I just purchased a 99 C5. The previous owners had a power programmer for the car. It’s a stock car other than a Borla exhaust. Wondering if using the programmer is wise with no additional mods? Looking for your opinions. Thank you

 

Handheld tuners are best used on only stockish engines--Look to see the manufacturing date of the programmer--Chances are it is over 10 years old and there have been many new updates on the current models Don't expect miracles here As a C5 is already well tuned bone stock--Tuning a stock engine may only gain you 10-15 HP that's it However if your car has an auto trans--Trans tuning can make your car quicker in the 1/4 mile without adding any HP -- By making the shifts firmer and deleting the TQ management Once you start doing major mods such as a cam--hds/ headers- etc then you need more advanced tuning capabilities such as HP or EFILIVE

 

I was told years ago not to delete torque management. Tuner said to increase the number from whatever stock is to a larger number. He went with 1,000 ft/lbs. Again, this was in 2004. Perhaps there's more up to date technology that makes my info dated....

 

TQ management does not work that way It is strictly used only on an auto trans to reduce TQ during a shift As much as 30%--So every time your auto trans shifts the ECM will subtract 30% of your engines TQ via throttle position/spark and fueling--So every time your car shifts the engine has to regain that 30% of TQ it lost thru the ECM TQ management system---- There are also several other tables in a stock tune that limits TQ and HP all the time--
Abuse Management
Throttle position TQ reduction
Traction control TQ limitations
TQ limiting tables
Brake TQ Management --
Minimum Final Timing
These other programs have a great deal to do with limiting TQ/HP and throttle opening % that control the final output of your eng's max HP
I would say if your eng was rated at 350 Crank HP by the time the computer controls get done with the final results you would be lucky to be maxing out at about 275-300 crank HP------
The TQ management system is NOT responsible for these huge losses as it only is active during a WOT shift to reduce TQ to in theory make your trans shift softly and last longer---But even this is wrong When TQ mgnt kicks in it slips the clutches in your auto trans to make it shift softly --This creates heat and wears out the clutches pre maturely-----Most all tuners DELETE all of the TQ MAGMT---Firmer shifts creates no slippage---- The other programs I mentioned in a stock tune are the ones that limit TQ and HP all the time

 

I'm going to have to stick to what my tuner said, at that time, which was don't delete it, but raise the values to 1,000ft/lbs, or more. I never mentioned torque management on manual transmissions. My completely stock internally LS1, with lower t-stat, LS6 intake, and stock exhaust, except Flowmaster mufflers, Batwing airfilter, and without ever removing the sparkplugs, ran 12.80s-12.90s at 110mph. The tune was done on LS1 Edit, as it was the only game in town then, and was done WITHOUT using a dyno, just the tuners experience. I was mighty happy he took my car from high 13s to high 12s. So everyone will know, I couldn't get under 13.40s@103-104mph in the quarter until he tuned it. So I would think I picked up a lot more than 15hp to gain a half second and 6-7mph. But I'll admit I had supporting bolt ons that maybe made the tune much more effective. I'll also admit you may be correct on the torque management, as this was early on in the LS1 tuning an A4 trans. Perhaps now the preferred tuning deletes it with no adverse effects. I can only tell of my own experiences. Who knows, if it would've been deleted, I might have been in the 12.60s or 12.50s......

 

I noticed it immediately on an older fbody, but yea there fine for a stockish car.

 

LS 1 EDIT is obsolete tuning software from the early 2000s