[Brettzammitt]

Hey fellow Saab-ers, just wanted to give an honest and detailed review of my recent experience with SaabTunerScott (@thellamie)! I have not been asked to leave this review nor compensated in any way for doing so, just wanted to help out the community!

First, some history. I have had six 9-5's, 4 of them being tuned. I'm pretty familiar with the power levels, reliability, etc.

1. 1999 9-5 SE 5-speed- BCB Stage 2 (Intake + Tune)
2. 2000 9-5 Aero Wagon 5-speed- MPS Stage 2 (Intake + Tune)
3. 2005 9-5 Aero Wagon 5AT- BCB Stage 2 (Intake + Tune)
4. 2008 9-5 Aero Wagon 5AT- SaabTunerScott Stage 3 (3" JT 200cpi catted downpipe, Bosch 3.5bar FPR, DO88 intercooler piping, GenuineSaab open air intake, Forge BPV)

My current '08 is well maintained with 124k miles on it. I've always wanted to go stage 3, but never pulled the trigger until last month. Since BCB stopped tuning Saabs and closed doors, options were even more limited. I found SaabTunerScott through some searches and he had unanimous positive feedback from what I saw. I reached out to him and inquired with a few things, he responded promptly and thoroughly, even on a holiday. I was also excited to see the price came with an ECU (i.e. no downtime and can easily put back to stock), instead of me sending the stock ECU to be flashed, like all other tuners I've encountered.

I decided to give his tune a try and I'm glad I did! The car makes gobs of torque and a ton of power. He claims 292hp/328tq for stage 3, and my butt dyno agrees. I do feel the powerband is a little less linear than stock (torque comes on very sudden), but that might be stage 3 cars in general. I did notice that OpenSID was not working when I first installed the ECU, so I reached out to Scott, he asked for the ECU back to try a different .bin file, and OpenSID is working great now. All values look good so far, it is still winter here in Michigan, I'm curious to see ignition timing when it warms up. Fortunately by then I'll have my FMIC installed. The car is noticeably faster than my previous stage 2 cars, it's still too early for a reliability update (only been tuned for about 500 miles), but I'll update the thread as time goes on. It is my understanding that Scott not only sells ECU tunes, but also offers ECU replacement/cloning.

Home - SaabTunerScott

Engine Control Unit (ECU ECM) Replacement and Tuning for Saab 9-3, 9-5, 900, and 9000 Cars Made Easy!

www.saabtunerscott.com

TL;DR
The tune is a great price, Scott's service and support is great, and the car absolutely rips! I absolutely recommend SaabTunerScott as well as his tunes. You can see a video of me running against a 333hp B8.5 Audi S4 with an exhaust below

Stage 3 2008 Saab 9-5 Aero Wagon vs B8.5 Audi S4

My mods: Genuine Saab open air intake, JT 3” catted downpipe, DO88 intercooler hoses, 3.5 bar Bosch FPR, forge BPV, stage 3 tune from SaabTunerScott.Audi: ex...

www.youtube.com

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[Saaberachi]

Good to hear! I too, have a sts tune-stg1 thats been on the car for about 40k miles. No regrets. Ive got everything on the car to go stg3 but the tune . Its an og9-3. Keep us inforned

 

[skwon]

I have a stage 2 (I think?) tune from Scott as well. Awesome dude and loves saabs! My 2004 Arc 5-speed makes 282hp and 316 lb/ tq (only has open air intake) and while not dyno'd, I believe it! My car compeltely woke up from his tune. I feel pretty confident I can out take most entry-level sporty-ish cars coming out these days!

 

[Mimmi]

Replace your bird nest to original intake and drive on.

 

[bob3000]

I have a stage 2 (I think?) tune from Scott as well. Awesome dude and loves saabs! My 2004 Arc 5-speed makes 282hp and 316 lb/ tq (only has open air intake)

Waste of time and money on your "open air intake" the stock intake is good for over 400 h.p.

Where do you get the 282 h.p. number? It's unlikely without some mods to your exhaust and fuel supply.

 

[skwon]

Waste of time and money on your "open air intake" the stock intake is good for over 400 h.p.

Where do you get the 282 h.p. number? It's unlikely without some mods to your exhaust and fuel supply.

When you get a tune from Scott, and I think most tuners, will also send you the power number graph. It's on there. It's not literally what the car is making but it is what the ECU calls for. His numbers are for a stock car so since mine is stock, I'd say it is pretty close. I've also had a 340hp Viggen with a tune from MPS Tuning, and comparing the "feel" to that one, I'd say it's making around 282hp.

 

[Mimmi]

I do not believe that HP unless you have proof of it.

 

[skwon]

I do not believe that HP unless you have proof of it.

Right, and I am not asking you to. Just chiming in with the OP on the tune since I have it. It's a 20 year old car so I obviously also dont believe it makes all 282 but I'd say its pretty close. Don't think will be going to the dyno with my stock car anytime soon lol.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Mimmi]

"Pretty close" could be 230hp in crank.

 

[Saaberachi]

How much hp is a 2004 b235 at factory spec?

 

[Brettzammitt]

How much hp is a 2004 b235 at factory spec?

I believe 250hp

 

[skwon]

How much hp is a 2004 b235 at factory spec?

B235L (Arc) has 220hp and B235R (Aero) has 250hp

 

[skwon]

"Pretty close" could be 230hp in crank.

Not sure how you are coming up with 230? My Arc had 220hp crank from factory...so I highly doubt his tune only gave 10 crank hp. It certainly feels more than that. I lose traction on 2nd gear which never happened on a stock tune.

If a well-reviewed, and trusted tuner tells me his ECU calls for 282hp, I will give him my trust. I don't have any boost leaks as far as know lol

 

[bob3000]

If a well-reviewed, and trusted tuner tells me his ECU calls for 282hp, I will give him my trust.

Are you sure Scott said that?

Like I said, not likely without some exhaust and fuel mods.

 

[Mimmi]

Some Scott might said that, even couple of them.
Believing is wonderful, but I'd rather not spread lies.

 

[Joshinator99]

Gents, an engines HP can be pretty closely determined by looking at MAF values. It takes 1 lb of airflow per minute for every ~10 HP with pretty reasonable accuracy. Performance at a drag strip is probably the very best indicator (car weight and trap speed will tell the story). A dyno can be a good tool too but there’s definitely variances between dynos, with load bearing being more accurate than inertia drum style ones. I’ve had many examples from different cars over the years that back up my airflow to HP claim.

For example my ‘11 9-5 Aero was 300 HP stock and would put down 230 WHP on a load bearing dyno (large parasitic loss from the XWD system, about 24%). When I got a tune, Brian at VTuner claimed 335 HP based on new airflow readings from the ECU, so my dyno should have read at least 255 HP if his numbers were to be believed. So back on the exact same dyno, the car now made 260 WHP. So, his numbers were legit. When my Camaro was dynoed stock, we determined (along with hundreds of other Camaro owners lol) that ~15% drivetrain loss was typical. Last time at the dyno, my Camaro was reading 113 lbs/min of airflow, so 1130 HP. If that was true, my car should have made about 960 WHP…actual dyno results were 955 WHP, so well within the margin for error.

So when a tuner makes a claim of how much more power his new tune makes, you should be able to compare it to the stock engine data logs and see if it’s true.

 

[skwon]

Are you sure Scott said that?

Like I said, not likely without some exhaust and fuel mods.

Some Scott might said that, even couple of them.
Believing is wonderful, but I'd rather not spread lies.

It's on the graph he sends with his tune. I am pretty sure he sends one for all his tunes. Other tuners do the same. Again, it's not like he literally says "your car now makes x HP". He sends a graph of the powerband that his ECU tune is calling for. Whether the car actually makes that power has to do with the condition of each car. But he sends this paper along with a data log that has your specific immobilizer code/VIN. So if he has been doing this for a while and has good reviews chances are, the ECU is really calling for those numbers, and your car is trying to get to those numbers. I don't see a reason to call him a liar. He has been doing saab tunes since 1999 (I've had a handful of conversations with him) and if his claims were untrue, I would think we would know in this small saab community.

 

[Bob12312357]

I think @bob3000 is making the point that if you don't have the required supporting mods for a given power level you simply cannot make that power. Moreover, you then put your faith in the tuner's ECU being programmed to continue to safely operate constantly outside of its intended parameters. Not all tuners (likely the large majority) aren't so good at having redundant failsafes programmed to protect the engine such as an OEM limp home setting.

If you have a tune for a power level requiring supporting mods you don't have that may unintentionally be the most glowing review....at least regarding the safety of the tune.

 

[Brettzammitt]

Waste of time and money on your "open air intake" the stock intake is good for over 400 h.p.

Where do you get the 282 h.p. number? It's unlikely without some mods to your exhaust and fuel supply.

The '04 Arc still came factory with the TD04HL-15T (Aero turbo). Just an Aero ECU flash would bring it to Aero spec of 250hp. You don't think an extra 32hp (13%) could be made with just software from there? Aggressive timing, fuel tables, air mass request, etc. My '05 Aero had a stage 2 tune (with just open air intake) that was claimed to be 280hp/310tq with just a software flash, I believe it. Look how it hung with a 300hp BMW 335xi:

2005 Saab 9-5 Aero Wagon vs. 2008 BMW 335xi

Just a quick roll race with my BCB stage 2 wagon against my brother-in-law’s stock 335xi. The ol’ wagon didn’t do too bad!

www.youtube.com

Also, this is that same wagon, just an ECU flash and intake. 13% HP increase seems very realistic and possible:

Saab 9-5 Aero Stock vs BCB stage 2 60-100 comparison

Just installed my BCB stage 2 tune this week and thought I’d show the difference from 60-100 compared to stock. It is about 2 seconds quicker 60-10 now which...

www.youtube.com

 

[bob3000]

The '04 Arc still came factory with the TD04HL-15T (Aero turbo). Just an Aero ECU flash would bring it to Aero spec of 250hp. You don't think an extra 32hp (13%) could be made with just software from there?

Short answer, no I don't.

I have a Taliaferro tuned exhaust manifold, a Taliaferro 3" downpipe with 200 cell race cat, a Maptune 2.5" cat back sport exhaust and have been told by three tuners that in order to get over 300 h.p. I would have to increase fuel pressure and install an FMIC, so ya 32 h.p. doesn't come easily or cheaply

Butt dyno's, street racing and spinning tires in second gear are not math.