I got my car in the fall, it came with CAI, cams, a cut and clamp x pipe, and axelbacks. I bought it from a dealer and it didn't come with a tuner. I assumed it had a proper tune but from reading a recent post about tuners, people "unmarry" tuners from their cars by setting them to the stock tune. Does my car most likely have a stock tune? I gassed it quite a bit before putting it away for the winter, is it bad for the engine to push it with my parts and a stock tune? Also I have no idea what kind of cams it has, and have no luck finding out from the previous owner; do i have to take off a cam cover to find out which cams it has? The speedo is running fast (because reset to stock probably) so I need to buy a tuner anyway, but should I invest in a tuner right away (still paying off car) or can I drive with the stock tune for now? Any help or suggestions is/are appreciated.

 

most of the times a cam would require a tune, and sometimes depending on the brand a cai would require a tune. i would definitly get a tune whenever you can because you dont want your car running too lean or rich

 

The K&N may or may not require a tune. It might drive ok, but I wouldn't hammer on it. Do yourself a favor and get it dyno tuned. Nothing is worth the reassurance that your car is running optimally.

 

I plan on getting headers at some point, I don't think a dyno tune would be worth it. Also dyno tunes are expensive, I don't have 600 to spend a dyno tune when I could buy an sct tuner for 200 less that also does the job.

 

You'll also have to purchase a tune. SCT tunes do not account for your mods nor do they supply a tune worth a crap. Granted that's still cheaper but it's night and day difference. Not my money so do what you will.

 

Also it isn't giving any codes, don't cars give codes when they're running rich or lean?

 

But doesn't Bama tailor a tune to work with mods. I understand its approximate but it's a lot more versatile, isn't it? If I got a dyno tune, then later installed headers, deleted my cats, wouldn't that tune then be off?

 

Yes, but for $200, It sounds like you are buying a used tuner, it's another $50 each or $150 for the tunes for life program from Bama. In the end, you still need to have a tuner for dyno tunes also.
What BakerJD was getting at was that when you don't know the extent of the mods, only a Dyno tune (where they have air/fuel logging) will give you peace of mind that your tune is correct and safe. However, do your research on the existing mods and a bama tune (or any of the others) should get you pretty close to a great tune.

 

True that!
Normally I would not recommend a dyno tune for a n/a setup, but a baseline with the proper logging is required to insure accuracy.

 

Ok so what other mods could my car have that I would need to know about before getting an accurate tune? Like delete plates? I guess what I need to know is what questions bama will ask me about mods before they email me a tune. I think I'll call them and ask.