Now I have been wondering about how hard is it to program the UTEC. I like the cobb stage 2 very much for performance and peace of mind. But now I am wondering about maybe going to a UTEC, since I am seriously considering a vf22"price and performance" and the modes needed to support it. Wish cobb would have more than the vf30/34 maps. I just don't want to blow up my engine because I or a hired tuner don't know everything about tuning this computer. Anyone know this computer very very well? Know a tunning shop that does?
Don't get a UTEC unless you are willing to invest the time to learn the ins and outs of how it works. Entering values into a map or setting parameters is really easy, knowing why you are doing so and the effects it will have is a whole different ballgame. If you buy a UTEC but don't bother to learn anything about tuning--at least an amount that will have you be self sufficient and able to troubleshoot your own maps--then you are wasting your money. There are no local shops I would trust tuning my UTEC, but there are a few of us locally who know what we are doing. I wouldn't call myself an expert but I have a lot of experience with it and with the right tools at hand, I am sure I could put together a better tune than the basemaps at least. My 2 cents.
Yeah, that's the big reason why I went Cobb. It seemed too complicated to work with. I just don't want to put a hole in my engine trying to figure the thing out.
I don't think it's fair to call it complicated. If you dedicate some time to it, and READ THE MANUAL thoroughly, there's no reason you can't use it. But by the same token, it is definitely not something that you can learn in 5 minutes. Using the device is easy, understanding tuning takes a lot more time.
Yea, if I go this route, I may have to road trip to some tuner to get it done right on a dyno. Then again, I may just swing by cobb and have them tune my car on the dyno. Just thinking out loud here.
Opposed to what most people think, the UTEC is not the most complicated thing because they have so many maps that you can personally download off of their website and many variations of different tuner parts, etc. However, it's not as good as dyno tuning it. You will have to do some minor tweaking yourself. Also, you will want to get a map selector because you want to have a daily drive map, race, long distance, and a couple of settings for different octane levels. I would talk to someone at Basszone in minneapolis. They only do it by appointment only, but they will point you in the right direction. However, if you're not going completely crazy with your tuning, I would go with the Cobb accesspoint, it's a skosh friendlier on your day-to-day drive, and plugs right into the port underneath your steering wheel. It also allows you to read the CEL when it turns on. Another option is a the TurboXS Piggyback chip. The UTEC is the most popular out there, so if you find a place that has a dyno, there's a tech that knows everything about the Utec.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by vinh13 Another option is a the TurboXS Piggyback chip. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> UTEC = TurboXS piggyback Unless you are thinking of the old Unichip, which is hardly supported or used by anyone anymore.
Right now I have a stage 2 cobb setup, so i'm familiar with their stuff, but I would like to have more choices than the vf 30/34 options that they have as the only choice up from where I'm at. From what I have read, there are just more choices for the Turboxs utec, but the downside is that I would still need to have someone who knows what they are doing to really realize the setups full potential safely. At this point, I don't know of a tuning shop localy with an awd dyno and expertise in tuning the utec.
Don't just assume that a dyno tne is the way to go. Once you get off the dyno, you will still have some tuning to do. There are every day things that happen, that you can't replicate on a dyno. I can help ya out with the road tune stuff and with the utec questions. Russ
speaking of tuning, anyone here have a WB02, i'm gonna order both my utec and Tuner together once my tax return comes.
I have a txs tuner now, and before I had a techedge wbo2. It makes tuning so much easier when running the txs tuner. Russ
