New Tuner: 2018 Camaro SS A8

Hello everyone,

As the title suggests i am pretty new to tuning but have been quietly researching and learning a bit.

I have a 2018 Camaro SS that i have begun to modify and i am seeking some guidance from the experience here.

So far, i have added a Roto-Fab Cold air intake. An E85 sensor i ordered will be here tomorrow. I also am receiving my MPV2I at the same time.

Right now i have the VCM suite and Scanner and have been playing around with some virtual things on a stock tune i downloaded as well as i have what should be a working E85 tune.

Things i am needing some advise on are, what are the best places to start and examples of adjustments to make in regards to the tuning for the intake?

I understand that the MAF calibration needs to be adjusted typically. I am waiting for my wideband setup to arrive but in the time being can i make safe adjustments to the MAF to get the fueling corrected for the new air flow?

Also, will these changes translate over to the E85 tune well? Or is there a linear adjustment for that as well?

From what i can tell, the tune file i have for E85 is just a basic tune that is stock in the system and just being enabled. Does this stock tune have any proven gains? Will i only see gains by making adjustments to timing? What is a safe amount of timing to pull/add on this platform stock? Is there other tunes already adjusted with timing and cold start changes in the repository available for this platform? Until i get my unit tomorrow i can not see if this is the case.

The last thing i want to touch base on is torqu management. I really do not have any grasp on this particular part of tuning. But from what i understand getting this right in line with modifications is pretty important. I would really appreciate some help understanding this more or at the very least have something to start with.

Sorry if any of this is stupid. I have searched the forums a lot and until i get a better understanding of what to look out for it can be difficult to get some specific answers without asking.

Thank you.

Learning is great.. by if just starting gen 5 is like taking advanced calculus when you should have started with geometry..

I figured that out so far, however I believe that i am capable of learning some of the basics to get my feet wet. Any help is appreciated, i am sure i will need assistance and require someone to review logs with me etc. I am really hoping that the community here is welcoming to that.

Aside from the fact that this system is fairly complicated, is there anything that you can assist with in regards to the questions i asked?

Pump 93 to e85 is literally just adding the sensor, and populating the tables correctly. The ecm does the calculations from there. As far as tuning before the wideband arrives, you most certainly can tune the maf for the new intake using fuel trims,very easy to do. Vve shouldnt change any, unless you want to clean up the factory file some. There are some improvements in timing, as well as torque management. Most of the improvements though are going to come from trans tuning, as it will optimize the cars power band

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Originally Posted by mbray01

Pump 93 to e85 is literally just adding the sensor, and populating the tables correctly. The ecm does the calculations from there. As far as tuning before the wideband arrives, you most certainly can tune the maf for the new intake using fuel trims,very easy to do. Vve shouldnt change any, unless you want to clean up the factory file some. There are some improvements in timing, as well as torque management. Most of the improvements though are going to come from trans tuning, as it will optimize the cars power band

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Awesome thank you. So to confirm i wont really see any benefits to the torque management until i unlock and tune the trans as well?

Once i pull some logs on the wideband i will try and do some changes that i believe will help. Then i can post that tune file here with the logs and get confirmation?

torque management, yes, there will be improvements, torque model, on a stock engine wont really do much. these engines are tuned pretty stout from the factory. there are gains to be had with power, but are minimal, and most certainly you wont"feel" them. track numbers will show. Again, gains with performance are found in trans tuning to optimize the power band and optimize shift timing/feel

So i got the sensor and dongle. Read, unlocked, flashed on the new E85 tune.

So far everything is looking pretty good. I have not ran any ethanol yet but will be pouring in some tomorrow night.

I will post a short log here, wondering if anyone can help me dial in the MAF calibration for the intake.

From there i am hoping for some assistance in safe timing adjustments.

Here is my first E85 log.

With a touch of gas in the tank it topped out at E75.

Am i incorrect in thinking that the LTFT's are showing that im running pretty rich?

Attachment 95825

So here is a datalog from some driving recently.

So far it seems to be going well. My cold starts are a little rough.

I am also noticing that the LTFT on bank 1 is consistently a few% different than the bank 2. Either slightly more rich or slightly more lean.

Wondering if this is evidence of an issue on a cylinder on that side? I bought some spark plugs and will install this weekend. So i will see if that helps.

When i install my wideband, will there be issues with tuning if the two banks are reading differently?

I am also logging delivered engine torque and i am a bit confused about the variations i am seeing at WOT.

I will see delivered torque up to 490ftlb, and on other pulls in the same gears i am seeing as low as 450ftlb. Is this related to driver demand?

When the wideband is installed i would greatly appreciate some guidance on adjusting the MAF curve, EQ ratios, and PE tables. I want to be sure i can properly adjust the fueling to be at the correct AFR/Lamba.

I will also post the tune file, and i would like to know if i have done anything incorrectly. Or if anyone has a suggestion regarding the changes i have made.

Thank you for the help.

The only thing that really stands out in you datalog is that the fuel pressure takes a dive. This small amount of disparity in the bank trims is fairly common. It seems to be around 2%. Most injector sets that I flow have a larger variation than that. That's nothing to be overly concerned about.
I'd recommend a wideband ASAP...especially with the fuel pressure dipping into the high 40's/low 50's.

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Originally Posted by kevin87turbot

The only thing that really stands out in you datalog is that the fuel pressure takes a dive. This small amount of disparity in the bank trims is fairly common. It seems to be around 2%. Most injector sets that I flow have a larger variation than that. That's nothing to be overly concerned about.
I'd recommend a wideband ASAP...especially with the fuel pressure dipping into the high 40's/low 50's.

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I agree with the fuel pressure dive, and have noticed it since i began logging.

This has not changed since the car was stock. Fuel pressure dives at WOT about 20 PSI on the low side. Asking for 72 PSI getting 50-52.

I bumped up the fuel pump voltage a little to help with this but the problem persists. What isnt making sense is the fuel system should be just fine on E85 and an intake. Wideband is on its way.

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Originally Posted by Craig18SSA8

I agree with the fuel pressure dive, and have noticed it since i began logging.

This has not changed since the car was stock. Fuel pressure dives at WOT about 20 PSI on the low side. Asking for 72 PSI getting 50-52.

I bumped up the fuel pump voltage a little to help with this but the problem persists. What isnt making sense is the fuel system should be just fine on E85 and an intake. Wideband is on its way.

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Check the fuel pressure max table. Log instantaneous fuel flow rate and you'll see that it's probably lining up pretty nicely.

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Originally Posted by sevinn

Check the fuel pressure max table. Log instantaneous fuel flow rate and you'll see that it's probably lining up pretty nicely.

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Got it, thank you.

Ill get some logs and see if that shows that its in the proper range.

Okay, so I logged again.
New spark plugs are in.

Seeing less KR than before so that is good. The instantaneous fuel flow is around 330kPa at WOT. Which is 47psi. So that lines up just fine.

I'm not sure then why the ECM would be requesting 72 psi and the max table is keeping it around 42. Can someone explain this to a noob?

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Originally Posted by Craig18SSA8

Okay, so I logged again.
New spark plugs are in.

Seeing less KR than before so that is good. The instantaneous fuel flow is around 330kPa at WOT. Which is 47psi. So that lines up just fine.

I'm not sure then why the ECM would be requesting 72 psi and the max table is keeping it around 42. Can someone explain this to a noob?

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Honestly my only thought on that matter is that's what they determined to be enough to maintain the hpfp at its commanded pressure. You can raise the values in that table if you'd like. Some calibrations (lt4 cars) have them around 500 in all cells.

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Originally Posted by sevinn

Honestly my only thought on that matter is that's what they determined to be enough to maintain the hpfp at its commanded pressure. You can raise the values in that table if you'd like. Some calibrations (lt4 cars) have them around 500 in all cells.

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Okay, now a dumb question is would adjusting this change my AFR/Lambda?

Here is the tune with some adjustments to the table. I didnt go to 500 across the board because im on an LT1 not running boost yet. So i felt more comfortable doing a more linear curve.

Does this seem like a safe change?

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Originally Posted by Craig18SSA8

Okay, now a dumb question is would adjusting this change my AFR/Lambda?

Here is the tune with some adjustments to the table. I didnt go to 500 across the board because im on an LT1 not running boost yet. So i felt more comfortable doing a more linear curve.

Does this seem like a safe change?

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Unless you were losing hpfp it shouldn't affect a thing really.

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Originally Posted by sevinn

Unless you were losing hpfp it shouldn't affect a thing really.

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I see, so there will just be piece of mind that im getting closer to 60 PSI then. Because from the logs the HPFP is basically hovering between 1,900 and 2,200psi at WOT. As far as i am aware, this is the normal range.

Here is the most recent log.

Still having fuel pressure drop. Noticed a tiny bit more KR after the fuel pressure adjustment. From what i read, the trick to prevent knock is to lean it out a little and advance the timing.

If this is the case, and i am seeing more knock. Is it possible that the change made it run slightly more rich up top? I know, we all wont know crap unless i use a wideband. apologise for that. But is my assumption not a possibility?

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Originally Posted by Craig18SSA8

Here is the most recent log.

Still having fuel pressure drop. Noticed a tiny bit more KR after the fuel pressure adjustment. From what i read, the trick to prevent knock is to lean it out a little and advance the timing.

If this is the case, and i am seeing more knock. Is it possible that the change made it run slightly more rich up top? I know, we all wont know crap unless i use a wideband. apologise for that. But is my assumption not a possibility?

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I'm unable to look at logs this evening but I'm curious if you're logging desired rail pressure as well? The only way it would be rich now is if you weren't reaching desired rail pressure previously and now you are. Injector MS can also tell this story to some degree.