I have a 2008 Corvette w/ A6 and was wondering if it would be a good idea to invest in HP Tuners. I want a “burble” tune to hear more exhaust pops plus whatever other benefits tuning has to offer. My Corvette is stock other than B&B Bullet exhaust. What do you guys think is this worth it? I don’t want to damage the engine or transmission.

 

Since you live in Ventura, which is located in the "Democratic People's Republic of Kalifornia" (DPRK) ...

How are you going to go about passing your next state smog inspection after you "burble tune" your C6 with HP Tuners ?

 

Aren’t you able to detune the car before SMOG?
Also my smog is due in September so after then I’ll have two years.

 

so "burble" tunes are typical done with dumping fuel on decel... its not really a recommended practice because your essentially causing the motor to go fat and blow unburnt fuel out the exhaust. The hot exhaust then lights that unburnt fuel as it travels out... The problem there is alot of that unburnt fuel can also get past the rings and wash your cylinder walls. Thats why most reputable tuners wont do it. Being as you live in Cali I wouldn't recommend it at all. You'll fail the plug in test for sure and pretty sure it would fail any sniffer test as well. That being said its likely something you would need a tuner to set up for you, its not just a menu activated thing, it actually requires modifying several tables in DFCO as well as timing tables. If your not sure what you should be adjusting you could potentially mess up alot of different stuff.

 

I understand & I won’t be burble tuning. Thanks for the feedback! Are the hand held tuners any good to begin with?

 

I live here in Ventura County, heavily modded C6Z - just need to grease the right palm of a friendly smog shop, been running a few modded Vettes like that. Z was catless for a bit (bought it like that) but threw green high flow cats on to kill some of the sound

 

The short answer to that is no... most handheld tuners are garbage. If you could find a CARB legal cali compliant one then maybe but I'm sure any gain you got would be minimal at best. I don't know cali law specifically so not sure what you can and can't get away with but I will say from my narrow understanding of it, it doesnt seem quite worth the possible hassle it can cause you. If your hell bent on making more power which it seems you are, I would look into seeing if there's a 50 state legal CARB compliant supercharger kit with a canned tune to match. I dunno that such a thing exists cause I've never had to worry about it myself but I'd want to think that there would be.

 

Im debating on picking up an A&A supercharger kit for $8,400 with install & tune. They said it would make 540 RWHP & 500 RWT on the CARB compliant tune.
I’m currently pushing 377 to the wheels on my current setup so it will be a noticeable power difference!

 

I would do that in a heartbeat. You're incredibly lucky to live down the street from them.

 

I cant imagine going out of my way for more crackles and pops that my car has with longtubes, no cats, and stock NPP, you dont want a burble tune

 

That’s the plan in the near future! My options are either supercharging my C6 or purchasing a C8

 

So StayinStock, do you know (or anyone else know) if all HP Tuners tunes are considered “burble” tunes? Last year I got an HP Tuners tune from a reputable guy in my area and that was mandated by my installation of a Callaway Honker CAI. He did runs on his dyno over 3500 rpm so I would think he covered the open mufflers in his tune. But when I just installed the Mild to Wild set up for my stock NPP and in the Wild mode, I have heard a few “pops.” In the mild mode, it remains quiet with no pops. I’m not concerned about emissions in my case with a stock exhaust, but if I am blowing unburned fuel- should I be concerned. If so should I have my tuner reflash my computer for the Wild setting? What do you think?

 

As far as I know, my engine is 100% stock and with the NPP open in wild mode, I burble a lot on decel and sometimes get a small pop in between shifts. I think it's normal but definitely interested to hear others chime in.

 

No not all tunes are considered burble tunes. Even factory these cars have a little bit of burble on Decel. What OP is referring to are loud crackles and bangs. Your motor will never 100% burn every bit of fuel in the chamber, some of it will always get pushed out of the exhaust its just what percentage the tune allows. Typically it gets burned up before it reaches, or in the cats. So even a stock vehicle you hear the occasional burble. The way you achieve the loud crackles and pops is a mix of pulling timing and adding fuel. Most tuners wont do it because it could be harmful to the motor to dump raw fuel into the chamber just to push it out of the exhaust valve. The reasoning being what doesn't make it could potentially wash the cylinder walls.

HP Tuners doesn't provide tunes or tune files, its the software which tuners use to make their calibrations. Its up to the individual tuner to decide what they consider acceptable limits and what they dont. There are tuners that will do a burble/cackle tune but the majority of your big name shops will not. As far as your emissions question goes I can't really answer that cause that just depends on your state. If your in Cali theyll take one look and see the vehicle has a non OEM Calibration and instantly fail you. Other states are more laxed. Given the very little you have done I think youll be fine anywhere but Cali, but again it depends on how your state handles it.

Mine had quite a bit of burble when it was stock too surprisingly.

 

A burble tune is easy to identify in the software; zero or negative timing values in the decel cells of the timing table (low map values). There is no performance benefit to doing this. It's strictly for sound.

 

I'm interested as well c6 zr1