Stacked or EFI Live???

[SANDMAN500LT]

I know the programmer question has been beat to death but I have been researching this site and others for a couple years prior to finally purchasing D-max and am somehow still unsure of what direction to go...Bare in mind,suncoast trans is allready ordered...

Objectives in order of priority:

1) Absolute most power!!
2) ability to select down to a safe towing/daily driver level ( but never stock)
3) not be at a high risk of catastrophic engine failure

Truck Description and purpose: The truck is a 2003 LB7 CC SB 4x4.....Lowered 5 inches with 22s.....The truck is being built with the purpose of being a daily driver HOT ROD that can spank most ricers and still pull the toy hauler on occasion....

I had intended on going with a stacked setup like Edge/PPE or Edge/???......Now with all the hipe about EFI Live im now not sure........Thanks a bunch for any help guys.....I like to do things right the first time if possible..

[Kennedy]

I've put down some pretty decent numbers with my custom tuning. Still revising the LB7 tunes, but suffice to say, it can all be done with one device. Switchable feature lets you tame it down a bit when needed...

[BMDMAX]

The EFI tunes are definitely the way to go. The stack can perform but certainly not as well as the EFI.

Give JK a call, his LB7 tune runs really well and is being improved. His LLY tune is great, I love running it for a daily driver.

[SANDMAN500LT]

That sounds like the ticket!!.......I was a little intimidated by the EFI product as I was understanding that its performance would be a direct result of my ability to opertate it.......However if getting a custom tune from Kennedy is an option then I feel better about that.....Dont get me wrong, i have a basic knowledge and could probably wing my way through it but im certain I could never obtain performance levels like Johns tunes........

So, how does it work if I run a custom JK tune..........Do I still purchase the EFI Live product and then JK hooks me up with the tunes to plumb in myself......Or do I not buy it and JK sends me a custom tuned ECM ready to throw in......If the second option, is it possible for me to buy the product and remove or reinstall the tunes in case of a visit to the dealer???

[Kennedy]

Your reservations about tuning yourself are definitely understood. I think a good many of the EFI Live units sold are never used to their full potential.


In order to copy protect my work, I send out the tunes on an actual ECM. The ECM is locked so that it cannot be read or overwriten. It will still function and scan as normal. This can be on your ECM or a good used core. If I did a core ECM you could swap them out for dealer visits.

That said, it is still well worth your while to own EFI Live. You could tune your own ECM as an experiment, OR you could also use the scan side of it as a code reader etc.