so who does everyone recomend to do my tune?

madz28, pcmforless, maybe others I don't know about?

I currently have my car tuned w/ a hypertech power programmer that came with the car, the chezzy one w/ only one program in it, (93 octane optimized) but the option of switching between different gear ratios which is cool. anyways, I'm sure it's just a really expensive fan switch because my car's temp never leaves 180ish (the first line on the thermometer)

anyways, i want to upgrade

I want to calibrate for mid tube headers and full exhaust, intake, the 160 degree thrmostat i'm putting in in a week, the fan temp to be 180 (like it is now), and the timing advanced reasonably for a few more ponies...

so what kind of gains do you think i will gain with a mail order tune? is it worth it, or should I pay a dyno shop? i know lt-1 edit isnt cheap, but you can't beat the prices of mail order tunes...

 

Very little to gain from tuning such a combo. Factory timing is already about as advanced as needed. The only area to gain much in the stock tune with a combo like yours is to lean it out just a bit at WOT. There may be a few hp there, which needs to be found on a dyno and is not really cost effective.

Rich

 

thats depressing that the only real gain is to lean it a LITTLE amount at WOT. When I spent like $1080 for just tuning software/hardware.

 

Most cars pick up at least 13rwhp and most of the time quite a bit more than that.. $$/Hp its probally one of the best mods.. EVEN for a stock car.

 

I have a buddy that picked up 17 rwhp with some boltons and a dyno tune.

 

Believe me, I have a lot of experience here. What you will see in a thread like this is something similar to what is called "publication bias" in the scientific literature. People with positive results tend to chime in, which skews the data so as to make the "treatment" always look better than it really is.

A typical 4th gen with bolt-ons is going to gain a couple of hp from dynotuning. That's all. I have seen hundreds of stock/bolt-on cars on the dyno and unless it's something like a turbo with electronic waste gate, or a diesel, the gains over factory programming are typically negligible. At the shop I'm associated with we discourage potential customers if what they are looking for is hp for a bolt-on car. There are other things you can do with reprogamming the PCM. Adjust for tire size, change in rear end geras, shift points, rev limiter, speed limiter, etc. But if you are looking for hp, you are probably going to be disappointed.

Rich

 

You can believe what you want but we didn't get this far selling junk to people. I guarentee there is a very nice difference in stock or bolt on cars. The factory has to detune cars because they don't know whose going to run 87 gas or try to tow with it or do 140 mph passes thru the desert.

just because you've had bad experiences with off the shelf tuners like hypertech and jet doesn't mean a competitent tuner can pick up some very nice horsepower even out of a stock car.

I would have to say that i've never seen a car pick up less than 10rwhp. Which is far from a couple especially most pick up in the mid-teens somewhere. Especially nice when you consider a CAI is lucky to get you 7-10rwhp. The last stock car I did on my dyno baseline before headers, after headers, then after tuning. The tuning picked the car up more than the longtube headers/off road pipe.