best scan tool for a street/strip GN

[GBGN1]

Im upgradeing my stock set up for some raceing at the track.
My ? is what would be the best for scanning the car,best for the money,best for cruiseing.

Im considering getting the direct scan set up but dont know if a scanmaster would be more practical?And what special things would I have to do to the car to run a Direct scan?

Thanks
Brian

 

[d0n_3d]

I personally like Turbo Link...you can do more fine tuning with it

DS is expensive and you have to modify your ECM case in order to make it work

 

[ONLYA6]

I would recommend Scanmaster for the simple fact that it's always on! Whereas with Turbolink you have to have your laptop with you and you have to have it on, ready to go, whenever you want to use it. It's kind of a PITA if you ask me.

Jacob

 

[KEVINS]

To use DS you need to do 2 things:
1. You need to modify the metal case that the ECM is located in so a ribbon cable can connect to the circuit board.
2. Remove some epoxy off the circuit board so the edge connector that is on the ribbon cable can slide onto the pcb.

The instruction manual is on the DS web page.

I started with a SM and now stepped up to DS. SM was a great starting tool for the beginner in me although (IMO) I think it's too $$ for what it does. But like others said you can leave it hooked up if you want to (I always removed it when I was done tuning). I now have DS because my tuning skills need some more information and I hope DS will give me that info.
If you know that you will be removing it when tuning and you want a little more to grow with then the TL is a great way to go.

Good Luck.
ks

 

[c&cgn]

I have all three. DS, TL and SM2.

I think it depends on how fast you are planning on going and exactly what you plan to do with the car. I started with Turbolink and it was an awesome tool for tuning the car both for the street and for the track. However, once I hit the high 11's I found that it just didn't give me as much info as I wanted because of the slow ALDL data rate. Because of this, I have since switched to Directscan which gives you a mind-numbing amount of data and allows you to see exactly what the car is doing at all times. IMO it is the best for a hardcore racer that wants all the possible data they can get and plans to run deep into the 11's and beyond.

The SM2 is perfect for daily driving, as driving around trying to look at your laptop on the passenger seat is not easy or safe.

 

[BoostKillsStres]

I like DS w/ all the data and caspers knock gauge for when the laptop isn't in the car.

 

[TIMS87GN]

I have the Direct Scan also. I am still new to the whole tuning thing but I will tell you that it does give an aweful lot of info rapidly. Modifying the ecm is no big deal beside I have a spare. DS is worth it. Good luck!

 

[SilverSleeper]

I have both Turbo Link and a Scanmaster2.1
The s/m is always in there. Its a good thing to have. I use the T/L when I want to record and playback data from a run. SInce it also works on some other cars (i.e. my van, my dads roadmaster) it was a great buy. It would be a pain to carry a computer with you all the time. If you are using the car as a daily driver like I used to, having the s/m with you may be the difference between finding a small problem before it gets big, or blowing a gasket somewhere.
I might end up getting direct scan if I go to the track more often this year and need the faster update to tune better.

 

[Spoolinup]

For the street, the scanmaster is an easy choice. A little pricey for a none printout scanner, but very effective when the faster update is done.

And it looks really cool on top of the dash.

 

[slow 87]

Originally posted by Spoolinup
For the street, the scanmaster is an easy choice. A little pricey for a none printout scanner, but very effective when the faster update is done.

And it looks really cool on top of the dash.

yup

 

[GBGN1]

any other opinions?

 

[GBGN1]

any other opinions?

 

[azgn]

my opinion....knock gauge, egt, and T-link

the knock gauge will save you, you can tune with the egt and t-link

if you can only have one.............prolly scanmaster

 

[Iceman]

I have a Scanmaster and DirectScan.
I think they are both great!

 

[Steve Wood]

Scanmaster is a great second choice for monitoring retard, and O2s if you believe in them. It is very helpful in adjusting tps and iacs as long as it does not have the fast update software in it which don't give you iacs.

For fine tuning and troubleshooting, it is of less use because it does not record all paramters and write them to disk for playback and analysis. I have T/L and DS in addition to a couple of scan masters...I think T/L is better for the newercomer as it is easier to use and has actually living support that is readily available from Ken Mosher so you won't be left in the dark when you have questions/problems.

 

[blackshoebox]

IMHO this depends on how fast you are going or plan on going. Mid 11's or higher, a scanmaster is more then enough to tone the car in, were as T/L or DS can be over the top for a street car. I just purchased a used otc 4000 which i will use to aid the scanmaster 2.1 i have, and this seems to be a very practical tool to assist in tuning.

Shoebox

 

[Steve Wood]

You must have faster eyes than me, if you can read the numbers and drive at the same time!

 

[Dean]

Here's something I wrote on a thread many, many months ago that Chad put on his website: Taking a Look At Scantools The MMC link is now dead (gives an idea how old this writeup is). (Need to update that some day, fixing the typo's, links, and such...)

One thing to add to the TL "Pro" section is the ease of portability. With your laptop running, you can unplug it from one car, plug into another, and immediately run TL. With DS, you would have to relocate the DS hardware as well. SM can be made portable as well with a little creativity.

I would suggest starting with SM as a very useful, "always there" tool. After that, I would agree with Steve Wood's assesment of TL getting the nod before DS. I am still very impressed with DS and use it to "dial in" my tune up, but I usually use TL for recording track runs to capture the boost readings.

HTH

 

[Steve Wood]

There is a new version of TL in beta test now that is windows friendly...makes it easier to manipulate data....and will ultimately handle more cars than it currently does.

I love my Scanmasters but continue to maintain that one cannot really tune with one...they are sure handly for monitoring tune after things are tuned, tho.

Bob, build a knock alarm into them that will beep loudly if more than 3 degs of retard are encountered!

 

[TurboBob]

Ok,

actually, flashing the display has been sugested and would just be a software upgrade.

anything above 3 degrees?.......

The beep idea is an interesting one.

I have some tiny beeper thingies around here somewhere........

Bob