I wonder if A dyno tune is much better than a custom mail order chip. I was planning on a dyno tune but the guy wants $500.00 and he's in San Jose an hours drive. I have a mail order chip from Ed Wright at Fastchip. My 88 runs great BUT???? Can I squeeze more HP out of it with a dyno tune?

 

$500 is not alof of money imo, if your car is running close to 100% after the tune is complete. i dont know how good ed's tuning is.

 

For pretty common engine upgrades Ed's tunes are pretty spot-on (I used his for my heads/cam upgrade and never had a problem). What I would recommend is to go to a local dyno and make a run, taking a look at the air/fuel numbers to get an idea of how it's running. Paying $500 for some touch-ups is expensive to me...if it was $500 for a ground-up tune that's another story.

 

$500.00 was just an estimate. They are in Oakdale not San Jose. Here's their website.

http://www.performancedynotuning.com/services_dyno.htm

So I can get it Dynoed and see where I'm at? Are you guessing because I don't have any major mods I can't gain much. Fastchip will do any upgrades for $150.00. I would have to mail my chip to them. Maybe I could send them the Dyno results?

 

Absolute rip off! Do you know what these guys actually do when you send in your PCM? About five minutes work downloading a file and that's about it. Takes them more time to box it up to send it back.

At one time I was sponsored by a dyno shop so basically grew up LTx wise seeing how various cars responded to different mods and tunes. Have a pretty decent database of tuning files and the resulting dyno files. From what I'm hearing......I'm in the wrong business. Talk about easy money!! Problem is I’m honest and know that some people would not be getting for what they paid for.

As mentioned in the post below.......a mail order tune is nothing more than a crap shoot. Unless you’re clairvoyant, no one can properly tune a car remotely and that includes mildly modded cars.


http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=514855

 

I'm very satisfied with the Fastchip. They may have gotten it very close to 100% and it was a lot cheaper than a Dyno tune. But even at 95% there is a lot of HP to be gained. I had to use a mail order. My car wouldn't run with the stock chip and was in my garage. I guess I could have towed it to a Dyno tuner but that would have cost even more. Sometimes a mail order is the way to go and usually they do a great job if you use the right one.

 

Yes, I know exactly what they are doing. The configs that they are making to your PCM are from what they have learned by tuning similar cars in person. And guess what? I've had an Ed Wright PCM in my car before and it ran dead-on, damn near perfect. At the time there weren't many people in town that could do in house dyno tuning so it was my only option. When I went to a local dyno shop with my scanner and logging software, and with Eds PCM there was very little, if anything that I needed to change.

What's better? In person dyno tune, without question. Will a mail-order tune work...yep, and unless you're running something with crazy mods it'll probably work very well for you. In fact my current 467RWHP 383 was running an Ed Wright PCM before I had it tuned on a local Mustang Dyno with a wideband O2. How much HP did I gain? About 12...was there anything in the tune that was way off? Not at all, just some basic cleanup.

Are they a rip-off...only if they don't work, and in my personal experience they work just fine.

 

The following things are my Opinion and experience on mail order vs dyno tunes.

First off, a tuner, being with a dyno or mail order is just like a mechanic. Some are good, others are not. Getting a dyno tune does not guarentee the car will run right. Nor does a mail order tune.

Your factory new car was not dyno tuned. One like it was, and that is your program. By the way, it is not uncommon for vehicle manufactures to update tuning and reload it at the dealers.

A good experienced shop such as Fastchips, or Pcmforless, have done extensive dyno tuning, and usually have a program close if not dead on that they can mail order to you. (assuming you have a fairly common setup) In my case, I got a mail order tune from Pcmforless, then latter, had them to dyno tune it and I picked up 6hp. In my case, the mail order tune was just about dead on. You can see my mods in my signature, and it is a pretty common setup.

If you are getting a tune on a dynojet, it is only for wide open throttle. Problems with idle, part throttle, etc. are still found with programs such as datamaster, etc. The point being, unless a tuner takes your car and drives it extensively, logging, etc. the only thing you are getting is a wot tune on a dynojet.

Bottom line, my experience has been positive with good tuners. On the other side of the coin, I am in the process of putting together a blower motor, and Alvin wants it in person to tune. He will tell you if he is not comfortable doing a mailorder tune, based on your mods, and I feel sure that Ed Wright, or any other good tuner will do the same.

Again, these are just my opinions.

 

And I've seen Ed Wright tunes that were way off and a waste of money. He was hot stuff at one time but I sure don't hear much about his tunes anymore. I was sponsored by a dyno shop and have seen numerous cars come in with mail order tunes (not just one, or "A" car). 90% of the time the car can be improved. No two cars are the same.

12 hp is a lot to leave on the table in a N/A car, not sure if I'd be so proud of the tune if it was me. Guess we have a difference of opinion of what near perfect is as in my book you pretty much just made the arguement for getting a real tune.

More than likely I wouldn't be making 483 rwhp with a mail order tune. Just now finally got the car squared away from a very significant header issue that put the car back almost a year. Think I can bump that up even a little more, through dyno tuning, not mail order.

 

I have to ask the very pointed question. If you have never had your car on a dyno with a good tuner, how do you know it's a good tune??

Hear people all the time justifying a mail order tune and their purchase decision with no objective data to back it up. Simply amazes me.

 

Before the Fastchip the car would not run. After the Fastchip it ran great. I said I was satified and I am. For me a mail order chip was a much better deal. Your right about the dyno. Maybe I can squeeze another few HP out of it. Or maybe I will blow $500.00. I think I'll leave it as is for now and save my money. Thanks guys!

 

Tuning can be very fickle but if a car won’t run, there is probably something you’re not telling us as cars almost always do run with stock programming. What did you do where the car wouldn't and what changes were made so it did?

 

Mail order tune 339 rwhp
Stock tune 341 rwhp
Dyno tune 349 rwhp and $450.00

Fred

 

Super ram, 24 lb. injectors 52 mm TB. 1.6 RRs. It wouldn't idle and was very hard to start. I did the right thing and I saved money. Bottom line is it worked.

 

nothing beats a dyno tune in person. Ed Wright from my experience has done a good job, but getting the car tuned in person is always the best idea, not only to get more horsepower, but to refine the around town driving of the car, etc.

With your mods I would not spend the money on a dyno tune, but then again im proabbly wrong!

Good luck.

 

If a tune is done on a dynojet, (which seems to be what most dyno shops have) how can they do anything except WOT?