need a base tune for the new motor not sure where is best to go.
cam is 243/248 @.050, mini ram II, lightly ported brodix ik200s. I know there are quite a few places just lookin for who is best with this kind of motor.

 

PM Sent

 

Yes, I would like to know that too!

 

This thread scared me until I read the last word.

 

What is so scary about this thread? I'm just looking for who can get me close so the car isn't going completely crazy until i can get it to Ed Right or get more comfortable tuning myself

 

If Ed Right is going to dyno tune it, have him do a base tune for you and then he can tweak it once it gets on the dyno. If you don't dyno tune, you will be leaving a lot of power on the table and maybe running in a dangerously lean state and scorch the motor.

 

Nothing...He was just making a bad joke. Probably about mail-order brides or something....

 

Hyd or Solid roller cam?

 

See if he has a sheet for you to fill out with your mods and requests.
I know when I ordered mine from PCM4Less they had a long list of things and some options. I filled out the form, paid my money and the initial chip was a little rich, however it ran fine. I had planned to run up to their shop for a dyno tue, but the motor decided to eat a lifter.
A year later and the motor is almost ready to go in the car.

 

Ed Wright did the base tune by mail for my 85 396 Super Ram. I would say he can get you in the ball park so you can get to the dyno. But to really dial in a tune without a dyno takes many, many tries. I did not have access to a dyno tune, so I invested in the tuning hardware and software. I'm on revision 21 of my tune and I have many more changes to make.

PM me if you want more info regarding Ed's abilities.

 

I lost count on mine. FWIW, I scanned and reburned a chip about every 2 wks for a year. In between, I reviewed scans and read about tuning, reviewed the parms, looked at newer software (for comparison), and posted to other tuners in the forum.

Driveability can be a complex issue and/or a compromise between more than one option. Dyno-tuning is pretty straight forward since your goal is to get maximum power.

As implied by cumbercr, it's worthwhile to learn how to do this stuff even for one car. That's because it provides the opportunity to fine-tune the car to your tastes, monitor/solve future problems, and become more confident in EFI systems.

That said, the best initial tune is one provided by someone familiar with tuning. Once you get yourself up to speed, you can tune it in the dyno. Just come here first for a checklist for that project.

 

Ed Wright is second to none...... He tuned my 355 by mail (email actually since I have an 95 and he emailed the base tune and then the touch ups after reading my datalogs)


Mike

 

lost count as well, tuned for years and years, seems like a common thing with the **** self tuning obd1 types, I have even driven the car "not perfectly tuned" for long stretches at a time, I believe it is art as well as science...

and the art part is what the mail people lack, they need to touch, feeling, see, drive, spank, nurse, race, stand-on, up shift, down-shift, corner, idle, start-up cold, start-up warm,start-up hot, stuck in traffic, cruise in no traffic, part throttle, full speed runs full or part pedal to the metal and more, to get to the art part and that said....

i think an engine has a large latitude to tolerate differing tunes, remember, old school carb and vacuum distributors which attempted to "tune" the car real time while driving, you otho, are tuning the car in anticipation of varied driving conditions, especially the spark advance, which is fixed at a particular rpm relative to load and then allowing the car's ecm to fine adjust the af mix, much more accurately than the old carb technologies, yet old school carbed combinations still co-exist with newer technologies to this day, optimal? no for sure, acceptable ...yes

so my theory stands, a perfect tune don't exist, the obd1 have less memory than the obd2, that said the obd1 is a leap from the carburetors, and who knows what goes into the cars in 2012 to get to 40 mpg,the point is the mail order guys can get lucky and the self tuner guy can be downright bad and still achieve acceptable results.

only way to evaluate "real time; all the time" a tune; is install a wide band and make sure your air fuel ratio is within range for the types of driving you do. this is mandatory for a Vette enthusiast, modifying the engine to the extent that it requires re-tuning. stock guys don't need to go there, this cost and effort should be factored into a complete package and not be left out. otherwise drive a stock car.

without the wide-band you'll always be wondering, am I rich, or lean, when?, will I blow out the cats, or wash down my cylinders? or burn my valves, can I floor it or is that the time I will wash down the cylinders or burn a valve? did the mail order guys do it right?, which might be the case...save your engine, get peace of mind.

just my opinion.

 

Best post you've ever made Slick!

The only thing I'd add/modify is about the wide-band option. I agree it's the best and could always be resold (after tuning) if you're working on a one-time project.

OTOH, If you talk to those who've tuned, used WB, and noticed the values of the O2 feedback, it's also possible to tune very well w/o a WB. Maybe not perfect (for start-up), but very good. That's because you can use O2 feedback (narrow band) to guide your decisions. I'm sure mail-order tuners do this all the time.

WOT can be easily adjusted with a stiffer/WB on a dyno. (WB being the better option). Closed loop should take care of itself if you know anything about getting the AF correct. (That's because the ECM will take over and provide near-instaneous corrections in closed loop.)

By the time I got to the dyno (after doing lots of scans and tweeking, the dyno shop confirmed I had perfect AFR in closed loop...after trying some cruise-like pulls), I only had to tweek the WOT mixture for all rpms. Mine was probably easier because sidepipes give you great feedback as they sit under your nose. You can easily smell rich or hear lean. Rear exit exhaust has to be more challenging.

And, as stated by Slick, there can be an issues of preference. In my case, I pulled a small amount of timing from idle to de-accentuate cam lope. In fact, I was able to disguise mine as having a factory-cam at idle. This was for a secondary reason. I believe the Tri-Y's create a stronger low-rpm pulse which can be annoying if/when you want a creature-comfort vehicle.

It also takes at least 6 months to discover starting behavior in hot and cold environments.

All of this, as Slick stated, are elements of personal taste and/or perfection. Leaving the tuning job up to someone else may not achieve the same satisfaction -- which means he is absolutely correct that performance modification should include the tuning of your "new" motor.

Learn how to do it if at all possible.

 

you see you have this feeling of unease, even with a teenie mod, if you can call it a mod, without knowing the air fuel ratio at any given situation.

if you get one, you'll learn a lot about how the engine behaves in all driving scenarios.

if you went up in size, or upped the fuel pressure via afpr, which you should not have for the prior, then it has to be made known to the ecm. and it can affect overall fueling.

 

I have had very good luck with PCM4less. The tunes have been very close to a dyno tune...at least for me.

 

I would like to have Ed tune it from the get go but he is considerably more expensive than the mail order tuners and i am still deciding if it would be worthwhile to convert to MAP and do not want to waste that much money on a tune i may not be able to use later. I was just hoping someone could recommend a place to find a safe base tune to break the motor in and be safe to putter around until i decide on the SD setup and can save more money for the dyno session

 

Hyd roller. i can find the cam sheet if it will be more helpfull. I think its on a 109.5 LSA as well