To tune or not to tune?

[ToolGuy]

Practically no winter is making me think. I've never had my car tuned, ever. It's been dyno'ed and I have bolt on mods (see my sig), so should I even bother gettting a tune?

There's probably some more power there I can get but I always wonder, will a tune mess up something else, make the car not reliable or something? Will I have to get another tune if I ever have to replace the ECM?

I've got a manual trans, so there's nothing to adjust in a tune there.

When I had it dyno'ed years ago the guy said these cars adjust themselves to a point and with my mods, it is adjusting itself. Sounded believable to me.

So that's the question, should I get it tuned now or not?

Thanks,

[MAC5]

ToolGuy

Used to catch you quite a bit back on the corvette forum site. I still hang there but had some time to pull up this site again and noticed your name. Will have to hang out here more often, see some familiar names.

I lived up there across from Oakland U and Meadowbrook mall (or whatever they call it now) back in 1980 to 1993. Still get back up that way one/two times a year to visit old friends.

Still have my 98 C5, have driven it up to Harbor Springs area the last 3 summers and planning on the same this August. Might drop you a line and meet up when passing through.

MAC

[LLC5]

Originally Posted by ToolGuy

Practically no winter is making me think. I've never had my car tuned, ever. It's been dyno'ed and I have bolt on mods (see my sig), so should I even bother gettting a tune?

There's probably some more power there I can get but I always wonder, will a tune mess up something else, make the car not reliable or something? Will I have to get another tune if I ever have to replace the ECM?

I've got a manual trans, so there's nothing to adjust in a tune there.

When I had it dyno'ed years ago the guy said these cars adjust themselves to a point and with my mods, it is adjusting itself. Sounded believable to me.

So that's the question, should I get it tuned now or not?

Thanks,

If you don't have any runnability issues, I would leave it alone. Aftermarket tunes generally lean fuel mixtures to gain a little power, but then you lose your built in safety factor. Good luck either way.

[ToolGuy]

Originally Posted by MAC5

ToolGuy

Used to catch you quite a bit back on the corvette forum site. I still hang there but had some time to pull up this site again and noticed your name. Will have to hang out here more often, see some familiar names.

I lived up there across from Oakland U and Meadowbrook mall (or whatever they call it now) back in 1980 to 1993. Still get back up that way one/two times a year to visit old friends.

Still have my 98 C5, have driven it up to Harbor Springs area the last 3 summers and planning on the same this August. Might drop you a line and meet up when passing through.

MAC

Hey mac, yes I remember you! Welcome to this site!

Seems like I join a forum for every car I get/have/replace and I just can't go to them all anymore, so I dropped a couple.

The area you lived in certainly has chagned, and I'm sure you've noticed when you occasionally return.

And heck yeah, drop me a line if you can when passing through in August, it would be nice to meet you.

[ToolGuy]

Originally Posted by LLC5

If you don't have any runnability issues, I would leave it alone. Aftermarket tunes generally lean fuel mixtures to gain a little power, but then you lose your built in safety factor. Good luck either way.

Nope, no runnability issues here. Thanks for the advice LLC5 I appreciate it! I'll be leaving it alone, don't want to create issues or spend loads of man hours and money trying to dial it in, just for street driving.

[Fixvet]

Originally Posted by ToolGuy

Nope, no runnability issues here. Thanks for the advice LLC5 I appreciate it! I'll be leaving it alone, don't want to create issues or spend loads of man hours and money trying to dial it in, just for street driving.

Hey bro.....our car mods are almost identical. It's been my experience helping others in my old vette gang where I used to live that the more you mess with these cars, the more $$ you're going to be spending to chase the demons you just created. To me, an old retired guy, my car can scare the crap out of me just fine....I don't need anymore power etc, than I have right now. It runs great, gets great mpg, looks better than showroom new...and I drive it every week. Why mess with a good thing!
Other than the typical bolt-ons like we both have, about 5 years ago, a guy just gave me a HyperTech tuner for my '98 since he was trading his '98 A4. So, I plugged in their mild upgraded tune and lowered the cooling fan come-on temps alittle, firmed up the A4 tranny shift points alittle and have enjoyed a great ride ever since. I can't tell for sure how much the HP tune has increased my power, because I don't drive hard, but I do like the ability to adjust the other things on my car that the tuner allows, plus it was all free to me. I've had old friends pour money into their highly modded cars constantly just to keep them running. Unless you're a hard core autoX'er or track racer driving at constant high rpm, it's definitely not for me. My 2 cents today!

[MAC5]

Originally Posted by ToolGuy

Hey mac, yes I remember you! Welcome to this site!

Seems like I join a forum for every car I get/have/replace and I just can't go to them all anymore, so I dropped a couple.

The area you lived in certainly has chagned, and I'm sure you've noticed when you occasionally return.

And heck yeah, drop me a line if you can when passing through in August, it would be nice to meet you.

Will do, take care.