To Custom Tune Or Not To Custom Tune

good to hear he found you some un-claimed horses.

i really think i need him to tune mine next spring. i think i am missing some low end off the line even with the 3.55 gears already helping that i think it could still pull harder off the line. no lack of power mid and high range right now though.

only reason i haven't had him do it yet is i am still un-decided if i want to save for a cam or not yet and i would rathar not pay to tune it twice. also i am un-decided on adding a stall, i really am trying to avoid having a higher stall converter in the car because of autocross though. i think the stall would shock the tires too much.

Congrats Joe.

Nothing against Tim at Norm's but Finish Line Performance in Naperville found 11 more ponies and 17 more torque over Tim's tuning. Plus for me they're a lot closer.

Wicked 09 wrote:

Nothing against Tim at Norm's but Finish Line Performance in Naperville found 11 more ponies and 17 more torque over Tim's tuning. Plus for me they're a lot closer.

I'd be worried if I were you. There are only a handfull of MOPAR CMR tuners in the country. Big difference between a safe tune and a max it out go for broke tune. Very few know what to look for to keep it safe on a Mopar. You should have taken it back to Tim to look at it first. His tunes are guaranteed spot on. Did you make any changes after your initial dyno tune?

I did a torque converter and MTCM but I don't think that would affect HP. You were at the track last time I was there. The car has been running great since the re-tune. Temp is holding right where it should be and everything seems good to go. I'm not knocking Tim in any way. FLP is just way closer and their tuner Dan comes highly recommended. I can't argue with the results.

No offense but all I have heard all summer is people complaining about there track times being slower. This was probably the hottest summer ever and that alone was the reason. I was having that problem last year in the 90-97 degree heat and did an ice box for this year. It knocked .6 off my et vs. last year in the heat. Adding too much timing to your tune might cash your motor someday. There was a reason Tim left it out.

Should I assume you talked to TIM since you mention timing. That was something the tuner at FLP mentioned. He added 2 degrees over what Tim did.

Illinois Chaos wrote:

Wicked 09 wrote:

Nothing against Tim at Norm's but Finish Line Performance in Naperville found 11 more ponies and 17 more torque over Tim's tuning. Plus for me they're a lot closer.

I'd be worried if I were you. There are only a handfull of MOPAR CMR tuners in the country. Big difference between a safe tune and a max it out go for broke tune. Very few know what to look for to keep it safe on a Mopar. You should have taken it back to Tim to look at it first. His tunes are guaranteed spot on. Did you make any changes after your initial dyno tune?

I have to agree with Tom on this, being I had my Charger tuned by someone else, and then re tuned by Tim. I dont think the 11 more ponies is worth it imo. Were you "highly recommended" to FLP by other Mopar owners? If so great, I hope it works out for you, if not as Tom said I would worry a little bit.

Wicked 09 wrote:

Should I assume you talked to TIM since you mention timing. That was something the tuner at FLP mentioned. He added 2 degrees over what Tim did.

Nope, I didn't. I am a student of the game and have watched Tim tune a gazillion times. The last pull always gets a little timing added in there to see if it likes it. If it don't it get's pulled back out. Keeping it nice and safe. There is a shitload of VE tables that all have to play nice together and it's a lot more than making blasts and maxing out the timing.

Actually it was another Mopar guy who recommended FLP. He's been going there for a couple years. I was there for the tuning and it took most of the day. I will say that I trust the tuner at FLP. Considering how long he took on his laptop between pulls, I feel he was very thourgh. I'm sort of sorry I posted this. It was not my intention to rip on Tim. I have no complaints on the work he did. I was just looking for a shop closer to home. It's almost 100 miles to Tim from my home. I don't have time to make that drive, have the work done and be able to drive home the same day. I am happy with FLP. Not much else I can say.

Oh, no problem. Nobody took it as ripping on Tim. I know what your saying about the distance thing. Just a concern about letting another tuner touch your ride. He is probably ok, I don't have any info. to the contrary. I used to go to Bob Kurgan, before Tim came here and Bob is an excellent tuner that is very highly regarded. Sorry if it seemed like I was ripping on ya. I was just trying to point out that adding more timing might be a catastrophic failure in the future if you get some bad gas, or it sees too much lt kr.

To illustrate my point, just ask Shawn how he liked his tune from Corey Simpson. That could have been a disaster.

Understood. It all comes down to a matter of trust. FLP has been very willing to work with me on all my stuff. I can't argue with results. The car seems to be running great and turned it's best time ever. It's not a daily driver by a long shot. 4 years and haven't broke 13,000 miles yet. On the street it seems fine, at the track it runs great. I haven't noticed any problems and if I do I'm sure FLP will stand behind their work. They've built a lot of amazing cars including Mopars. What else can I say. See you on the 21st if you're going to the CAMM race. John

That's great input, John. Good to know there is another shop to service the far away Mopars. With around 300 settings in the VE tables you wouldn't want to take it to a guy tuning it on a hand held that does mostly LS1's, lol.

I just got the following reply from Mikel at Diablo Sport. I admit you put a doubt in my mind so I contacted Diablo. Those doubts are now gone. Here's what he said...

To be honest, I'd never sit here and tell you that someone that bought our software is not qualified to do it, especially on a open, public forum....

But, Dan is a Pro, hes been tuning cars forever, and he cut his teeth on some of the fastest stuff in the land, you're in good hands

Excellent! Great info. Thanks for the info.

Glad we did this. I think a recommendation from Diablo is about the highest you can get. It puts my mind at rest. Good to know about another "great" tuner.

Illinois Chaos wrote:

Oh, no problem. Nobody took it as ripping on Tim. I know what your saying about the distance thing. Just a concern about letting another tuner touch your ride. He is probably ok, I don't have any info. to the contrary. I used to go to Bob Kurgan, before Tim came here and Bob is an excellent tuner that is very highly regarded. Sorry if it seemed like I was ripping on ya. I was just trying to point out that adding more timing might be a catastrophic failure in the future if you get some bad gas, or it sees too much lt kr.

To illustrate my point, just ask Shawn how he liked his tune from Corey Simpson. That could have been a disaster.

Corey Simpson can suck a very large cock!!!!!!

rotflmao!!!!!

LMAO Glad we cleared the air about that!!