Is anyone driving their car without a dyno tune or ECU mods? I have come to accept the fact that a dyno tune should be part of the cost of a SC but I'm wondering if people have had any good experience foregoing this step?
You are exaclty right there!!! If you aren't going to dyno tune then just forget a power adder. You will either blow the engine up or be losing a serious amount of power, unless you are very lucky with your guessing at right tune. I picked up over 50rwhp with my dyno and it only cost me $230. VERY VERY worth it.
I also have the stock ECU by the way and the car drives great.
When you get a custom chip or any kind of eninge management (f.a.s.t., AEM, Tweecer) They can adjust A/F mixture and timing advance across the whole RPM range.
I used the stock computer and a FMU. So in order to tune mine I just adjusted the FMU disc size, the fuel pressure with the FPR, and the base timing( I left the BTM on 1).
DO NOT bolt on a blower and play. I can name a bunch of people on this board who had numerous problems. I had mine set at 9 degrees timing with the BTM on 3 and still blew a HG. You are correct, a couple of hundred should be thrown in with the cost of the blower for a dyno tune.
Let's just accept the "safety" part of the dyno tune as MANDATORY..
Now, let's focus on the "power" side. We all spend TONS of money on stuff here. We spend hundreds on an exhaust system for nice sound and what, 10 ponies? We spend $100 for Pullies and what, 10 ponies? We spend all this money for a few HP here and there and then what...NO TUNE.
For a couple of hundred, you could potentially be missing out on 20-50HP depending on your setup. THe more beefy the setup, the more you may be missing out.
The shop that did my Vortech (even tho they screwed up some things) included a "basic" tune in their install. They looked at the AFR and adjusted timing to get what they could and be safe. The owner there told me that a couple of years ago, they got a car from 420 to 500 HP with about $300 in parts and a dyno tune on a car that was never tuned right.
If you have a shop install a SC, they usually include a basic dyno tune in their install price. If you are doing it yourself, then YES go to a good place for a GREAT tune.
Let's just accept the "safety" part of the dyno tune as MANDATORY..
Now, let's focus on the "power" side. We all spend TONS of money on stuff here. We spend hundreds on an exhaust system for nice sound and what, 10 ponies? We spend $100 for Pullies and what, 10 ponies? We spend all this money for a few HP here and there and then what...NO TUNE.
For a couple of hundred, you could potentially be missing out on 20-50HP depending on your setup. THe more beefy the setup, the more you may be missing out.
The shop that did my Vortech (even tho they screwed up some things) included a "basic" tune in their install. They looked at the AFR and adjusted timing to get what they could and be safe. The owner there told me that a couple of years ago, they got a car from 420 to 500 HP with about $300 in parts and a dyno tune on a car that was never tuned right.
If you have a shop install a SC, they usually include a basic dyno tune in their install price. If you are doing it yourself, then YES go to a good place for a GREAT tune.
The tune is a costly thing no matter how you go about it but I think you should consider it just another speed part and include the cost in your buget.
A good tune, even on a mild NA combo can really make a difference. The more radical the combo, the more you can usually pick up. That is why many pick up mega power with forced induction.