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Full Version: Sct Chip Or Sct Flasher?
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Ive seen the List of options on the Chips,

Very Nice... Can the Flasher add to that?
Ive also read everything on the Flasher, I must be missing something, It dosent really excite me.

Diablo... Better chips?

In the end I want somthing that will be easy to work with.

Lastly...
With the 1200 Ive got to blow on the Car, Im thinking ChipOr Flasher, UDP kit, Screaming demon and Wires, Or

Full Header back exhaust.

What set up will i get the most from?

Keep in mind I want a Very Quit Exhaust.

Give me your thoughts.
I'm going SCT Chip, Magnaflow exhaust, chrome-moly strut bar in the very near (read one month or so) future.

Also some appearance / asthetic mods too.
You probably read this thread: http://www.focuscanada.net/forum/index.p...topic=7473

Tom and Meiser pretty much list out the differences in all the bickering. :P :D
Hard to follow that post...

Wheres Is Toms shop?
Tom's shop is in North Carolina.

link to Tom's website
I personally prefer the flasher... it's a pain in the arse swapping programs on either if you need updated tunes.. but at least you don't have to fiddle around pulling the chip and whatnot with the handheld flasher.

at least with the flasher it's
1) update program on flasher
2) reflash car

instead of
1) pull chip
2) flash chip (or mail away)
3) reinstall chip

in my opinion, if you do mail order, the predator is a very attractive solution... you get the flasher, it does the datalogging which can be sent back to the shop, and then you get a updated tune... that's pretty sweat.

But then again, mail order tunes are getting better and better, especially with SCT so it appears, and sometimes a multi-tune chip will be good enough to save you the hassle of not having to ship it back, while offering easily selectable tunes.

guess it all depends on what kind of features you're looking for.
I think in Chromey's case he has no need or would gain anything from any sort of thing at this early stage in his mods? I have every NA bolt on possible and such things aren't even on my horizon yet?

Maybe I'm missing something?
2001 ZTS,Dec 18 2004, 02:27 AM Wrote:I think in Chromey's case he has no need or would gain anything from any sort of thing at this early stage in his mods? I have every NA bolt on possible and such things aren't even on my horizon yet?

Maybe I'm missing something?
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you can get a little bit out of an updated tune.. jack up the timing, cleanup some of the stock driveability issues. Is it worth the price? I think we're at the point where it could be... in the hands of the right tuner.
darkpuppet,Dec 18 2004, 02:33 AM Wrote:I think we're at the point where it could be... in the hands of the right tuner.
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We as in the royal we (yourself) or we as in you and I?

If you think enough people locally would benifit why not everyone chip in (unintentional pun) a small sum and get one "for the club"?

To be honest I ignored the whole "flasher" thread and don't know what we are really talking about other than it sounds like some sort of "shop tool" (expensive)?

With a chip, don't you have to update it or reflash it everytime you add a performance mod in order to optimize its capabilities. (i.e. going to the shop for a retune or mail back and fore) Therefore it would be best to get a chip after all of your foreseeable performance mods.

With a flasher, would you be conceivably be able to do this yourself?

I, like Andrew, have pretty much most of the NA bolts-ons as well. My next mods in order would be:
SVT Header conversion kit, with high flow cat and flex (keep it legal)
Cams and cam gears
Chip with hopefully a dyno tune.
Unfortunately, with the way that SCT works, we can reuse tunes, but you're still obligated to buy the extra flasher(s) for each car you tune... The flashers are VIN locked (tho, I'd like to see that myself).. so I'm not sure what benefit there is to getting a group buy in order, and I'm not an authorized dealer of SCT (tho steeda.ca might be)

As in the 'we' part, I meant 'we' as in the global sense, that we've, as a society have reached a point where there's enough tuning knowledge to make a proper tune for the cars that will actually see some gains.

only problem is that it takes time and research.. which comes with more experience than I have to do it properly.

Ideally, I would love to have a work-horse car... one with a standalone that different components can be tried on, and with a standalone system that is similar to the EECV, and extra sensors to see what's really going on in the engine... a working 'lab car' as it were. It'd be easier to tune with the standalone to figure out all the parameters, and then translate that tune into re-flashes.

I'd hope that is what SCT and others are doing when they release a 'black box' solution for tuning with different configurations, rather than guestimating and mailing that out. Experience is good, but I'd like individual tunes that have been tested and proven extensively before selling any of my own tunes.

If I ever win the lottery, you bet that is what I'd be doing... would be a great learning experience, and everyone could benefit.

As it stands now, I don't mind helping out if I can... but I don't want to be considered THE expert in tuning.. .god, I scare myself when changing things... I'm good with the math and figuring it out, I just wish I had more experience than 1 car to draw from.
dBlast,Dec 18 2004, 03:04 AM Wrote:With a chip, don't you have to update it or reflash it everytime you add a performance mod in order to optimize its capabilities.  (i.e. going to the shop for a retune or mail back and fore)  Therefore it would be best to get a chip after all of your foreseeable performance mods.

With a flasher, would you be conceivably be able to do this yourself?

I, like Andrew, have pretty much most of the NA bolts-ons as well.  My next mods in order would be:
SVT Header conversion kit, with high flow cat and flex (keep it legal)
Cams and cam gears
Chip with hopefully a dyno tune.
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you can get the flasher with 3 tunes on it... just like the chip. But with the flasher, it's easier to receive tunes via e-mail, save it to the flasher, and then flash the car.

The same is achievable with the chip, if you get the chip reflashing kit, but I'd say it would be easier to just flash the car instead of pulling the chip anytime you wanted to update it.

The only exception to this is if you run tunes for different things, like a street and a track tune, where turning a dial (for the chip) would be simpler than taking the 6 minutes to reflash at the track.
I think as a club and with used Focus being as they are we should, "in a year or so" consider a used ZETEC as a "club car". One hundred dollars from 50 people is not much and if you make it a track dedicated car no insurance pretty cheap long term.

People could contribute in ways other than money (ex/ tow to track at no charge or do labour). If $5000 for the car (initial) and $5000 (annual) was the operating budget I'd contribute a couple hundred to add "race car owner" to the resume.
2001 ZTS,Dec 17 2004, 10:25 PM Wrote:I think as a club and with used Focus being as they are we should, "in a year or so" consider a used ZETEC as a "club car". One hundred dollars from 50 people is not much and if you make it a track dedicated car no insurance pretty cheap long term.

People could contribute in ways other than money (ex/ tow to track at no charge or do labour). If $5000 for the car (initial) and $5000 (annual) was the operating budget I'd contribute a couple hundred to add "race car owner" to the resume.
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Silly question. Are you on the right thread?? :blink:
i'd prefer the sct chip (which i have) because i don't think i will change the way it tunes unless i will do some big mods.... because i've already saved the chip to be very end of my engine modification plan, so i've chosen the options that i really need..

so IMO if u are not going to change the program often then just get a sct chip =) rather than a flasher...
OT - Hey yeloZX3, I think I saw you today. Were you driving southbound on Woodbine around lunchtime today?
dBlast,Dec 18 2004, 03:34 AM Wrote:
2001 ZTS,Dec 17 2004, 10:25 PM Wrote:I think as a club and with used Focus being as they are we should, "in a year or so" consider a used ZETEC as a "club car". One hundred dollars from 50 people is not much and if you make it a track dedicated car no insurance pretty cheap long term.

People could contribute in ways other than money (ex/ tow to track at no charge or do labour). If $5000 for the car (initial) and $5000 (annual) was the operating budget I'd contribute a couple hundred to add "race car owner" to the resume.
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Silly question. Are you on the right thread?? :blink:
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Maybe? Maybe not?

Thinking big/long term? Yes/always.

It justs sounds like spreading out at these costs makes sense at a club level?????????
THe only reason im leaning towards the flasher is because im in the early stages of mods.

This means i will be changeing my Tune many times untill im finish.

The other thing i would like to see and dont is a Do IT your self program.

I wanna be able to change the settings and tune of the flasher on my own PC. I dont wanna have to wait or pay for a update.

Lastly, Why are these VIN locked? Is it so we cant use it on other cars(Friends cars).

Would apear to be a markiting scam, Smart one though. I would still like to see the Program on my PC in the end.
yeloZX3,Dec 18 2004, 03:53 AM Wrote:so IMO if u are not going to change the program often then just get a sct chip =) rather than a flasher...
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I'd say the exact opposite.

The chip is good because it allows you to select from multiple tunes quickly and conveniently. If you're not changing tunes every weekend, (ie going from from 91 octane to N2O to 94 Octane on a regular basis), I'd say the flasher is the better way to go. Less hassle installing, less chance of anything going wrong with extra plugin-parts like the chip connector, wiring, etc.

The only time the flasher becomes inconvenient is when you want to change the tune often and quickly between 2 or 3 'daily-used tunes' because you have to disable the fuel system and do the 6 minute song and dance everytime you want to update the tune.

2001 ZTS Wrote:Maybe? Maybe not?

Thinking big/long term? Yes/always.

It justs sounds like spreading out at these costs makes sense at a club level?????????

haha.. that would be fun...if the logistics could be worked out, I wouldn't mind donating a bit of my time to help/learn a bit more about our cars.

Chromey Wrote:  THe only reason im leaning towards the flasher is because im in the early stages of mods.

This means i will be changeing my Tune many times untill im finish.

The other thing i would like to see and dont is a Do IT your self program.

I wanna be able to change the settings and tune of the flasher on my own PC. I dont wanna have to wait or pay for a update.

Lastly, Why are these VIN locked? Is it so we cant use it on other cars(Friends cars).

Would apear to be a markiting scam, Smart one though. I would still like to see the Program on my PC in the end.

you can change and update tunes with either the pro-racer package or the quicktune software (xcalibur). If you're going to go through a lot of changes, but not just between 2 or 3 tunes, the flasher would be the way to go.

For some people, I'm sure the quicktune software will work just dandy, but I like (and respectfully fear) the full control the pro racer package offers.

lastly, the flashers are VIN locked so one person doesn't pony up the grand for the pro racer package and then everyone 'steels' free tunes from him/her. SCT is in business to make money and I respect that.
OK then what would you guys recommend if.......
I'm running a Garrett T3/T4 turbo, intercooled with 42lb/hr injectors, matched 70mm MAF, Tial 38mm Wastegate and a Greddy 50mm BOV.
Should I get a SCT Flasher? or Chip? I know alot of you guys are gonna scream Tom at me but i'm not 100% sure if i really need to spend $495 usd on a chip....besides a little tuning on your own wouldn't hurt if you know what your doing, right?

Matt :)
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