Tuning appointment advice requested
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 487
Likes: 292
Tuning appointment advice requested
I made an appointment to with a local tuner to have my 2014 Z51 tuned. The backstory is that I purchased the car used from a dealer and it was sold as stock except for the AFE air filter setup. I noticed that it never went into V4 mode and upon further investigation and help from this board, I found that it had aftermarket headers and a high-flow cat pipe and had to have been tuned at some point to eliminate the v4 mode. The car runs great and I have no complaints, however it bothers me that I don't know what else was done to the engine (Cam, etc). They dyno the car before an after the tune and will give me the numbers. What should I expect? The tuner said they basically start from scratch when they tune and can adjust all kinds of things in the engine and transmission such as shift points. throttle response, etc. Any suggestions on what I should look for or avoid? the Tuner is OSTdyno in Portersville, Pa. near Pittsburgh. Has anyone used them? Cost is $100 fee to access the tuner (not sure if that's accurate but there is some kind of fee charged by the tuner they use to access the program or something), also $175/hr for tuning. They said probably 2-3 hours and approximately $5-600 total cost. Thanks for any input.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,281
Likes: 552
From: Pittsburgh PA
St. Jude Donor '10-'11-'12-'13-'14
IMHO if you feel "the car runs great and I have no complaints" I'd do nothing and just enjoy it. What would another tune accomplish?
As a side note my brother-in-law lives in Portersville, but he's not particularly a car guy and wouldn't know OST Dyno.
As a side note my brother-in-law lives in Portersville, but he's not particularly a car guy and wouldn't know OST Dyno.
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 181
Likes: 53
From: Westfield New Jersey
Really depends on what you want from your car, do you track it, do you use it as a daily driver, etc. Are you unhappy with any aspect on how it currently drives? But like everything else in life there are trade offs which you should be aware of, and while I have no idea on what your thinking is, you really have to know what you want to accomplish from a tune and then find out if that is even possible. I don't wish to be evasive, but everyone has different ideas on what they want, so it is very varied and personal.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 487
Likes: 292
I don't necessarily want to change anything. I'm more curious as to what has been done to the motor (cam?). I may have them dyno it and get a baseline HP & Torque and call it a day without changing anything, however once it's there, that would be the time to make any changes.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 46,295
Likes: 2,596
From: Northern, VA
St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
That's a tough question to ask of a tuner imo. Are they familiar with C7s? If they ran a basic analysis to determine where the car is at now re a tune already on it, they might be able to tell you something about the internal work if there was any done. I'd think a specific shop that knows C7s, has worked on them and tuned them would be able to give you more of an answer as to what's been done to the car, altho it still might have to be torn down.
Edit: I just went to OST's website They seem very knowledgeable about Mopars, Hemis and Dodges. http://www.ostdyno.com/modifications/
Edit: I just went to OST's website They seem very knowledgeable about Mopars, Hemis and Dodges. http://www.ostdyno.com/modifications/
Last edited by AORoads; Jun 20, 2017 at 04:23 PM.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 487
Likes: 292
They said they should be able to tell if it had a "mild cam". Also if it has a lot more HP & Torque than a stock motor that would be an indication as well? I'm not sure what to expect compared to a stock tune. I know about the AFE air cleaner, headers and hi-flow cats. Any idea what kind of numbers that should produce? Like I said, I may not change anything if it produces good numbers. I'm not getting any codes and it drives great. It's the only corvette I've ever driven so I don't have anything to compare it to as far as seat of the pants feel.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,123
Likes: 228
From: Colorado Springs, CO/Augusta,GA Colorado
If it was me and I was happy with the car the way it is. I don't think I would take a chance with a tuner who might not or might have extensive knowledge with the LT1. I'd probably get a dyno and if there is a slight increase in normal HP and torque, call it a day. If there was a big increase and I was really "curious", I'd ask the opinion of a reputable tuner......there are some of those on this forum you know 
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 487
Likes: 292
If it was me and I was happy with the car the way it is. I don't think I would take a chance with a tuner who might not or might have extensive knowledge with the LT1. I'd probably get a dyno and if there is a slight increase in normal HP and torque, call it a day. If there was a big increase and I was really "curious", I'd ask the opinion of a reputable tuner......there are some of those on this forum you know
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Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 46,295
Likes: 2,596
From: Northern, VA
St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
DK if you did some advanced searching on here, but I did. Here's a name I came up with:
-- https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-customer.html
http://www.domin8tuned.com/about-us
At the least, I might talk with them and ask the same questions. Good luck.
PS I looked at the map of Porterville and where it was "near"--seemed like Youngstown was next big city. Looked up Corv/Chev tuners in Youngstown, but other than OST, the others are 100 miles from Portersville.
https://www.google.com/search?q=youn...hrome&ie=UTF-8
-- https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-customer.html
http://www.domin8tuned.com/about-us
At the least, I might talk with them and ask the same questions. Good luck.
PS I looked at the map of Porterville and where it was "near"--seemed like Youngstown was next big city. Looked up Corv/Chev tuners in Youngstown, but other than OST, the others are 100 miles from Portersville.
https://www.google.com/search?q=youn...hrome&ie=UTF-8