QUIKAG

I have a thread going in C6 tech. I had an '01 C5 with intake, headers, exhaust, and 4.10 gears with the stock tune and the car ran great for years with several thousand hard track miles, oil temps at 300+F type of hard miles. Sold it to a guy who has over 100k miles on it and it's still running great!

Well, I'd like to do intake, headers, exhaust, and stock tune on my new '08 C6, but some guys on the C6 tech thread AI started are saying that wouldn't be safe. I think the car will run a bit rich, but how can it be unsafe on the stock tune?

I have a theory that not running enough oil or having an aggressive tune have cost many Vette guys their motors at the road courses. I don't want that to happen to my motor which is why I want to keep a stock tune.

Am I crazy?

AU N EGL

Vettes always run better when dyno tuned. Tell the tuner what your use will be. The two of you will work out what is best for the car

RedLS6

If you're going to do a few mods, such as intake and exhaust, a tune will get your A/F ratio back to optimal, and will likely allow more power to be extracted with the mods. Just let the tuner know that the car will see high air, water, and oil temps, and let him know not to set the timing and A/F at the ragged edge.....keep it conservative. With no tune, you're "probably" still OK (safe), but as hard as we push these cars, why not dial it in exactly? I'd rather not be too rich (cats don't always like it), or too lean (detonation and heat), during a hard session.

sothpaw2

This is what I did--went to a tuner who himself drives on course and told him what I was going to do and that all I wanted was a conservative tune to safeguard the motor, nothing more. He dialed back the timing from stock and but the A/F at 12.5.

He drove the car himself on the street and tuned it that way.

wewing

I agree with RedLS6, that by putting headers on the car, you could make it run leaner than it otherwise would with the stock exhaust. If it runs leaner, and pings under varying loads at high rpm's its not good for the motor, and that is more likely at the track. That is why you probably should have a good tuner set it up for your headers before you track the car.

Cobra4B

FWIW most all cars (corvettes at least) fatten up w/ boltons and no tuning. My '01Z made 372ish rwhp with intake, kooks w/ cats, and stingers w/o any tuning. AFR was 11.0:1 accross the board at WOT. A proper tune got my to 384 w/ a 12.5:1 AFR and standard timing nothign crazy. Just tell the tuner what your use will be and ask for a road racing safe tune, you don't want every last ragged HP like some of the drag or dyno queen guys.

If the tuner doesn't get it or has never tuned a track car then get out of there.

C6400hp

You will be fine if you have John at 21CMC tune it. Mine works great on the track with AF of 12.5-12.8.
I think you are worried about nothing. The C6 oil pan is a much better design than the C5. And a good tune is going to do nothing but help make it more reliable.

Wicked Weasel

I did respond to your other post too.

Personally I would go to a shop that has cars doing RR if that is where your interest is and have that shop do a tune. At ECS I am out roughly 15+ days per year doing RR days and Doug@ECS (co-owner of ECS) is out around 10. Doug@ECS who tunes all the ECS cars usually data log both cars to see what is going on and then take that information back with him to the shop.

Tell the tuner what you are doing and the tuner will make the correct adjustments and you will be fine on and off the track.

IMHO if you are planning on doing alot of RR days with oil temps up in the 300 range I would also add an oil cooler to your car. Those oil temps are really not good for your car. Having the 4.10 gears on a RR Track didnt help with keeping temps down either so maybe with the new car you will see lower temps.

As far as why cars blow up on the track - well there are tons of reasons. I lost a double roller timing chain in turn 7 at WGI with my car. It was one of the last things that I thought would go and I am glad that the new timing chains that are out are better since I have a new LS7 going in.

I have also seen oil starvation at the track. Tracks like Pocono with the big Nascar turn 1 are not friendly to low oil levels. The oil pick starves for a very short time and say bye bye.

I have also seen cars go because of poor tunes from people that have no RR experience and that is why I said to use a tuner that has RR experience. A good tuner will make sure your car is tuned correctly providing you with years of fun.

sothpaw2

This I think is more common then people realize. They chalk the blown motor up to something else or lots of RR time. It's that big banking that a stock oil pan can't handle.

I loved Pocono, it was one of the most fun experiences in my life, but I won't go back knowing what I know it can do to a stock motor. You really have to do the track-specific add-ons.

QUIKAG

Thanks for all the information, guys! Wicked Weasel, I appreciate you responding in both thread. I am going to see what kind of oil temps I'm getting with my new '08 and go from there. Candy (C6400), hope to get my car out on track soon to chase you around.

I am planning on having Patrick from Quality do the tune (if necessary) after we data log and evaluate it's stock operating parameters after the modifications. He has quite a bit of experience tuning for RR, so I feel comfortable with him.

Cobra, that was exactly what my '01 C5 did. With stock tune along with intake, headers, exhaust, and 4.10 gears, it made 337rwhp running 12.0:1 or even a touch less in the high 11's. Yes, it was rich, but she ran good even when really hot and never had an ounce of trouble with her over thousands of 100% track miles. As mentioned in the other thread, the second owner now has over 100k miles with zero mechanical issues.

MySR71

This might be helpful:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...php?t=1891891&

QUIKAG

Very helpful! Thanks!

rfn026

Motors contribute very little to lap times on a road course. Tires are the single most important item. Then come the brakes. Finally in third place is the motor. If you're running track days the engine will give you the worst return on investment.

Richard

Cobra4B

^ Yep... I learned that the hard way I just had to have a cam for the fun/sound of it all as I drive my car on the street a bunch and to car meets etc. All it did on track was make the car faster so I went through brakes/tires more quickly

Seat, tires, brakes first... then mod the motor. Ok ok... you can do some mufflers so the car at least sounds cool.

waddisme

This is a good thread. Here is my latest dyno. I am going back Saturday for the final tune with the meth kit(installed just for safety) hooked up. Should I stay about where I am? Tuner says there is a lot left.

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