Question about the driving characteristics between the 2003 and 2004.

[Mr. Man]

I was out for a toot in Ms. D's '04 the other day and a long standing issue, at least in my mind, kept to the forefront of my thoughts. The car ran fine, but I always feel like I'm driving into a headwind when driving her car. Drove my '03 to the local cruise night today and the car just cruises along. It doesn't have this same feeling as the '04. It's a little hard to explain, but it always feels like you need to keep your foot on the gas to keep moving in the '04. If you take your foot off the gas it slows normally, so its not a brake drag or sometime like that. The '03 just seems more effortless to drive. Freer is the word that most closely explains it. Both cars have minor suspension upgrades that I don't think effect the forward drivability. The biggest difference is the '03 has a Lidio tune and the '04 has a Mo's tune, but the '04 had the same issue with the Zack tune. Is there something in the 4RW75 that would do this over the 4RW70? I think those are the transmission numbers. Air pressures are good. Tires are Nitto's on the '04 and Yokohama's on the '03, but the issue was/is there when they both rode on the BFGoodrich's.
Have any of you who own or driven both an '03 and an '04 experienced anything like what I'm attempting to describe?

[offroadkarter]

Lidio would set the converter to unlock if you let off the gas, as far as I'm aware he is the only tuner that did this (the Mo's tune on my 03 certainly did not do this). Only thing I can think of is you're feeling the engine braking because the converter is locked in the 04 but is not in the 03.

IMO Lidio had the best trans setup out of any of the Marauder tunes, shame he no longer offers canned tunes.

[hotford]

Lidio would set the converter to unlock if you let off the gas, as far as I'm aware he is the only tuner that did this (the Mo's tune on my 03 certainly did not do this). Only thing I can think of is you're feeling the engine braking because the converter is locked in the 04 but is not in the 03.

IMO Lidio had the best trans setup out of any of the Marauder tunes, shame he no longer offers canned tunes.
^^^ Hell Ya !!! I know it.

[fastblackmerc]

How is the front end alignment on both cars? Different settings can create different driving characteristics.

[Mr. Man]

How is the front end alignment on both cars? Different settings can create different driving characteristics.
Both set to Carfixer spec or as close as the adjustment will allow.

[Mr. Man]

Lidio would set the converter to unlock if you let off the gas, as far as I'm aware he is the only tuner that did this (the Mo's tune on my 03 certainly did not do this). Only thing I can think of is you're feeling the engine braking because the converter is locked in the 04 but is not in the 03.

IMO Lidio had the best trans setup out of any of the Marauder tunes, shame he no longer offers canned tunes.I didn't know this. Do you know if Zack kept the converter locked as well?

[MyBlackBeasts]

IMO Lidio had the best trans setup out of any of the Marauder tunes...

Yes, he did! One of my 1st mods was a 4.10 tune from him, the trans shift schedule was the ****nit! He was great to work with. I got it about a year before he got so big he forgot about us... What a shame.

[offroadkarter]

I didn't know this. Do you know if Zack kept the converter locked as well?

I want to say yes but I've never had one of his tunes so I can't be 100% sure.


Yes, he did! One of my 1st mods was a 4.10 tune from him, the trans shift schedule was the ****nit! He was great to work with. I got it about a year before he got so big he forgot about us... What a shame.

From what I understand he'll still dyno tune these cars but he just doesn't do "canned" tunes anymore.

[Mr. Man]

Next time I have the stock tune in for gov't oversite I'll pay attention to how Mercury tuned it. Thanks for the input guys. :beer:

[MMBLUE]

Having owned both years in different versions, I'd say it's probably the difference in the transmissions.

[Chevyguy]

Lidio would set the converter to unlock if you let off the gas, as far as I'm aware he is the only tuner that did this (the Mo's tune on my 03 certainly did not do this). Only thing I can think of is you're feeling the engine braking because the converter is locked in the 04 but is not in the 03.

IMO Lidio had the best trans setup out of any of the Marauder tunes, shame he no longer offers canned tunes.

I have a Lidio tune in my X3 I have not run in a while. The tune doesn't shift to 4th till over 50 MPH, if you are driving on a secondary road it drags along in 3rd and that gets old, that combined with the aggressive lack of lockup kills about 2 mpg with commuting for me. Car ran great on the track with the tune though!! She clicked off a 14.85 otherwise bone stock

[Vortech347]

I really liked the trans and tq converter in my 04 way better than my 03.

[BAD MERC]

I still have my original Xcal2 with Lidio Tune. I'll likely load the stock tune and go with a custom tune after my Eaton swap. Not sure what an old tuner is worth, but I suspect they might pop up occasionally. Like mine will. Likely for a bargain! My tune now has very aggressive trans upshifts and barks the tires on the 1-2 without WOT. It became prominent after replacing the rear control arms with billet.

[1Marauder]

I have two 03's, one with each tune... and your attempt to describe it is as accurate as possible. Feels like one car's tires are lower on air...

As I have two of the same year... and have the same experience, leads more to something in the actual tune?

[justgod]

Next time I have the stock tune in for gov't oversite I'll pay attention to how Mercury tuned it. Thanks for the input guys. :beer:

Eric, I just opened up an original Zack tune, a Zack 2.0, a DR tune, an SCT race tune in SCT PRP and there are a ton of transmission mods in the Zack tunes that are not in any other tune out there. Darrin had his hand in the tune design (remember the whole SCT debacle?).