Lidio or Dennis - Chip decision?

[Rep12]

Hi,

No flames to either vendor - just want some objective advice on the chips these fellows have to offer. I'm not changing to 410 gears, no stat, no plugs, no supercharger, just a chip. Whose would you buy?

Thanks.

Dave

2004 Silver Birch MM - my car
2002 LS - her car
1994 Silverdao Blazer 2 door - our SUV

[Zack]

Both vendors use the same software, but there a slight variations between their 'philosiphies'
The main difference, from what Ive heard, is the transmission features.
Power wise, its probably a dead heat.

[merc]

You will not be purchasing a chip with an 04 marauder, sorry.

[MERCMAN]

You will not be purchasing a chip with an 04 marauder, sorry.

What he said!!!!

[MI2QWK4U]

You will not be purchasing a chip with an 04 marauder, sorry.

Why is that?

[Zack]

You will not be purchasing a chip with an 04 marauder, sorry.

What he said!!!

You are both wrong.

[MI2QWK4U]

04's are very chipable....

[hitchhiker]

Back on topic...

Dennis and Lidio are both very reputable people.

I have never heard of any friction or problem between them.

Has anyone thought to ask them what their tuning differences are?

I would encourage both of them to discuss this in our forums.

I would be willing to bet that they have discussed
tuning philosophies between themselves.

Although they technically are competitors, there
is obviously enough work to go round for both of them.

:2thumbs: to both of them as far as I'm concerned.

Personally, I have decided to go with Lidio's tune programs
on a SCT 9100. I also want to get the cable so that I may
receive tuning files via computer email from Lidio as needed.

Best Regards,

David

[bigslim]

I am sure either you chose will make you happy. I do know from experience Lidio's chip really helps change the shift points. Makes the tranny shift more positive. You can always get a flip chip and have it programed with a program for having a 410 and without 410. This way if you do decide to put one in you already have the chip for it.

[Dennis Reinhart]

04's are very chipable....

Some are some are not, some of them have the service port turned off, so I do not take a chance I recommend a tuner.

[bigslim]

Some are some are not, some of them have the service port turned off, so I do not take a chance I recommend a tuner.
Did not know that. Thanks for that Dennis.

[jstevens]

From what I've read, they are about the same, except a tuner can be hidden from the dealer. I decided to go with the chip because I'm local to lidio.

[MARAUDER S/C #5]

Is it possible to get a sct and have it set up with both Lidio and Dennis's programs ?

[Bradley G]

Some are some are not, some of them have the service port turned off, so I do not take a chance I recommend a tuner.DEnnis is there a way to tell if the port is turned off?some '04s can't take a chip?

[MI2QWK4U]

Some are some are not, some of them have the service port turned off, so I do not take a chance I recommend a tuner.

How is that done? We havent come accross any 2004's that have had their port "turned off".

[mpearce]

I have an 04' and a chip.

-Mat

[Rep12]

I have an 04' and a chip.

-Mat

And...how do you like the difference? On a scale of 1 -10, 10 being the driveabilty now after the chip and gears, where would a stock MM fall...5?..4?..7? I just want to know if it's worth doing this to the car. I'm not going to spend $7500.00 for a supercharger, so, will these mods. help? Personally, I think the driveability of my stock MM really bites. And I know, from reading the posts, that others feel the same way. I'm just so disapointed in the MM "feel". Hey, I felt it before I bought it but I thought I'd get used to it. I also drove a Crown Vic LX Sport and, man, what a difference. It shifted perfectly and, to be honest, was just as peppy as the MM. But, no growl, and no panache. My 2002 Lincoln LS drives like a dream. Proper shift poits, no bogged down feeling, etc. I'm just tired of driving the MM in the "OD off" mode. It seems so silly. The car feels like it was programed for someone 90 years old.

This car is like a blond mistress, beautiful, but dumb.

Dave

[rayjay]

I have an 04 DTR with the chip from Lidio. It makes quite a difference, especially in the tranny. I do not have the gears and probably will not in the future. I'm quite happy with the performance. I added a PHP airbox and intake spacer recently. No dynos in my area, but the butt dyno is happy.:banana:

[CRUZTAKER]

Well....there seems to be a discrepency with some folks wording...and that always leads to wars and closed threads.

How about we start over?


"Ports being turned off" may not be the best choice of words.

Some 04's ARE chipped as we speak. So we know it can be done. I wish I had one so that I might answer the big question....how does one tell which ones can vs which ones cannot?

I had always been under the impression that some time down the road of the '04 production line, a new EEC standard was implemented. That new EEC only lacked a male card edge connector, (much like a PC motherboard), that a "chip", (daughter board) could be plugged in.

If this IS the correct scenario.....one would only need to pull the EEC, (pm me for instructions), examine the box, perhaps remove the lid.....and LOOK FOR THE CARD EDGE CONNECTOR!

I am sure there is a rhyme and reason way to run build dates to see which one has it, and which one doesn't....but I don't have that info. And for the mere 10 minutes it takes to remove the EEC and look at it...it took me longer to type this post!

The big issue here is ONE thing. = WE NEED TO STOP PUSHING A HAND HELD TUNER TO THE '04 OWNERS WHEN A CHIP MIGHT WORK. All they need is one answer; Will the chip work on my '04? The chip is faaaar more convienent if you have a (trained human) tuner close to you, and make frequent more decisive changes.

As far as whom to choose......time and proximity will tell. I have utilized both folks in question. Lidio is a hop skip and a jump from me. He doesn't agree with all of my requests, but he respects my choices and spends lots of personal drive time until I am satisfied. Remember!!!! The ultimate tune comes IN PERSON, NOT MAIL ORDER. See one of these two folks in person once you have all of your mods in place and have out grown your generic chip tune.

[bugsys03]

And...how do you like the difference? On a scale of 1 -10, 10 being the driveabilty now after the chip and gears, where would a stock MM fall...5?..4?..7? I just want to know if it's worth doing this to the car. I'm not going to spend $7500.00 for a supercharger, so, will these mods. help? Personally, I think the driveability of my stock MM really bites. And I know, from reading the posts, that others feel the same way. I'm just so disapointed in the MM "feel". Hey, I felt it before I bought it but I thought I'd get used to it. I also drove a Crown Vic LX Sport and, man, what a difference. It shifted perfectly and, to be honest, was just as peppy as the MM. But, no growl, and no panache. My 2002 Lincoln LS drives like a dream. Proper shift poits, no bogged down feeling, etc. I'm just tired of driving the MM in the "OD off" mode. It seems so silly. The car feels like it was programed for someone 90 years old.

This car is like a blond mistress, beautiful, but dumb.

Dave


I would say the stock MM before the chip(tuner in my case) and 4.10 is about a 3. If you aren't going to change gears get a dyno tune which should get you about 20 HP and fix your shift points. IMO a mail order chip or tuner is a little generic. Dyno tune is custom. Just get the gear and dyno and shes no longer a blond mistress shes a 10. Whole different animal with a new personality. Just my .02

Dave

[TAF]

The big issue here is ONE thing. = WE NEED TO STOP PUSHING A HAND HELD TUNER TO THE '04 OWNERS WHEN A CHIP MIGHT WORK. All they need is one answer; Will the chip work on my '04? The chip is faaaar more convienent if you have a (trained human) tuner close to you, and make frequent more decisive changes.

As far as whom to choose......time and proximity will tell. I have utilized both folks in question. Lidio is a hop skip and a jump from me. He doesn't agree with all of my requests, but he respects my choices and spends lots of personal drive time until I am satisfied. Remember!!!! The ultimate tune comes IN PERSON, NOT MAIL ORDER. See one of these two folks in person once you have all of your mods in place and have out grown your generic chip tune.
Here here...I'll have a "Southern Martini" to you for that^^^ one... :beer:

[mpearce]

And...how do you like the difference? On a scale of 1 -10, 10 being the driveabilty now after the chip and gears, where would a stock MM fall...5?..4?..7? I just want to know if it's worth doing this to the car. I'm not going to spend $7500.00 for a supercharger, so, will these mods. help? Personally, I think the driveability of my stock MM really bites. And I know, from reading the posts, that others feel the same way. I'm just so disapointed in the MM "feel". Hey, I felt it before I bought it but I thought I'd get used to it. I also drove a Crown Vic LX Sport and, man, what a difference. It shifted perfectly and, to be honest, was just as peppy as the MM. But, no growl, and no panache. My 2002 Lincoln LS drives like a dream. Proper shift poits, no bogged down feeling, etc. I'm just tired of driving the MM in the "OD off" mode. It seems so silly. The car feels like it was programed for someone 90 years old.

This car is like a blond mistress, beautiful, but dumb.

Dave
The only mods on my car are Lidios chip, and 4.10 gears. I have an 04. It took me less than 3 hours to get to his shop from my house in Cleveland, OH. I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Driveability depends on the person. It's all relative IMO. So, I will list the differences I see in order of importance to ME. (Might be different to other people)

- I can break my rear tires loose every time, dead punch
- Car always seems ready for action with light use of throttle (no bog, ever)
- When my car shfts under WOT it "jumps" forward (not the case stock)
- When my car shifts, it's firm and quick, feels very nice. (no slide into gear)
- I no longer have to use the "overdrive off" button (only at the track)
- Throttle response is night/day better than stock, unreal difference
- I have 2 positions, 1 street, 1 for track, turn a dial to chose
- Car now feels like it should feel, I am extremely happy with my mods

I feel the car is completely different. Plus, the personal driving time that Lidio put in to get things exactly the way I wanted them to be was well worth it.

Lastly, I feel that if I lined my car up at the track the way it is now, next to my exact car in stock form I would absolutely blow it away. (Now remember...thats how it all feels to me) Hope this helps.

-Mat

[Smokie]

I know a member that ran a 14.49 @ 97.51 with a Dennis flash not a chip, stock otherwise. This member is very happy with the rock solid shifting.:run:

[buckyboy]

i have 4.10: gears, and a sct tuner from dennis. The car is completely different from stock. It feels much more responsive, when you step on it, it goes. It feels much stronger, nothing like stock.
And...how do you like the difference? On a scale of 1 -10, 10 being the driveabilty now after the chip and gears, where would a stock MM fall...5?..4?..7? I just want to know if it's worth doing this to the car. I'm not going to spend $7500.00 for a supercharger, so, will these mods. help? Personally, I think the driveability of my stock MM really bites. And I know, from reading the posts, that others feel the same way. I'm just so disapointed in the MM "feel". Hey, I felt it before I bought it but I thought I'd get used to it. I also drove a Crown Vic LX Sport and, man, what a difference. It shifted perfectly and, to be honest, was just as peppy as the MM. But, no growl, and no panache. My 2002 Lincoln LS drives like a dream. Proper shift poits, no bogged down feeling, etc. I'm just tired of driving the MM in the "OD off" mode. It seems so silly. The car feels like it was programed for someone 90 years old.

This car is like a blond mistress, beautiful, but dumb.

Dave

[rayjay]

Cruztaker is on the money about a custom tuned chip. Mine is currently the mail order version. I chose Lidio over DR based on proximity. I can drive to Detriot in under 8 hrs if I choose to have it improved. Florida is a wee bit longer. As it stands I'm very pleased with my current chip.

[MI2QWK4U]

It just appears to me, and perhaps Barry hit on it in his post above, that it is easy to say there is a possibility that your 04 doesn't have the ability to accept a chip. Who is to say that this is actually a concern? Having said that, its easy to push a handheld tuner over a chip once you suggest your car can't be chipped. Has anyone on our board purchased a chip or went to have a chip installed on their 2004, and found they can't chip it? As many have pointed out, a custom tuned (to your car's specifications and mods) chip is much prefered over a hand held tuner. Lidio, and perhaps other vendors-(dont want to speak for them) will actually reburn your chip for you if you get one, then later get gears or some other mod, you just send it to him and he does it for you, not bad for customer service. Another aspect for some of us is knowing what to do with the hand held tuner, and having more access to tuning tables and thousands of settings for mods in the SCT chip software.

Bottom line is make sure you do your homework and check with an expert that can take care of chipping your car if thats what you want, and buyer beware...

[Agent M79]

Well gents, I have an '04 and I've had lots of chips in my MM.

Doritos mostly, but a Pringles on the odd occasion isn't unheard of.

:loco: :woohoo: :loco:

[SergntMac]

Has anyone on our board purchased a chip or went to have a chip installed on their 2004, and found they can't chip it?
Close...I bought an '04 EEC for my '03, and I noticed that the punch out tab wasn't present on the housing. If I had wanted to add a chip, I would have to use tin snips. I didn't open the EEC to see if the PCB was chip friendly, because I wasn't going there anyway.

As many have pointed out, a custom tuned (to your car's specifications and mods) chip is much prefered over a hand held tuner. Lidio, and perhaps other vendors-(dont want to speak for them) will actually reburn your chip for you if you get one, then later get gears or some other mod, you just send it to him and he does it for you, not bad for customer service. Another aspect for some of us is knowing what to do with the hand held tuner, and having more access to tuning tables and thousands of settings for mods in the SCT chip software.
Perhaps...I still think the best way to go, is a hand-held programmer.

First, you buy a hand-held programmer instead of a chip, and save your OEM tune to the hand-held as the master program. Then you get a dyno tune from one of the experts (or use a refined generic tune of theirs until you hook up) and flash that to the EEC, and save it as as program 1 on the hand-held programmer. You still have two additional memory locations left for more choices and fine tunes as you see fit. All programs can be flashed in two minutes, and without any tell-tale injuries to the EEC. Moreover, if you need to do any long-distance refining, sending out the hand-held is as risky as sending out the chip, but you don't lose any tuning while it's gone. On the down side, you won't be able to flip a switch to change your programming, but really now, how often do you need an instant change?

Just one more way to look at things...IMHO.

[Bradley G]

I am glad I bought the tuner (for now) for many of the same reasons^ Mac posted. I Thought when I bought the MM it had all the Giddy up I wanted,But after hang'in around these parts That's not the case.The tuner has another feature with self diagnostics.I thought this would be good if any lights came on to see if is a critical issue or something I was OK to wait to visit the dealer .

[Marauderjack]

Dennis told me some time back that a South Florida dealer ordered chips for three new early 04's he had!! These cars had open ports (mine did not) and none of the chips worked!!?? :dunno: For this reason and the fact I'd have had to butcher my EEC....I went with Dennis' Custom tuner!! :rock:

When you buy the cord, Dennis...or Lidio....can email you program changes and you can install them in a matter of 10 minutes!! :cool4:

I really like that flexibility.....My $.02!! ;)

Marauderjack :baaa: