Is anybody running test pipes (and intake and plenum and headers) and not done a tune?

I'm a bit worried about the a/f ratio, but right now i'm not liking my option of having to send the ECU out to a tuner (nobody around here can do it locally).

Obviously w/o tuning I won't get the full benefits of the breathing mods, but is it something I"ll have to worry aobut, like engine damage or such?

 

You are correct, you wont get the full benefit of the mods until you reflash/tune your car. there will be no damage to your car if you didnt tune it unless you're running extremely lean. that said, I suggest you install all of the breathing mods and dyno it to check the a/f ratio and see your level of risk.

 

im running pop, TPs, spacer, without tune, i have the innovative WB but havnt installed, thinking about maybe doing that this weekend

 

Without a tune you might loose horsepower,retard timing...

 

Your car is probably running a little lean right now, but it wont run so lean that it'll start to damage your engine. Tune it if you want more hp though.

 

u dont really need a tune until youve done just about all of the boltons. or if you get cams. just go to a dyno if u think its running lean, generally if its >~13.5 u need to get it tuned.

fyi, my 03 with i/h/e, pulleys, test pipes, CAI, ran pretty lean. it was 13.7-13.9 until ~5700rpm when it dived down into the low 13's. thats when i got it tuned to ~13.0 most of the way, going into the 12's in the higher rpms.

 

Honestly ever since these advanced cam timing engines came out, mods dont react the same way. On the older vehicles with OBDI or OBDII version 1.0 or 2.0, modifications created a rich mixture. Now all of a sudden with these new engines, cam timing is advanced up top and a lean mixture is created. So yes, I would either reflash or get a UTEC or any standalone or some sort of piggy back.