Kansas JoyRide

iTrader: (1)

I am seriously considering trying to learn to tune my own car. I live in the middle of Kansas hundreds of miles from any tuners that I am aware of, and besides that, I would love to be able to do it. I am just wondering, how many of you who are self taught, have been able to pull it off without it costing you a motor or two or three?

gusfd3s

Im tuning my own car, last setup put down 548rwhp (powerfc). Buy a datalogit (if you are on powerfc) and a wideband, you can find alot of information on this forum how to begin, download some maps to learn from. Dyno charts often reveals AFR's which is great.

To be able to go further you need to know some basics on how the engine works, what is actually happening in the combustion chamber when you raise the boost as an example?

my car was bone stock 2 years ago, i had never touched a car with EFI, what does all the numbers on the wideband mean? WTF is lambda and AFR? i had no clue. i started off by just monitoring everything that was happening, learning the software, got some ballpark figures regarding timing and AFR's and started from there fine tuning my fuel map.

to be able to learn, you will have to do it on the expense of your motor, it will give you good feedback when treated well, and it will tell you when your off.

very soon im tuning my new setup for some higher boost.. and im ready to blow my motor if that is what takes for me to learn.

Is it worth it to put all the money spent at risk or should i bring the car to someone who has decades of experience? is it worth it to have to be nervous for pushing the engine to its limits wondering if you tuned it right?

That is something you will have to consider.

pyro_racer_0016

go to a steve kan tuning day you will learn a lot as he tunes and explains the way your car responds and from all the guys that usually are hanging out getting their cars tuned. I have learned enough from him that i feel safe tuning my drift car. For more info on the tune days or hints register at kantuning.com steve kan can answer your tuning questions as they come up.

Kansas JoyRide

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the comments guys. As far as equipment goes, I have an Innovative XD-16 combined with the LC-1. I would say it is kind of entry-level stuff. I have just recently purchased a used datalogit. I also installed Pineapple's dual eqt gauge. I have been working on my car since just after thanksgiving a year ago. I purchase a large street port short block from a member (Scott from the Phoenix area) with o miles on it. Glen Weaver from Arizona Rotary Rockets built it. (Glen has been very generous in helping me with question). I have done just about ever mod I found on this forum that made sense to me, the fuel filter relocation using a corvette filter, Greddy V-Core FM (used from Fritz), relocated battery, CoolingMist water injection (old style two stage), Xcessive LIM, KG rail with new 550 and 1680 injectors, FJO peek and hold controller, starter relay work-around and other stuff I am sure I have forgotten. I ordered and installed a new A-Spec 500r Sp with all new An fitting, SS lines and FPR. I picked up a freshly rebuilt tranny, with short shifter, lightweight flywheel, street strip clutch, Magnaflow mid and RB catback. Wow, this is the first time I have listed all this stuff, no wonder I am tired and broke. As for gages in addition to the dual egt and Innovative wideband AFR, I have fuel pressure (electronic), oil pressure (I did the Howard Coleman replace the oil level sensor with the sending unit setup) and boost. I am using the PFC with hand held to control the whole mess.

I recently downloaded and read Wargasm’s 32-page tutorial on tuning with the PFC (If you read this Brian, I want to add my thanks to the list of people you have helped that you may never know). It is what has motivated me to pursue trying this. He took a lot of the mystery out of it for me.

So anyway back to my original question. As much as I appreciate the posted, I still am wondering how many of you guys paid for your learning curve with blown motors. I am trying to get brave enough to jump in to this by doing a risk-rewards assessment here. I know the risk is there, there is always risk, but if the vast majority of you who have tried it have had success it would be great to know. On the other hand if the norm is a large percent of self-taught tuners out there had to go through a motor or two to get to where they could do the job then wisdom might dictate learning from others experience. I don’t know if anyone will be willing to read this long post and reply, but I can tell you if you do it will very appreciated.