RaceMe Ultra Plus ATS Co-Pilot Review

[TAZMAN]

I am fortunate to have 2 trucks to play with so I did some testing for ATS on the Co-Pilot along with the Race Me Ultra tuner set at the 150HP, 29 Degrees timing set up on my 2015 CC/SB. All I can say is WOW...this truck now shifts and acts like I would expect from the factory. I used the ATS valve body, Co-Pilot, and ATS deep pan with the tuner set at no transmission tuning.

Impressions....all the converter flares are gone, the truck shifts unbelievably better and firms the shifts off throttle response and boost. Towing is now not an issue with this HP even though I do not recommend it for most guys. When I was pulling I had OEM support on the Chevy side but still ran the Co-Pilot even though I could tune every parameter because of how the co-pilot responded. There are a lot of good products and tuning out there but even the available transmission tuning is missing quite a few tables to address the overall issues with the RAM 68 trans. If you are running huge HP then a full built trans is the only way to go but will still need tuning or something like the Co-Pilot to assist. For a plug and play controller this is the way to go in my opinion. The truck is actually fun to drive now and acts like it should. I have had tuning from others and it was decent but for me....this is the way to go. I will be monitoring the transmission temps a little better to see if there are any issues towing extremely heavy but for now....what a difference. If anyone wants to drive the truck just send me a PM and you are welcome to come try it.

This is not a thread to discount anyone's tuning but to provide a actual use feedback so that others can make more informed decisions.

 0 Comment(s)

[9mgcb81]

How is it on defueling under deceleration especially hard braking

The 68RFE is a good transmission but anything over about 750hp it just isn't a happy transmission. Even fully built

 0 Comment(s)

[TAZMAN]

No defueling that I am aware of. So far it's been awesome...the only one slight issue I see is every once in a while the converter at very light throttle and low speed is a little aggressive for my liking but others may think it's perfect. Some may complain but I may have them make a slight change for me on that but it's not big deal. No such thing as perfect for every person even from the OEM. One thing that I noticed is that when under heavy throttle the truck will now smoke just a little on the 150hp tune up and pulls the entire time. The shifts have firmed up really well and for the HP I think I will just leave it alone.

 0 Comment(s)

[TAZMAN]

A little update with heavy towing. The 150 HP setting is a little much for towing heavy but the Co-Pilot made the shifts much better but under heavy throttle in 4th and 5th you can tell the stock transmission does not like it. I backed it down to 60HP for heavy towing and it is perfect. I had about 23K behind the truck when testing and although it did shift firm I could feel the shudder in the clutches on the 150hp but a built transmission may hold it.

 0 Comment(s)

[TAZMAN]

Just to clarrify the settings...I only ran the co-pilot on the first setting. It may be OK at the 150HP towing heavy if you run the co-pilot on a higher setting. Didn't think about that when we were testing.

 0 Comment(s)

[HKBIGDADDYDIESELDAN]

Just to clarrify the settings...I only ran the co-pilot on the first setting. It may be OK at the 150HP towing heavy if you run the co-pilot on a higher setting. Didn't think about that when we were testing.

Try the higher settings on your Co-Pilot and let us know your findings thanks

 0 Comment(s)

[TAZMAN]

We are going to do a little more testing next week. I think it will be fine as I figure it out how to set it up.

 0 Comment(s)

[HKBIGDADDYDIESELDAN]

We are going to do a little more testing next week. I think it will be fine as I figure it out how to set it up.

What made you go with the ATS Co-Pilot bud ?

 0 Comment(s)

[TAZMAN]

I run the ATS stuff because they were one of my major sponsors back when we were developing the Duramax program. I had to have parts that would hold up to 5k RPM before we could release it to my other sponsors. Clint and I have worked together for a while and to be honest....most of the tuners only have access to a small portion of the overall calibration and sometimes people just need a plug and play devise that works and provided long term service. ATS has their issues as do most aftermarket companies but if I am going to promote it then it better be dang near perfect.

 0 Comment(s)

[TAZMAN]

Update from a couple months of testing. I had ATS change the software after data logging several miles and towing 13K pounds. At this point I feel the unit is a close to perfect as we can get with a factory 68 trans. We towed the trailer all the way to Denver to test in the mountains and make sure everything would work as I wanted it to. I am now able to say you should be very happy with the co-pilot and valve body set up. There are some good trans products out there now so this is just a review of one of them that I personally tested.

Here is the set up we run.....race me tuner set on 120HP with default timing and rail pressure. We have 4.10 gears and 35 inch Nitto tires which is close to the factory 3.42 set up with stock tires. The shifts are very smooth but firm and no more converter unlock in 6th range when towing. Forces lockup under power including WOT so no shift hunting occurs. Reduces and almost eliminates defueled shifts on the all the settings we tried. Verified line pressure actually goes to 268 psi when commanded and act lineoar so the trans still runs cool and works like it should. Really works good on the 1-2 shift under full power which is a big deal to me. Holds in there until the downshift. I put a lot of time logging data and working with ATS to get it right but I think it is very close to perfect. On the 150Hp setting it will click the shifts right off. In the mountains we gained about 3-4 degrees in average trans temp but that was due to the altitude I think. Overall I am VERY happy with the results and how the truck is shifting. A much more fun truck to drive now and feels like it should of from the factory. The co-pilot can get more aggressive on the shifts if you turn it up which we had some fun with. We will probably be installing it on our stock 2017 also but haven't had the time yet. Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them. Works awesome with the cruise engaged and does exactly what it should.

Hopefully this helps with getting the correct information out there and if anyone wants to drive the truck you are welcome to come to central Indiana and have at it.

 0 Comment(s)