where did you learn to tune etc.. id like to tune my car myself but dont know where to start.. but i wanna learn anyone?

 

A good place to start is contact cewrx7r1 and buy his tuning notes. Most learn tuning by trial and error. The error's can be quite costly

Dan

 

the chuck westbrook tuning notes and the single turbo tuning guide (in single turbo forum) are good places to start. Then it's a lot of trial and error. And patience. And careful analysis of datalogs.

 

Just remember this, Start Really rich then lean it to your desired AFR. For timing, it is hard to do correctly without a dyno but BDC has alot of good numbers to start with

 

Get your hands on as many maps as you can, study them, read Chuck's notes, read this site, start rich and datalog alot before you start making changes.

It really is best if you can buddy up with someone to share ideas and research. Datalogging with an intelligent and interested 7 owner helps a ton and it's fun to boot.

Don't be afraid to pay someone to tune your car while you watch, it's the easiest way to learn quick.

 

excellent notes guys.. anyone else?? i want to tune my car myself cause i have access to a dyno but not a good tuner.. and i figured if this car is my baby i want to learn to do everything with and for it.. and tuning being one of the major things i cant do but want too badly!

 

im thinking aout chris at bonzai racing for a tuner.. he sounds good and peopl have lots of respect for him..

 

Houston Texas area.

Back in 1999 when twokrx7 and I bought the early PFCs we were very grateful that something like this was affordable, self programmable, and better than our XS or Pettit reprogrammed stock ecus.

Being almost no info out there and few affordable WBs (dark ages of self tuning) we slowly learned together (we both live in the Houston area). We learned what the PFC manual had in it, read all we could fine on the internet. and slowly played with the setting to see what it did. But we did not do much in the way of timing and only minor AFR changes.

The big break was the introduction of the DATALOGIC and affordable WBs. Our first WB from Australia cost $1200 and it did not have its own display meter.

At the same time this site was starting up and growing. Back then most members were older mature owners like we are who were more auto experienced. Thus most questions were really into tuning and the affects. Nothing like "how do I adjust the idle speed" but more like "the idle timing does not match the map and why".

The simple answer: trail and error and much reading of any tuning articles we could fine.

 

i learned to tune by talking to BDC and Kahren a lot.

this was on Haltech e6k BTW, which is much easier to tune than PFC/datalogit, though they are both good systems and totally different

 

This is why the forum should have never been cleaned up. All that info is now gone forever. But I can find out how to adjust my idle alot faster since all those other post are gone.

 

hmm maybe it be a good idea for someone who knows whats up, to write a quick beginners guide to tuning... they dont have to be super in depth but just basics so someone like me dont get hot fingers and do something dumb to there engine without knowing.. yes its dumb to do that but people still do it all the time..

 

^ PM cewrx7r1 and purchase his tuning notes, if you have a PFC there is no better way to get started in tuning your own PFC ECU'd turbo Rx7

 

I agree, chucks notes are well worth the price, i wish i had a copy when I started to learn how to tune. But i had something better than his notes, I had the main man himself.

 

chuck's notes are pretty in-depth. if you have a single turbo with big injectors, FPR, etc you are going to have a lot of tuning to do. Or at least I did. the PFC basemap is decent for stock twins (or a smaller single) and stock primaries.

on a car with stock turbos and stock primary injectors it's easy just to start with the Apexi basemap, richen up the high boost area and pull a little timing. maybe lean out the cruising slightly. everything is all messed up though when you want to go to say 20psi and have to rescale the map and stuff.

 

In addition to Chuck's notes, here are some more good ones:

http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/r...t_tutorial.pdf

http://www.clubrx.org/media/pfc/PowerFC_FAQ.pdf

http://www.clubrx.org/media/pfc/PFC_...rbo_tuning.pdf

 

very useful links thx

 

I got a copy of Chuck's notes and went from there. I've spent a lot of time on this forum (not just PFC, but single turbo & others) reading. You've got to understand how your motor really works (fuel injection, boost control, all the sensors for the motor) and how it responds to the environment (your right foot, changes in weather & altitude, engine fluid temperatures). You also have to understand what tools you need to tune (wideband O2, laptop, datalogit box, etc.).

Keep the AFRs a little bit rich, use conservative timing, and you should be good to go. Then if your motor blows up you can't blame it on yourself If you have a dyno handy, by all means use it. It's a heck of a lot safer to do instead of on the street... just be aware that conditions on the street are generally going to be different and you have to accommodate for that.

Good luck, it's a very rewarding experience to tune your own car. If you're going to mod your car to this level (with a PFC), you really ought to at least learn about the system and how it works. Then you can have an intelligent conversation with the person who ends up tuning your car.

 

Wow, good stuff. Do you experienced guys have any WBs you'd specifically suggest? Thanks.

 

I have the PLX wideband O2, SM / DM-5 AFR. I use the AN1-AN2 inputs on the Datalogit with the supplied shunt cap and proper grounding and shielding. I get very reliable, low noise results. I was able to make minor tweaks to the Datalogit input range and it exactly matches the DM-5 display. I haven’t checked its calibration against a laboratory standard, but I have confidence it’s giving me good readings. Plus it was very straight forward in its installation.