I'm considering getting my 80 dyno tuned by a place in San Antonio, TX- Team Extreme Racing @$130. per hour. They told me it will probably take two hours.

I have a ZZ4 crate engine and a 800 CFM Holley.
The car has a slight stutter at take off under hard acceleration and does not seem as fast as it should. (I know my sidepipes are robbing some HP- but they will stay on.)

Is it worth the cost?

Thanks for any input.

 

There's a big potential gain on a not well tuned engine...

 

:iagree: 5% to 15% depending on the current state of your tune.

 

you dont need a dyno tune, you need a smaller carb :yesnod:

 

See if you can get in with a group and make a day of it. Corvette club perhaps. I'm going with my college's motorsports club later this year, hopefully.

-Chris

 

Don't worry about carb...it can easily be tuned to be fine on your engine.

Driveability stuff for a carb set up to me is best handled riding around the neighborhood and working it out. Off idle stutters etc are a little tricky on a dyno. IF you have one of the ones that actually can provide some load as you take off and drive maybe it could help. EFI guys use them regulary to get real close on their fuel maps, but still need to ride around with one person working laptop to get it perfect.

WOT tuning is better suited to the dyno. You can make lots of changes in a relatively short time. It's much easier than abusing the whole car at the track. This way when you go to run it, you know what works and what doesn't. It's alot more consistent and you cna eliminate "butt-o-meter" and driving variables that could lead you the wrong way. The dyno measures pure power.

I'd do some checking around on price. You might get a little better. Usually club days are held where everyone gets two pulls for like $35 or so. Not much time for serious tuning. Maybe timing or something.

I called around here in Houston and found a shop with a Dynojet that would hook up wide band 02 sensors and let me run all I wanted. I made about 14 pulls in about 2.5 hours. I came prepared with all my tools, jets etc and had at it. I think he charged me only $160 because I did it during the week in the morning. I did all the work and he just worked computer part of dyno. I did the "driving".


JIM

 

I would totally go for it... IF... I didnt have a washboard list of other things that need to be done first. In other words I would have to be like 90% happy with the rest of the car.

I would also check around real good as others suggested. Maybe try to get the connections made the old beer discount and whatnot. I am not sure but I think some schools around me have the setups and its probably an easy sell to let some kids tune your vette.

Also are you really looking for power or the smoother ride and everything. Isnt it truth that some people are better suited at giving you one or the other???¿¿¿

Spook
:reddevil

 

Make sure you get clarification on what is included in that $130/hour * 2. I actually dropped my car off and picked it up a week later. Spent $250 and they optimized the timing curve and ruined my secondary metering rods (hit them with a grinder!!!). I picked up about 30hp and 30ft lbs torque. I then had Lars rebuild the carb and I added headers, duals, new cylinder heads. I picked up another 32.5hp and 30ft lbs torque.

Now, the engine is pretty much optimized and tuned. I just have to resolve an internal engine leak that is sapping power (intake gaskets suspected). That's next on my list after I refresh the steering system (pump, hoses, control valve and slave cylinder).

:seeya

 

You gotta make sure the place knows what the heck they are doing. I took mine to a place that didn't seem to have a real handle on what they were doing and I didn't really get anything out of their "tune". They weren't prepared for a carburated engine (old tech). They were known for their tuning of LS1 engines. Bad choice on my part. Just make sure they are aware of what you have and that yes they can tune it. You might want to take you own parts of what you might think you need so they don't charge you and arm and a leg on markup for stuff you already have (Jets for the carb, new spark plugs....). Good luck.

 

I just used to take my Camaro to the track and run it in the "Test" catagory and tune it that way. You don't get eliminated in the test catagory - you get to run all day and it makes for great Christmas tree practice and is a whole lot more fun than going to a dyno.

:auto:

 

Buy a G-tech for $50 and hit a local deserted street. If you can do your own tuning, it's a lot cheaper and can provide similar results.

 

I agree that is a good idea, as long as the technicians are skilled of course. If you’re a guy that wants the absolute most out of your engine, then it is money well spent. Take a pen and paper and make notes as the session proceeds.

 

It was worth it to me. After my mods were installed, I couldn't get it running right and did not want to "learn on the job" by the trial and error jetting/ tune process. They even found something that was broke, that I would have never thought of. What took them a few hours, would have taken me all summer. Go for it!!!!
Eddie