px33transam

I have a 2000 trans am with a borla catback, vigilante 3400 stall and a hyper tech reprogrammer. I want to start doing some more mods but I'm not sure when to get a tune. I want to do headers, nitrous, and sometime down the road heads and cam, turbo/supercharger and some other things. My question is when do you need a tune? After each mod or wait till you can buy everything then go get a tune or how does this all work. Sorry if this is a dumb question I just don't know how to go about this yet.

SSpdDmon

iTrader: (10)

Well, you can pay someone to do it. That'll end up costing you more in the long run though. Some places will charge an initial fee (say $500) and then maybe cut it by 50%~75% if you come back for a re-tune after more mods. How often you need to go back depends on how aggressive your tune is. Run it on the ragged edge and add something like headers, then you'll be lean and need a re-tune. If you can find someone that's willing to give you a repeat discount and really don't want to learn how to do it yourself, that's probably going to be your best bet. As you stand now, I'd wouldn't use the Hypertech tune for anything other than drivetrain and accessory changes in the PCM - especially as you add more power mods (ie headers). The tune they give you is generic and when you start freeing up power, you can end up running lean and be more prone to knock/detonation.

If you're confident in your ability to understand a mildly complex system and can whip around a computer fairly easily, then you should really look into your own tuning package. I personally chose EFI Live because it was a good fit for me. Check the sticky at the top of the forum for more info on the various tuning packages and what may be a good fit for you.

pdanrichey

iTrader: (4)

All the hypertech does is increase your timing tables...
Most other tuning programs cost a good amount and are complex and very time consuming. Can you tune them yourself???...of course. But, do you want to spend all that time doing it yourself???

I own HP Tuners and I love it...but to tune for my new turbo setup, I'm taking it to a pro...it's too important to do incorrectly and mess something up.

px33transam

Thanks for the info guys. I don't use the hyper tech tuning just shift points mph limit override fan control and stuff like that. I am on a limited budget right now and can only afford mods as I go so I can't just go buy everything and tell someone heres what I did now program my car. It will be a slow process but I'm keeping my car forever so who cares. Maybe I will look into some of the programs you guys said I could do myself I just don't want to kill my car!!!