SCT 3015 Tuner and 97 Cobra

pittshady · Feb 9, 2017

Hi All. I recently acquired a 97 Cobra. It has some mods like 3.73 gears, bbk x-pipe, borla stingers, and 315's in the back.

The previous owner gave me the SCT 3015 that he must have tuned the car with.

I'm brand new to tuning and had a few questions:

1. With the mods that the previous owner made, my assumption was he had to tune in order to get the most out of the new mods. Is this correct?

2. If I put my car back to the factory tune, will it run normally with the above mods?

3. Is there an easy way with the SCT to see what my current tune is?

4. The cobra manual recommended 91 octane fuel, but I put in 93 octane. Would I need to tune the car to best utilize this fuel?

5. Would someone like my family mechanic be able to help me tune the car correctly or is it best to go to a specialist?

Thanks ahead of time!

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g36 monkey · Feb 10, 2017

1 - Yes, but there is no telling if he actually got a tune, or if he just used a canned tune out of the box.

2- Yes, those mods make little difference, you would need to account for the gearing in the tune though.

3 - Aside from the name of the tune in the tuner, no. You can make small adjustments but without SCT tuning software ($$$) you cannot open the tune and see what it's got going on.

4- It is probably not a bad idea to put 93 in if you do not know what sort of tune is on the car now. I would recommend getting an email tune or something to take full advantage of the mods.

5 - Most regular mechanics do not have tuning software, and would not be able to help you. You would need to go to a speed shop. SCT has a fairly good database of who is authorized to tune with their software around the country, so it's not a bad idea to check on their site. Or you can get an e-mail tune from plenty of places. VMP, Lund, any of the big-box Mustang stores will tune it as well.

Hope that answered your questions.

pittshady · Feb 10, 2017

g36 monkey said:
1 - Yes, but there is no telling if he actually got a tune, or if he just used a canned tune out of the box.

2- Yes, those mods make little difference, you would need to account for the gearing in the tune though.

3 - Aside from the name of the tune in the tuner, no. You can make small adjustments but without SCT tuning software ($$$) you cannot open the tune and see what it's got going on.

4- It is probably not a bad idea to put 93 in if you do not know what sort of tune is on the car now. I would recommend getting an email tune or something to take full advantage of the mods.

5 - Most regular mechanics do not have tuning software, and would not be able to help you. You would need to go to a speed shop. SCT has a fairly good database of who is authorized to tune with their software around the country, so it's not a bad idea to check on their site. Or you can get an e-mail tune from plenty of places. VMP, Lund, any of the big-box Mustang stores will tune it as well.

Hope that answered your questions.