I notice alot of you guys run Madz28 and PCM for less tune. But.. I can see how a Dyno tune would me much more acurate. I realize that it would cost more. What are the pro's and cons of each options?

 

A typical dyno tune is going to be for WOT tuning only where mail order is supposed to be for every day driving and WOT. Every car is a little different so its hard to say how close a mail order tune would be for your car... some are right on and some are FAR off so its more or less a crap shoot but ALWAYS a good place to start if you are somebody whod like to try picking up a laptop/cable to tune your own car. But lets say you get a mail order and then hit the dyno and the AFR is off.. Both guys will adjust the fueling to get the tune closer to the target AFR.

 

You must have a dyno and tuner available or you wouldn't be posing this question. Mail orders are certainly worth while, however, dialing in the exact A/F, etc. while in WOT on a dyno will most likely allow you make certain you are getting the max (at least on the dyno, including conditions, etc.)

A former member on this site gained quite a bit when he had his car dyno tuned following a mail order. JM.02

 

Would it be worthwhile to make a few pulls on a dyno and send that into whomever would be doing the mail order tune?

 

I would think that sending your dyno sheets would be worth while to help the mail order tuner when they are working on your WOT A/F ratio. it certainly couldn't hurt.

 

First do you, in fact, have a dynotune facility at your disposal, otherwise the point is moot, unless you intend to drive a long ways to get to one.

Second, depending on your cam (you don't mention which one) the tuners on this board can probably give you a very close idea of what to expect based on their experience with the usual combos.

Third, scour this board and see what numbers are being achieved with comparable setups and mail order tunes.

fourth, see if anyone with similar setup actually gained significant numbers by having a dynotune following a mail order (or even without a mail order).

Bottom line is that, unless you have a custom cam, etc. the numbers you see on this board will most likely be very close to one another.

Now having said that, if you get a mail order and when you dyno your numbers are significantly lower than what you expect having done your homework, you certainly would be advised to see if you can make some gains with a dyno tune (if as I mentioned, you have one available). You understand that while there are lots of dynos out there, that not all of them are capable of tuning the Lt1. JMHO

 

And...if you tell us your mods, including cam, headers, RRs, heads or whatever, you will most certainly be given opinons as to what to expect, and if your lucky the mail order guys will tell you (maybe off site) what they can do for you.

 

Seems to me you answered your own question.

 

This is embarrassing but I can't remember my cams specs off the top of my head. I have them some where. I got the cam out of summit and I think it was the next step up from the most mild. 210 220 510 510 I think? I remember that it's hotter than a LT4 hot cam setup

 

Hotcam is .525/.525 218/228 112

 

ok, I will try to find the specs, I think the lobe seperation is 114

 

This is my personal experience:
I ordered a PCM for less mail order tune about 2 years ago when I did my head/cam install. I went with a common cam, cc305, head flowed very close to LT4s, and common bolt-ons. I recently had my car dyno tuned by PCMforless because they were in the area. The mail order tune for my "common" setup was about as perfect as you could get. The AFR was nearly ideal across the whole RPM range. Again this was my personal experience.

Unless you have some doubt that your car isn't running up to par because of the tune, or you have a wild setup, the dyno tune money might be better spent on something else.

 

ok, I was quoted $500 for a dyno tune..

 

If you're using common parts, and not going with a custom ground cam, the mail order tuners have been dealing with LT1's long enough that they'll usually get you pretty darn close to where you need to be. If you're looking to squeeze every last ounce of power out of your setup, then go with the dyno tuning.

 

i had pcmforless tune mine after i did a 383 swap with a bunch of common bolt ons..... then, after a friend told me i was probably running pig rich, i let him tune it by doing some datalogging and WOT runs w/ a laptop hooked up to it. it shaved 1/2 a second off my 1/4 time with NO, i repeat NO other mods whatsoever. I let that speak for itself!