I need someone to explain this to me better, i dont think im understanding this.. i posted this in another section and i figured id try here to get soem more answers...
heres the deal...i put pacesetters ory and hooker catback on my car a few weeks back, finally got a chance to get it on a dyno...untuned it bolted out a few over 330 rwhp. which i was happy with. thing was, before i did the headers and full exhaust my car was running slightly rich stock. not sure why but i bought it like that....
when i put the headers in, i figured id be running even more on the rich side...but that wasn't the case. I was not there for the dyno as i dropped it off to go to work...but i got a call from the friend who was doing the dyno and im not sure how they work but he said according to the computer my a/f was "right on, perhaps ever so slightly rich...but with nitrous thats not necessarily a bad thing".....he also added that the stock computer seemed to be handling the new bolts on very well....and basically all he'd have to do is remove my 02 sensors and anything else from the computer and change my WOT fuel pressure (turning it up 1-2 psi). I did not have to pay for teh dyno pulls of them to put it into the computer as they have not "tuned" anything yet, they just logged the info for me because i sent them a boat load of people so this was a thank you.

thing is...he gave me the impresion that everything was working very well together and a tune wouldn't give me much more power...it would be 550 for them to finish the rest of the tuning...

first question..has anything like this happened to anyone else? not that im complaining but im not really sure if this is good or bad...
2nd question is how much hp would a new tune give me if the only thing they erlaly had to do was up the WOT psi a couple of notches? cause if its only going to be 5-10 hp 550 is not worth it to me...

any insight, info or opinions from you guys? im stupid when it comes to this computer stuff.
THanks fellas sorry for the length
Travis

 

Headers alone are not a 'big' mod. A dyno tune will not usually net you much for just headers.

Hell, I've seen many people only gain 10-15hp on cam only cars and 15-20hp with heads/cam from dyno tunes. Sometimes the setup works pretty well with near stock tuning.

 

so this is not something unusual? cause all i hear on the boards is "get tuning you need it for this...for that...it will make everything run better" blah, 550 bucks for 10 hp...i spent less and got 86 otu of the 100 dry shot lol.

do you suppose id benefit more from having someone use ls1edit on my car? i mean if the only thing they are going to change is the psi at WOT then im not too worried about it.

am i just lucky or what?

 

People push dyno tuning like crazy on the internet. Persoanlly, even with a cam, I felt that I would get more out of spending the money to buy my own Edit and be able to make changes whenever I want and tune on my own. I doubt I'd gain much with a dyno tune past what I've done on my own; maybe I'll get it done one day but I'm in no rush. But I have a rather mild setup though, once you go with a BIG cam and toss in some great flowing heads and intake, then you could likely pick up a lot from tuning.

Looking at your sig, (other than the n2o ) chances are you won't gain much NA from tuning, unless your a/f is really messed up for some reason. Granted, I could be wrong, sometimes even 100% stock cars gain 10hp from tuning, but that is rare. Did they tell you your a/f after the dyno?

I've had plenty of friends pick up less than 15rwhp off a dnyo tune in any part of their WOT rpm range even after headers and a cam.

 

he didnt' give me specifics...but they have worked on a few ls1's with tuning and the guy that owns the place his wife has a 00 ws6 and he did the dyno tuning for her after her header install cause he said the a/f was very rich. not so rich that she coldn't drive it with out any problems but rich enough that she gained 11 rwhp out of it. I never hang around when they do dynos but wheni got my car i took it straight to him. everything bone stock, 38k miles on the od, and it dynoed at 303 rwhp whichi was pleasantly suprised i was expecting more like 290 corrected instead of 300+ corrected...but He said my a/f was a bit on the rich side, which made sense cause i had some surges every now and again and my idle was kinda "lofty" i guess i could put it that way. since the headerinstall, i went from idling at 900 rpms to 850 on the nose (which i hear is ok), and the surging has stopped completely. so i told him about that right off the bat..and he said the a/f had leveled out ok but was and i quoted him in my first post "right on...perhaps EVER so slightly rich..." he didn't give me specifics though...what would be considered "ever so slightly rich"? im really stupid when it comes to this stuff im trying to learn, thanks for putting up with the questions i appreciate tremendously.
T

 

Well, if you're that close then forget the tune fee
when you can buy the tool outright for same or less.

 

If you are "just a tad rich", and you are spraying, then that's probably a good thing. I actually prefer to keep my tune a little rich even NA, because I live in an area where it can get pretty hot in the summer and I run my motor a little warmer than some (194-210*).

I don't see you gaining very much from tuning if your a/f is almost dead on. Maybe they could bump your timing a little, but don't expect huge power gains. It's your choice obviously, but if it were me I would not spend the $550 for a dyno tune with headers only, espeically if they told you the a/f was almost dead on. As I said, I'm still happy with doing my own tuning so far and I'm working with a cam even. To some people, every little ounce of power is worth it though.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

rpm ws6 my temp runs around the same as yours maybe a little less.
i was just suprised about the results. wasn't sure if that was right i was worried for a few moments that maybe he was just uninformed or something. as i said i can't complain...saves me 550 for more mods lol. thats 550 closer to a cam

thanks for the replies fellas. I really do appreciate the help. now im officially a little less computer/tune stupid hehe
T