RENE'S RAGE

iTrader: (96)

How hard or easy is it to tune a car.
I want to learn how to tune my car.
My car is tuned with HP Tuner now.
It 's a track only car, tuned in CLSD right now.
I want to be able to tune it at the track myself.
What's the best way to get started.
Thanks

topgun542

iTrader: (6)

Its a steep learning curve but once you get it up and running and understand the tuning process its not bad. The more your know about how the sensors work and what does what makes it so much easier. get some books and just start by scanning and making small changes. then after a while you can fully tune your car!

Moter

iTrader: (20)

learning the tuning will not happen over night. As said above it has a steep learning curve. Read ..read ..read..ask questions.. I just went to a 2 day class put on by the http://www.thetuningschool.com/ Bob and Jason are some of the best in the business. They have an at home class..books. Or in class room training. What I have found for myself, hands on training in a classroom helped me alot. Dyno time is where I have learned the most.

Hope that helps

danieloneil01

Hard unless you're smart or can dedicate hours everyday to learning. I'm neither

I hear the tuning school is worth it but pretty expensive.

topgun542

iTrader: (6)

yea i cant tell you how many hours ive sat in my truck messing around with ****... let alone the hours of driving i have done

TurboAv

iTrader: (6)

I have both of the Greg Banish DVD's also. Those helped a little. I also have wide open backroads around my house to do street pulls.

Lol. Seriously. My wife thinks I'm nuts. I work 12 hours for night shift then spend another 4 hours messing with the car and doing pulls. At least the dyno I rent occasionally is only $75 per hour.

OP,

My car was tuned by a good tuner and I'm slowly learning by making small changes. Some think I'm nuts to learn on a 750rwhp boosted car, but as long as you aren't making big changes I don't see the problem. It's just a little more "interesting" making 3rd and 4th gear pulls on the street.

MMWS6

Its not easy, but a lot easier these days with guys now willing to share the knowledge. Being a enthusiast tuner as the big guys call us, they dont seem to mind much like they used to years ago. I use Hp Tuners and find the guys that frequent the forms there these days are a really good bunch. I say go for it!!

RENE'S RAGE

iTrader: (96)

My car was tuned by a good tuner, all I really want to do is make minor changes.
Track car only, SD tune, WOT all the time.

MMWS6

1/4 mile or course track? On a trailer or driven to the track? Do you already have a tuning program or deciding?

EG0KILLER

iTrader: (2)

I'm subbing to this thread because I too would like to learn how to tune and was curious to how difficult it is to get started, good luck to you and keep us posted!

danieloneil01

Make sure you save the file. I also email myself the tune just incase the pc craps out. The "save as" when you make small changes and take her for a spin. Some tuners are more concerned with WOT fueling and timing. You could probably do a better job at part throttle since you have much more time to do it than a tuner does. If a tuner went to those extremes he would go out of business.

RENE'S RAGE

iTrader: (96)

1/4 mile, trailer, tuned with HP Tuners.

MMWS6

Well, if you have HP I'd like to see your file and a scan. Since your 1/4 only I bet I find a couple of things for you to mull over
For example; since you are track only, the cruise stuff is not necessary at all. In fact, the set up of the timing table I would suggest would eliminate cruise all together and be set for 1/4 mile only. Little trickier for you, since your doing 1/4s only, tuning would have to be done at the track. A lot of the trans stuff can be done before hand, but a run with a log will help clean it up. A lot of tuning is personal preference so not everything will work for you. It will give you an idea where to look to make the changes you feel necessary or would like to try though

Hart_Rod

iTrader: (3)

Good thread. I'm new also, breaking myself in on a Ls3/6L80/TVS1900 in a 68 C10....huge learning curve, but at least when I'm done...the next one will be easier...LOL. Here's what I have going on:

http://www.hptuners.com/forum/showth...S1900-1968-C10

Ed Wright

iTrader: (1)

MMWS6, "eliminating the cruise" tuning makes no sense at all.

When run with open headers it should be in open loop.

stangtrader

iTrader: (2)

All I can say is read read read.im very glad I learned to tune my own car.as everyone's said its a very steep learning curve. Another thing is if your not confident in your mechanical and mental thought processes it may not be the best idea.but take your time.it will be well worth it in the end but it can get frustrating along the way

RENE'S RAGE

iTrader: (96)

I do all the work on my car, except the tune. That's why I'm wanting to learn to tune.
Just never took the time yet.
Just want to log runs and make adjustments.

Camaro9969

iTrader: (12)

Just do a lot of reading man theres a GM EFI book that helps a lot and tons of links on HPTuners forum. So much of it is just idle tuning. I must of sat in my garage 20+ hours messing around trying to learn and getting it to run correctly but when your done and you actually understand what your looking at its very rewarding to do it on your own. One thing i will highly recommend is getting the HPT Pro using RTT is so awesome and you learn alot by messing with it. Now if you have a dyno you can use that will make it even better

DEFYANT

My friend Paige is just about done with Tuner School and she seems to like it. Said they mostly work with HP Tuners and EFI Live, I learned some of the basics on my own by reading a **** ton, and making a MAP for my Quad.

RENE'S RAGE

iTrader: (96)

Winter is coming and I'll have a lot of time to do some reading.
We're should I start? Books, HPT Forum, ect?