I am considering having MTI do a dyno tune on my 01 A4 vert.

1. Is it worth the expense?
2. What do they adjust.
4. What type of HP gain should I expect.
Only mods are a Black Wing and Corsa Indys.


Thanks

Ron H

 

This question depends. last december i had my 2000 A4 tuned with only a blackwing and magnaflow catback with x-pipe. It cost me 550 bucks, but I didnt go in expecting an real gains, just a lot of fun seeing the process. My first two pulls were about 288 and 294, which is a little weak although the car was running very lean at about 14.4 air/fuel. They brought that down to 13:1 and also turned off torque management. This will increase the fun factor of your vette but may limit the life of your drivetrain components especially the tranny. They can also edit fan temperatures if you live in an especially hot climate. In the end I dynoed at 317rwhp and 318rwtq. I was very happy with these numbers and the gains I saw. But, even more importantly I am glad that my A/F ratio was taken down to prevent excess wear and tear due to too much heat in the cylinders. The car has more kick now and runs smoother. However, if you are planning to do other mods like headers, heads/cam, s/c, etc. I would personally wait to have everything installed before the tune in order to save money. But if you want, just go for it. Vette Doctors in longisland has a mail order tune going to right now and for $100 you can mail your PCM to them, they will tune it to the proper specs, and send it back to you. this is very economical. good luck

 

Thanks, great info. Is the Torque managment a on or off thing or can the % be changed? 19 additional horse for $550 sounds like a good investment. I live in Houston so the fan temp edit would be great.

 

Essentially GM didnt build a transmission tough enough to withstand the torque produced by the 5.7V8. Torque management limits and evenly disperses the amount of torque to the rear wheels as a protection mechanism for the drivetrain components. This is basically what is going on, but I am not a tech guy so someone else may want to chime in. You will be able to light up the tires from a stop more easily and low end acceleration will also improve. I believe it can only be turned either on or off, not reduced by a %. I would recommend a tune though for any car that has been modded because optimzing the a/f ratio to a conservative level will help extend the life of your engine, prevent detonation, high engine temps. It is pretty cool to see your vette going 160 at WOT on the dyno as well. The sound is amazing!!!

 

Actually torque management is the PCM reducing the timing right before shifts on the automatic trans cars. This is, as you said, to reduce wear and tear on drivetrain components. With a mild bolt on car I wouldn't wouldn't worry about adverse effects on your tranny. Dyno tuning on an auto will net you more SOTP gains than an M6 car. MTI will alter other things related to the shifting of the tranny other than torque management such as shift points and line pressure. Aside from this they will change the fan temps (which will require the addition of a low temp t-stat) which is a good thing here in Houston, and play with the A/F ratio and timing.

It is a bit un-nerving watching the tach sloooowly climb to redline.

 

Just do it!
see sig

 

If it was me, I would use another shop, Like GFORCE, ICON. The only reason I say that is that MTI use to have $500 tune for life, well they changed the rules and now are not doing that. Were as if you ever change anything on your car example heads/cam/blower/ect. you will want it tuned, well if you go to other places one it will be cheaper and two it will be free from then on out, which MTI will not give you, I have seen Jason tune a car and several cars, but is he the best, I doubt it. If you want an example of what I am talking about, look at LS1tech.com, under problems with sponsers. There was a guy last week or two that had a problem. I am not trying to bash MTI, but I will not take a car to them, I have experienced terrible service, and very costly than othere. You have to ask why is it that all there good mechanics have left. Which now work at other shops that are better in my opinion. So here are you choices HPE, ICON MOTORSPORTS, GFORCE. Those would be my choices, I would and never will go to MTI.

Jet

Heres the link, good luck with your choice

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277912

 

Interesting perspective right above mine, funny but interesting.

I've been affiliated with MTI for 8 years, the first 7 and a half as a customer, the last 6 months as an employee and I'm only going to address two key points that were brought up:

1) Jayson Cohen (MTI's owner) has been tuning PCM's for the past 10 years. That's longer than the combined experience of every other LS1 tuner here in Houston. It's actually been brought to our attention recently that several tuners here are asking our customer's to "stop by" so that they can look at the files that Jayson's created. I guess imitation is truly the sincerest form of flattery!

2) Relative to the good mechanics having left? I and the numerous customers that choose MTI every month would probably disagree. We have changed some of our staff and wish everyone who's moved on all the best as they're all good people and very knowledgeable in this field.

Everyone has an opinion - just thought I'd share mine.

Regards,

David Coates
Chief Operating Officer
Motorsport Technologies

 

That is interesting because I am am avid reader/poster here and on ls1tech and I have NEVER heard anything bad regarding MTI, ever.

PS: I am not affiliated with, nor have even bought from MTI (except to get a bottle refilled once or twice).

 

MTI is the most experienced and established LS1 shop in Houston.

 

I am not bashing anyone, I have seen Jason Dyno tune a car, and I am not doubting his capabilities. But there are other alternatives to MTI, if you want work done to the car. I was just telling the guy to call other places like HPE,ICON,GFORCE,SPEED DEMON, I am sure he could get a better deal in my opinion.

So who was trying to steal your files ?? that is weird, someone wants the trade secrets??

David I have been to MTI, the service on my end sucked, this was in 99, I came in not one person helped me, I had to call someones attention to buy some things from the person at the counter wasnt much $600. Then I went there again and got the same service as well had other people. That was my experience with MTI. I have bought a ton of stuff from the forum venders and will continue to do so, but I wont buy anything from MTI, which is my choice. I just was not happy with my experience that was it. I do most of the work on my own car anyway.

We have meet, I was at MTI when Jeff Paris BADZ got his car dynoed. My old 98 Camaro white SS is Robs now, Mike pabon's brother. I actually dynoed the car at one of your dyno days. I am by no means bashing just tell you what my experiences are.



Jet

 

Jet,

Fair enough. No harm, no foul. If you ever change your mind or if I can help you out personally, just let me know.

Regards,

David

 

I had a good experience with MTI. I was one that got a bad Lunati Stealth cam.
I ran the bad cam (installed it myself and Lou tuned it) for a year. The car just
never ran right. I called up MTI and they said there was a batch of bad cams. I
took my cam out and they mailed me a new Comp grind Stealth II cam. And gave me a free dyno tune! The car runs better than ever. I also picked up one
of their Century Stage I tranny's at the same time. This was back in Sept of '04.
Car is still running great. No check engine light...perfect shifts. Car is running
mid 11's now consistently at 121mph. Smooth idle. I couldn't be happier with
the service I got. Dave Coates is the man to talk to at MTI.

 

David I might just take you up on the offer. I will make sure to ask for you. I have a TNT kit that I need to installed and will want it dynoed on wideband to see the a/f is on the 100shot. I will be doing some electric cutouts on the car and do the zip tie, and lower the car, here shortly.

Thanks
JET

 

Dyno tunes are a very good thing. They improve the performance of even a bone stock C5. Tunes are also important to optimize many mods.

 

I spoke with David today and we had a great conversation. He throughly discussed what to expect from a dyno tune and patiently answered all my questions. To sweeten the pot he offered me a special price since I was a forum member.

I have a appointment set for tommorow at 2:00 PM. I will let all of you know how it goes.

 

The Dyno Tune at MTI went great. Jason was great to work with and he took the time to explain what he was doing every step of the way.

My 2000 Vert. with Corsa Indys, X pipe and a Blackwing was dynoed in 71 degree temp, hi humidly and at sea level. I was quite pleased with a base line of 309.8 HP and 316.i lbs of torque.

Jason then made the A/F adjustments, increased the max RPMs, turned off the torque management and firmed up the shifts. After a few more pills and additional adjustments the net result was 327.6 HP and 334.2 lbs of torque. Not bad for a basically stock Vert.

 

Sounds like you got a great tune

 

guys i've been dealing with MTI since I got my Z. all i have to say is they are the right ppl for the right job! Jayson and david have been there for me whenever i needed help even though im overseas. To me experience is all that matters when it comes down to tuning. i still remember the day i had my Z on dyno at MTI. It was just like yesterday!

 

MTI + = happy driver's