Silver99v6

I've always wanted to learn about tuning cars and how it works. I'm considering getting HP tuners and experimenting with it a bit (Not on the Vette...). I want to know as much about it before get in over my head. Where can I find some beginners information about tuning? Thanks for any information that you can provide.

JesseBBB

http://www.hptuners.com/forum/index.php

Nexus9

Hey Silver,

The process of tuning can involve many variables, but certainly the two that get the most attention are Air Fuel Ratio and Timing. Usually, people concern themselves with tuning a car after they have made significant changes to the motor or transmission, because the sensors communicating with the computer, or Engine Control Module have a fairly narrow range, and if the changes made to the motor require a reading that is out of range of the sensor, the data sent to the ECM will be inaccurate.

In general, we start by getting a reading on the Volumetric Efficiency of the motor at every intersection of throttle and rpm, which is laid out like a grid, or excel spreadsheet. here's where a dyno can come in real handy, as it's hard to drive your car legally on the road at every combination of throttle and rpm. Once we collect the existing data from the car, we can adjust the VE cell by cell until it is in synch with the software we are using, then apply a certain AFR table, which will only be accurate if we have established the correct VE table to apply it to.

Stock motors with no modifications will be very close to the software's VE table for a specific year, make and model, so we probably don't need to spend a lot of time building the VE table. Stock tunes, however, are very much controlled by EPA standards, fuel mileage goals and in general are tuned for reliability and longevity - so even with a stock car, we might want to adjust the F/A and timing tables a little more aggressively for more power, which will probably come at the expense of fuel mileage.

Okay, that's just a short snapshot of ECM tuning which will give you an idea of how we go about this. The important note about the HP tuner is that it is only a device which lets you communicate with, and make changes to, your car's ECM - but it does not collect any data or tell you what to tune or what changes to make. So with HP, you will need a device to collect the data like a wideband O2 datalogger.

I think some people think that the HP tuner is going to tune their car for them, so I just want you to know before you buy it that it's just a tool (albeit a great one) that gives you a lot of control over the ECM. To use it, you need to know what you want to do to the ECM first. And although the folks at HP are VERY customer supportive, they are the first to say that they are not engine tuners, and their support is limited to helping you understand and use the tool. Jon

TireSmokin

This may help.

http://ls1tuningguide.com/tuninghelpfiles.php

Silver99v6

Great information everyone! Keep it coming!

TireSmokin

More?

http://www.hptuners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4742

Right click on this and save doc as...
http://quick99si.home.comcast.net/~q...de_16JUL07.doc

FloydSummerOf68

HPtuners forum is a great source of information

Nexus9

There are a lot of write ups, both long and short, in many of the forums and websites like LS1 Tuning Guide that have a lot of information, but don't neccesarily make sense to someone who has never tuned before. A lot of "do this - then do that" without any explanation of HOW to do it, or what you're using, or what the actual physical action required is.
If you're really serious about tuning, I would invest the $55 into the book "Master EFI Tuner - GM EFI", which you can find here:

http://www.masportspeedshop.com/serv...-tuning/Detail

and save a lot of time and frustration searching through bits of unconnected information on forums and webpages. Dan (the author of the book) writes a comprehensive, complete, easy to follow tutorial on tuning, from front to back; and then gives six actual examples of GM cars tuned, so you can see the actual process. I would think this would save you HOURS of time searching around - which is well worth the investment (IMHO).

Jon

DJJONESIVS

just remember you can read every and any book under the sun.

75 percent of them have BASIC information at best.

do not be fooled into believing that reading these books will allow you to understand how to tune a big cam nos burning 14:1 440 lsx motor.

not trying to scare you away.

but along with anything automotive, repetition is the best teacher.
having a itch to solve issues and learn is important.

the most fun of it all is understanding HOW these particular tables interact.
and how to counteract.

good luck!

if you aint having fun with it, don't do it!

Don 79 TA

If i remember when i started looking at this, there was a tunning school
i think like a 2 part class of 4-5 days for each
i dont remember where i saw it
wasn't to bad priced either and something i thought about doing

HP tuners also sells a DVD kit too that may help