Thread: Tuning?

I hear all this talk about tuning. How do you do it or where can u get it done?

There are 2 tuners for our car, one is hptuners, the other is powrtuner. They stopped selling the powrtuner but you can still buy a used one. Basically you plug the hardware into the OBD2 port in the car, hook it up to a laptop and run the software. You can scan your car and collect data from different parameters and then take this data and adjust your cars pcm file for changes. It is most helpful or needed when you get into mods that will alter your car, like putting headers on will make the car go a little lean, so you change that by adjusting the maf table #s to make the car a little richer. You can learn alot online and do it yourself but it takes alot of time and work to get good at it.

Either that or find someone in the area with knowledge specifically about our cars and have them tune it. You can also purchase mail order pcms, you tell them your mods and they make a tune based around that, not the best tune in the world, but it still works.

zzp tunes i guess. 75 bucks an hour. is that a decent price opposed to doin it yourself?

and whats a "happy knob"?

Originally Posted by basshead42

zzp tunes i guess. 75 bucks an hour. is that a decent price opposed to doin it yourself?

They are one of the best out there but unless you have some major mods I dont think it is worth it, I mean there are other routes you could take. Post up your mods, a mail order pcm may be a good route if you can't find someone locally.

It takes a while to get comfortable tuning, on average I'd say it takes a couple years to get to the point where your fairly good at tuning.

A happy knob lets you adjust the cars timing on the fly, but doing so without scanning your car for knock is risky.

3.4 pulley, 180 tstat, DHP pcm, msd wires, ngk iridium plugs 2 heat ranges colder, slp 2.5" loudmouth exhaust, u-bend delete, k&n air filter, ram air hood. Is there anything worth tuning with these mods?

Originally Posted by basshead42

3.4 pulley, 180 tstat, DHP pcm, msd wires, ngk iridium plugs 2 heat ranges colder, slp 2.5" loudmouth exhaust, u-bend delete, k&n air filter, ram air hood. Is there anything worth tuning with these mods?

Your DHP pcm already has some tuning done to it. I wouldn't worry about tuning further unless your getting knock. If you know someone local it wouldn't hurt to have them scan your car and make a few adjustments, but your not going to feel the kick in the pants. I'd say you gain maybe a couple mph in the 1/4 mile and a few tenths of a second in ET.

I dont see a downpipe or front powerlog listed with that 3.4" pulley... I would get a downpipe for sure and it woudn't hurt to get a front powerlog either.