Had my build dyno tuned this past weekend and here are the gains over my pcmforless tune. I am posting this because I think it is interesting and may be helpful for someone else.

 

Helpful in what way? Was the pcm for less tune done on a dyno? If not it's not fair to compare the two. If psm's tune had been on a dyno it may be even stronger than the one you just got. Where did you have the dyno tuning done? I'm not trying to stir the pot and I am not defending PFL just wondering about some facts you did not mention. I am going to be needing a tune myself, that is why I am asking.

 

Can only get so close on a mail order some more than others.
Its a base to work with, to datalog from get it running and make changes to based on what you have. Nothign like real time tuning.

unfortunately many dont know any better and leave the initial mail order in. Because it "runs good" doesnt mean the tune is right as you found. Without real data its impossible to know what the car is really doing.

 

That is huge! Mail order is good to get up and running, to the dyno. It looks like the AFR was the same between old and new tunes? That is surprising. What was adjusted for the increase? Just timing?

 

If you run on the dyno and send the results along with your chip to PCMforless they will tweak it to be correct. I believe it only costs you shipping to send it back for fine adjustments. Alvin has been doing my car by mail the past few years and does a great job.

 

THANK YOU! I have been searching for a tuner in Illinois for some time. I wanted to have it done by one of the supporting vendors but there are none nearby. Now all I have to do is find a place to do the dyno pulls and send in the info. Big question though, I will be starting out with a stock chip, will there be enough information off the dyno to hit what I need or will it take a couple tries?

 

Helpful in that there are a lot of threads on this forum asking the difference between a mail order tune and a dyno tune... I know bc I was one of them. The pcmforless tune was a custom stroker tune. I called them and discussed what I was looking for before I even ordered the chip and filled out the build sheet.

I live in Indiana and found an obd1 tuner in this little town called thorntown. They are called pro dyno tech and here is their website: http://www.prodynotech.com/

 

Very true and I spoke with pcmforless about datalogging and sending the chip and info to them. But I decided instead of dialing in my mail order chip to just go get the tune done in real time. I can say pcmforless was extremely helpful and Alvin is awesome. How close would they have gotten their mail order tune to this? I don't know but I didn't have the patience to find out.

 

It was adding fuel pressure, telling the computer to accept the extra fuel and timing. Tuner also said a couple other tweaks.

 

Look no more.

http://www.madtuner.com/index.php?op...id=3&Itemid=32

 

I have had good experiences with road/track tunes from PCM.....

 

Do you mean you have a new build and only a stock chip? What you need to do is get the adapter and a basic start up tune from Alvin, then you can go dyno/datalog with the first tune he gave you. Send that info back with the chip and he can tweak it. I would not trust the OEM tune for the first startup if you made a bunch of changes.

 

I'm having a hard time believing that alvins pcmforless tune was costing you 50 less hiorsepower.

 

That is what I was trying to find out and an email to PCMforless cleared it all up. I am going to get the mail order tune from them and then see what the dyno has to say about any adjustments. I'm also upgrading the '85 ecm to the 165 ecm and will not even have a prom to start with.
I didn't go into enough detail because I have been trying to learn as much as I can about the ecm swap and the tuning, I figured everyone here was tired of hearing about it since I have been asking questions for some time now. I think I have my poop in a group now.

 

Sounds good!

 

I understand, I am too. Especially when I have heard so many people say that their mail order tune was very close to their dyno tune.

When I filled out the order form I included very detailed information.. Had my heads and entire intake flow benched. I completely filled up the order sheet and then gave more information in the comments section of other items not listed on the order sheet; I wanted to give as much info as I could to get the tune close. Gave Alvin a call and discussed what I had put down on the form and what else I needed to include. Believe me it wasn't due to a lack of communication on my part about my build.

I know dyno #'s can be misleading, however what makes it real for me is I did my own test before and after the tune. My buddy has an auto 350z, we raced before the dyno tune and I would jump off the line to about 3 car lengths, however as I got higher in the revs and shifted into second I pulled much less on him and by the time I hit the top of third I wasn't pulling on him at all. At the end I had 4 car lenths through 4th gear on him. This makes sense in that both our rear hp ratings were about the same I just got to them sooner and earlier on. He had to rev past 6500 to get into the meat of his hp... which explains why once we shifted a few times I wasn't pulling on him. After the dyno tune on the same road we tried this again and after the jump I kept pulling on him through 4th gear. I understand, heh, this is not scientific and there are variables that can change on different days, however judging by my tests and the graph it makes perfect sense. We also did a roll on at speed before and after with the same results; didn't pull on him before, after tune I can pull on him at any speed.

Furthermore before the dyno tune I could feel and actually watch as the motor slowed down above 5k. This is gone now. Understand I am not trying to discredit Alvins work.. I can't there are to many people out there with good results.. I will know much more this Friday when I go to the track and compare my numbers to the pcmforless tune.

 

interesting , i'm running a pcmforless tune for a couple of years now
i know there is room for improvement, Looking forward to get THE OSTRICH 2.0
to upload the bins in real time instead of burning the chips.-

 

Awesome! Let me know how that goes. I am planning on switching to something like that in the future.. For now I am just going to drive and enjoy

 

I Was reading an old thread of mine , went to ebay
system still at $ 2000 , dont have the money now
but this is addiction ....maybe with my current mods this is the way to go.
Who knows !
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...y-l98-tpi.html

 

ok. the only thing I know that can sometimes be the difference between 50 rwhp or not is a blown (Forced Induction) car and spark advance.

Getting it right on the verge of detonation can give it 50 rwhp.

If these results are true (nothing fudged), then I would wonder if spark advance is the difference here.

Itd be interesting to compare the 2 programs.

Of course, running a higher octane gas (or E85), and tuning it for that (more spark advance) can also give it that kind of power boost.

Id tell Alvin about this.

He's either going to say:

A. Theres no way, they fudged something.
B. Since I didnt have your car and have to make a 'one-size-fits-all' tune, I had to tune extra conservatively