C5 Tune?
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 45
Likes: 4
From: Cortland, NY
C5 Tune?
Hello everyone. Looking for some guidance. Purchased a cat back extreme Corsa exhaust and a Blackwing CAI for my c5 and going to have them installed in the spring. Had the car for less than a year and only performance mods I plan on doing for a while. I’m wondering if I should get it tuned (or can I tune it myself) to get the most out of my investment of if it will be fine just the way it is. If it matters it is an auto.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 8,186
Likes: 1,792
From: Stafford Springs CT
2026 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Modified
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2024 C7 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2023 C7 of the Year Finalist - Modified
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2021 C7 of the Year FinalistAX - Modified
Chuck will do you good. He tuned my '99 via Autocal and email. He'll retune it too after I install headers and x pipe this winter. Great guy and communication is phenomenal.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 6,644
Likes: 479
From: OK
I'm in oklahoma... had COW tune my car after I installed a Vararam intake and zo6 cat back... worth every penny!
I can't stop grinning everytime i drive it...
YES it matters... he can do MORE with an auto than he can with a manual... and I'm manual
I can't stop grinning everytime i drive it...
YES it matters... he can do MORE with an auto than he can with a manual... and I'm manual
Last edited by 73Corvette; Feb 10, 2019 at 06:39 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 2,398
Likes: 768
From: jefferson texas
A visit to a good tuner is worthwhile in my humble opinion. Eliminated some undesireables and bumped up hp and responsiveness with exhaust, intake and tune/dyno session. A more enjoyable driving experience and well worth the expense. Just my two cents!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 2,185
Likes: 641
From: Garland TX
With that being said I have a Diablo tuner I bought used here on the forms for like $125. Diablo has various canned tunes already in the unit when you purchase it and allows you to choose which one you want. Their unit also allows you to go in and do some tweaking of your own as well. It's nothing extensive like HP tuners, but allows you to play around with some perimeters. You can also do custom tuning with Diablo which is around $135. You plug the unit in the OBD II, do some driving, and pulls while it logs. From there you plug the unit into your computer and email the file to them. They create a custom tune and email it back to you which you then and go upload it to your car.
Last edited by Not4spd; Feb 10, 2019 at 12:28 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 2,185
Likes: 641
From: Garland TX
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 6,644
Likes: 479
From: OK
Chuck sits in your passenger seat with a lap top to do a street tune...
With your input on what you want, he starts tuning and WON'T STOP till it's perfect...
So it's more of a custom tune than canned... not saying better or worse, just different.
With your input on what you want, he starts tuning and WON'T STOP till it's perfect...
So it's more of a custom tune than canned... not saying better or worse, just different.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,799
Likes: 356
From: Northville, MI
On a stock engine a tune will make little to no hp gains, what it does is make the car quicker. The auto in the C5 has coding to protect the trans to last more than 200K miles. The tune is geared to removing some of the torque management (esp. an auto) that dumbs down the engines performance, it has numerous safety parameters to retard timing, injector on time, etc. and finally GM has a built in lag on the drive by wire input when you mash the go pedal. Finally your car was built to drive well in Death Valley CA and Pikes Peak. A stock based tune will help cover about 80% of the restrictions and a scan/log tune can be custom tailored to you engine to get the best performance out of all the available parameters. On a C5 the PCM is basically a 16bit computer with hard coding of all by 96K of the information. Adaptive Strategies (AS) were coded on how the engine would react under varying conditions, tuning (weather a canned tune or custom tune) can alter performance how the programmable data interacts with the AS
Former Vendor
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 11,792
Likes: 255
From: Ossining New York
St. Jude Donor '07-'08-'09-'10-'12-'13-'14
Hey there....
Hey there.... Yes, I'm here to promote myself.... But all that aside.... There is NO COMPARISON between those tools and the Genuine Chuck CoW TUNE!
Our premium tuning package is loaded with value, the tuning tool, the 160 stat, shipping, CoW BOOSTER!, tuning, etc.... and it does not cost $199.... or $149....
That would be the difference. If you want your car to be the absolute BEST it can be..... That's the difference.
Chuck CoW
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 153
Likes: 27
Hey there.... Yes, I'm here to promote myself.... But all that aside.... There is NO COMPARISON between those tools and the Genuine Chuck CoW TUNE!
Our premium tuning package is loaded with value, the tuning tool, the 160 stat, shipping, CoW BOOSTER!, tuning, etc.... and it does not cost $199.... or $149....
That would be the difference. If you want your car to be the absolute BEST it can be..... That's the difference.
Chuck CoW
Our premium tuning package is loaded with value, the tuning tool, the 160 stat, shipping, CoW BOOSTER!, tuning, etc.... and it does not cost $199.... or $149....
That would be the difference. If you want your car to be the absolute BEST it can be..... That's the difference.
Chuck CoW
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 7,420
Likes: 969
From: Morristown New Jersey
Oldtimer
My car is stock except intake and most of the exhaust. I had a custom street tune done by Doug at ECS. I’ve had friends go there as well, and we all have the same feeling: It’s like a different car. Whether it has more hp or not, I don’t care. (Actually I do. This was a mistaken statement. Both of my C5’s after a tune had noticeably more HP, AND if I chose to spent the extra $$ to put it on the dyno I’d have written proof.) I wouldn’t do anything without a custom tune done by Doug or Chuck. That being said, Doug told me that he and Chuck are friendly competitors, which I think goes a long way to describe both their characters.
I’ve met Chuck, he spoke at one of our meetings, we were like a bunch of little kids soaking up every word like a sponge. I’d never waste my money on a canned generic tune. There’s nothing like telling an expert “I like driving the car this way, and I’d like this type of response”, and then he’s done with the car and it’s exactly like you want. Chuck’s done stuff all over the world, even for some Chinese racing team. Save your bucks and go custom.
I’ve met Chuck, he spoke at one of our meetings, we were like a bunch of little kids soaking up every word like a sponge. I’d never waste my money on a canned generic tune. There’s nothing like telling an expert “I like driving the car this way, and I’d like this type of response”, and then he’s done with the car and it’s exactly like you want. Chuck’s done stuff all over the world, even for some Chinese racing team. Save your bucks and go custom.
Last edited by chasboy; Feb 17, 2019 at 04:48 AM. Reason: Foolish initial statement.