OnyxCobra

I'll say you won't need a tune for it to run okay but you will for optimal power output.

mjr46

^^^^^^^^^I second that

FinnishMafia89

hmm alright so say I wanted to tune it... you know to get the most out of the combo. Can that be done with a handheld tuner? Or should I bring the car to my ONLY tuning place... they have done kind of a ****ty job for a friend of mine in the past. If I could tune it myself that would be better. Are there any handheld tuners I could buy? I have no idea what's good and what's bad. I am a tuning nooob hah

thanks

Mike

OnyxCobra

usually, but not always, when someone says a tune they are talking about putting the car on a dyno and having a chip custom burned for it.

dudeboy

On your 89, you don't get to use a 'handheld' tuner. Your car will require changing the tune parameters and burning them to a chip. Once installed on the back of the ecu, the parameter values stored in the chip will over-ride the stock parameter values stored in the ecu.
The chip is commonly refered to as a 'J3' chip, as it is installed in the J3 port of the ecu.

If your local shop has been known to do crappy work, then I would avoid them.

To create a tune yourself, look into the following products.
tweecer.com
moates.net
Anderson Ford PMS

Any of these systems will have a learning curve... don't expect to learn it all in a day or 2.


However,
It is likely you won't gain very much with a tune on your combo. Your drivability should be just fine as well.
But, if you are planning to make more modifications to the car in the future, then NOW is the time to start learning how to tune the car yourself. Now is a good time to learn the user interface, and get familiar with the basic scalars, functions, and tables.

jason