I mentioned after I finished with all the brakes, suspension, wheels & tires, that the tranny was just not shifting the way I liked. The only real way to fix this is by reprogramming it.

I looked around and did a lot of research regarding aftermarket tuners. What I really wanted is a unit where I could DIY the tuning, but I was told universally that this capability either wasn't provided, or wouldn't be supported.

Mind you, I work as a systems engineer, currently on satellites. Over 32 years I've worked on major datacom, & telecom, robotics, nuke plants, air traffic, Video/VoIP systems, you name it. We use CAN-Bus in sat & aircraft systems, and add to that my almost 40 years in rebuilding & restoring cars & engines. I think I can handle writing a ECU tune for a Mustang, but alas "it's not allowed".

But, I digress. I found a few different companies selling tuners, and they range from small single tune plug on to tablet based, multi-function, systems. SCT seemed to be one of the most widely sold and supported tuner companies. However, they do not have a very good record WRT customer support. Because of this the consensus seems to be that it's best to purchase the unit from a company that specializes in creating their own custom "tunes" based on the SCT platform, and utilizing the specific info. for your car. For instance what mods you've made, your desired outcome, etc.

After reading a good number of Mustang boards & blogs, it stood out that "5 Star Tuning" in SC. was a "go to" company for excellent tunes, and great, personalized, support for the SCT products.

I contacted them by E-Mail and described what I'm looking to achieve, and they replied almost immediately (8pm on a weeknight!) with a recommendation for the SCT X4 programmer, and that I should give them a call the next day to discuss my needs further. The X4 is a hand held device that is about middle of the road as far as the SCT product offering goes. Not the most capabilities & expense, but not the least either. See the link below for details. 5Star could have tried to sell me the top of the line unit for an extra $200, but to their credit, they tried to home in on the unit that truly best served my needs. (So far 2 brownie points. 1 for the fast/late reply, and 1 for the good recommendation). Unfortunately I got busy with work and didn't get a chance to call for about 10 days, or so. I dropped them an Email to ask when would be the best time to reach them, and they said don't worry, they'd call me. (3 points!)

I spoke with Adam at 5Star, described Pony, mods I'm thinking of in the future, my issues with the slush box, etc. He reaffirmed the X4 as the correct device. Suggested a few different tunes. One for High Octane HiPo, One for Low Octane Economy, and I placed the order.

The unit arrived in a few days. First thing you need to do is download the SCT app from the SCT web site, connect the X4 to the PC w/ a USB cable, and verify that it has the latest software/firmware installed. Then you take the unit to your car, plug it up to the CAN-bus interface (AKA the OBD port) and retrieve the ECU strategy and SWPN from the car. Go to the 5Star web site and fill out the Custom Tune Request Form that asks a lot of questions about your specific car (mods, tire size, axle ratio, etc.), and what tunes you want.

In my case I got my 3 tunes back in about 2 hours by Email. You then copy the "tune files" into a directory on your PC, start the SCT app, connect the X4 w/ the USB cable, and use the app to load the tune files onto the X4.

Finally, take the X4 back to the car, plug up to the OBD, switch the car to the "ON" position, Select upload tunes from the menu, pick the tune you want, and upload! First it saves you current, stock, config, then it upload the custom tune. It takes about 5 minutes. DONE!

I loaded the High Octane (93), HiPo, tune, and drove around the block. Good solid shifts now! Good throttle response! Tire chirping launch, with no "hit the pedal, then wait for the engine/tranny to decide to engage"! So far I'm happy. Need to take it out for a good long drive to fully evaluate the difference.

3/23/2016 - Today was the day I drove Pony to the only, semi-local, Ford dealer that's worth a damn! Needed to finally get a WV State Inspection done, and a alignment after all the Eibach install. It's about 20 miles to the dealer, so this was a good chance, there & back, to evaluate all the work I've done, and the SCT/5Star tune.

As I mentioned before, the tune I'm using (Hi Octane/Hi Po) has definitely improved the shifting, it also has heated up the WOT performance. I notice now when I give it a good bit of pedal, like when I want to do a quick pass, it jumps right to it, and gets hot fast. On the other hand, even with this HiPo tune loaded, if I'm not punching it, or I'm just rolling down the highway, I'm still getting 23-24 MPG. Hell, that's better than my 6-banger Nissan daily grunt car! In the city/stop & go, it gets about 19MPG. But, this tune is for Performance, not MPG, and it seems to do the job! My BIG happiness is that the tranny now seems SO much more solid and responsive. They say this tune has "Hard Shifts", HAH.. They still seem fairly subtle to me! I guess one person's hard shift is way different than another's!

Overall, I approve of the 5 Star tune, and I'm glad I dropped the $$$ on the SCT X4. Pony is now pretty much where I want it! :-)

SCT X4- SCT X4

5 Star Tuning- 5 Star Tuning

Thanks for stopping by and visiting with Pony and I.

MK

EMAIL: mkpony@mkpony.com