88 Corvette tuning questions
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 46
Likes: 5
88 Corvette tuning questions
I’ve got an 88 corvette and I have a 52 mm throttle body and 24lb injectors. Now if I was to put them onto my car would the stock Ecu be able to compensate and keep the air fuel ratio good. Or will the car need a tune? Thanks in advance
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,474
Likes: 3,291
From: Hartford WI
Larger injectors are great IF you can take advantage of it. As to the TB, supposedly you can get better throttle feel, IDK. Neither of them will give you any more power. You would have to invest in better intakes and headers and a tune for that. The cheap ways are great for the seller. For you, not so much.
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,464
Likes: 48
The question is are the intake runners and manifold the restriction. On my 84 I was able to port the intake and gain 30 horsepower. So if the runners are starving for air increasing the amount of air will help. But, if they are at the design capacity you will not get gains with out getting larger intake runners.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 62,160
Likes: 1,733
From: Athens AL
C7 of the Year - Unmodified Finalist 2021
C4 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
However you will not make any more power from these changes. Your restriction is in the runners, intake manifold, and exhaust manifold. Enlarging the TB isnt going to do anything for you.
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Racer
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 383
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From: Northeast Ohio
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 46
Likes: 5
So what I’m understanding from this is that upgrading injectors and TB isn’t the way to go but upgrading the intake and runners is the way to go. Is porting the intake and runners something that I could do myself or is a shop a better idea. I have the ability to do it I imagine I’m just not sure on the procedure to do that.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,401
Likes: 397
From: Lakeville MI
Sounds vaguely familiar:
I got an eigthy-eight Chevy with an L98
'13 heads and some holes in the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Auto-Value store
Me and my partner $Money built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the (trailer-park) honey(s) no strings attached
We shut 'em up and then we shut 'em down
Tonight tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right
For leavin' parts in the street
Back on topic:
Long story short. There is more to injector tuning than the static flow rate. That being said, a 24 lb/hr injector should run a bit richer than stock for a given fuel. Modern fuel with ethanol requires a richer mixture than circa-1980s straight gasoline (iso-octane) (whatever that is), so a larger injector may actually run a bit cleaner on modern fuel.
It would be foolish to make any modifications without considering tuning and is also foolish to not consider tuning without knowing the current fuel trim behavior. Scan first, ask questions later.
I got an eigthy-eight Chevy with an L98
'13 heads and some holes in the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Auto-Value store
Me and my partner $Money built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the (trailer-park) honey(s) no strings attached
We shut 'em up and then we shut 'em down
Tonight tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right
For leavin' parts in the street
Back on topic:
Long story short. There is more to injector tuning than the static flow rate. That being said, a 24 lb/hr injector should run a bit richer than stock for a given fuel. Modern fuel with ethanol requires a richer mixture than circa-1980s straight gasoline (iso-octane) (whatever that is), so a larger injector may actually run a bit cleaner on modern fuel.
It would be foolish to make any modifications without considering tuning and is also foolish to not consider tuning without knowing the current fuel trim behavior. Scan first, ask questions later.
Last edited by tequilaboy; Sep 30, 2020 at 03:11 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 62,160
Likes: 1,733
From: Athens AL
C7 of the Year - Unmodified Finalist 2021
C4 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
So what I’m understanding from this is that upgrading injectors and TB isn’t the way to go but upgrading the intake and runners is the way to go. Is porting the intake and runners something that I could do myself or is a shop a better idea. I have the ability to do it I imagine I’m just not sure on the procedure to do that.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 46
Likes: 5
So what I think im going to do for now is take a look at the computer and see how everything is doing now. Only thing is im not sure how to do that. Ive never really worked on cars before and my c4 is my first project car. So I dont know much about tuning. ive heard good things abot tunerpro and I know its free so i'd probably use that but I dont know what kind of cable I need and should get.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
Likes: 3,063
From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
Keep those parts in case you do heads/cam or sell them
Keep the 48mm tb its more than enough, stock injectors also
You can port the stock base yourself...spend enough time it will flow roughly what an aftermarket one does.
Stock runners cant be ported get some used aftermarkets. Porting the plenum wont help but wont hurt.
Did all these, ran them down the 1/4-some things wont help others will.
If you can get headers and dual exh that will make an improvements. Or at least a bigger Y and main pipe.
Mufflers dont seem to add any power, just sound you like.
Most shops wont wanna port your base its $$$ and takes too long. Id spend over 20 hrs easy.
Id leave the tune alone you cant get the gains guys get from the LSx stuff...last thing you want to do is get detination or lean it out. Do mods that really work, intake exh cam get inside the engine.
All the tuner bolt on crap doesnt really do much of anything. Theri trend seems to be looking for power without really doing any work. LIke catch cans LOL
Keep the 48mm tb its more than enough, stock injectors also
You can port the stock base yourself...spend enough time it will flow roughly what an aftermarket one does.
Stock runners cant be ported get some used aftermarkets. Porting the plenum wont help but wont hurt.
Did all these, ran them down the 1/4-some things wont help others will.
If you can get headers and dual exh that will make an improvements. Or at least a bigger Y and main pipe.
Mufflers dont seem to add any power, just sound you like.
Most shops wont wanna port your base its $$$ and takes too long. Id spend over 20 hrs easy.
Id leave the tune alone you cant get the gains guys get from the LSx stuff...last thing you want to do is get detination or lean it out. Do mods that really work, intake exh cam get inside the engine.
All the tuner bolt on crap doesnt really do much of anything. Theri trend seems to be looking for power without really doing any work. LIke catch cans LOL
Last edited by cv67; Sep 30, 2020 at 12:38 PM.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 46
Likes: 5
Keep those parts in case you do heads/cam or sell them
Keep the 48mm tb its more than enough, stock injectors also
You can port the stock base yourself...spend enough time it will flow roughly what an aftermarket one does.
Stock runners cant be ported get some used aftermarkets. Porting the plenum wont help but wont hurt.
Did all these, ran them down the 1/4-some things wont help others will.
If you can get headers and dual exh that will make an improvements. Or at least a bigger Y and main pipe.
Mufflers dont seem to add any power, just sound you like.
Most shops wont wanna port your base its $$$ and takes too long. Id spend over 20 hrs easy.
Id leave the tune alone you cant get the gains guys get from the LSx stuff...last thing you want to do is get detination or lean it out. Do mods that really work, intake exh cam get inside the engine.
All the tuner bolt on crap doesnt really do much of anything. Theri trend seems to be looking for power without really doing any work. LIke catch cans LOL
Keep the 48mm tb its more than enough, stock injectors also
You can port the stock base yourself...spend enough time it will flow roughly what an aftermarket one does.
Stock runners cant be ported get some used aftermarkets. Porting the plenum wont help but wont hurt.
Did all these, ran them down the 1/4-some things wont help others will.
If you can get headers and dual exh that will make an improvements. Or at least a bigger Y and main pipe.
Mufflers dont seem to add any power, just sound you like.
Most shops wont wanna port your base its $$$ and takes too long. Id spend over 20 hrs easy.
Id leave the tune alone you cant get the gains guys get from the LSx stuff...last thing you want to do is get detination or lean it out. Do mods that really work, intake exh cam get inside the engine.
All the tuner bolt on crap doesnt really do much of anything. Theri trend seems to be looking for power without really doing any work. LIke catch cans LOL
Thanks in advance
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 62,160
Likes: 1,733
From: Athens AL
C7 of the Year - Unmodified Finalist 2021
C4 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
So what I think im going to do for now is take a look at the computer and see how everything is doing now. Only thing is im not sure how to do that. Ive never really worked on cars before and my c4 is my first project car. So I dont know much about tuning. ive heard good things abot tunerpro and I know its free so i'd probably use that but I dont know what kind of cable I need and should get.
Craig Moates software and tools are what is needed to get into the tune and tweak, but you need to make changes to the car before digging into the chip, there are no miraculous gains to be had in there until you get more air in and out of the engine. Just remember, small changes.
As for pipes, I've run 3" duals and I changed to 3" at the header collectors stepped down to 2.75" and then 2.5" afterwards. You could run anything from 2.5-3", just makes more noise. Getting the restriction of the exhaust manifolds and cats is where you gain the power.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
Likes: 3,063
From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
1 and 5/8 primary tubes, 3" collector would be perfect.
2.5" duals is plenty..you will feel those seat of the pants and sounds way better. Wish we could do that here in Ca.
Member used a set of Dougs shorties...not as good as longtubes but were nice. They were for the LT1 cars, he adapted the smog tube to work, clean install. Another option..if it were me get real full length headers.
Its ike drinking near beer, get the real thing!
2.5" duals is plenty..you will feel those seat of the pants and sounds way better. Wish we could do that here in Ca.
Member used a set of Dougs shorties...not as good as longtubes but were nice. They were for the LT1 cars, he adapted the smog tube to work, clean install. Another option..if it were me get real full length headers.
Its ike drinking near beer, get the real thing!
Last edited by cv67; Sep 30, 2020 at 03:28 PM.