When is a Tune Needed?
When is a Tune Needed? I want to do heads and cam but not sure if I should just wait and do them both at the same time or do the cam and then heads. I know there's another thread where the guy is asking which to do, that's not my question.
I know I want to do both, I just don't want to pay for 2 tunes. If I just swapped heads now, do I need a tune right away? What about a cam? Also, say hypothetically that I swapped both heads and cam at the same time. Since I would have to take the car somewhere to get tuned, would it be ok to drive?? Sorry for the noob questions, I never had a car custom tuned, always just used the plug and play boxes.
I know I want to do both, I just don't want to pay for 2 tunes. If I just swapped heads now, do I need a tune right away? What about a cam? Also, say hypothetically that I swapped both heads and cam at the same time. Since I would have to take the car somewhere to get tuned, would it be ok to drive?? Sorry for the noob questions, I never had a car custom tuned, always just used the plug and play boxes.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 2,317
Likes: 20
From: Hurley, VA
With any decent heads/cam setup your gonna need more injector and you can't run on the stock tune with bigger injectors. If its a smaller cam you could probably get away with driving it to the tuner but I wouldn't with heads. You could get a mail order tune to drive it with the injectors and heads but your paying for a tune twice by getting a mail order followed by a dyno. When I did my heads/cam (PRC215/MS4) I got a mail order from TSP so it would run good enough to get it to a tuner. Honestly there wasn't much difference in driveablity after it was dyno tuned. They did a great job. I would do them both at the same time, get a mail order, and take it straight to a tuner just to be safe. If you did decide to do cam only for a while and do the heads later most shops will cut you a deal if your a returning customer.
You can drive your car after H/C and it doesn't matter what size cam you use. Just leave the stock injectors in until you get to your tuner and take it real easy when your driving. Depending on cam it may stall a few times but you'll make it. There are guys that drive their H/C and Supercharged cars hours for a tune. Absolutely no reason to waste money on a mail order before a dyno tune just to drive it there.
