Originally Posted by
gmtech16450yz
Looking good!
I was talking to my son about this stuff yesterday and trying to explain to him how some of the tables interact. It's pretty crazy. Did you guys know that if you raise your ign timing in a certain cell in the main timing tables that it can lower your throttle opening at that same situation? Totally true and repeatable. The reason is that these Optimum Spark tables are comparing that requested ign timing to what value those numbers should give as far as torque output. Higher ign timing tells the Opt Spk table that it's making more torque than it needs, so Opt Spark lowers ign timing back down. When it can't lower it anymore, it lowers throttle opening. That's part of why the idle tuning is difficult, give it too much ign timing in the main tables and the throttle won't be able to give it enough airflow. Opposite is also true, crank up the Opt Spk numbers and it will end up opening the throttle too much at that point. Opt Spark tables have a HUGE effect on throttle plate vs. pedal position. That little tidbit is VERY important when it comes to guys trying to tune by their butt dyno or even by logging. You absolutely have to be logging pedal position vs. throttle position to see stuff like that. You can give it a ton of ign timing and the engine might feel slower actually, even though it's not. It's because the torque based ECM is trying to keep the power at a certain level, no matter what you do that might be raising power or efficiency. Tricky huh?!
Those that are trying to figure out this stuff should probably read what I just wrote above a few more times! That and what I've said a few times about idle being a balance between ign timing, throttle opening and fuel mixtures. They ALL have to be within their range of authority so that they all can work together. Get one too far any direction and they'll just fight each other, which most of the time ends up as surging.