Ok, heres the deal. I have an 01' SS and just recieved a new tranny and a set of Richmond 3.73 gears for it. I'm having a mechanic at a GM Performance Center here in Vegas install both, for obvious reasons. The mechanic told me that I will have to have my speedo re-calibrated for the gears (I allready knew this). He told me, instead of just calibrating the speedo, for $300 he could send my computer to a company in Florida that will perform a "Stage III power programning" for an additional 50-75 hp.

Now, I had a custom shop out here in Vegas recommend the Hypertech Power Programmer instead ($380), so that I can do it myself now, and for whenever I perform any more upgrades to the car. I know a little about the Hypertech, but upon reading about it, it claims hp gains of up to 30 hp. Now, which should I do? It seems that the mechanic has something more in mind, sence the difference in the hp gains seems so different (30hp compaired to 50-75hp). Has anyone here done any of these two "reprogrammers"? What is the mechanic going to do that is so much different that the Hypertech could do to gain so much more power?

Thanx

 

Everybody here will tell you Hypertech is garbage for some reason... I have friends with an '00 3.8 Camaro, '01 Camaro SS and an '04 SSR. All of which own and used the HPP3 on their cars and they seemed damn pleased with it..I have also seen it used on an '03 Cobra and several Trucks including Diesels and they dynoed alot more power. If it was available for my car ['91 3.1 Firebird] I'd get it for myself. I've also noticed the guys over at LXForums.com going crazy about Hypertech releasing them for the Charger, Magnum and 300C V8's.

 

Thanx Slayer.

 

You can find used programmers on the boards and ebay for ~ 150. Just make sure it's for your year and it's returned to stock, not tied to another car's vin.

 

a mail order tune on a stock or mild bolt on car will gain you 15hp on average...possibly 20hp.

the hand held units will probably gain you about 1/2 that...

on the 50-75hp ....he's full of ****

 

Yeah... The 50-75 extra horses or whatever he said is a little outrageous.... and bogus....10-15 TOPS. But, alot better driveability for the performance enthusiast, such as increased top speed, rev limiter modified, cooling fan temp modified, regular and super octane improvements and you can configure the speedo with the HPP3.

 

I had a HPPIII and it was virtually useless on my 6-speed. Those who buy it for the tune are wasting their money. Those who buy it to recal. the speedo for gear & wheel swaps, make the trans shift a little firmer, and play with the fans get a little more bang for their buck. But as stated above, definitely look for a used one that has been returned to stock. You can save yourself about $200. If you do want a new one and don't want to venture away from handhelds, I'd go with one like the Predator that allows you to get free mail order tunes from places like RWTD. That way, if/when you cam the beast you can get it running without spending $500 on a tune.

 

I've got the Hypertech for my car, and as stated above, it's useless for its "Power Tuning" option, and only good for gear changes, shift points & firmness, rev limiter, and tires/top speed change. I've (obviously) used it to program for the 4.10's, and I've played with shift points/firmess with positive results.

The "Power Tuning" option of the Hypertech made my car ping like crazy! I ran nothing but Sunoco 94, and it would still detonate like a bastard above ~4500 RPM.

Even with the Hypertech, I'm still looking into a custom tune one day.

 

I have a vinci and the dyno on my car increased over 40HP.365/365 to 415/402.I had a mailorder that never seemed any good so that probably accounts for a great deal of it.I was running 12.3@113 then did a mailorder and never got there again,and the LS6 intake didn't gain anything after the tune.The vinci put me at high 11's at near 118.

 

For the LS1, there are much better options than a Hypertech for the $.