Has any one had any experience with these so called hand held tunners like Hypertech, Superchips, or Predator. Do they really do much of anything for $300- $400? Any help would be appreciated for my 96' LT1.

 

i dont know about superchips or predator but i do know that hypertech is crap. My car ran SLOWER at the track with the setting that tunes the computer for "hypertech power programming". i ran 9.3ish with it and i ran a 9.08 with the stock programming. you decide if thats worth $350...and you cant even adjust the timing curve with it. My buddy got his DYNOTUNED for $400 at RPM (www.ryansperformance.com) in Garner, NC.

 

For the money they charge for those things, you can buy all of the tuning/logging software you need to tune your own car.

 

Don't waste your money on the HT...get a good PCM tune from one of the mailorder folks. HT is a lot of money for very little gain. You can buy a code scanner on E-Bay for around $30 if you need that.

 

I had a HPP for a while (when the car was pretty much stock). 97 Formula A4.
Plusses - Easy to use, pretty much foolproof. Allows you to change shift points and shift firmness for an automatic. Allows you to change for new gearing, 160 thermostat, different tire sizes.
Minuses - No flexibility, internal tune is of no value.
If you have a laptop, I would recommend getting a full tuning package and using that instead. It is NOT cheaper than buying a used HPP (about $150), and it is more dangerous (setting the wrong values can cause real problems). But it is far more flexible and allows you to get into the nuts and bolts of tuning your PCM.

 

Hypercrap actually pulls a little timing in the upper rpms in hopes that you will not get knock retard. There is no change at all to the fuel air ratio at WOT. Get tunercat. You can do anything Hypercrap will do plus more.

 

I didn't know this. I've never looked at a HPP tune, but I would have figured they would have done the obvious and lean it out up top. That would atleast make some difference.

 

I still have my HT (97-LT1). Then I got to modifing. Motor, blower, cams, injectors, etc. Ended up with LT1 edit v2.2. HT did not offer the flexibility for major mods. Most people will eventually mod their cars, and, HT will not do the job. I'm always making adjustments to the pcm.