Ford’s relatively new Fully-Networked Vehicle (FNV) electrical architecture has made its more modern vehicles more difficult to tune, and for good reason – it’s designed to protect connected vehicles capable of receiving over-the-air-updates from being hacked, which is becoming more of a concern these days. This was obviously not great news for S650-generation Ford Mustang owners, as the newest pony car was certainly more difficult for third-party companies to tune. However, one just managed to crack that code.
That company is HP Tuners, which just rolled out tuning support for a bevy of Blue Oval models – including the S650 Ford Mustang, as well as the 2021-2023 Ford F-150, 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R, 2021-2025 Ford Bronco, 2022-2025 Ford Bronco Raptor and Ford Ranger Raptor, and the 2022-2023 Ford Expedition. Noted aftermarket pony car supporter Palm Beach Dyno already has tuning bundles listed for pre-order on its site as well, ranging in price from $319-$750, and in their latest video, got a hold of Steeda’s development S650 to talk about the cracked encryption as well.
It’s currently unclear what sort of power gains S650 Ford Mustang owners can expect from these tunes, though they can be customized to work in conjunction with power adders such as cold-air intakes, cams, intake manifolds, superchargers, turbos, or different octanes of fuel. In this particular video, PBD says the new tune managed to squeeze around 20 horsepower out of their own pony car, which is a pretty decent gain on its own accord.
Ford does already offer its own array of calibrations for a variety of vehicles, which come with a warranty – so long as they’re installed by a Ford dealer or ASE/Red Seal certified technician. The V8-powered Ford Mustang GT and Dark Horse are reportedly going to join that list at some point in the near future, which should provide a compelling alternative to these third-party tunes, but we imagine that plenty of folks will want to go this route, regardless.
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