marc_w

I got a Crane tuner in the mail the other night. I've really been looking to try one of these out...

I put my flash back to stock, and went and uploaded the program. I'm basically running the high octane tune, for cam #2, with 50rpm more for the idle, and increased shift firmness. It took me around 5-7 minutes to upload.

I've been driving and logging a lot these last few days. The truck runs AWESOME.

WOT: I've really only had time to look through my WOT performance in the logs so far. Before, my WOT was tuned as best as I could get it with the old "880-890" on the (narrowband) 02's thing, and I was running about 26* through the midrange, fading to 23* or so way up top. I don't really consider that tuned... just "cleaned up". Now - my 02's are in the lower 900's, and it's pushing 28-30* of timing on the tops of each gear. The tone of the motor sounds much more angry, and the thing flat-out boots. I have no KR AT ALL.

Part throttle: Definitely good. I'm expecting mileage increases. Throttle responce is very sharp.

Low-end: This is my favorite part. The rockers provided a lot of off-idle snap, an the tuning really put some 'meat' into it. The truck will actually turn over the tires from a dead stop. Yes, it's COLD as heck up here, but still. I'm running a "baby cam" as some call it, rockers (which some people think are a waste, and that you should just buy a stick with more lift), and a stock converter. The "hit" off idle is nearly instant. I love it.

I'm expecting 1.90's for my 60-foot. (from 2.13 at full-weight, lots of gas in the tank, less headers, less rockers, less Crane tuning).

Shift points appear to be around 5,900rpm I believe.

The shift firmness feels great. No slide in the 2nd - a quick positive "bump". It's pretty much transparent around town - more noticeable the more you get into the pedal.

There are still a few options I haven't had a chance to check out just yet. Moving the spark table around, enhanced shifting, things like that.

My local track is scheduled to open April 1st, if it stops snowing sometime soon. I'll be sure to get some results posted.

whitt1

That's really great that a manufacturer is making a tuner to match the mods they offer in a step by step manner.It sounds really user frendly,not everyone is capable of using the software available for tuning and scanning our trucks.I think that Crane has hit on a winning combination.Keep us posted on how well the tuner works as you add new mods.

marc_w

You hit the nail right on the head... That's the main reason why I wanted to try it out.

As much as I love custom tuning and keeping up on the latest tuning trends, sometimes I just want to be done with it.

99 2500

I've read that the only downside to this programmer is that you are not able to raise the shift points by significant rpm's, is this the case with yours?

marc_w

Yeah, I believe the shift points are basically pre-set, but I'll have to double check on that. I'm not sure if they're different for the different cam-options.

greentahoe

iTrader: (2)

Have you compared the file from the crane tuner to your latest with HPTuners?? It sounds like they really did their homework.

QuietTahoe

Nice to hear that the tuner seems to work well for you. I have played with mine quite a bit and it seems like the PCM adapts to the tune and it seems to just get better over time. With your LSA, you might even want to consider Cam Performance level 3 and play with the timing shift. If you need to lean it out a little, you can just enter in an injector size 10% or so bigger than stock and the computer will shorten the duty cycle because it thinks there is a larger injector. There are a lot of tricks with the tuner that you have to think about a little, but they really add a lot of flexibility. In reality though, you shouldn't have to worry about the fuel curves and timing curves much because the development people have all ready done that. A lot of people seem hung up on the shift points, but they are definitely higher than stock and seem to fit the torque curves of the cams really well. IMHO I think the different tunes in this tuner are definitely better (for the recommended cams)than what the majority of DIYers can get out of Edit or HP Tuners. Like I told you some time ago. I was hanging out at Vinci's when the Crane guys and Roger were working on some of the tunes. I know they put a lot of effort into this thing. Keep us informed of how it works for you. Q/T

marc_w

Thanks, and DEFINITELY!

The truck is running phenominal. Things definitely pick up over a few days of driving.

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it.

I'm still on a very basic setup, and loving it. The only thing I changed was moving my idle RPM's up 100rpm over stock. The cam actually has even more of a cackle to it than it ever had before. Very clean sounding.

I'm seeing nice increases in light-throttle cruise mileage (on the DIC), but I haven't been "laid back" enough to run through a tank of gas to get some numbers to compare to some previous recordings.

One of these nights I'll have to throw the Cam3 option in there and see how things go.

What I'm still pretty surprised about is how much timing it's running at WOT and how well it's doing that. Last time I tried pushing (near) that much timing, it felt like I was down on power, and the motor didn't want to rev out -- which is why I pulled the timing. I also really like how good the timing curve looks when running through the gears at part throttle. It's very consistant.

Like I said in another post here, I consider myself pretty well versed in tuning all kinds of motors, but, I'm pretty humbed by this thing.

budhayes3

iTrader: (19)

That is a really awesome tuner, I have one myself, and I plan to play around with it this Spring with my spare PCM. Kinda curious what kind of numbers I can do with the Crane Tuner as compared to my Custom tune.

marc_w

Just wanted to note that the track opening is rescheduled to the 15th. I'll have to get numbers sometime on or after that date.

I'm currently running Cam #3 tune, enhanced shifting, shift firmness, HO tuning, and everything else pretty much stock. Idle is +50 over stock, and is quite lumpy. No stalling, ever.