New Gears.... now what???

lawrosa wrote:

lol..... You must really be bored. wrote:

LOL... Im going to talk you out of buying that tuner if it kills me....

Your post actually made me read more on tuners and I pulled up a lot of documentation regarding them.

Its somewhat of an education process. But when all is said and done all I see online is a bunch of kids on you tube flooring their vehicles back and forth up a road .

Swearing that thier car or truck is faster.

Buy a $48K truck, put a CAI on, rip the exhaust off, put a tune in because 375HP is not enough.

Im into longevity at my 51 years of age. I dont beat on my vehicles as I did as a kid.

But no computer management back then. tuning was different.

69 chevelle or the 68 442 I had was fast but we wanted faster..

If your an older gentlemen Im supprised your buying into it because as we know, gears, cams, exhaust, pistons and heads where the way to go. But with computer management it will be problematic..

Google will return the results that you ask for so if you type in, "what can a tuner do my tow vehicle" Google will give you positive results. If you ask, "Are tuners all they're cracked up to be?" then you'll get the negative results. Personally, I rely more on first hand experience because I have a lot friends that are into hotrods.

I grew up around drag racing and spent my summers at KCIR (Kansas City International Raceway). Weekends were funny cars and top fuel dragsters. Wednesday night was grudge night where we all went to the strip with our cars to race each other.

I have friends that raced professionally in the funny car class and I have friends who are weekend warriors. I know about 4 bolt mains, Dart heads, camshafts, headers, 4bbl carbs, 3 deuce set ups, forged steel cranks, chrome-moly push rods, electric fuel pumps, pistons, shift kits, 9 bolt Fords, high rise manifolds, forced air induction and on and on. I also know that the proper custom tune will be beneficial to my needs. I can't say for sure regarding boxed tunes but I'd bet they're better than factory tuned.

I have 14 years experience on you, have owned my fair share of fast cars. I've owned for Camaros, a 67, a 69RS, a 74LT and a 2000 Z-28. I drove a 1969 Dodge Super Bee in high school with a 383/375HP Magnum and factory Hurst 4-speed. I've owned fast Jap cars and fast Jap bikes so I've been around speed most of my life. I even had a buddy that had a V-drive drag boats so as you can see, life has been a real drag for me.

My truck now is pushing a little over 300HP. I'm happy with that and, like you, I don't drive it hard because I don't make the bucks I used to and broken parts are expensive to replace. My truck is light weight and has plenty of power. From 70mph to over 100mph is only a matter of seconds but it's like a lead sled from a dead stop. The throttle response is horrible because I have to depress the pedal to the floor to bring the engine to life. There's a long, lull in between gears (no throttle) and slow shifts. The downshifts are horrible and require putting the pedal to the floor and often it's all just motor with no help from the gears because it won't downshift.

The ECU is detuned for low emissions and better fuel economy that robs power from what is there. There are 3 things that custom dyno-tune will resolve. The 4th is the ABS warning lights. I could drive the truck for the rest of it's life with the lights on but I don't like it. Another 10 to 20 HP and 10 or so pounds of torque are possible just by removing the restrictions that the factory has placed on it and that's good news too.

You keep listening and you'll soon be telling me that you finally saw the light and woke yours up too.