Programmer?

I was at my local performance shop, the people there really know what they're doing. I asked the owner (gearhead god) what would be the best next upgrade that will provide a noticeable difference? I've been heavily leading towards a new exhaust, but he said the first thing I should have gotten even before the intake is a programmer. He said I'd notice a pretty large gain, and it also has other benefits such as setting the speedo accurately whenever I change wheel/tire size. I looked around sites like andysautosports and others, and I don't see any of them selling a programmer. If it's so good like he says, how come none of the online shops sell it?

Also, he said because I have an auto tranny, upper and lower engine mounts (what would have been my next step) will do pretty much nothing. The only noticeable difference they provide is when you pop the clutch a lot you dont experience as much of a loss. And that the only people that notice a difference are people that cant shift a manual for sh*t to begin with, so they lose less. That kinda made me laugh, because a lot of people here previously said they noticed the biggest gains from engine mounts.

So yea... has anyone heard of this "programmer"?

i think its just like a computer thing like superchips and stuff for trucks

I was at my local performance shop, the people there really know what they're doing. I asked the owner (gearhead god) what would be the best next upgrade that will provide a noticeable difference? I've been heavily leading towards a new exhaust, but he said the first thing I should have gotten even before the intake is a programmer. He said I'd notice a pretty large gain, and it also has other benefits such as setting the speedo accurately whenever I change wheel/tire size. I looked around sites like andysautosports and others, and I don't see any of them selling a programmer. If it's so good like he says, how come none of the online shops sell it?

Also, he said because I have an auto tranny, upper and lower engine mounts (what would have been my next step) will do pretty much nothing. The only noticeable difference they provide is when you pop the clutch a lot you dont experience as much of a loss. And that the only people that notice a difference are people that cant shift a manual for sh*t to begin with, so they lose less. That kinda made me laugh, because a lot of people here previously said they noticed the biggest gains from engine mounts.

So yea... has anyone heard of this "programmer"?

There is a PCM flasher suite for the OBD 2. You wont be able to get handheld on unless you install the program on a Palm Pilot. I will get the link for you. It's not cheap. You have to reflash the PCM and apparently after a little while the PCM will reset the changes! You can change air/fuel, shifts points, speed limiter. It's available in two versions the better one being much more expensive then the standard suite. He is probably reffering to something like the Superchips flasher, but they don't make one for the obd 2. A lot of people will tell you that there is nothing you can do to this pcm but this isn't true. Watch this space and I'll get the link for you!

The engine mounts will make a difference if a peformance clutch is fitted as these have larger clamping forces and that the only time it would be felt for clutch is on a stock or only slightly uprated unit where the clamping forces are less and the clutch can be applied more progressively. Most performance clutches will 'grab' and aren't very smooth so this then will mean some power will be absorb by the motor mounts. It's true for auto because the Torque converter isn't a mechanical link (except for when the tcc comes into play) the fluid in the torque converter will not allow the motor mounts to experience and 'real' compression as most of the energy is absorbed by the fluid in the tc!

Links as promised

http://www.hptuners.com/

http://www.digitalhorsepowerinc.com/