Hey guys i just recently bought the hptuners software so im new to this. ive been reading forums to learn but im not really sure where and how to start. i bought a 02 trans am about 2 years ago it came with an lq4 and t56. i put in alot of work to it before i really got to kno the car. mods are slp lid, ls6 intake, tsp233/239 cam, unported 5.3 heads with dual valve springs, 160 thermostat, egr & air & a/c delete, tsp longtubes, & underdrive pulley. any help would be appreciated
Sweet man. I'm in the same boat. Working on a new tune for the first time. Honestly man your going to get alot of "you should search", "Google is your friend","keep reading noob" type responses. At the top of this page is a sticky with a bunch of how-to's. As your getting started tuning and you hit a road block refer back to that sticky. It's a pretty good one. I have a bunch of tutorials book marked on my phone that I use as well.
If you Google "VE tuning hp tuners" or whatever your wanting info on, you'll get plenty of info, including a tutorial or 2. Save the tutorial so you can refer back to it later for tips and info.
When I say tutorial I'm talking about a basic thread or post in a forum where a seasoned "tuner" has taken the time to spill his knowledge to help the rest of us. Always keep in mind there are many different ways to solve one problem. I like to do a quick search on the individual writing the post and just get an idea of his knowledge and mind set. Ie. Has he been on the site long? Do people value his knowledge, does he seem like he knows what hes talking about, that type of thing.
I'm a noob, but from what I've read I would start tuning your VE table 1st. That is of course if your car will start and idle and drive on its own. I'm assuming it.does since you said you've had it for about a year. I can't see your scans right now since I'm on my phone.
Google everything you can about the VE table and how to make adjustment to it and dial it in. Good luck bro.
^^Agreed! It's extremely hard to learn how to tune "from scratch" without any sort of formal training or formal documentation (such as The Tuning School, etc). The problem is that those formal training/documentation tools are very expensive, so most people (like myself) just trying learning things themselves - which requires a LOT of time, a LOT of research, even more research, posting a lot of questions via the forum and trial-and-error.
However, what I've found is that no matter how much research you do (reading forum posts, tutorials, guides, etc), they alone are just not enough. Most times, I end up having specific questions for which I can't find specific answers. Also, what is "correct" for one type of motor, is incorrect for another type of motor - so you need to be very careful about what you read as it may or may not apply to your specific setup. Also, like mentioned above, you also need to be careful of the source of the information.
Unfortunately, I've had limited success getting answers from this forum. Like mentioned above, you get a lot of "search the forum", "figure it out yourself", etc. Unlike other forums I'm a member of, most members here seem "guarded" about the information they've learned from experience and are just not as willing to share this information. I get the impression that they feel that since they had to figure it out themselves, they feel that you must also figure it out for yourself. I just don't agree with that mentality - personally, I'm more than happy to share any and all infromation I've learned - even when I had to learn it myself "the hard way" (not specific to car tuning - but for anything that I do). Granted, learning things yourself "the hard way" has it's benefits, but I also believe that information sharing is an extremely good way to learn as well. There *are* exceptions - people that are willing to go out of their way to help, but they are few and far in-between. But the ones that are willing to help are great sources of information and experience.
I went into this completely green and never even planned on ever tuning my car. I actually bought a mailorder performance tune for my car becuase I didn't like the shifting, but I found that the performance tune actually made matters worse (for my taste and goals). So that is when I figured that I'd never be completely happy until I learned how to customize my tune myself. That was over a year ago and I'm still VERY much a novice and still have TONS to learn. I may even eventually just give in and spend the small fortune on one of the professional tuning courses (like from The Tuning School)...
Good luck! Just keep your expectations in check - this is NOT something that you are going to master in a small period of time.
What have you heard about the tuning school? Worth the money? There is one in my area at the end of April. Its about a grand and I'm still not 100% I want to pull the trigger.
Honesty, I don't have much knowledge about The Tuning School, but they seem to be a very reputable company. I'm sure that the cousres would be a huge help in getting a solid foundation of the basics though. The also sell learn-at-home courses, which is nice.
Anyone have any personal experience with The Tuning School?
Disable the MAF - see the HPT help site for how to disable MAF to tune in SD.
Once done, take your VE table... multiply the 400 by .6, the 800 by .8, and the 1200 column by .9. Then select all out to 2000 and smooth it. Change your idle to 1100 in the colder cells stepping down to 950 at 150+ degrees. Change your timing to about 25 degrees in the idle table. Change everything in the OLSD table in fueling to 1. Save that file and upload it.
Check your idle. With HPT, bi-directional controls, lean it out from 14.7 to 15.2 or so and keep going til the idle stabalizes and it starts to chop. If that number is 15.8 in the bi-directional controls, divide it into 14.7... 14.7/15.8 is .93. Multiply your 800 and 1200 columns by that number (.93), save and reflash. You should be idling around 15.5:1 at that point and the cam should like that. You don't even need your wideband. Watch your narrowbands. When they are under 100mv... down to 30-50mv, you're lean enough. The sound also gives it away. You can also add timing... 26-28 may be ideal. Add timing until the kPa readings drop to their lowest number. Then back off a degree or two. That'll give you the "smoothest" and strongest idle.
Next day after the car has cooled off, restart it and put it in gear but don't drive it or touch the gas (also disable the fans in bi-directional controls - you don't want airflow adders). In fact, go ahead and zero out all your adaptive airflow tables as well. Use the stock imperial HPT cfg. Let it warm all the way up. Take the base airflow numbers in the histogram and update the Base Running Airflow table in idle. Reflash (putting the stock adaptive airflow numbers back in). Then check and see if your mv for the O2s changed significantly since you changed the airflow model. You may need to mess with the bi-directional controls again, but it will be close.
If the throttle response is a little less than ideal, add 2% fuel to the 1200 column. Then you can start really tuning the VE table. Add about 6 degrees across the High Octane Timing table and copy to the Low table. Just drive it around with the wideband or you can use the narrowbands. Don't get into PE mode. Just drive around keeping it near 14.7:1. Update. Drive. Update. Do that 4-5 times and the VE will be dialed in pretty close below 4k RPM. You'll be able to drive to tuner and get WOT dialed in. MAF can be dialed in on the street as well using the same method.
Also, one thing I've been playing with... keep an eye on your airmass timing values on decel. Log airmass if you aren't. Then when you review your log, see if the car is unloading properly (.20g/sec and less) and reduce timing there below your idle timing (around 25-28 degrees for that cam - reduce to 22 degrees when you let off the gas). That will get it driving well. Copy those values into your idle table too, because it appears on decel, it blends the two tables.
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