Went to the dyno today... scam?

I'm guessing that you have a power adder w/ the numbers in ur sig, and since you have driven youre car for 8 months w/o a tune, I recommend that you should take ur arse to a reputable tuner and get a conservative tune before youre engine goes boom...just my .02

umm yeah, id suggest getting a secodn opinion by another shop that is very stang friendly and that can make adjustments to your tune to dyno it. 18:1 a/f ratio is very very very ****ing lean, most times for street cars on stock motors its kept around the 11-12:1 range for safety purposes, ive seen 13-14 on built motors that can handle the heat. 18:1 is just mind blowing if its true.

though id tell them to check their equipment as well, two cars that have been driven hard for long periods in a row, both show the same insane a/f consecutively? sounds like they need to possibly "clean their sniffer" so to speak.

a/f ratios change drastically under different atmospheric conditions, but not too drastic.

i had a 97 eclipse GST that i tuned via DSMlink, which allowed me to change every aspect of anything having to do with fuel, timing or airflow delivery, and was probably one of the best obdII loggers out there, 300 samples per second logging everything it could. What was tuned perfectly one day, would show knock the next (dsm's have knock sensors). i had the CEL rigged to blink rapidly if timing was retarded 3* due to knock, and i could tune and tune one night and have 0 knock and perfect timing, and be driving the next day with totally different conditions and boom, CEL starts going crazy, hook up the laptop and sure enough, getting knock cause the barometric pressure dropped, the temp outside was different, humidity, etc.

BUT i highly doubt anything regarding the weather would make the car run fine one day to super uber lean the next.

you could always get a wideband o2 kit and that way youll always have a real-time wideband gauge in the car at all times. 300$ insurance IMO, then again, what happens if that gauge shows 18:1 a/f tomorrow and then you have to spend another whatever amount of money on a new dynotune? then youre out even more what it wouldve taken just to throw the car on another dyno just for peace of mind?

IMO id just take it somewhere else, 50-70$ whatever for a few runs and peace of mind is alot better than however much it would cost to replace melted pistons and snapped rods. you gotta pay to play the game........

You can always install your own A/F gage.

Were they measuring the A/F from the tail-pipe or from a bung in the mid-pipe?....I'm guessing the tail-pipe?

the tail-pipe sniffers IMO, are not the accurate way to measure A/F.....and it's quite possible their equipment wasn't working properly

regardless (mid-pipe or tailpipe....flawed equipment or not)....pulling an 18 on an NA motor is a disaster in the making....pulling an 18 on a blown application....the thing should just plain grenade

if that was my car.....I'd be going to a Stang-friendly shop ASAFP......get her on the dyno.....and make sure she's alright.....and I'd be measuring A/F from the mid-pipe

Both cars being totally screwed in the same way seems unlikely. I bet they screwed something up with the test. You said it was a ricer shop right...

get a wideband 02. the Innovate LC-1 is less than $200. you can connect it to your Xcal2.