What's the difficulty level of tuning a mild CAM?
 

I'm in the process of having my motor rebuilt from ground up and I decided to change the cam (specs below). My overall question is ... What would the level of difficulty be for me to do the tune myself. Last year I asked for guidance on tuning my stock LS3 with 1-7/8" header and based on feedback I was able to pull it off. I was pleased with the results and the car ran strong. My detail questions/process are below and I appreciate any feedback.

Stock LS3 cam
Duration: 204/211
Lift: 0.551”/0.525”
LSA: 117
Overlap: -26.5

Upgraded Cam Profile:
Duration: 216/224
Lift: 0.553”/0.553”
LSA: 117* +4 advance
Overlap: -14

Car Setup:
- Drysump Manual LS3 in Grandsport
- Stock Airbox with Attack Blue Filter
- Stock Intake & Throttle Body
- Upgraded Cam (above specs)
- AFe 1-7/8" TRI-Y header with cats
- Stock NPP Exhaust

Questions:
1. Should I start with the factory GM tune, or build off my current bolt-on's tune?
2. What are the main tables that I will need to modify?
3. What are the best parameters to log during this process? Also what is the best refresh rate... 10Hz?

My current plan:
1. Decide which tune I want to start with.
2. Pull back about 3* of timing from high load situations to keep timing in the safe zone.
2. Set PE to 11.8 to ensure no lean conditions while working through the new setup.
3. Dial in the VE table
4. Dial in the MAF
5. Work on PE ( keep if rich for now )
6. Slowly add in timing.
7. Work on the transitional airflow characteristics: idle, coast down. WOT to nothing, etc.


Here are the dyno results from my bolt-on's setup.

Smoothing = 0

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...6d8d025f3a.jpg

Smoothing = 3

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...1d61796753.jpg

Are you using a wide band to do your AFR tuning?

If so, you're looking at a very easy to tune situation here. No easier/harder than it would be for a professional tuner - the only difference is that you're road tuning vs having a dyno.

Based upon your list, I'd say you can tune this thing with no additional difficulty than when you initially tuned your car, you obviously have a good grasp of what you're doing already.

Timing is always tricky to tune on the road, however.

Yea I have a wide band installed right at my 02 sensors, post primary tunes and pre-cats. Thanks for the encouragement. With the previous tune I spent about a month off and on getting it dialed in then I bought a hour of dyno time to complete the final touches.

Agreed, the tuning process should be very much the same as when you did it the first time. The only additional hurdle you will run into is playing with the idle parameters. There are quite a few videos out there, you will likely need to add airflow at idle and probably add timing. The bigger the cam the more idle timing the engine will want.