when someone says, tune it well or the car is well tuned. what does that mean. I don't know if any of the guys had a air fuel meter, or gauges, egt(dont know the knowledge behind this), boost apparently...ect. But how do you read these things and what do you do to properly tune a car. I read on the internet, some how do things work page, but I read that nascar race cars dont use turbos, they are just tuned to the max by computer.god what does this mean.

Usually this is done on a dynometer. Depends on the mods you have what you can tune.

Gauges are important to know what you are doing to the engine while you are tuning. A voltmeter style A/F gauge is important because you are able to fine tune with an EXACT number, not a flashy LED gauge. EGT is important to make sure the that you are not running too hot in the cumbustion chamber. This can cause problems like detonation if you do get too hot. If you have a turbo, get a boost gauge and fuel pressure gauge. If you have Nitrous, a nitro pressure gauge. Oil pressure gauge is also a good thing with our cars which like to "consume" oil as Satan puts it. Satan even gave me a TSB saying that Mitsu corp believes that oil consumption of up to 1 qt every 1000 miles is considered normal and not covered under warranty.

As far as tuning goes, Cam timing for the best power if you have adjustable cam gears. If you have a S-AFC or something similar you can adjust the fuel curve. MSD ignition can retard timing which is useful to run higher boost with a turbo or a higher nitro shot. For turbo guys, they have to tune the Fuel Pressure Regulator for idle pressure and then as the boost increases, the pressure to the injectors does also, which makes them dump in more fuel.

You can also get a datalogger ( http://www.obd-2.com/ ) and see exactly what the computer sees and you can see what the computer is doing to the ignition timing (retarding) and figure out why (knock/pre-detination)



Contemplating Turbo. . . . .

http://hometown.aol.com/ohshootuhh/

All Motor Beast in need of MAJOR TUNING

Perf:
KYB AGX Struts
Neuspeed Sport Springs
5 Strut Bars (2 F/U, F/L, R/U, R/L)
Sprint Front Camber Kit
$15 Rear Camber Kit
Corbin's A/F Gauge
MSD DIS-2 Ignition System
Some Regrind Cams that need High Compression (which I don't have)
Ported Intake Manifold
Ported Throttle Body
Nameless Cold Air Intake with a K&N Filter
Custom 2 1/2 inch exhaust with Dual DTM Muffler
Empty Catalytic Convertor
Energy Suspension Motor Mount inserts
Hurricane_GS Short Shifter
Symborsky Shift Kit
Clutchmasters Stage 3 Modular
225/50/16inch Wheels and Tires


Audio:
Alpine CD Head Unit
Alpine Flex4 25W X 4 for Fronts and Rears
Alpine V-12 450W X 1 for Subs
Infinity Reference Series 5 1/4 and 1 inch tweeter component systems for fronts and rears
Blaupunkt 3 way 6x9's in the rears
3 MTX 5000 10" 12 ohm subs running 4 ohms mono

that msd thing, my friend has it on his 97 civic dx, he used to run nos but now nothing. he said it gives an extra spark or charge. is this true. i don't want to get gauges that i don't need, i do plan on going turbo, so what kinds of gauges should help. the voltmeter, a/f, and a/f controller, so everytime you guys go tune your cars, you are taking it to get dyno'd. I heard that can run up to 100 bucks

i've been quoted 120/hr w/ use of a wideband O2 sensor.

Don't have the money for dyno tuning right now.. bleh.

Dyno time would be great, but like Dino said, its alot of money. My car has never seen a dyno. I tune with my mind, eyes, ears, butt, and datalogger. If you're careful (and know what you're doing), you can get the engine tuned pretty well. You're car won't be at peak performance, but you can make good power, safely.


Corbin

'95 ESI-T
HRC+FMIC+ETC...

Yeah basic things you can tune are ignition timing, fuel delivery. there are many ways to adjust these. S-AFC, Piggyback computer, independant fuel computer, cam gears, fuel pressure regulator, etc.

I'm not sure anybody here has actually gone and spend time on the dyno tuning the car, it's expensive. You can tune yourself with a lot of the tools mentioned above. EGT, A/F Meter, datalogger, and do you own tuning to get a pretty good approximation of what the best conditions for your car would be.

"The fastest draw is when the sword never leaves the scabbard,
The strongest way to block, is never to provoke a blow,
And the cleanest cut is the one withheld."

Michael J. Kulaga
e-mail: Michael_97RS@2gntDSM.zzn.com aol IM: MJKulga
http://highlander.dsmpower.com/

All Motor Beast in the Making

Injen CAI, 55mm TB, Hooker 4-1 Stepped Header, GS-T Muffler, AFX UDP, S-AFC, 8.5mm Magnecor Wires, SS Clutch Line, NRG Susp. Motor Mount Ins., FU/RU/RL STBs, TSW Blade 17x7.5, Bridgestone Potenza RE730 215/45ZR-17. Front KVR Cross-Drilled Rotors and Carbon Fiber Pads

To Be Installed: Ported/Polished Intake Manifold, Rear disc brake conversion kit, SS Brake Lines, Rear KVR Cross Drilled Rotors and KVR Carbon Fiber Kevlar Pads

Oil pressure gauge is also a good thing with our
>cars which like to "consume" oil as Satan puts it. Satan
>even gave me a TSB saying that Mitsu corp believes that oil
>consumption of up to 1 qt every 1000 miles is considered
>normal and not covered under warranty.
>

That's pure genius!
you never gotta get under the car to change the oil :)

so I plan on running a stage II, all the 2gnt have tuned themselves with these controllers and gauges. I know some just slapped that turbo on as is and drove off...probably blew their engine though. Anybody near southern cali, Downey who know how to tune their own cars, maybe give me some instructions, 100 bucks is too much

My car is being dyno tuned with a wideband o2 sensor in 3 weeks! yippie! What I am having them do is adjust the cam gears, tune my DFI properly(its fuggin rich as hell now), check my MSD settings and tune if needed, and some other shit, but thats the main tuning i'm scheduled for. I have to pay for use of the dyno, and for a wideband 02 sensor since I'll be tuning high boost on race gas, and I have to pay for the guy to tune the DFI and other stuff, so it's getting expensive real quick, so don't jump in if your not ready or you'll drown in added costs...

you said man. thanks