LB7 timing calculator and tuning help

OK first post here, and just got my mpv2. Been searching the forum for a working timing calculator. I downloaded one but when I copy and pasted my graphs certain areas did not come up correctly. tried the Mcrat20/20 but didn't like the smoke. I started adding timing at 1 degree in the areas I added fuel and it seemed like the smoke started clearing up and the throttle was good and touchy. I was able to get my speedometer spot on though. My main question is is when do you stop adding timing? Everything sounded and felt fine but I got worried about ruining something so I went back to stock till I get some advice. I also read where one poster in another forum claims you can get 30hp without adding fuel but just in timing adjustment. Any help is greatly apreaciated as it seems like much of this tuning stuff is a secret, but I've read much more helpful advice from the hp site than efi live. hence my purchas, and not to mention the money savings.

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Originally Posted by Redkliney

OK first post here, and just got my mpv2. Been searching the forum for a working timing calculator. I downloaded one but when I copy and pasted my graphs certain areas did not come up correctly. tried the Mcrat20/20 but didn't like the smoke. I started adding timing at 1 degree in the areas I added fuel and it seemed like the smoke started clearing up and the throttle was good and touchy. I was able to get my speedometer spot on though. My main question is is when do you stop adding timing? Everything sounded and felt fine but I got worried about ruining something so I went back to stock till I get some advice. I also read where one poster in another forum claims you can get 30hp without adding fuel but just in timing adjustment. Any help is greatly apreaciated as it seems like much of this tuning stuff is a secret, but I've read much more helpful advice from the hp site than efi live. hence my purchas, and not to mention the money savings.

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Think of it like this, when the fuel starts to ignite a little time after your injector sprays it in your cylinder, we get a pressure rise that looks like a hill, you want the hill to be placed where your specific engine likes. Typically 1/3 of that hill is before TDC and 2/3 after TDC. Now Don't confuse cylinder pressure with injector split, they are not the same! Many things affect when and how the cylinder pressure rise happens so Without being able to read cylinder pressure, a dyno is your best bet to set this perfectly. But most of us don't have access to either, so try this and don't worry too much about being perfect. Load your stock tune, Go drive your truck, log it in a specific area or road and see how much torque it's asking for to maintain a certain speed, then change timing, go back to the same spot and see if it requires less torque to complete the same task or maintain the same speed. If it does you're doing it right! if not maybe take some away or add some fuel in that area and see what it does. But be aware of conditions like wind and temperature, they will change things. This will teach you how your changes affect your engines output in a controlled and slow pace. We can always speed up that pace as well, Also Don't use a timing calc to set your timing, use it as a tool to understand how fuel pressure changes affect timing. Lower pressure takes more time to get the fuel in, it also makes our hill look smaller height wise but longer one when compared to high pressure. Cylinder pressure is the actual force pushing down on our piston, you can actually do the math to find your cylinder pressure if we know what your output torque is.

thanks for that. I haven't tried any data logging yet. Off my stock tune with the tire size changed and plying with torque converter lockup in 4th for now. I did a ten percent increase on the base fuel vs tps and that seems to have made it a tad more responsive. I'd love to have a decent power tune without the smoke that gives diesels a bad name. Eerything I read says it will rattle with too much timing but I don't know what timing rattle vs the normal diesel rattle sounds like. I know when I started adding timing a dgree at a time it really seemed much snappier but I don't want to break anything either haha

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Originally Posted by Redkliney

thanks for that. I haven't tried any data logging yet. Off my stock tune with the tire size changed and plying with torque converter lockup in 4th for now. I did a ten percent increase on the base fuel vs tps and that seems to have made it a tad more responsive. I'd love to have a decent power tune without the smoke that gives diesels a bad name. Eerything I read says it will rattle with too much timing but I don't know what timing rattle vs the normal diesel rattle sounds like. I know when I started adding timing a dgree at a time it really seemed much snappier but I don't want to break anything either haha

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Play with the timing and listen to your engine, you will hear the noise get louder as you advance but that extra noise doesn't always mean it's bad noise. More power means more noise. If you added timing and it got snappier that's going in the right direction. You won't hurt your engine in the light throttle/cruise areas if you add too much timing for short periods of driving. You will however start to here the infamous rattle and feel a loss of power, if that happens speed up or slow down to get out of that timing area. I want you to slowly advance timing until you start to hear that rattle under light loads, This is so you know what to listen and feel for and you're not guessing or asking me what it sounds like. Typically i set the timing high just past idle so i can slowly rev and listen for it. Finally do a ton of research, go over old posts on this forum and look for information. Check the dodge/cummins side then the ford, suck up all the info you can and then go play with your truck. We want YOU to learn how these changes affect your engine otherwise we will just be going back and forth on here about what rattle sounds like. Remember there is no perfect tune for every engine and every scenario.