NOOB TUNING '12 sierra 5.3 TQ MAN. P.E. GENERAL TUNING HELP PLEASE.

[tbundy]

2012 sierra 5.3 4x4 6l80
elev. 5,800 and tow up to 10,000 feet.
Hello please have mercy, just joined and just got my mpvi2 last week. I got the simple things done (D.O.D OFF, TIRE SIZE CHANGE, AND ELEC. THROTTLE OPENING RATE) but im at a stand still on what i can do next. i live over 200 miles from a dyno and a tuner I drive my truck 3-4 days a week to work and pull my single axle camper on weekend in the summer. I want to improve throttle response and low end 1,000 to 3,500 rpm because my truck doesnt come alive till then and also want to eliminate my truck having to kick down to 5th from 6th on small hills on the freeway. Im trying to learn everything i can to help myself but there isnt alot out there besides buying "THE TUNING SCHOOL" book which is $500 and not anywhere close to a dyno. so if anyone can help me build a power tune, towing tune for the weekends, and fuel econ. tune also with some advice on torque management, power enrichment, ect. That would be great.
thank you just need a point in the right direction

[5FDP]

There is no need to have several tunes, everything can be built into one. This isn't like an edge tuner or some superchips thingy that say you can have this tune and that tune. Not even a dyno shop would make you more than one tune.

The factory cam doesn't make a ton of torque between 1000-3000rpm, it's slowly ramping up the torque there so it's going to be hard to make it a ton better. You can try to raise timing is the lower rpm/cylinder airmass regions of the high/low timing curves. Also touching up on the variable cam timing can maybe help a smidge.

Try these power enrichment settings. MAP kpa raised to 70-75kpa. Lower the HOT pedal enable from 87% to 65-70%. Enrichment ramp in rate to 1.5000. Lower the RPM delay from 5,000 down to say 2,000rpm or something like that.

The EQ ratio is the requested fuel ratio at full throttle, factory runs them rich for various reason. You can lean it out to about 12.0afr commanded but make sure it keeps a smooth slope. You can see that the factory starts in the 13's, down to the 12's and then really ramps in the fuel past 4,000rpm. I'd level off the slope at 3,250 so it's a steady 12.0 past that all the way through. 14.68/1.217 = 12.06 afr.

I suggest you run mid grade octane too, no 85 or 87 octane if you want to try and maximize the power output. In the end there isn't much to gain in factory form, it's more just how they react and transmission tuning that make the most noticeable effect.

It's going to be tough to not make the transmission want to downshift, 6th gear is basically the 2nd overdrive so it's going to want to downshift to maintain speed if you aren't super gentle on the throttle. You can look at the shift speed tables and torque converter lockup tables too see if you want to change anything to help it out. It's kind of all personal preference on that stuff.

You can raise the torq mngt on the engine side but don't touch the transmission stuff. Like the torque limit vs rpm/ max torque tables. Most raise those way up.

I'm sure I've posted a lot of simple things to change is tons of other posts, likely even files of past work to look at some other transmission related stuff but you can find that stuff if you want.

[tbundy]

hey thanks man, im really trying to do my best on understanding all the different tables and dis/enable tables but not a ton of info for a guy trying to pick up tuning as a hobby. I have a lot of history workin with small block chevys even pulled a few lsx motors with a few friends. But that carb tuning experience isnt doing much for me here. I have not look at a lot of spark tables since after logging a couple drives these motors have a ton of timing stock. I would imagine because of the vvt? and having so many different tables for advance and also retard. Long story short i understand the basics and just need some help understanding some tabs/tables are meaning hp has the small description of each one but some dont make sense to me at all. Im intimidated cause i dont know where to start and what to look for to make improvements. I will try and go through the stuff you mentioned and see if i can find it and make it work and ill also check so past posts also. i have tried a few different places asking for advice and got nothing, I appreciate the details and time you took to respond.
p.s. IN TRQ MANAGE under the TIP-IN LIMITING group; would it help any lag off the line if i just disabled the "TORQUE LIMIT 2"? and ALSO under that one is the
"ETC LIMIT" FOR EACH GEAR. 1ST-4TH each have a small table that progresses up, then 5th and 6th are maxed out. Should i max those too?
THANKS AGAIN.

[tbundy]

im definitely not an experienced tuner but i know HP is not like those other tuners I just didnt know if all the parameters set up for power and response would be good also for mileage.