Modern muscle cars are born with an astounding amount of horsepower in stock form, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t untapped potential under the hood. The computer-controlled performance vehicles that roam our streets today can see substantial power increases from basic bolt-on parts and tweaks to their ECU with some basic tuning.

From the factory, most vehicles aren’t tuned to their maximum potential so there is a lot of power left on the table. By tuning your EFI car correctly the befits of better drivability, improved throttle response, fuel mileage increase, more horsepower, and torque can all be unlocked. To accomplish this, you either have to use third-party software on a laptop or a hand-held tuner to reprogram the ECU to gain access to the hidden horsepower.

Calibrating a modern ECU is fairly complex and it requires a lot of special knowledge. David Griffin from SCT provides more information about how a tune can help your car.

“At SCT we have 3,800 unique calibratables in our Advantage custom tuning software for certain applications. Depending on the modifications the vehicle may have, that determines the calibratables that need to be adjusted. A stock or bolt-on only vehicle may only need a handful of these calibratables adjusted, where a supercharged vehicle may need a large amount adjusted. Without the proper adjustment of these calibratables, the vehicle could experience poor drivability or worse, have a catastrophic failure.”

If you have added a forced induction system or camshaft to your car, getting it tuned is a must. By having the proper tune in your car’s ECU it will see better horsepower numbers and run better when driving it on the street.

“With forced induction or camshaft modifications, calibration work is necessary for good drivability on a daily driver. In unison, a good quality calibration will help keep the powertrain safe which will prolong the life of the engine and transmission by keeping their components within their limits,” Griffin explains.

If you’re looking to get a tuning solution for your modern muscle car, be sure to check out SCT’s website right here to see what options they have for you.