I have a stock 99 Z28 M6 Camaro.

Is there any performance benefit of getting a tune for my untouched 100K+ mile car.

Car runs great but wondering if it's worth it.

Chris

 

depends on your cost

 

It really all depends on how close the factory tune is. Every car is different, but they have the same factory tune. I'm sure it is pretty close on somebody's car, just not most of them.

 

Lid = $50-100 = ~10 rwhp (no tuning necessary)
Cutout = $50 welded = ~10 rwhp (no tuning necessary)
Tune on stock = $250-$500 = ~10 rwhp (or less $$$ if you can swing it)

Just some comparitive info

 

Tune on stock = $250-$500 = ~10 rwhp (or less if you can swing it)

Try 10-30 RWHP, I have several customers with stock LT and LS1's that run from 1 to 3/10ths quicker at the track after a tune.. On the Dyno on a stock C5 vette, tunning netted 36 RWHP.

 

BUT... what you got planned and when? cuz if you got mods planned in several months, unless your tuner would give you a deal it ain't worth it. just get it tuned when you get your mods done.

 

Just spend the money yourself and buy a unit from www.hptuners.com Real easy to do the basic tuning you need right now. By the time you need more you will have a much better understanding of the system. Hell they even have a self learn feature for tuning now + a tune area where you can look for similar modded members tunes and just simply upload it compare it to your current tune...make your changes and viola! Besides it costs as much as you will spend tuning your car once! You could make your money back by tuning just 2 friends vehicles.

 

I'm really not into computers much, I can turn wrenches but I think I'll let someone else do the tweaking to the pcm. I just don't have the time to learn.

Thanks for the info!

 

Maybe find someone with HPTuners in your area and have them tune it for ya...you could get a sweet deal like that...TxHorns did my '99 a couple years ago Thanks man still runs good to this day...

I would say the money is for sure worth it if you have an auto...but if you have a stick...it's really up to you and how much it is worth it to you...and how cheap you can get it. If you can find a "home" tuner in your area and pay him the license fee + a little extra $$$, you could go home with a tune for like $150 and you helped him fatten his pocket. Everybody wins Just make sure he actually knows what he is doing and didnt just get HPT yesterday, or is a complete bonehead or something..

Try posting an ad in the regional forums...

BTW Will you were right....I put a 160* stat on it and runs way better...

 

Tsp is doing mail order tunes for only 125.00 with unlimted updates for a year.

 

Thats not bad...

 

Holy blast from the past, glad to hear it, sounds like you're on your way to managing on your own

 

1 to 3 tenths can easily be netted without your tune, there's too many variables involved to say that you gave them this benefit. And while I'm not saying it's impossible, it's a pretty rare occurence to get a bone stock LS1 to put down 340 on the wheel with just a tune...

 

Yeah I got HPT and went nuts on LS1Tech and HPT.com lol....its fun to learn

Hey I got a GTO, too lol. Nice choice

Hey hey........... "4.11s"

 

a guy i know in houston picked up 23hp and 38lbs with a tune it had a lid

 

So what were his final dyno numbers? And let's suppose for a moment that dynoes are the end all measure of performance, you're not going to go from 300-310 stock to 340-350 with just a tune alone. My own vehicle (2000 TA) was always considered a strong dyno car, made:

338 - lid, borla, and tune.
362 - full bolt on, catted Y, tuned

And this is the norm for the majority of all "strong" dynoing LS1s. Alot of the time someone puts on some headers and sees only a 10 rwhp increase and then they're like "Man, that sucks" so they go get it tuned, and magically pick up 30 rwhp from the tune and then come on the boards doing backflips about a 30 rwhp tune!!! The truth is, tuning does not add power, it simply unlocks power you already have and maximizes.

And of course every vehicle responds differently, that's why some people get 30 rwhp from a tuned header install, while someone else might get 25, or someone else 28. If all the tunes have the same A/F dialed in, run similar timing, does that mean the guy who got 30 had a better tune? No, they all equally got "good" tunes, it just so happens that one lucky guy has a stronger car. Tuners can't just magically will more power out of a setup b/c of their skills or something, you do what science and observation suggests, and what comes out, comes out.

By some of the logic here, you would get 25 horses from a tune, 10 from lid, 10 from catback, 25 from headers, 5 from a TB, 5 from free mods, 5-10 from a pulley, which means we would all have 380-390 rwhp full bolt on cars starting from a 300-310 M6. Has it happened before? Yeah, like once (again, if believing dynos 100% gives you a sitffy). But the usual is around a 360-370 rwhp strong bolt-on car, which can all be attributed to the TUNED hardware alone. Now if you slap all your parts on and spit out 345, the extra 20 is potentially there for you, the tuning is just the key to open the door.

Like I said before, I wouldn't count on getting much out of a tune from stock form, GM runs you a tad rich off the showroom, by correcting your WOT A/F out to typical LS1 likings, you'll pick up roughly what I've suggested earlier. If you get a little more, then you're just that lucky fella!

 

HpTuners definatly fun to learn

 

So who's a good tuner in the Woodlands/Houston area? On a budget....

James

 

True, weather, traction, Reaction times all can be a contributing factor, but when my customers have been running their cars for years, not just a couple of times and after the tune , the car now runs constantly at 3/10's quicker without any other mods then I believe it is safe to say they got a substantial gain, Also have Dyno sheets to prove it but then one can say that the Dyno was fudged to produce the numbers..But everycar is different, I have seen from very mild factory tunes to agressive, straight from the factory....

 

I disagree. On a stock car, I think you could get a mail order tune from one of the people on here for $199 and I think you'd see more than 10 rwhp.