We have some members who have a decent amount of knowledge of tuning.

Then we have some guys who are just short or tuning gods with some of their information.

Techs have to learn it somewhere, tuners the same.

Where the hell do you guys go to learn how to tune? With out having to grandae hundreds of motors to find out by trial and error?

I'm looking to be able to base tune my own car. With my tuner troubles I want to have a basic understanding on how to plug my own street tune, be able to modify a proper tune, understand wtf my tuner is doing and be able to just use my own tune program I own with uprev.

Mind you im not ignorant and expecting to just learn tuning over the weekend and then build the "best" tune ever made.

Again I just want to understand and be able to do base tunes or modify my cars tune if I want to.

Where did you guys get you're knowledge? Where did you learn? Where did you learn your values and plug ins and how to read the maps and charts?

I've been dabbling in the logging and reading tune charts, but when it comes to values and modifications I don't dare even click or attempt to touch any of them.

Someone want to help me learn? Give me tips and tricks? Take me under their wing? Share the fruit of the knowledge tree?

 

Also quite interested as I have thought a lot about this same topic

 

Learntotune dot com (no, serious)

High Performance Academy ... really good material - some free stuff, theyre pay stuff is well worth it. A good portion of their stuff is done on a Z33 with multiple tuning platforms.

 

Just watched a HPA video on YouTube last night. Which is what made me want to ask this.

I followed most of what he was saying. Like what he was doing. But explaining what you're looking at or what to look for is what had me confused and what I wanted to learn.

Mechanically I get it. But when it comes to values and inputs is where I lack, immensely.

 

Starting from scratch..no idea, but with a base tune you just need to dial in AFR then work on timing for power. It's really not that hard.

I read a lot on Megasquirt about ten years ago and now I'm tuned on a UTEC which the subaru forums have a ton of knowledge on tuning

 

Electronic tuning. Trial, error, give up and hand it over to someone to tune.

I kid.

This is really great question. Learning it is a lot of trial and error. But not always the best way (as I can personally attest to. ) I'm in for more answers and will view those vids referenced.

Funny though, I learned all about mechanical tuning - carbs, ignition, cam timing, etc. over 40 years ago and it's all come back to me now that I have a pair of actual mechanically tuned cars. Electronic is better.....grrrr.... multiple carbs suck. Laff....

(I meant air and fuel. )

 

My advice (if you want it) is that tuning is fairly straight-forward but becomes achingly more complicated the further from stock you go. If you are serious about getting into tuning your own vehicles, find the tuning platform you want to work with before huge modifications. A mostly stock vehicle is easy to get familiar with and you want to be able to play with variables in small and relatively safe settings, like adding a little bit of fuel or a degree of timing. A huge portion of tuning is being able to read a set of data and then make proper corrections.

For every hour I've spent tuning a car I've easily put more than 10+ into researching online and in forums with special attention to threads of people troubleshooting their own problems.

 

https://www.efi101.com/

 

Yea I tried watching some YouTube videos but I can't trust them.

Hell I was into one guys video on a silverado tune until he changed the tune and moves the 2k rpm range from about 14.7 AFR to a 16.5 and then up in the RPM it went back to 13.. called it good and I said ok enough of that video lol

His whole video was about killing lean out and he made the lower RPMs more lean and called it good lol

 

Ok after watching/reading the slew of info on the HPA site and other sites.

What I'm mainly going to be focusing on, and tuning is.

AFR levels. Through out the power and rev range.

Set target AFR to 13-11 depending on how it reacts under boost.

Ignition timing and avoiding knock or detonation.

And monitoring boost levels making sure I'm not over boosting. (Not sure how to do that on uprev but I'll try to find out)

Those are the main focus points of tuning yes? Slowly working these numbers through different RPM's and throttle inputs.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

Ignition timing and Target AFR are pretty straight forward but the fuel timing numbers and inputs I'm not sure about what rage I should be going for and focusing on.

Any input or advice from any tuners on here?

 

I have an ignition cut if my car boosts over 8psi. Every tuning program should have a boost cut; it's a simple safety feature that will save your engine.

The z likes to be around 11.8 in boost(I'm at 6psi) probably a little more rich if higher than the boost I run. 13 is WAYYY too high for boost. I feel uncomfortable when I go over 12.


Don't use 1st gear to tune, you CAN fix major problems in 1st gear, but it's better to be in the specific rpm range longer for minor adjustments from what I learned from tuning on the Z

 

Yea I haven't even left Neutral yet lol

And my gate springs are 10lbs. But yea I've seen the ignition/throttle cut feature. Haven't touched it yet.