To tune or not to tune?
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From: Gaffney, S.C.
To tune or not to tune? Ok I got a set of long tubes and a tsp true dual system that's gonna be going on my car wheniI get back from annual training, now I know at some point I need to get it tuned but probly around tax time next year I plan on going to a ls6 intake manifold and a ported throttle body, so the question is should I have it tuned now or will I be ok waiting until I get the intake and throttle body. This is my dd, actually its my only car period so I am concerned with driveability and mpg's as well as any other issues that may come from not tuning it now.
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From: Westminster, MD
MPG will probably go down slightly. Engine light will be on. Those are the only "major" maleffects from running header back exhaust without a tune. I'd wait if I was you. I ran for 8 months untuned before I finally had a tune done.
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From: Gaffney, S.C.
Well the previous owner removed the cats so I've been staring at my engine light ever since I bought the car a year ago lol. Im also curious about performance, I know I won't get the full potential out of it without a tune but will I gain anything without the tune?
I just had my 02 tuned, I put hooker long tubes, off road Y and LM1 exhaust. it already has the ls6 manifold and I deleted the EGR and AIR system. I will say that the tune really helped with the MPG's as now it is getting great mileage. I ran the car for about 2 months before the tune and it still ran fine but felt a little sluggish on the low end and it is a 6 speed. Now it feels much better and best of all no more lights and great mileage well as long as I can keep my foot out of it.
I would say if you can hold off then wait because why spend the money twice. I am kicking myself because I came across a killer deal on a cam and springs the day after my tune so I wish I would have held out.
I would say if you can hold off then wait because why spend the money twice. I am kicking myself because I came across a killer deal on a cam and springs the day after my tune so I wish I would have held out.
Your running a little rich but it's nothing serious to not get a tune with your mods. I know it's your DD but if you can wait for a mail order tune that's a much cheaper route. You can send it back after each bolt-on if you want. I would have done this had I known about them at the time. I did a full dyno tune after Headers, cat-back, TB and lid.....gained 20rwhp. But mine is an 02 so I already had the LS6 intake.
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From: Gaffney, S.C.
Well I guess I should've mentioned I wasn't gonna do a full on dyno tune if I did tune it now, was gonna go to the normal performance shop I use around here and have a full street tune done, but that's still 300 bucks
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Mail order tune (frost)
That's what I did with my bolt ons set up back then. Worked great and paid under 200 bucks. I think it might have been around 150 but can't remember. Anyway you just mail him your pcm with a list of your mods and he tunes it.
That's what I did with my bolt ons set up back then. Worked great and paid under 200 bucks. I think it might have been around 150 but can't remember. Anyway you just mail him your pcm with a list of your mods and he tunes it.
I did full exhaust, ls6 intake, pp tb, pp maf ends and ssra on my old 98 z28. Ran it without a tune for a couple years. Never even had a dynotune. I used a vinci handheld tuner at the time. Just wait till you have all the known mods on your car, then tune.
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From: Gaffney, S.C.
Well the shop does dyno tunes as well, very reputable, they specialize in f bodies, but mail order unfortunately isn't an option for me, its not only my dd its my only car period so unless I could mail it off Friday and get it back the next day I can't do it, I was going to dp the street tune simply because its 200 bucks cheaper than a dyno tune I'm considering going ahead and getting the ported tb now as well and then all that'll be left for later is the ls6, which I been meaning to do a search on but ill just ask can the ls6 be ported and polished as well?
are you going to add more mods in the future? like cam, head..etc? if your mind is set on the tune i would get a mail order tune untill you get more internal mods then dyno tune. ive been running bolt ons for over 2 years now and it runs fantastic.
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From: Gaffney, S.C.
Yes heads and cam will be done but on my budget it could be quite a while before that happens, years possibly, and as I said in my previous post a mail order tune isn't an option for me
I say tune it even if your are going to add parts later my tuner charged me $250 for the intial street tune and $30 for retunes I had put long tubes, exhaust, intake, blah blah blah and got it tuned it made a very noticable difference! Most of the time you can get away with just a street tune a good tuner can get the car 99% in check with out putting it on the dyno.
