How much would a dyno tune run me?

georgio440 said:

I recently installed an O/R X, and have the CEL on. I was thinking of just going to Apex Motorsports in SJ, CA and getting a dyno tune. Would this be better than buying an SCT? Also, what else would the tune at the shop do for me besides eliminating my CEL? Thanks.

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Just get an xcal 2 or 3 from MPH, there is know need for a dyno tune with your mods.

you have to have a tuner for someone to make a tune for your car.. for example they hook the tuner to your car.. then they hook the tuner to the dyno ..

just have MPH do a simple 91 octane tune for you. Apex is expensive, and you'd need to buy the tuner anyway - IMO you dont even need a tune

Here in Wichita its 5-600

yea you probably dont really need a tune even, but i'd just recommend what everyone else has said. order a tuner and tune.

You could also just buy some plug and play MIL eliminators to get that CEL off if you dont want to spend the money on a tune yet considering you may gain little to nothing form it.

Just to put it out there. Out the door, Apex will cost you about $600. Thats 400 for tunner and around 200 for 2hrs labor.

Tuner and 3 custom tunes from www.brenspeed.com will cost you $379 to your door. With your mods that's a heck of a lot cheaper than getting a dyno tune.

georgio440 said:

Sounds good. The main reasons I want my tuner are A) after the x-pipe install, it's running a bit rich, and B) I plan to do new gears down the road. What's MPH's site?

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www.modularpowerhouse.com

forum155pl said:

you have to have a tuner for someone to make a tune for your car.. for example they hook the tuner to your car.. then they hook the tuner to the dyno ..

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These answers are all pretty right on. Here's what you need to think about though. You probably don't require a tune right now because your mods are minimal. But, you plan on more mods, some of which will require a dyno tune. I agree you should just get a SCT XCal II (example) or something. Someone (a tuner) needs to put a tune in it though, so you can load it into your car when you get it. Its quick and simple (90 seconds) to put the tune into your car through the OBD2 (computer interface under the drivers' side dash). But, with your minimal mods presently, the tuner could put a simple tune in from looking at your list of mods and be pretty close. This would work for you until you make more major mods at which time you should get a dyno tune. When you have a dyno tune, the tuner will then have your tune in his dyno computer and then download it to your handheld (e.g., XCal II). He then becomes the "keeper" of your tune(s). You would just carry them around in your handheld and switch your car back and forth as needed. You could have a couple in there like 91 octane, and 110 octane, etc. Then each time you make a change to your setup you can either tell the tuner, or take your car to the tuner and he can send you the tune update via email to your XCal or re-dyno your car and put it into your handheld in person and you're good til you make another change. I would do what these others have said. Get a handheld, have a starting tune put into it, dyno when you've got some mod which makes it necessary. As someone else here said, you'll have to buy the tuner either way. May as well start now and then just spend the labor time (couple hundred $) when you need the dynotune. Be careful, though, buy the brand of tuner that is supported by the tune shop you want to go to! Not all tuners support all brands. (Several good brands, each with its fans. I like SCT. I also recommend XCal II even though the III is out. The earliest III's had some features which were not functional and the III also might have had some bugs. You can probably get a lot better deal on a II since they are on the way out. The II's will data log and you can deal with your tuner over the internet if you need to tweak using the data logs from the track. Also, they will continue to be supported.) Sorry for the long answer. My excuse........I'm a granddad...you get used to explaining things, and....I've needed plenty of explaining!

Cliff notes on that post:
Buy xcal2 from good tuner
get tunes for you car according to your mods

d98gt said:

Cliff notes on that post:
Buy xcal2 from good tuner
get tunes for you car according to your mods

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Yeah. What he said I said!