Hey guys, Adam here with americanmuscle.com and today we're taking a closer look at, installing
and dyno-testing the Bama X4/SF4 Power Flash Tuner from SCT available with two custom tunes
for your '05 to '10 Mustang GT or Bullitt.
You should be checking this out if you're looking for a handheld custom tuner that can
maximize the performance of your vehicle whether it be stock, mildly modified or even heavily
modified.
This guy comes with two custom tunes, an 87 and a higher octane at 93 race tune from Bama.
It also comes with a number of other features that I'll break down in this video.
And again, I'll show you how to use it.
And we'll talk about dyno numbers.
So, before we jump into all the details of the tuner itself, why don't we take a look
at the dyno graph?
So we strapped down our S197 to the dyno to establish a baseline run here.
Keep in mind, guys, that we had 87 octane in the tank for our baseline, completely bone
stock otherwise, walked away with 269 horsepower and 296-pound-feet of torque at the rear wheels.
We then, of course, uploaded our 93 octane tune, loaded the tank with 93 octane, ran
under the same conditions and walked away with 283 horsepower, 310-pound-feet of torque
at the rear wheels, good for peak gains of about 14 horsepower and 14 torque at the rear
wheels.
Now, those gains alone are pretty impressive from just a simple tune, but looking at the
curve gains, it gets just a little bit better there.
Now under the curve we see as much as 17 horsepower and as much as 18 torque in gains at the rear
wheels, which, guys, that's really what you're gonna feel out on the road.
Now, from a simple 93 octane tune, switching from 87 to 93, this is a pretty decent gain,
I'm pretty impressed with it, but it only gets better when you add those power adders
into the mix.
All right.
So, let's talk about the X4 tuner here from SCT.
Now it comes with two custom tunes from Bama Performance and those tunes, again, are the
87 octane, the lower octane fuel, and the 93 race option.
Now, running off of pump gas here, if you guys are looking for just a simple upgrade
and a little bit of performance when it comes to a daily driver or weekend warrior, the
87 tune is a great option to have.
If you're just looking for a small bump in power without being too overwhelming and without
having to rely on 93 octane, the 87 is there for you on your device.
Now, if you're looking to boost performance, really maximize your gains, 93 octane is gonna
be the way to go using the 93 race tune from Bama.
That guy is gonna take into consideration things like timing, spark, air-fuel ratio,
all while maintaining the safety of your vehicle and maximizing its output.
Even with automatics, you'll see a firmer shift point there drastically changing the
drivability of your vehicle, and that's gonna be the case whether it is a daily driver or
if you're taking your vehicle to the track, this tune is definitely going to maximize
that performance.
Aside from the tunes themselves, you are going to reap a whole lot of benefits with a number
of other features on the device, including the DTC code reader, DTC being the Diagnostic
Trouble Code.
Anytime check engine light comes up, can plug this guy in without needing a separate OBD2
dongle.
You'll be able to read the code, get a brief description, and you can clear it right on
the device as well which can come in handy.
Now, aside from that, you also have the gauges and datalog screen.
You can monitor live engine vitals on the fly, things like air-fuel ratio, intake temp,
coolant temp, and a number of other options.
You can customize the gauge screen to show two gauges, a single, or up to eight.
There's so many options with that screen.
And if you pick up the SCT windshield mount sold separately, you can mount this guy on
your windshield and monitor it on the fly within arm's reach of the driver seat at all
times, which I think is definitely a huge thing to take advantage of.
With that in mind, you can also datalog the vehicle.
If you wanna monitor the performance and communicate that back to Bama for possible revisions to
even improve upon the tune, you can do that right on the device.
You can record the datalog on the device plugged into your OBD2, stop recording, upload it
to your computer with a simple plug included in the kit and communicate that back to the
tuner.
Speaking of revisions, you're automatically enrolled in the Bama Free Tunes for Life program
with the purchase of a Bama tune and corresponding tuner like the X4 or the Rev-X.
Now, anytime you add a power adder, something like a cold air intake, long tubes or even
a cat-back to your vehicle, you can just hit up Bama, they'll revise your current tune
to include your new mod, really maximizing that performance, all for free, of course,
no extra charge.
So, that is a huge value included in this tuner.
If you see yourself building these vehicles, which let's be honest, we all do, that's something
to take advantage of as well.
Now, that is all gonna be included in this package for right around 400 bucks and the
install I'm gonna give one out of three wrenches on our difficulty meter.
Anybody can tackle this in the driveway at home, I'd say about 20 to 30 minutes from
start to finish.
No real tools are needed for that install.
All you need is the harness included in the kit, plug it in, and you can get going.
I'm going to show you every step of the process.
Let's get started.
First off, guys, of course, grab the OBD2 harness included in the kit and your X4, hop
in the driver seat.
We're gonna plug this into the OBD2 port where it's located under the left side on your driver
dash.
So, you'll find that clutch, come right up above it, plug that guy in.
Then, of course, the other end is gonna go into the top of the X4.
From there we can shut the door, put the key in the ignition and get the tuning.
Next step once you plug it in, you wanna take your key, put it in the ignition.
Now, you're gonna start your ignition but you're not gonna start your engine.
So, turn the ignition on.
From the main menu, we're gonna jump right into tuning the vehicle.
So, select Program Vehicle.
You wanna hit Continue on that street notice basically letting you know it's not legal
for sell or use in pollution controlled vehicles.
Again, just a notice to turn your key on.
From there, it may prompt you to connect to Wi-Fi.
From there, it may prompt you to make updates to the device, especially if it's a brand
new one right out of the box.
Ours is not, so it does have the device updates already on it.
So, we're gonna jump right into Program Vehicle but it is required to go through that tuning
update process via Wi-Fi.
So, from here, we're gonna select the tune that we want to go with.
For you guys, you'll have the 87 octane option and the 93 option if you've loaded that to
your X4.
We're focusing exclusively on the 93, so that's the only option we're showing today, but it's
the same concept if you're picking 87.
So, we'll go ahead and select our 93.
From here, you can adjust some options.
In this case, you can adjust the global spark, wide-open throttle, air-fuel, axle ratio,
a couple of different parameters.
We're gonna hit Approve and keep it as is.
It will also let you know it's disabling the pre-loaded tune that the X4 comes with.
That you wanna hit Confirm.
That's inevitable when using a custom tune.
And again, just continue to confirm all the options.
So, now it prompts you to turn the key off, and you just wanna wait until it prompts otherwise.
Key back on.
But again, you're not starting the engine.
At this point, it's gonna load 0 to 100 maybe a couple of times and it's saving your stock
file to the device.
What that means is anytime you wanna revert back to the stock tune, you can do so right
on the device following the same steps we have been in this process, return to stock
will then be an option.
All right.
So, once it saves your stock tuned to the device, it will then begin preparing the data,
it will then begin flashing the vehicle.
Once it's done, it will let you know that program is complete.
But again, during no part of this process do you wanna unplug your device especially
after it pulls the stock tune.
Once the process has started, let it do its thing.
Now, if you noticed during this process, some lights have come on the dashboard like our
check engine light, there's the battery light, there's the airbag light.
So, a couple of those things come on during the tuning process, that's just communication
with the ECU.
It'll clear the DTCs which it just did, Diagnostic Trouble Codes, and from there it's gonna process
data and let us know the tune is complete.
There you go.
Download complete.
You can hit Done.
Takes you right back to the main menu and you're good to go.
From here, guys, I wanna show you everything else about the X4 device aside from tuning
the actual vehicle.
Now, I know we talked about the gauges and datalog, the DTC code function.
Let's take a look at how that works.
So, directly under Program Vehicle at the main menu, you'll see gauges and datalog.
If you select this guy, turn your key on, you can hit Continue and you'll be able to
track live engine vitals.
What we're gonna have to do is select the proper configuration depending on our gen.
What we're gonna do is go down to Ford Gas 2007 and Prior Years.
From there, it processes that configuration and loads up those gauges.
Now right off the bat, we start off with the default of two gauges, but you have full control
over what displays on the screen.
So, if you wanna change battery voltage, you just select it, select Item, and then there's
a number of options to choose from.
We have Battery Voltage, Coolant Temperature, Desired Idle RPM, Fuel Pump Duty Cycle, Intake
Air Temp, Engine Load, and there's a ton more options.
So, what we're gonna do is let's select Intake Air Temperature, select Approve, and it replaces.
If you go to the right, there's a menu.
Select Gauge Layout.
You can actually change the layout of the gauges that were just on the screen.
You can monitor two, three, four, six, up to eight different vitals at once.
You just select that layout and it pulls up eight gauges.
Now, again, you can change every single one of these to whatever you want, replaces it
in an instant.
But if you wanna look at datalog, start and stop datalog, which basically means that you
can record the engine's performance in a run if you're on the dyno or even if you're out
on the road getting a real road test run, communicate that back to Bama for possible
tune revision.
So, that's really useful.
If you want to stop, you just hit Stop Datalog and it goes right back to the main menu.
Now if you go to Vehicle Functions, you'll see the DTC code reader, Diagnostic Trouble
Code being your check engine light, the light comes on, plug this guy in, read the code,
you can get a description, and clear it right then in there.
Special Functions most people will not touch, things like cam relearn.
So, you probably don't have to worry about that, but it is there if you want.
You're gonna hit Exit.
Vehicle Info, it gives you things like the VIN number, so that's useful, ECU strategy
code, which is also useful, and a couple of other vehicle parameters.
The Device Info screen will give you things like your device software and firmware versions,
your unlocked and married status.
So, you can see the married status will show you that your device is married to your vehicle.
Now, the unlocks basically means you have a certain amount of unlocks, three to be exact,
that allows you to change the X4 from your vehicle to a different vehicle.
It can do that up to three times.
Device Settings is also useful.
Wi-Fi and check for updates go hand in hand.
You'll want a Wi-Fi network access in order to wirelessly check for updates.
SCT often puts out software and firmware updates, so you wanna stay up to date.
Under that, simple things like brightness for night and day modes, orientation, you
can change that to landscape instead of portrait.
Theme is pretty useful.
You can change it from red to blue.
There's also a dark mode.
Keep that guy on red for now.
And then finally, a couple of other simple audio functions and startup function, which
I think is going to be a really important settings menu.
And there you can change the way this starts up right off the bat to display the gauges
mode instead of the home screen.
So, if you're constantly using the gauges screen, you can make it boot up to the gauges
screen right off the bat.
So, that's really useful.
From there, can do a factory reset if you want, and then finally takes you back to the
main menu and that's your X4.
Well, guys, that's gonna wrap up my review and install for the Bama X4/SF4 Power Flash
Tuner with two custom tunes available for the '05 to '10 GT or Bullitt.
You should pick this up right here at americanmuscle.com.