SEMA 2016: SCT Performance Tunes Everything From Mild To Wild

The SEMA Show is full of custom vehicles, from mild to wild. In most cases the mods performed on these vehicles need support to run properly in the form of a custom calibration. That’s where the crew at SCT Performance came to the rescue with its hardware and software expertise.

Whether you have a new Mustang or a crazy engine swap like this 3.5-liter EcoBoost Pantera, SCT Performance can help you dial in the performance with its hardware and software.

Whether you have a new Mustang or a crazy engine swap like this 3.5-liter EcoBoost Pantera, SCT Performance can help you dial in the performance with its hardware and software.

“Vehicles come off the factory with a one-size-fits-all mentality that is not optimized for personal performance,” said Derive Systems CEO David Thawley. “We are proud to showcase our latest solutions that empower car owners to customize the driving experience to best suit their needs and preferences.”

Derive is the parent company of both Bullydog and SCT Performance, and both companies bring to bear a bevy of tuning acumen, which was displayed on vehicles as far ranging as Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s Focus RS and the insane EcoBoost Pantera built by Gas Monkey Garage.

Adam Browne at Revolution Automotive custom-tuned this EcoBoost-powered Detomaso Pantera using SCT Performance’s Advantage III custom tuning software.

We will have a more detailed look at this amazing machine in the near future, but SCT dealer Revolution Automotive custom tuned its Ford Performance EcoBoost crate engine using the company’s Advantage III custom tuning software.

We were also intrigued because that software is also compatible with the new Bullydog BDX tuner that was also introduced at The SEMA Show. It is essentially a next-gen version of the SCT X4 handheld tuner with some interesting updates.

“The way that we are able to do that is that the device ships empty. It’s basically inactive. When you plug into your vehicle, it reads the strategy in the PCM and when you connect to Wi-Fi it goes to the cloud and puts the appropriate tune file down,” Scott Stutler, National Sales Dealer Account Manager at SCT Performance/Bully Dog told us.

“The net result of that is it cuts the installation time by half. The way a device works today, like an X4, it’s got everything in it for a Ford—Powerstroke, F-150, Mustang—everything’s in there. If you do an update, it pulls the full application listing into the device, so it takes 20 minutes to update,” he continued. “Then it takes longer to flash, because it is using memory for all that information. Whereas, for this, instead of the whole library it just gets you the book.”

The new Bullydog BDX tuner is compatible with the same Advantage III custom tuning software used by it SCT cousins, but it streamlines the tuning process by using Wi-Fi and the cloud.

The new Bullydog BDX tuner is compatible with the same Advantage III custom tuning software used by its SCT cousins, but it streamlines the tuning process by using Wi-Fi and the cloud.

Aside from being a bit quicker to flash than a custom tune, the BDX also streamlines the process by accessing the cloud over Wi-Fi.

“It’s a lot quicker and more user-friendly. It is also compatible with Advantage 3 custom tuning software, so our custom tuning dealers can actually pull the serial number for the device and send a custom tune to the device from our software,” Scott added. “So that eliminates the need for a computer or hooking up to a laptop. All you need is Wi-Fi and you can do all your updates.”

For more on these devices, you can check out the Derive website here.

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About the author

Steve Turner

Steve Turner brings decades of passion and knowledge in the world of Ford performance, having covered it for over 20 years. From the swan song of the Fox Mustang to the birth of the Coyote, Steve had a front-row seat.
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