Is a custom tune worth it?

[1bad04GT]

my mods are in my sig, the Mustang shop that put the h/c/i on for me told me that it isnt worth the money for a tune ($150/hr) but after running it I cant help but feel that there is a little more to be had. I dont have any dyno numbers yet but at wfc 10 the best trap speed i ever saw was 103.79 and it seems that many of you with similar combos are trapping 106-108, thats the difference in .3 in the 1/4 mile and with ls1 guys breathing down my neck, every bit helps. Any help you guys give is greatly appreciated as always

 

[Ozz]

Not with a chip, but you can surely play by hand to get some more out of your setup. I *have* seen some N/A cars pick up upwards of 40RWHP on a chip tune, but keep in mind it's not very common or likely. At least the guy was honest with you about it, that's a good thing

Chips and actual software tuning come into play mostly w/forced induction setups, as you probably know.

 

[2002BLGT]

my mods are in my sig, the Mustang shop that put the h/c/i on for me told me that it isnt worth the money for a tune ($150/hr) but after running it I cant help but feel that there is a little more to be had. I dont have any dyno numbers yet but at wfc 10 the best trap speed i ever saw was 103.79 and it seems that many of you with similar combos are trapping 106-108, thats the difference in .3 in the 1/4 mile and with ls1 guys breathing down my neck, every bit helps. Any help you guys give is greatly appreciated as always

is it the car in your sig ? I picked up a few tenths and average 4mph with a chip on my built 306

 

[Venom351R]

Im going to get an SCT dyno tune done for mine soon. I have idle and stalling issues and I just know it will run better once it has a chip, plus I'll be all set for when I get a supercharger b/c I'll already have a chip I'll just need to get it re flashed

 

[final5-0]

It Depends Upon

To my way of thinking

I can in no way
start a reply to a Q like that ......
with words other than those three I used above

What is a tune?

Is it tuning things for max power
or
Is it tuning things for max drivability

Its both
if
You get the maximum benefit possible

Your post seems to be centered around 1/4 mile performance

While I feel the mechanical method of tuning by fuel pressure
adjustments and dizzy twisting is limited when you compare
it to pcm value manipulation ... For WOT conditions ... it can
get the job done.

however

It ain't got a lot going for it when you ask it to help you with
drivability issues.

A tune could have more value ... be worth it as you say ......
to someone who had poopy performance AND drivability issues

It depends upon things ... like those

Then there is the money side of things when you ask ......
Is it worth it ... How much do they want to do a chip

What ever the price ... You'll be the best judge of that
cause
It depends upon how much $$$

Disregarding money spent or drivability concerns
I would bet a tune would pick up your track performance.

I saw you had a shop do the h/c/i
You may not he a hands on kinda fellow ... I don't know
but if that is so
You may not wanna try using fuel pressure and dizzy twisting

It depends upon if you wanna do that kind of thing
or
Have that shop do it

Grady

 

[1bad04GT]

I am very much a hands on kinda guy but being in college hours away from a shop and proper tools at home i went for my closest resource. I have personally teaked my fuel pressure and timing and the driveability has improved as well as performance but I still think there is more to be had.

 

[final5-0]

I am very much a hands on kinda guy but being in college hours away from a shop and proper tools at home i went for my closest resource. I have personally teaked my fuel pressure and timing and the driveability has improved as well as performance but I still think there is more to be had.

Well

Your latest post makes a lot of those ... it depends upon things go away

I certainly can understand your current situation makes it be like ........
You got the ability but not the option due to circumstances

If you have done all you can do with mechanical adjustments
then
You are gonna have to ..........
do something different if you want to get something different

I do agree with the above post where they talk about forced
combos picking up more power than a na combo. They just
have a tendency to be farther away from optimum efficiency
than na combos.

Unless your combo has something causing things to be really off ...
which by the looks of your choice of mods ... I don't think that is
gonna be the case ... I'd say a really sharp tune might give you
a gain somewhere in the range of 10 to 20 rwhp.

Grady

 

[1bad04GT]

Your advice is very helpful and much appreciated as always guys, I'm gonna start saving again, if I can get 15 reliable rwhp for $300 I'm gonna go for it.

 

[cbarr300]

Hey Grady..speaking of blown combos seeing higher gains...I sure noticed that.

I went on the dyno today with a tune that I thought was safe and if felt like it had a good amount of power...put out around 350

spent 5 minutes adjusting a/f ratio and a few other things with the tweecer....and finished off with 408hp, 398 tq. I saw a gain of 58 hp......which is rather impressive.

best part is...it's still a safe tune. I'm running 25 total timing on a blown combo..but I also have a meth kit...I could be running at least 4 degrees more of timing safely.

edit: I had 25 total timing..not 22

 

[final5-0]

Your advice is very helpful and much appreciated as always guys, I'm gonna start saving again, if I can get 15 reliable rwhp for $300 I'm gonna go for it.

Please understand in some rare cases, I've seen peeps go on the rollers
with a NA combos and only gain like around 5rwhp but usually, when that
happens, they only got bolt ons.

I don't want you to think its a given ... You'll find 15rwhp

Peeps with h/c/i combos like you have the supporting mods of larger
inj's and matching meter which rarely are close to getting it right for
an af ratio that will make maximum power.
Sooooo ... Its not all that uncommon to be farther off and the gain
will usually be a bit better with a combo like that.

Take my sig combo for instance

I had worked with it a good bit to get the maf curve and injectors
dialed in pretty close before going to the dyno for its first baseline
pull.

I already knew I was gonna peg the meter but the dyno was free
so I thought ... what the heck ... I could always cut it short and I
wanted to see what was what with all the new parts anyway.

We made the first pull for a baseline. It was a bit more lean than
I would have left it. The guy looked at my datalog of the pull and
was wanting to see more about how the Tweecer worked and
asked me to make a few more pulls.

Dropping the ratio on pulls 2 & 3 from 13.25 to 12.5 yielded about
9rwhp IIRC. No tweecs other than the fatter ratio were done so
you can see ... the pulls were not in any way what you would
call a tuning session

Now ... I tell you that to show even though I already had it close
before going to the dyno ... I gained 9 horses with a final ratio
value of 12.5 to 1.00

The first time I made a WOT blast for a baseline datalog on that
same combo to gather data to start my WOT af ratio tweecing,
I saw the higher end of the curve be as fat as 11.25 to 1.00

If I would have been that fat for my first baseline pull ........
I think most peeps would agree ... the gains would have
been greater than 9rwhp

See what I mean about
Inj's & matching caled meters can be a good bit off
from being what one would call optimum

Maybe this can give you some stuff to think about

Grady

 

[1bad04GT]

The shop I'm going to have do my tune basically wrote down what supporting mods would go best with my heads, cam and intake and they have 20 years of Mustang experience and they build stuff for people all around the country so I feel pretty confident that they can get the most outta my setup. I'm also saving for a little NX fun and I'll be stepping up to 30lb'ers or 36's pretty soon, thank you once again for your insight Grady, I'm sure its been asked before but how the heck did you get those awesome numbers out of a stock MAF and TB? Mad props on that sir.

 

[final5-0]

The shop I'm going to have do my tune basically wrote down what supporting mods would go best with my heads, cam and intake and they have 20 years of Mustang experience and they build stuff for people all around the country so I feel pretty confident that they can get the most outta my setup. I'm also saving for a little NX fun and I'll be stepping up to 30lb'ers or 36's pretty soon, thank you once again for your insight Grady, I'm sure its been asked before but how the heck did you get those awesome numbers out of a stock MAF and TB? Mad props on that sir.

The oem tb will flow better than most think
and
Nothing else needs to be said

The oem meter will flow more air for a na combo than most think
but
what needs to be said with that statement is ........

Notice I did not use the oem fuel system
cause
It will not support 300 to the wheels

Being able to self tune ... It allowed me to do those things

Now ... Did those oem parts hold me back some? ... Sure they did

It was all about spending the money where it would do the most good
and
The other sig parts were more important than a tb & maf

Grady