When were you confident enough to tune for someone else?

I was recently asked to come into a local shop and tune a gen v lt vehicle. The shop has a dyno but primarily deals in modular ford stuff and the lt platform is pretty foreign to the owner. Up to this point I've only tuned personal vehicles and friends vehicles. I've gone back and forth on what it means to start tuning quote un quote professionally. I look at stuff in this section and think I'm miles from being "good" then look at hack work other places are putting out and think maybe i'm not so bad. When did you feel comfortable enough to take that plunge?

When you don't have to ask "how do I ...... pretty basic stuff" on a forum. There may be an occasional problem that you need advice on but all the really basic stuff that gets asked here repeatedly you should have down pat before you tune for hire. I am always amazed by posts that ask basic stuff when they are referring to a "customer's" vehicle. Also be prepared to get a call from that customer anytime anything ever goes wrong with their vehicle. I get calls years after tuning someones vehicle stating their vehicle suddenly has a problems asking if I think it needs to be retuned. Also consider the liability of damaging someone's vehicle that may have cost thousands of dollars. Does the shop you will be tuning for have insurance to cover you tuning for their customers or will they be your customers.

Honestly,
before you get too deep into this.
I would hire someone out like ben Charles or Alvin or edcmat-l1 to remote in and tune it for you while your there.

Post one of your tunes, with the mod list attached, and I am sure someone on here can be blunt and honest enough to tell you if you're ready or not. Regardless of how seasoned you are, something always comes up.

Don't ever focus solely on making power. Focus on optimizing the tune for the new parts. while still following the factory logic for best reliability.

You have to start somewhere. I was lucky and had a few buddies to pay me a few dollars profit in the beginning. Definitely offer free updates as you are learning and also make sure your customers know you will fix any bugs in a timely manner. I make sure they understand i want them back here if there is some driveability issue i didnt catch or any odd issues. Also i will usually offer diagnostics to my customers for free or small donations including but not limited to, injector testing, plug/wire swapping, fuel pressure testing, etc.

That's a tough call because even after 23 years I still get hammered by a random car and a odd issue it's having. I honestly don't know how people get started in this now days. There are so many little quirks and bugs you NEED to know about and the only way to really know is to run into them.

I was limited to chip burning L98 / LT1 cars when I got started. LS tuning didn't exist. Becoming a expert in one platform then moving on to the next I think would be ideal.

I've been tuning for 20 years and still learning. I had plenty of experience working in Engine Shops and Race Shops when I was younger. Proficiently using HPTuners to change the ECU vs Proficiently using HPTuners to change the ECU because you understand what the engine wants/needs, is not the same thing. Just because you know how to use HPTuners doesn't make you a great tuner. You have to have the knowledge of engine builds and such as well. Not judging anyone in this thread at all. There are certainly better tuners than me and I'm certainly better that others. But at some point, there aren't any "secrets" to making more power on the dyno. Every tuner that faces an unknown combination would benefit from a tool such as the dyno to determine how to make the most power safely.

I do agree with, post one of your files if you want to be graded by other tuners. However, that grade would be subjective and maybe not truly accurate because of the varying experience of the tuners on here.

Thank you all for the input. The first thing I ever tuned was a carbureted motorcycle by feel, sound, plugs and mph at the track close to 20 years ago. Since then it?s been alpha n on piggy back stuff, factory motorcycle ecu editing then I got into standalone stuff, like megasquirt and Holley with boosted applications. In the middle of that I tuned gen 2 lt stuff and p01/p59 with tunerpro. I didn?t actually use hptuners until a few years ago and started on a boosted E38 platform. Honestly I understand engines, I can navigate hptuners fine, wrapping my head around interacting with the torque model on gen v platform was difficult at first.

Once I was to the point where I considered my vehicles dialed in, I felt comfortable tuning someone else's car. I started on the LS platform about 12years ago when I was tired of getting half ass tunes from so called reputable places. I just tune on the side as mainly a hobby. For the most part I pick and choose what I tune...depends a lot on the person inquiring. I have sent a lot of potential work down the road because I felt that they would be a headache. Keep in mind a lot of people think you are AAA 24/7 customer support for their car once you tune it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 1scls1z

Once I was to the point where I considered my vehicles dialed in, I felt comfortable tuning someone else's car. I started on the LS platform about 12years ago when I was tired of getting half ass tunes from so called reputable places. I just tune on the side as mainly a hobby. For the most part I pick and choose what I tune...depends a lot on the person inquiring. I have sent a lot of potential work down the road because I felt that they would be a headache. Keep in mind a lot of people think you are AAA 24/7 customer support for their car once you tune it.

---

That is something I feel like I learned early watching buddies with shops and businesses, realizing how fast the enjoyment can be taken out of it. I have tried to maintain it as a hobby, picking and choosing what I do work on. With this shop primarily dealing in other platforms it would be a once in awhile situation that I tuned something.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alvin

That's a tough call because even after 23 years I still get hammered by a random car and a odd issue it's having. I honestly don't know how people get started in this now days. There are so many little quirks and bugs you NEED to know about and the only way to really know is to run into them.

I was limited to chip burning L98 / LT1 cars when I got started. LS tuning didn't exist. Becoming a expert in one platform then moving on to the next I think would be ideal.

---

I agree 100%. I started 20+ years ago and got the luxury learning each ECM as they came out so it wasn't so overwhelming. I still learn stuff everyday and always tell myself if I stop learning then its time to quit. It seem like people want to try to shortcut learning to tune and there is not fast way to learn IMO.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 1scls1z

Once I was to the point where I considered my vehicles dialed in, I felt comfortable tuning someone else's car. I started on the LS platform about 12years ago when I was tired of getting half ass tunes from so called reputable places. I just tune on the side as mainly a hobby. For the most part I pick and choose what I tune...depends a lot on the person inquiring. I have sent a lot of potential work down the road because I felt that they would be a headache. Keep in mind a lot of people think you are AAA 24/7 customer support for their car once you tune it.

---

I call that getting married to the car. Every little quirk and your getting a phone call. WHen they melt a plug strap with nitrous and then complain about you cause now its misfiring..

Even worse is the guys that think you owe them a free retune after 5 years they swap engine, cam, heads, converter, transmission, gears, and tires. bascially its just the same PCM and wiring harness while everything else has changed.