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Thread: General HP Tuning information

  1. #1

    General HP Tuning information

    Hey everyone, I am very novice but have dabbled with mostly HP and some SCT tuning platforms. I'm sure I'm the one-millionth person to try and request information along these lines but I have done a handful of searching the threads here and have not been successful in finding helpful information. With that said if anyone could take some time to direct me to any solid resources that can explain the basics of different maps and effects they have on specific perimeters when changed. Also what are the most important perimeters to data log to see if changes are hurting or helping. Ive seen alot of sample tunes posted and people are saying to do compares to see what adjustments are being made in ECM, TCM, and FICM, but my issue is I def don't feel I am maximizing my platform by copy and pasting numbers. Are there any reputable books, manuals, out there? Or is the true only way to gain info to learn these things is by finding someone to take you under their wings of superior knowledge and train you up.

  2. #2
    Advanced Tuner JaegerWrenching's Avatar
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    This is a very vague request about maps and effects, you will need to be more concise when asking questions about tuning. Be specific on what you don't understand or what maps you are talking about. This will help me and you and everyone willing to help. With that said, what exactly don't you understand? If i were starting out again wanting to be a diesel tuner i'd get to know the basics of how a diesel engine operates, we are talking fuel,air, and cylinder pressure. You need to truly Understand how your truck is getting that fuel and air delivered into the cylinders and how things like fuel timing and air temperature affect cylinder pressure. Then from there study your tune, i mean spend hours familiarizing yourself with the tables in your tune. I want you to make correlations of those maps in your tune, and then proceed to make small changes one at a time and log those changes. This will teach you how your specific ecu operates and see how it applies the changes you make to it. Every ECU is different. If you want to be a great tuner you will have to dedicate a lot of time to it. This doesn't happen over night and it never will.

  3. #3
    Hey JaegerWrenching! I have heard and read some very good information from you through the forums here. I COMPLETELY understand my initial post was exceptionally vague, however, I wasn't sure if anyone would be willing to take the time to put out any reliable information for me so I very much appreciate you taking the time to read and respond. So for my background here I have about 8 years in experience of the mechanical side and diagnostics for Powerstroke, Cummins, and Duramax, finally started my own shop couple years ago actually. Prior to that was another 8 years of helicopter mechanics. With that said my understanding on that side is very good for diesel engines.
    I have my own HP tunes on my 04 powerstroke but they came from my previous statement of copying other's maps and see how it does. So jumping to tuning, looking at 500+ ecm tcm and ficm tables I very much agree this is where spending hours familiarizing comes into play. I probably will jump back to vague here again in hopes it gives a solid starting point in conversation and the tuning process. Now I totally understand that some tables are available for some VERY specific tuning goals and applications and for most basics wont even be touched, I want to learn exactly what those tables are and what they do so I know when to use and modify them. I'm assuming the start for generally learning this is from doing very basic tuning mods and after time you'll start to notice ones untouched, but still getting your desired outcome.
    So fuel for example lets go our main injector limits. We have VS Boost, EOT, and ECT, regardless of the altitude even, I know my mechanical limits and what I can set before overworking components etc. But where do I learn when each of those tables would come into play and if I want to mod one or all of them. Is it as simple as if my EOT is under 140 and want the motor to be warm before I want to be able to command for full fuel I correlate those two tables together to achieve proper de-fueling I desire? There obviously are many perimeters like this throughout ecm and ficm and than matching trans tunes to effectively put it all on the pavement.
    With all of that for now I totally and greatly appreciate the time you've already taken, If possible I would love more, as my desire is to turn into a sponge and truly learn every aspect in tuning these things with whatever means anyone is willing to shoot to me. I have dedicated ALOT of time into learning and building these motors, from the ground up even. I totally understand that its going to take even more time to properly understand every aspect of what any tables specifically do, command, effect the physical components, etc.
    If those thoughts help, I have no problem taking the time to research and learn I just want to get it from a reputable source, so I just don't know what I'm doing but why I am. Thanks again for taking the time!!

  4. #4
    Advanced Tuner JaegerWrenching's Avatar
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    It sound like you already have the best background for getting into tuning. This is good because you really need to understand how these engines work mechanically to understand how your changes are going to be put into affect by the ECU, and almost know the final outcome before hand. This helps when things go wrong and also helps you diag issues on the fly. Which is a big part of tuning modded vehicles. Post your tune so we can look over it and be viewing the same data. Your first question is "We have VS Boost, EOT, and ECT, regardless of the altitude even, I know my mechanical limits and what I can set before overworking components etc. But where do I learn when each of those tables would come into play and if I want to mod one or all of them. Is it as simple as if my EOT is under 140 and want the motor to be warm before I want to be able to command for full fuel I correlate those two tables together to achieve proper de-fueling I desire? There obviously are many perimeters like this throughout ecm and ficm and than matching trans tunes to effectively put it all on the pavement". You learn when and how limiters work by data logging your truck, then going back into the tune to verify the corresponding data, then make a tune change and retest. But Yes these ECU's are very elementary in their operation so it's that simple, you will enter your desired settings into those tables for YOUR desired output. If you're asking exactly where you can find the limit or output so to speak for things like engine oil temp vs fuel amount and setting a limit for that you'd have to contact the oil manufacturer or fuel pump manufacturer for their exact specifications. Now we all know odds of us doing that are low, so we leave room for error and err on the side of caution to keep things alive. But we also want to push the limits while tuning most of the time. So say you upgrade a part that can now make more fuel flow or produce more airflow, We can move these limiters up out of the way to allow our mods to take affect. But remember, these are main injection limiters we're talking about, their job is to limit. So when trying to find the limits of other parts you'll want to change these so they don't impair your current goal. Then once your new limit is found adjust these tables so that they comply with one another. We want the engine to operate smoothly and consistently.