Tuning (again)

[badinfluence]

At this point I'm not going to invest in tuning my car myself. So i'm asking for opinions here.

I talked to pcmforless already and they gave me lots of information that helped. I'm fairly certain that my car has an aftermarket cam (previous owner said that, didn't know for sure tho) but it does not sound like a stock idle, not a big lope but it does have lope at idle and I've had some people that have a good deal of auto knowledge and they said it sounds like it has a cam in it.

Anyways the guy at pcmforless said he could tune it for a LT4 hotcam because that is a very popular cam.

So...

pcmforless.com or madz28, anyone have experience?

tune it for bolt-ons only or go ahead and tune it for hotcam?

or if anyone knows how to tune and would drive to lansing in a few weeks to make some $$$ let me know

[JoeliusZ28]

a mail order tune doesnt qualify as tuning a car yourself IMO. If youre car has any kind of lope whatsoever, its cammed. My car wont sound like its loping until i choke it down to about 450 rpm.

If you cant figure out what kind of cam you have, tuning it yourself with a wideband would be the way to get the best tune... however tuning is not something you can just pick up and run with.

Ive invested probably $200 in tuning equipment already and i havent even started yet, i still need a wideband which is another $200.

[badinfluence]

a mail order tune doesnt qualify as tuning a car yourself IMO. If youre car has any kind of lope whatsoever, its cammed. My car wont sound like its loping until i choke it down to about 450 rpm.

If you cant figure out what kind of cam you have, tuning it yourself with a wideband would be the way to get the best tune... however tuning is not something you can just pick up and run with.

Ive invested probably $200 in tuning equipment already and i havent even started yet, i still need a wideband which is another $200.

yea I said i wasn't going to tune it myself. I'm being honest with myself and leaving tuning to the pros, it's not something I really want to mess with at this point and have too much on my plate to learn how at this time.

From what I've read the Lt4 isn't that "big" of a cam, that on top of it being pretty common it would be my best guess, but it's still only a guess.

I've also thought about a dyno-tune but I really dont have that kind of money...madz28 is having a sale right now, I could get it tuned for ~$115

I think thats what I'm leaning towards now, from what I've read it seems to be a good quality tune (as far as mail-ins go). I'm figuring if I get it tuned for a mild cam such as the LT4 i think it would be best off...but again i dont really know much about this kind of stuff

[JoeliusZ28]

are you thinking an LT4 cam or an LT4 hotcam? there is a difference. hotcams are the common kit because they are a great bang for the buck. the hotcam actually has a pretty good lope to it, it tends to sound bigger than it really is.

[badinfluence]

it's hard to tell based on sound clips on the internet but it sounded kind of like a cc305

then i found a rev of a lt4 and it sounded very similar so it's too hard to tell based on clips that ive found to compare

also, i'm almost positive it has upgraded fuel injectors too...because 1. the guy i bought it off of had stock fuel injectors for sale and the car runs rich (black residue on rear bumper) and I also believe the intake manifold had been ported, i haven't removed it but the seller was also selling another intake manifold so i really have no idea to what extent this motor has been built.

It smokes my friends 250rwhp 400rwtq olds 86 cutty (455 big block)

[WMCCjames]

Mail order tunes are a waste of money. They should call it "mail order guessing".

[badinfluence]

Mail order tunes are a waste of money. They should call it "mail order guessing".

I've read some good things about them. So you don't think they will give me any gains at all?

Last time I got quoted with a dyno tune it would have been 400-500 bucks

that seems like alot to me

[Derek]

I've read some good things about them. So you don't think they will give me any gains at all?

Last time I got quoted with a dyno tune it would have been 400-500 bucks

that seems like alot to me

you pay for what you get.. ive always been told stay away from mail order, like others said they are just "guessing" you really want someone to "Guess" as to what changes to make in order for your car to gain power?

[JoeliusZ28]

I've read some good things about them. So you don't think they will give me any gains at all?

Last time I got quoted with a dyno tune it would have been 400-500 bucks

that seems like alot to me

mail order tunes are OK if you know what cam you have.... which you dont. mail tunes are somewhat of a shot in the dark even when you know what you have.

[Swat]

At least find out what cam you have, it makes all the difference in the tune at WOT. My car was tuned for a certain cam & ran awesome, I swapped in a much smaller cam & left the tune.

On the dyno, AFR was around 14.7 all over at part throttle but at WOT anything past 5 grand the AFR dropped way down to 11:1 and made peak @ only 5200 because of how rich it was running past 5000. It didn't smoke & plugs looked perfect. All because it thought it was sucking so much more air but wasn't because of the smaller cam.

A wide band will work wonders for tunning, but if you do a mail tune at least know the specs on the cam.

[Superman09]

IMO, pay the money and have it dyno tuned on a load based dyno...

[PACE]

mail order tunes are a great way to ruin your engine FAST..... and go BOOM. THEY ARE WORTHLESS

[badinfluence]

maybe I'll just hold off tuning all together, dyno tune isn't an option right now altho i have wanted to do one just a little pricey (but yes you get what you pay for i guess)

I'm buying a lt1 long block on saturday, eventually want to start gathering stuff for a top-end/cam/valvetrain build, it will be awhile to finish the new LT1 but I can just get a dyno tune and do it the right way at that point

thanks for the advice

[DETROITMUSCLE]

stay away from mail order, you get what you pay for. Find a good local tuner and have them take thie time on it and get it right. Thats the only way or else you'll be doing things over again, ask me how I know. Also I know of a amazing tuner out this way who charges very reasonable prices if your interested.