Any body got experience, good or bad, with Bank's 6-gun?

 

Let me sit back. This should be entertaining

 

I have had the 6gun before, safe, too safe for most ppls taste, power comes on late in the powerband and flatlines early. I had no issues whatsoever, but after having a Smarty idea, I will never go back. Smarty on sw5 is so much better than banks on SL. If you are worried about spending alot of $$$ on something that doesn't deliver 100%, steer away from banks and reserve other options like Smarty or Dr P or Quad or Edge or even the mp-8.

 

I currently have the 6 Gun w/ Speedloader. No issues. What Rip 112 says is true concerning the performaace. Today, if I were to buy a box it would be the Smarty. I may buy one and stack it with the Banks.

 

i've never owned a 6 gun but i've heard from people who own one or had one at one time that they are not the most 'stacking friendly' boxes.

 

i had one and never had any problems with it (20k miles) then bought something else. it ok but if your looking for alot of power steer clear of it. better bang for the buck elsewhere.

 

This is accurate EXCEPT, I would say the power = Smarty on level SW1. The Banks 6gun is basically a safe extreme tow box that takes too much work to install, costs too much, and has too many levels, 10hp, 20hp, 30hp, 40hp.......whatever it was up to 126hp. Get a Quad Race and be MUCH happier with much better support!

 

Being the "thrifty" individual that I am (read because of wife and kids) I put the six gun on my last '03 2WD Auto. I chose it because of the safety that is in it. All in hopes that it would not be powerful enough to cause to much damage if it did anything. I did thrash it alot and never had issues with it or the truck. I chose it because of the nanny it had to watch the tranny, and to detect slip. I've had other fuel boxes before, and it seemed as though they kept fueling whenever I was on it, even during shifts. That didn't work well for me. It is a pricy system, but a good worry free one. Also not that complicated.


Chris

 

It actually has 6 levels w/ speed loader as a 7th. And I haven't tried my Smarty under sw5 ( 5 just seems perfect!) so you may be right about Banks =sw1. I agree with the support though, qzilla is always on the forums helping out, and I've never had good luck talking to Banks and getting a straight honest UNBIASED answer.

 

I've been told(not tried) that the Smarty is an excellent stack w/ the Banks.

 

I have a 6-gun with PDA. Its great for towing and playing around without worry of tranny probs. Lots of features and tuning options. I now have it stacked with my smarty which is really powerful. My banks on level SL (7) with the fuel turned all the way up feels like about level 5 on the smarty.

 

Rip pretty much sums it up. Smarty is capable of much more than Banks. Banks can and will stack, but what happens is with the ECM (already tuned by something like Smarty) then runs through Banks and Banks modifies the signal before the engine does its thing. Well the Banks "safties" are well known and what happens is if the Banks reads high egts or slipping tranny it defuels. Basically, if you hit any of the Banks safety perameters it defuels and negates anything your downloader was doing. Until I figured all this out, I couldn't get above 23-24 psi of boost (this is '04) on stock turbo. Banks wouldn't allow it. Quad boost fooler with boost elbow was the fix. Think about it... Smarty beta 4.4 on sw 9 and Banks at level 6 and all I can get is 23-24 psi?? There's enough drive pressure there for 50+. Yes, with Smarty on like sw3 (the regular programs) turning up the Banks results in a difference in power. However, as you turn up the Smarty, the difference the banks provides becomes less and less. By the time sw9 is used on beta 4.4, Banks adds almost nothing. I would figure maybe 20hp tops. If that.
Bottom line is for those people that want only a certain amount of "safe" power, the Banks is a quality unit that will give that. But I think it costs way too much for what you get. For the people wanting to grow into big power, the Banks will hold you back with its "safties" as it starts to defuel when it reads its perameters being exceeded.

 

Banks terrribly overpriced 35% price built into product other 65% is paying gale banks for his name LOL. look elsewhere for better quality , value , the margin of safety is built into the program levels on most keep it on low settings probably really safe, example go smarty 5 or higher get an auto club preffered membership you will be a good customer.

cheers........

 

If you have a 6-gun with PDA you can go in and turn off all the safeties so it won't defuel on you. (tranny slip, adjust egt defuel, accelerator pump, etc)

 

Thanks, boys! I think I've pretty much got the picture now; appreciate all ya all chiming in