cliffyk

I am of the opinion that any tune not created in person--with hands on the engine being tuned so that the tuner might feel, hear, and smell it--is a "mail order" tune. One done with exchange of logs via email is undoubtedly better than "off the rack", it remains however a mail-order (or "remote" if you prefer) tune. This may seem to some an overly broad definition, it is nonetheless that which I hold.

After 50+ years of tuning engines (I started with McCulloch powered go carts in the mid-50s) I can hear and smell things such as poor flame propagation, slightly lean and rich mixtures, slight hesitations, etc that do not show up in datalogs. In the old days we would push a needle into a carburetor jet, bend the float bracket or tweak the point gap to fine tune, now that can be done electronically but it's still the same thing and to be done to perfection has to be done in person. Anyone who says they can create a fully optimised custom tune via exchange of datalogs or whatever, through email or otherwise is lying or a fool, the latter because blowing up too many customer's engines is bad for business.

The best you will get will be a very good, 110% safe, tune. The last step in full optimisation is to go for the 100% or even 99.44% safe tune. This can only be done hands on, using a dyno or some other means of gauging performance as I described above.

To reiterate, they is nothing mystical or complex about tuning engines; anyone of reasonable intelligence, and the tools and knowledge, can do it. That's what makes "mail order" and "remote" tuning possible--in fact it can get boring after a while. The benefit of learning to do it yourself is that as you acquire the tools and gain practical experience you will be able to tweak for weather and new mods for $0.00, and can for a start pushing the envelope to get to that perfect tune for your engine and yours alone.

And, the sooner you start learning the sooner you too will have 50 years experience...

Romer

When you put it like that I fully agree, but that doesn't mean the OP is ready for that and has the patience to read up on that before beginning to tune away. It can be an expensive way to learn

wolverine8490

When I installed my KB 2.1, I tuned it using Sniper SF. I data logged using a Innovative LC-1. Made a few pulls down the road and sent the logs to cliffyk to review. After he reviewed them, he stated the tuned looked good and safe taking into account using stock internals.

Keep in mind, all I did was answer the drop down selections. I would call this pretty much a canned tune. Been running like this for over a year now without issues.

Now, when I hook the meth injection up, it may be a different story. Someday, I will learn how to tune more in depth myself, but until then, I respect good tuners, as it is all greek to me.

cliffyk

I understand, what gets me going is when it is put forth that no regular human could possibly tune their own engine.

I had a friend, now gone, that used to say "Having someone else tune your engine and then going around town bragging about how fast it is, is like having someone else do your girlfriend and then going around bragging about how good she is..."

uberstang1

Way off topic, but you put a 2v in a true cobra or are u saying it came with a 2v?

wolverine8490

LOL, well, its a long story. I part out cars. I also had my project GT that had been built up through the years. I was going to have it painted in the next year or so but ran across this cobra cheap to part out. The body was in awesome shape and was a 60k original mile car with no blemish on the title (like my GT had).

So, I took the 2 cars, made one, sold off all the rest of the parts and put about 6k in my pocket. Now I don't need to paint anymore, and have a true cobra besides the motor. Granted, it was a 2 month long project, but I got to add some parts that I had been wanted to add anyway during the process. And for the record, my GT was never badged as a cobra...

here is a link to the many transitions - http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/m...%20Become%201/

projectresto83

How about this guys....Yes tuning a setup yourself can be done but a DIYer with the proper equipment....BUT not every DIYer is COMPETENT enough to understand how it works or how to read the data. A monkey can build an engine. Same goes for installing a set of gears. It isn't all that difficult if you know how to read the patterns, have the tools, and knowledge of how to do it.

ALSO, if a professional tuner does the work and the engine fails because of screwed up tuning a lot of them will pay to fix it so long as it is proven to be their fault. If the DIYer tunes it and screws it up who pays for it??

So enough of the pissing contest...

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