Ok, here is the deal... the amount of tuning we had to do was FAR above and beyond I think the general public will need to do... We bought this product before a map was built for it and had to spend time building maps. The goal, as I understand it, is that maps will already be built for most people... unless they have some very different configuration and then, well, they probably know a lot about this kinda stuff and know they have a little extra work cut out for them!
We spent 2 half days in the field and 2 half days on the mtn tuning and building our maps from what was pretty much scratch. If you have a normal turbo sled I think the plan is to have a map already built for you that you just have to 'fine tune'. Fine tuning is very basic... I'm not sure if they plan to do it or if they plan to teach the general public to do it or teach their dealers to do it. The map that the general public should be about ready to go and you can ride for the day on it as is (of course, it would be smart to test it out quickly before you plan to go for some killer ride!) The idea as I understand it is that you hit log on your computer a few times during that day. You don't have to be logging all day, in fact that is NOT desired. If there is a lean or rich spot it will show up very quickly if you do one pull and really work the throttle through the range and different configurations. Then you fix that map (can even do it later that day in the comfort of your home if it's running close enough just not SPOT on) and load it up the next day and go out!!!
What we haven't gotten to see yet is if this map truely is consistent from riding area to riding area, day in and day out. Only time and multiple kits running will tell that.
We fought our own battle because we bought it in parts and pieces (no kit so we had to do all the wiring and that was a nightmare -who knew it would be so tough to find that perfect gauge wiring??!!) However, I have given this feedback to Jake and I think he was already planning on selling to his customers as a KIT with all the ends made up and the wiring that was needed in included. I'm not sure though... Like I said, we also fought MUCH more of a tuning battle than most of you will face... once these maps are created they're pretty plug and go, we were send the pump gas map for our sled and it seemed just about SPOT ON, maybe a tiny bit rich on the bottom but we were fine with that for a few days while we weened if off 100% av (there was still a little bit of av gas in the fuel too so didn't want to judge the tune until we knew we were clear of that... Plus... my electrical issues! I think there was one spot that was rich enough to make it stutter for a second but it always recovered VERY quickly! The electrical was still making the sled shut off on me and even shut down power to the sled when I was under full load (really odd there and we're scratching our heads over it!!).
Now, the few things I would like to see before I think this really is a great product and ready for the masses are this:
1. It really needs to be a kit. There can be one or two sensors missing from the kit if there is something that a lot of people might already have and not need, we needed everything so it meant we had to make up a lot of connectors and wires and that just leaves room for error! (and confusion!) Plus some of the connectors that were easy for other people to find I had to go to a specialty fitting store to find!
2. Unless you're willing to build a map from the ground up and possibly risk doing some damage to your machine I suggest you make sure a map is already built for your machine before you buy. This IS in the works so just ask and be patient if it's not (or be willing to undertake the project and know the outcome could be risky building a map in your field!). Don't buy this product without a map for your configuration and expect it to be pull and go! -and this is why I'm not pointing my finger at vi-pec or ANYONE with the melt down of my machine! We knew what we were getting into here!
3. I would like to see the det sensor fully operational and all the stock gauges and warnings working properly (including the odometer). We have roughly 200 hard miles on this machine that haven't registered since we put the new ECU on it. For various reasons I would like to keep track of my mileage (and I KNOW people will have questions about how many miles I put on it with it running pull and go as that is a good judge of longevity).
Update on my machine. A-MAZINGLY enough it was just the top end. It looks like a bomb went off in there but I'm pretty sure it didn't give up the ghost that day (on the ride out down the trail, which is when it started running on one cylinder). It was caused by detention but as I said, we ran that sled against the wall while tuning with the dobek box and in the initial phases of building our own maps with this box. Once the maps were built we're pretty positive we weren't hitting det, even when we switched to pump gas. So... We might have a bunch of people pooling together to help get me some parts and we might rebuild this bad boy! We were SOOOO stinking close and it's be a ROUGH journey for me, I won't lie!! but I knew stepping from the big bore world to the turbo world would be a HUGE learning curve for me.
If all the stars align and I can find all the products I need (including a WHOLE new wiring system for the sled cause I am DONE chasing white rabbits through wires!) then we might see this back on the snow!!
I hope that explains some of what we went through and some of what I think you guys would see as customers. We got great service from Gino and Jake, if you have ANY really technical questions get a hold of Jake (sledstew). I do think once you get a map set for your machine it will realize more power and be more consistent. Day in and day out, from area to area I can't speak to yet since we had JUST gotten to the point where our map was correct!
Sorry for the long post, I've been getting a bunch of PMs and I just wanted to reply once!
, in the videos posted it does seem to be working really well , it takes more then a good working fuel controler to make a sled perform like that , and NM and sled has all three.
