Talk to Stillen, if that's the direction you're going to go. Once installed, take air/fuel readings to see if it's a safe tune or not. That's just common sense.
My APS TT was correct right out of the box. Once I did the "break-in" and turned up the boost, it was a whole different story. Definitely needed more tuning. I have a friend(who shall remain nameless) who tuned his own ProCharger on the street at high boost. In a matter of a couple of months, he went six-for-six on bent rods....

 

Of course kids come first, before a fancy sports car...

please do them a favor and don't dump tons of money into your car, unless you can REALLY afford to do it right without compromising their futures.

I have no idea what your income or expenses are like, so clearly this is just my opinion. But you starting this thread opens the door for others to judge. And to me it sounds like you should not be pursuing this project.

 

I ran around for 2 months with my s/c not tuned. I had an a/f gauge and monitored it, and it was cold outside, but I also did not really get on it. All was fine until I got my tune. If you want to limp around with no tune go ahead, but if I were you I'd get a tune and run the car.

 

Hey now, he didn't start this thread. I did, and I am far from old and wifey with kids and the whatnot maxima-sort.

 

When I decided to go FI I had the exact same concerns and problems as the OP, I originally priced the HKS SC and intended to go with that, but I found the Power Enterprise kit for $600 less, so I went TT.

The Power Enterprise TT kit is very safe at stock boost without a tune. Be careful what exhaust you have, too free flowing can cause over boost, there is a warning about that in the instruction manual. My ran fine with the NISMO exhaust. I did max WHP 351.2 @ 6750 RPM, max torque 293.3 @ 5500 RPM on a AWD Mustang Dynamometer, only engine related upgrade high flow cats and NISMO exhaust. This was stock engine, no tune or piggyback. I currently have a UTEC and higher boost.

No tune, i.e., no piggyback, means to me less that can go wrong, at least at low boost (around 4.8). At least with the PE kit, if you are satisfied with a 100 WHP more than stock, it is as safe as anything. If you choose to run higher boost Technosquare flashes the ECU to handle it. I currently have well over 30K boosted on an engine that had 29K on it when I put on the kit. I drive the car in all seasons and all weather, daily, to work and back etc.

 

Seems to me half the blown engines are BECAUSE of the tune.

 

Thank you very much, you're a great help.

I don't plan on boosting high or trying anything fancy, I think alot of people assume "no tune=death" because I'm going to try and really push the car. Personally, I think trying to push the car harder would be the problem.