I've been looking at getting an ecu upgrade and was wondering for thos of you who have one of these, especially the BAMA, what kind of long term effects they have on the engine. I'm kinda worried about it destroying my engine over the long term.

 

I have been running my Bama tune for over 50,000 miles with no ill effects. I am usually on 87 performance but occasionally use the 91 torque if I want maximum power.

Doug assured me nothing is changed that would damage the engine.

 

Haven't had mine but about 5-6k miles now. No problems have resulted as of yet. And I've even done some datalogging (knock sensor counts) running 87 octane on the 93 octane tunes.

I'd suggest having him firm up the shifts a little and add 2 degrees timing over what it comes with. (my shifts were no different than stock and I run 24/7 with the timing 4degrees advanced)

Rich

 

all in all...there shouldn't be any bad effects. it reprograms the engine and makes it more efficient. And the more efficient the engine, the more power and more life.

 

ive had mine over 70k miles, no problems because of it

 

Does gas mileage increase or decrease or remain the same? Which programs are the best compramise between performance and economy?

 

increase usually by a few mpg

 

I saw an increase in Milage.

As far as tunes go.. I have three. 93 perf 93 tow & 93 race. If I'm just daily driving, the 93 perf is best. I've also ran the towing tune which doesn't seem to have the same punch when unloaded. However the opposite is true when towing my boat. If you tow anything heavier than 2000lbs make sure to get the tow tune. It locks the TQ convertor up sooner and holds gear a little longer. Works very nice for my 3500lb boat/trailer.

Rich

 

i got no mileage gain. i think it's one of the most expensive and useless mods i've done to my truck.. (actually, come to think of it.. all of it is kinda crappy). The only reason I'm keeping it is because of tire/speedo correction.

 

93 Race?? haha i aint heard of that one..how does it do?

 

Well... all he did was change some of the tranny TQ convertor lock up schedules. Even though I asked for a little more timing and raised shift points.

At the track I ran best by going leanest on A/F, timing bumped 4deg, and tried to raise shift points on the 93 performace tune.

I do however think the towing tune is definately worth it. Towing our 19ft Bayliner is significantly better with it vs stock or the 93 perf.

I suppose this is as good a thread to vent as any other.
Doug at bamachips is nearly worthless when it comes to customer service. He litterally wore me down! I just gave up trying to tweak this tune. With him simply not reading my initial request when placing my order, ignored e-mails, getting the tune wrong, and ignoring phone messages. (would never answer the phone when I called)

After two months of back and forth I finally wound up with what I had ordered in the first place. I called it good enough and just gave up trying to deal with him.

Don't get me wrong. He was nice and never decietful in anyway. But the way I was mis-understood and ignored you'd think he is the most distracted business person in the world.. or just was never tought how to treat customers w/money in thier hand.

I'm happy overall. But to this day I still cannot raise my shift points or firm up tranny shifts. Don't know why?.. and in two months of back and forth with him, he just NEVER addressed my complaints. Guess my $400 was just not worth his attention? I know I could never treat my customers like that.

Rich

 

x2 big time.

I completely regret buying my bama. If anything I should have just gone to a local dyno.

 

Thats what I did...

 

i like my X2.....you guys who have the X2 and are regreting it, also remember that it is a code reader also, and you can have the truck data logged.....

i gained about 2.5 to 3 mpg when i got the X2....i run the 93 torque tune 100% of the time....i adjusted the A/F ratio (bumped it up a little richer) and raised the timing points by almost 4 points....all my shift firmness' are up to 25%.....my shift rpm is up a couple hundred also above the stock 93 torque tune....

when i ran to Indy last thrusday, i got roughly 18mpg running at ~78mph with the windows down.........around town in Indy i got 15.5mpg.....coming home from Indy i got 18mpg again running at ~78mph with the windowns down....before the X2 i was getting roughly 16mpg on the highway and roughly 14.5mpg in the city....

 

crap...when my truck was STOCK, i was barely getting 15mpg in the city and 15.5mpg on the highway.....now with 35's, 4.56 gears, X2, Screamin Demon, UDP's, efan, and drop in K&N i am getting 18mpg on the highway and 15.5mpg consistantly in the city......all of those mods were well worth the cost to me.....

i couldn't imagine what my fuel milage would be with stock tires, stock gears, and the mods i have on the engine.......i would say in the 20mpg range...

 

I'm getting 16.5 consistantly with bigger tires. I use to get ~17.5 with regular tires. I also have the X1.. so i can't even get the dang codes off. Oh well, like i said, it corrects the tire/speedo, so that's it.

 

the x1 is the old mans version

 

I have the X2. What does this mean for me in lame mans terms? And what are the benefits?

 

data logging will tell you if there is any unknown problems with the truck....and it will help you get every ounce of additional power out of the truck.....

hook the X2 up to the truck and to a laptop that is connected to the internet and a X2 dealer can read what your truck is doing and write a program to that instead of just guessing.....

 

So then you could get custom programs of the internet for free if you hook it up to the internet?

 

no they are not free......

 

what kind of horsepower gains could i get from one of these

 

x2!! i got an 87 milage, 87 performance, and 91 performance. 87 milage gives me an extra 20-30 miles a take, while 91 performance give great power and decreases my milage about 20 miles a take. No big deal. Great little investment for my truck. Buy it.

 

I've not done a back to back measurement yet. But being a TQ freak for many years... I'd guess it's in the 10-15rear wheel hp range.

IMO if your looking for just HP at elevated rpms.. it's not worth it. But if your looking for low end power, milage, and more tranny control it is worth it.

Out of everything the two features I like the most is the improved tip in power. (advanced timing) And the towing tunes tranny functions.

The tip in power is very very noticable when at hwy speeds up in 5th gear. Just push the gas a little and the truck will instantly speed up. No need to push the throttle heavily or even kick down to a lower gear. Actually I almost never kick it down anymore.

And when towing.. if you remove the tow tune and go back to stock, or 93 perf.. it feels flat out weak and the convertor is not in lockup very much.
Interestingly.. the 93 performance tune feels even weaker than stock when towing my 3500lb boat. The tow tune keeps keeps the rpms up a little before upshifting too. That helps acceleration even more.

Rich

 

probably because the performance tunes are designed to get more HP/TQ in the upper side of the power band, not down in the lower area were you need HP/TQ for towing....