painterman98

I have a 98 auto. this winter I`m doing hci. do I have to take it to a tuner or can I get a mail order tune. If I can how would I need to do to make it work.

Pounder

I used ECS had good results treated me well !!!!
http://www.eastcoastsupercharging.com/ 150.00

Bill Curlee

TUNING! Very sensitive subject.

Yes,, A Mail Order Tune will work (SORT OF) . You contact a Tuner of your choice, tell him what C5 engine , trans and what you have modified. Remove the PCM and send it to him. When it returns, you install it. DONE!

The second half of the story. A mail order tune is what the TUNER "THINKS" you need, based on a history of very similar tunes done on past clients C5s with the same MODS as on you cars.

There are factors that the TUNER CAN NOT make 100% spot on for YOUR engine.

They are:

MAF Table Calibration Tuning
VE Table Calibration Tuning
WOT PE AFR
IDLE TUNING (especially on a Head Cam Mod)

Like I stated previously,, Most Tuners have a MASSIVE Data Base of C5 Tunes and all they have to do is find something that closely matches what you have and what you modded, install that tune into your PCM and it "SHOULD" be fine. HOWEVER,, Sometimes, there are issues. IDLE QUALITY could be one of them.. The Idle is very time consuming to get correct when you make major changes to the breathing ability of the engine.

Question??? Where do you live? That info can assist anyone responding to this post with providing you a good shop to take your car to and get a good IN THE SHOP Professional tune.

If you just added a filter and a CAT BACK, a good mail order tune would be highly recommended and work excellent. You have an AUTO and will see a major improvement in transmission performance.

I recommend a good in the shop tune with a good on the road finial tune session to get everyday stop and go drive-ability spot on.

My GO TO Tuner Is Chuck Marcello at Corvettes of Westchester NY. Give him a call and discuss your goals and needs. HE WILL point you in the right direction and he has a LOT more than just Mail Order tunes and in the shop tuning. Ask him to explain EFI LIVE Auto Cal.

http://www.corvettes-of-westchester.com/

Bill

Sleezy E

talk to the local vette enthusiasts around you as to who they went with or know of locally.

A street or dyno tune will always be better than the mail order variety

Bill Curlee

Something else to consider:

MILEAGE and ENGINE MAINTENANCE

If you have lots of miles on your engine and all of the data producing sensors the PCM uses to run the engine are not performing 100% perfect or different than the engines that the tune was based on, there will be some inconsistencies in a proper tune.

EXAMPLES:
- If your O2 Sensors are weak, your Closed Loop AFRs will be incorrect. GET NEW Primary O2 Sensors.

- Dirty MAF will cause poor performance and fuel efficiency. Clean the MAF

- Wires and plugs. Change them!

Bill

painterman98

I live in northern Illinois. a few years back I did a rear swap 3.42 and tc had it tuned. now I`m doing 243 heads a 222/227 cam a ls6 intake and a vararam. no headers just a corsa cat back. sounds like I need a local tuner. I`m open to suggestions. I`m in mchenry about 60 miles nw of chicago

neutron82

I am not a fan of mail order tunes, often the people that buy into those are looking for the cheapest route possible which happens all too often nowadays... they can work for very mild bolt-ons or a startup base tune just so you can get it to a tuner to have it finished up but they are usually on the safe/conservative side and I have personally seen them cause more problems than what they are worth... not to mention you have to take the pcm out, ship it, wait for it to get there, wait for them to make changes, wait for them to ship it out, and then finally reinstall it... so basically it's quite a bit of downtime and if you ever make any changes to the car then repeat this process... all they are really doing is plugging someone else's numbers into your pcm aka copy and paste... as was mentioned above, it will never be spot on unless the tuner has the car in their hands or by viewing logs and with extensive mods like heads/cam I would definitely want it looked at in person to make sure they get all they can out of it... some will try to sell you an add on that allows you to log the car and send the file to them which makes it a bit easier and they are able to fine tune the car better than the standard mail order tune but you still have to wait for them to clean it up and send you the new file and for the price of what that add on costs you're better off buying hptuners in my opinion, that way you're able to log the car on your own as well as having complete access to everything in your cars tune

Pounder

I understand some of you on the mail order tunes and you have no argument from me . ECS receives and sends them (PCM)back out the same day !!! For my situation I added headers, intake and CAI along with a X pipe with high flow cats. I am aware with those add ons that a tune is necessary and ECS recommends putting it on a Dyno for the best tune. My car runs very well with this tune from ECS !!!! and 150 is a lot less than 500 plus ///// not like I am going for world records !!
another adjustment ECS does is my coolant fans come on earlier and they recocomend a 160 stat but I didn't want to go that low and went with a 180 ///the car runs at 194 degrees all day everywhere !!!

Bill Curlee

akapounder

I'm not saying that a SHOP TUNE is the only way to go. If your car runs well with the tune you have and your happy with it,

The further off you are from the OEM ENGINE BUILD, the more hands on tuning that you need to get everything 100% correct.
Your PCM has the ability to adapt and make things work properly if the tune is close enough. In that same statement, I did not include work efficiently.
You could have 10-12 more HP/Tq left OR 3-4 More MPG left in a tune that isn't available without custom hands on in the shop adjustment. Another aspect of custom tuning that is required to get the engine tuning SPOT ON is the use of WIDE BAND O2 sensor. Without the assistance of a wide band, it highly unlikely that the tune is perfect.

If your happy with the performance and efficiency of a mail order tune, thats ALL that counts. The ONLY way to see whats left and if you would be happier, would be to spend the extra $350-$400.

Pounder

Bill I completely agree with you,after spending nearly 5000 on my mods I was a little short of cash,I am fully aware there is more tune in there,and I want to get it on the dyno, but with the add ons I installed I had to at least make it run nice. ECS makes it clear the Dyno is the way to go !!!! I just made this recommendation to show that it's out there for someone in the same boat as me !!!

Fast Cop

GM leaves "ALOT" on the table when these cars left the factory. That being said I agree, a in house tune is the best. When I had my 00 vert 6 speed I did long tube headers, high flow cats, x-pipe, Z06 Ti's, and a blackwing CAI. I sent the PCM to Chuck at COW and got it back in 2 days. The difference was like night and day. The low end and the throttle response was way more that I expected. When I spoke with the people at COW they assured me that my tune was not even close to being at it's limits and that I should have no problem. The nice part is they said if I was ever at an event that they were at they would retune it for free. Great service from Chuck COW.

0Chuck CoW

THANK YOU BILL!

Thank you FASTCOP!

It all boils down to this..... You want the BEST you spend extra. All other options are simply what they are.... LESS expensive.

Our Tuning Solution / Package includes and number of adjustments to make your car PERFECT.

We use our AutoCal tool to DATALOG and RE-TUNE until the numbers are perfect.

Any adjustments you request can be made with a simple e-mail and re-flash.

For anyone that wants to know more about how we do what we do or how the process works can simply call me

any time at 914-332-0049

When you want it done right!

Thank you!
Chuck CoW

DOUG @ ECS

Literally thousands of happy customers, I'm sure making it the most used tuning source on this forum, thanks for your business fella's.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nly-149-a.html

grantv

On a dyno is ideal, but the majority do mail order. Sent mine to Texas Speed after installing their headers and aftermarket cats, X. All good.

Trios

This, 100% this. My car has just basic bolt ons, CAI/TB/intake/shorty headers, and ECS woke the motor up with a mail-order tune.

However, if I were doing a cam, there's no way I'd go mail order. Getting a cam to idle properly and make the most power takes a skilled hand and a lot of data, which you can't really get on a mail-order tune.

0Chuck CoW

ANY tune from ANYONE will wake up your car. Simple.

My mailorder AutoCal package will do much more. We do Cammed and Supercharged cars with our autocal tool regularly.

We do advise the WIDEBAND upgrade for our AutoCal package and then it's just the same as doing it in person.


One point to make issue of here. OUR mailorder tune package allows us to see all of the data necessary

to tune the car properly.

What many people DO NOT understand, is that simply changing your AIR INTAKE and nothing more makes it

just about as difficult to tune as a CAM CAR.

People seem to think that AIR INTAKES are just "SIMPLE BOLT ONS" and they are actually not.

For every different air intake out there, there are very specific MAF calibrations you need to make them right.

None are perfect until you've datalogged that exact vehicle with that exact intake. Until you do so, the best the car can

be is "CLOSE".... For those of you that just want "close" there are products available for you everywhere.


For those of you that want the best mileage, performance, ,emissions ,and the rest.....Then there is really only 2 options.

Tune it in person with someone that really knows what they are doing.... (using a DYNO means nothing if not

done correctly) and then there is our AutoCal product.

Again, there are simpler and cheaper solutions....

Ours is not one of them.

Call any time.
Chuck CoW

Trios

Chuck, I do not appreciate your selective editing of my post, so I will state again:

I am more than happy with my mail order tune from East Coast Supercharging, and would recommend them to anyone looking for a performance boost.

0Chuck CoW

Hey Bill...

Very sensitive subject. Ya think???
Chuck CoW

painterman98

I don`t have to get everything. I want it reliable and fun. It will never be on a track. I`m thinking for me the ecs tune sounds good

Bill Curlee

YEP! :pis tols:



BC