Got my car dyno tuned by Doug (BamaChips)

kooldawg6

mine works really well and can take a fair amount
Aug 31, 2006
1,679
2
38
Central VA
A few guys in the Mustang Club I'm in got in touch with Doug about coming to Northern VA to do a group dyno tune day and he said yes. Well that day was this past Saturday:D Originally I was just to show up to watch, take video and pics. I have been running "Brand X" 87 octane tune for over a month now so I figured between that and only having CAI, O/R H and mufflers done what would there be for me to gain from a $300 dyno tune:shrug: One of the guys in the group kept bugging me about doing it and I told him I didn't even bring my tuner with me. We asked Doug and he said not having my tuner was no problem at all since he could use his, load it into my car then email me the file later. That was all it took before my name was now on the list of cars:D When my turn came, I was thinking of seeing around 270ish for HP since I've seen the graph where Superchips dyno'd an automatic and it baselined at 258 HP & 263 TQ, plus according to the shop's dyno computer, the air temp was 100.3 degrees when my car was loaded up:eek: Doug's baseline pull was a shock to me as it was right at 275/275 (taking out the converter induced spike from unlocking and locking). It was all he could do to not keep laughing while he said his tune would eliminate the horrible power drop from 3700-4100 RPM and eliminate the converter issue all together! He tweaked the tune and now was ready for the second pull. He was right, as over his final two pulls he gained me 40 HP & 40 TQ at the 3700 RPM mark and nearly 20 HP & TQ more than "Brand X" tune all the way from 3700-5600 RPM:jaw: So on paper, he netted 5 peak HP & 20 peak TQ, but I gained so much overall and this is just 87 octane:eek: I can't wait to get his 93 torque and 93 race tune as well! Compared to Superchips, I've gained 22 HP & 36 TQ over stock (I know dynos differ) so far! Superchips dyno'd 266 & 271 on premium fuel and their tune. So mine is 14 & 24 above theirs with CAI, O/R H and mufflers on regular:rock:
Now back to the story. The dyno tuning started at 9am, then we all went to BK for lunch (that was cool hanging with Doug) and I stayed at the shop until 5pm and there were still 2 more cars to dyno. Doug is truly a nice down to earth guy and is very knowledgeable. I know where I'm getting all of my tunes from now on:nice:

Now for the pics (cars in order):
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Hanging with Doug (I took the pic so I'm not in it):
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My Dyno Graph:
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Video: My car was the first one Doug had to plug his ears for a bit:rlaugh::rock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjvFoWMwx00
 
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KOOL outstanding , I wish I was close to a tuner ,,.... I envy you soo much ! Looks great ! Overall what was your baseline at when you got the car and with what you have now .. whats the total HP and TRQ youve gained with the mods you have ..??
 
Overall what was your baseline at when you got the car and with what you have now .. whats the total HP and TRQ youve gained with the mods you have ..??

I never had my car dyno'd before Saturday. Superchips dyno'd a stock '05 with 3.31 gears and got 258 HP & 263 TQ. After they installed their premium fuel tune, the numbers went up to 266 HP & 271 TQ. My mods for performance are WMS CAI, Pypes O/R H and MAC mufflers. I have 4.10s which Doug said can show around a 5 HP loss, but have a 28.3" rear tire which helps me not lose as much from the gear swap, but adds that much more rotational mass which will reduce the numbers by a couple. Judging by the Superchips and Doug's knowledge of stock autos coming in at mid 250 HP, I have gained around 25 HP and 32 TQ. Doug was estimating that I could see gains of 10 HP & 10 TQ by going to the 93 tune over this 87 tune. I may be going to the track this Saturday to see if the new found power can get me into the 12s or if it will just get worse 60 & 330' times and still run low 13s...
 
I would be interested to see what numbers you would pull on a Mustang Dyno? DynoJet dynos seem to over inflate their numbers at least 10 to 12%. Congrats on picking up the extra power.

I know exactly what you're saying. I'm not that worried about what my #s are as long as I can run decent times at the track. I however am glad that he got my A/F ratio dialed in:nice: The first car in the pics (gray) came in at 295 HP & 310 TQ (Doug gained him just under 10 HP & 10 TQ over his own mail tune). His is also an auto with 4.10s, but he also has the JLT CAI, LTs, high flow H, UDPs, aluminum DS and runs drag radials and has run a best of 12.41 so far. So that is a prime example of not worrying about the power #s and able to run mid 12s at will:D
 
Yeah I think Don_W's quote from another board says it best...

HP numbers are good and all, but they are like asking someone how much they can bench. What difference does it make if I can still kick your a$$?
 
yeah well i guess im a lucky guy, doug lives about 30 mins away from me, :hail2: i think im gonna get a dyno tune, instead of a mail order tune

dro

Hehe me too, I live about 10 mins away from Trussville where he goes to dyno on weekends.

I'd say it is well worth it! Most of the guys there had Doug's mail order tune and he was able to improve on them about 10HP and got their A/F ratio spot on:nice:
The guy with the white GT in the video has already talked to Doug and is going to trailer his car all the way down there for him to tune after he installs a blower then drive the Stang all the way back to VA.
 
i think he might be talking about his old tune which i believe was brenspeed. I wonder if i should get a mail order tune from doug over my current brenspeed... : / Could any fricken Tuners come down to South Florida?? ; )
 
I wouldn't assume that Doug's mail order tune is going to be any better than your Brenspeed tune just because his dyno tune outperformed the Brenspeed canned tune. Mail order tunes have to be conservative since no two cars are identical. I'm sure Brenspeed could have shown some gains with dyno time on his car as well. Based on the great reputatin that both of these shops have, I would bet that you could find some cars that dyno better on a Brenspeed tune than a Bama tune and others that are the opposite. Unfortunately it is a crap shoot without trying both, and even then you would have to pay for dyno time to know for sure.
 
Brand X means it is just a canned tune. Nothing custom about it. It's just a tune that somebody wrote up that is meant for certain mods and should be perfectly fine without having to go to a dyno. They are never perfect and they never net you anywhere near the amount of power possible with a custom tune.

For example, Kooldawg made 260 with his canned tune from superchips. He is now making 280~. That's a good 20hp in the summer (more in the winter or cooler days) just by getting it tuned on a dyno.
 
My peak gains were 5 HP & 20 TQ, but from 3600-5600 RPM Doug gained me a fairly consistent 20HP & 20 TQ. My biggest gain was at 3700 RPM where he took care of the big power dip which gained 40 HP and nearly 40 TQ:eek: My car has been woken up again!!!!! Hoping to get to the track Saturday, but it could just be more spinning tires through the 330' mark, but I'm going to give it a shot once again to break into the 12s on street tires:nice: