Bama Rev-X Tuner by SCT with 2 Custom Tunes (05-10 Mustang GT, Bullitt)

Video Review & Installation

Hey, guys. It's Joe from AmericanMuscle. And today, we're gonna be taking a closer look at the Bama Rev-X Tuner by SCT with two custom tunes for all '05 to '10 GTs and Bullitts. Now this gonna be a great option if you're looking to improve the power and drivability of your three-valve with some great tunes as well as some tools that come with a tuner like this one all at a budget-friendly price.So first thing's first, before we dive into the video here, let's talk numbers, I know that's what you guys want to hear. So here's what we did, '07 GT, 87 in the tank, we strapped it to our dyno, we established baseline run and we got 269 horsepower, 296 foot-pounds of torque at the rear wheels. And we drained the tank empty of 87, filled it up with 93, put on our 93 Bama tune and then ran it again, we got 283 horsepower and 310 foot-pounds of torque again at the rear wheels. That's good for peak gains of 14 horsepower and 17 horsepower as well as 18 torque under the curve. So not a bad showing from our otherwise stock three-valve, just a little bit of power left on the table by Ford there. Curve gains aren't too bad, 17, 18 that's probably what I'd expect out of a stock three-valve. Not something that's gonna destroy the quarter-mile but definitely a respectable gain out of an otherwise stock car.So we've seen what the Bama tunes can do, how can we go about getting these tunes and gains on to your three-valve Mustang? Well, first thing's first, when you buy this thing, Bama is gonna send you a form via email, a quick questionnaire for you to fill out with some questions about your Mustang. They're gonna start with some facts, is your car is an automatic, is it a manual? They're also going to have you pull the computer code, that's really easy we have a guide posted on exactly how to do that. They're also going to ask you if you have any mods done, that's going to include some stuff but not limited to cold air intakes, larger mass airflow sensors, CAMs, injectors, fuel pumps, exhaust, if you've done rear gears as well as have bigger rear tires, that's all going to be accommodated in the tune Bama is going to write for you. Thirdly, they're going to ask you what octane you want for your tunes, obviously our gains were on 93, I would recommend going with that if you're looking to get the most possible gains. If your area has 91 you could specify that as well and if you're just looking for full out efficiency, you can get both tunes in 87.Now that Bama has all the information they need about your Mustang, they're gonna take about two to three days to write and nail down your tune, at which point they're gonna upload it to the cloud. Now this is one of the huge benefits of the Rev-X, cloud tuning. Basically what that means is you never have to plug this thing into a computer at all to get the tunes downloaded to it, just connect it to a Wi-Fi network, the tunes are gonna be there waiting for you when you plug this into your OBD2 port. Uploading your tunes from there is going to be really, really easy, one thing I did want to note, this is gonna keep your stock tune, so if you do ever need a revert to it, it's gonna be right there on the device. You're also gonna be rolled into Bama's Free Tunes For Life Program and as a previous three-valve owner myself, I know the modifications, they never stop and Bama understands the same thing. Once you get a new mod that requires a new tune, all you have to do is send over a new form and Bama will write you an according tune, upload it to the cloud, download it to the device, bring it over to the Mustang and you'll be set in no time.Some other features of the Rev-X. This is capable of data logging, you could use this cable right in the middle here to offload the files to your computer if need be. This also supports a full-color, 3-inch LCD display which can be in portrait or landscape mode. And that's a great feature because this does offer live or readouts of up to eight parameters on your Mustang. We're talking air/fuel ratio, intake and coolant temp as well as boost if you are going forced induction, and ignition timing, that's all there for you to look at. Some definitely helpful things for you to monitor about your Mustang. Last but certainly not least, this also can be used as a diagnostic tool allowing you to read and clear those check engine lights if need be.Now pricing for the Rev-X gonna drop in right around 400 bucks, that definitely makes this more toward the budget-friendly side, you get a lot for your money there as well. Not only are you taking advantage of some power that Ford left on the table, but this also pack some awesome utility for your Mustang as well, definitely a no brainer.The install is gonna be really, really simple, again, no need to plug this into a computer, no need to even open your hood really, this plugs right into the OBD2 port. We're gonna download our tunes off the cloud and you're gonna be pretty much good to go. We're gonna show you a clip on how this works on one of our S197s. One thing to keep in mind, it's gonna be the same exact process no matter what S197 you have as they're all the same generation. So let's hop over to the Mustang, we're gonna show you how to upload a tune and then what this thing can do.So here we are in our S197, this is gonna be a really, really simple process. First thing's first, we're gonna take this wire right here. It's got an HDMI port on one end, and it's also got the OBD2 port on the other. HDMI gonna drop right into the top of our Rev-X like so, and then the OBD2 port that's gonna plug into the OBD2 port. Basically, they're all in the same spot for all the S197s below the steering wheel and to the left. Just gonna make sure that's a snug connection, this wire is gonna be facing toward you and then our tuner is gonna power on.Here we are in the main menu and you can see there's a bunch of stuff in here. First thing's first, I like to do this with all the electronics, we're gonna go down to device settings, check for updates really quick and then just hit confirm. Now we do have updates, so we're gonna hit continue and it's gonna ask you to connect to your Wi-Fi. I know this isn't the most glamorous thing to start with, but hey, trust me, making sure this guy is up to date and make sure everything works correctly interfaces with your vehicle is a little bit more important than being flashy right out of the gate in my opinion. So this is what this looks like, I'd recommend doing this first obviously, but hey, I think if you go through the tune menu, it'll prompt you for an update anyways, I just like to hit this right out of the gate to make sure it's done. Here you can see the actual updates going through, just the a little load bar there at the bottom, couple files here for us to download, not too bad, it shouldn't be too long until we're ready to go and just start to show off some of the features of the Rev-X. Couple minutes later, our tuner is up to date, you'll get this little congratulations menu, we're gonna click okay through that. Now we can start to get down to some of the nitty-gritty, we'll start with the good stuff, how to actually apply a tune. And to do that, we're just gonna go over to exit and then all the way back up to program vehicle.Now we can get to the good stuff. First thing's first, confirm this is the right stuff. Hit confirm. We already updated our device, so we're gonna hit skip. Now this is one of the best features of the Rev-X on this menu right here. This is gonna be the cloud sync. So we've already submitted our tune files to Bama. It's been a couple days, they emailed us back. Our tunes are gonna be on the cloud, you're gonna get this same exact menu right here. And in order to download them, all we're gonna do is hit continue on that cloud sync menu and it's just gonna check the cloud to see if we have any files updated. We should have two tunes here, I asked for 93 and an 87, we'll see if they came through. So we have a bunch of tunes already in here on the cloud for our '06 GT. I put in an 87 and a 93 tune, these two right up at the top here, those are probably me, the rest of these are probably company tunes. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go with the one that I submitted, 93 race. Now we can hit continue and this is going to actually download it to our device. Our 87 tune, is still on the cloud. We can get that if we need it, but for our cases here, we're just gonna deal with the 93. And we're just gonna go through the menus. It's going to ask you to turn the ignition on, we don't want to start the engine, just to the accessory position. So now that tune is downloaded to our device, you can see it right there at the bottom, 93 race. Just gonna click on the middle button to select it and it's going to reprogram the vehicle to that 93 octane tune. Just going to hit confirm through that menu, then it's going to ask us to confirm 93 race, which is exactly what we want. Just gonna turn the ignition off and turn it back on.Now this menu right here is a really important one, SAVING STOCK DATA. So obviously what this is doing is pulling off our stock tune and making sure that it's saved to the device for us if we do ever need to go back, so this is something that is really key in case you do have anything go strange with your car, you need to bring it back to Ford for any reason that stock tune is gonna be right there. Now one thing I do want to touch on during this process, try not to worry about the lights on the dash, the cars do tend to freak out a little bit when you pull the stock tune off, that's perfectly normal to see some weird error messages, weird lights pop up, service, check engine lights, stuff like that. If you see that, again, perfectly normal. After that, you can see that this is processing, we're just gonna let this go through the menus as our new tune applies to our S197.All right, so programming complete, go ahead and take the key out. We can hit done. Now when we turn this thing back on, we'll have a 93 tune, make sure you have 93 in the tank before you do that, that way there is no 87 left in there before you start the vehicle. So now we're just gonna go through the rest of the features of this Rev-X on this main menu here. We're just gonna work our way down, I'm gonna show you what this thing can do, basically what other features it has rather than just changing the tune around and upping the performance of your S197.So our first option here, GAUGES/DATALOG. We'll click into that, it's gonna ask you to turn the key on, ours is is already on. So our default gauges here are gonna be INTAKE AIR TEMP, you can see 84 degrees Fahrenheit and MIN-MAX at the bottom there. Same thing for COOLANT TEMP, 58 degrees Fahrenheit, MIN-MAX at the bottom there. We can definitely reorganize this if we want. In order to get to the menu here, just click left, it'll bring this guy up. You can STOP DATALOG, START RECORDING DATA, SELECT DATALOG FILE, SELECT GAUGE LAYOUT. We're gonna click into that and you could really get a bunch of stuff going on here, like I said earlier, up to eight readouts. These can be whatever you want them to be. You can see a whole bunch of things, COOLANT TEMP, INTAKE AIR TEMP, BATTERY VOLTAGE, LOAD, stuff like that. There's also a landscape mode and not only do you have this portrait mode but if you want to put it in a phone holder, landscape, something like that to monitor your vitals, you can absolutely do so. And again, the back is magnetic so if you have a magnetic phone holder, this will work just fine. We're just gonna click on stop data log to go back to our main menu.Next option down VEHICLE FUNCTIONS. This is where you read and clear those check engine lights if you need to. We're just gonna work our way back. And next, we jump into VEHICLE INFO and like it's been doing, it's gonna ask us to turn the key on just so it can pull from the computer and basically this is where you get your ECM, ECM strategy, VIN number, stuff like that. If you need to more easily reference that. DEVICE INFO, this is going to be you know the file name, the update patch, serial number, firmware version, basically everything you would need to know about the tuner, how many unlocks you have left, that sort of thing, current tune, 93 race, total flash is eight. BATTERY VOLTAGE that is a really important one for tuning. You want to make sure that is the nice and high, mid 11, not bad.After that, we can dive into device settings, this is where we started off our walkthrough here, but basically this is gonna be all the settings for the tuner. CHECK FOR UPDATES, that's pretty obvious. CLOUD FILE SYNC is where you could download more tunes off the cloud if you do have them. UPLOADING DATALOGS TO CLOUD, that is a really nice feature, changing your Wi-Fi connection, that is in there as well. Brightness, pretty obvious how that works. And there's also a night mode here, which you turn that up or down. ORIENTATION, PORTRAIT or LANDSCAPE, again, pretty obvious. Then the THEME, if we don't like the DARK RED, LIGHT BLUE is also available. POWER MANAGEMENT MODE, AUDIO, so the click you've been hearing, you can turn that off if you want. This is going to change what the tuner defaults when you start it up. DEMO MODE, you guys are probably never gonna need that. And the FACTORY RESET there is at the bottom for you as well. Now that is pretty much gonna do it for features of the Rev-X. That's gonna do it for my overview with the Rev-X for all '05 to '10 three-valve GTs and Bullitts. For this product and more great ones, keep it right here at AmericanMuscle.