. Can't wait to get this thing to the track and see what it does!
Thanks Ryan!
Had Hemifever for when I had bolt ons as well as heads/cam combo. Kept his services for when I put the Kenne Bell on my truck. Got this done last fall, took it to the track one time - ran 13.3 @ 102. Great, I was happy. Put the truck up for the winter.
Got the truck out this spring and realized that on the street, it wasn't really driveable. I was two-footing it at every stop light or sign, constantly having to catch the truck before it died. Was very rich at idle...as well as everywhere. While WOT performance was good, I felt there was more in it. Was also was ready to start spraying methanol. Was told that the tune that was in the truck "should be good enough to spray methanol with." This sounded fishy, and I knew that especially on a forced induction setup "good enough" doesn't cut it, so I switched services.
Holy fucking Santa Claus shit, I don't regret it.
Upon talking with Ryan extensively before we even started tuning, he explained to me that the 1998 5.2 5 speeds were finicky, and he had never done a setup such as mine before. Before he had even received a dime from me, he got the details from me and was already working on a setup for me. As soon as the money went through, I had a tune waiting in my inbox. Upon initial startup the idle quality was already better than what was previously in the truck. We focused on part throttle and street driveability for the first few tunes. I was amazed at the difference...when not in boost it drives like a truck that is stock. You can't even tell how radically it's been modified. After the 3rd revision, my handheld took a shit, and would not accept updates from my computer. This was shortly after the 9550 had been discontinued by SCT. I had a deadline I wanted to meet for an event at the drag strip - Ryan went out of his way extensively to make sure that I would receive a new handheld prior to the event so we could wrap up tuning and get it going. He even went to the point of purchasing a used handheld and overnighted it to me. Alas, this handheld was out of PCM changes, so all his troubles were for nothing. I sent my hand held as well as the one he sent me to him so he could hash it out with SCT and get it taken care of.
Fast forward a few weeks, I was still without a handheld. This was not Ryan's fault at all, although apologies were thorough. I had another very special event coming up at the beginning of this month and I emphasized that I HAD to have a handheld by this or I was going to start investigating other options (such as standalone). I don't know how he did it, but somehow Ryan pulled one out of his ass and got me a NEW handheld (not refurb'd) because I was not going to get my original one back in time. I still don't know how he was able to do this. The customer service alone was worth the money I put into this. There have been other set backs along the way, such as his laptop taking a dump on him as well as personal illness, and my wideband O2 flaking out on me. Long story short, it's been an adventure with many setbacks that neither one of us could control. Both of us understood this, but Ryan still went very far out of his way to make sure that I was satisfied and the truck was ready to rock.
Tonight, we were finally able to get some solid tuning in for the first time. It's incredible, the truck drives like a completely stock truck....until you open up the throttle. Then it's an animal. It's basically just tire smoke everywhere. Fuel economy is up, power is up...the exhaust note even sounds different. At idle, it's very smooth and crisp. There's no two footing, no black smoke at start up, and it doesn't smell like it's pouring raw fuel out the exhaust anymore. Can't wait to get this thing to the track and see what it does!
Thanks Ryan!