For those out there that have put a cam in your truck, how did you go about tuning it?

I am going to install a new cam and springs and all the other supporting valve train in my 2012 Silverado 6.2. I'm not going crazy on the cam I've narrowed it down to the stage one cams by GPI and TSP both keeping the VVT. I'm not wanting to mess with the converter and I'm not trying build a rocket.

The only thing I haven't seen much discussion on is the tuning when people get the cam in. If anyone has done these cams did your truck run and drive without tuning after the install? I was looking into remote tuning via BlackBear or DiabLew but have heard the truck needs to be running and driving after install but before tune. GPI offers remote tuning, but the price on that isn't much different than taking it to a local dyno shop.

Thanks for your input in advance.

 

Either of those guys should be able to give you a start up tune that you'll load before the first start and then after that they can log and adjust from there.

 

I used Pat G to spec my cam and eventually tune it. I switched to Pat after giving Blackbear a couple chances to tune it as I had used him prior to the camshaft install.

 

I hadn't even heard of Pat G, I'll look into them. Also confirmed with GPI and TSP that they send out preliminary tunes to get you going to get you to your tuner or to start remote tuning.
Thanks again

 

https://www.patgtuning.com

I’m sure he has a Facebook page as well.

 

dsmmace-- How many miles have you put on after your cam? Would you do anything different when you did the install? i.e. other mods

 

I’ve put about 40000kms on mine. I wish I would have done a supercharger instead. If it was worth it to go back to stock and do the supercharger I would. My truck has enough lope it shakes the truck. I suffered a loss of fuel economy around town, but not on the highway.

I had kooks long tube headers done before the cam. That mod was very worth it and no effect to drive ability.

 

If I were you I would buy HP Tuners, I think it might be under $500 now, and tune it myself. That cam might be "small" enough it might run with the stock tune although not good.

99.9% of tuning a cam is adjusting the VE table (in your case it will be VVE which is a little more difficult to do than regular VE, and then just rasing the idle to keep the engine happy and keeping it from dying and surging too much since when you put in a cam you usually sacrifice those idle characteristics and end up getting a lot of exhaust reversion back into the chamber at lower rpms which is the main reason why it shakes and surges with a cam.

I personally have never dealt with a good "tooner", that's why I do everything I can myself. You will probably kick yourself after looking through a tune you paid for just to find its an exact copy of something else or there is just one little change that has nothing to do with what actually needs changing. In my opinion I think most "tooners" just fudge the MAF calibration table until it runs good enough. This might get it to run but if you still have the stock MAF intake tube then it will just be screwing up the calibration and lying about how much air is going through the MAF.

That is not to say there aren't good tuners out there I am sure there are, but its one of thoes things that here lately, bascially everyone has become a "tuner".

 

I sympathize with your point. There's definitely a perfect storm of circumstances that has driven the tooner craze. Huge customer base, the average guy with a laptop not really knowing how most of the stuff works, the customer not knowing the difference between good and bad...and the overbearing confidence of the typical guy selling his services in the wake of all that, knowing that the performance of his product isn't tested against real standards and that any criticism of his work is met with claims that are unfalsifiable as far as the layman is concerned. How would Joe Customer know that E85 isn't "supposed to start bad"? Or that a big camshaft isn't "supposed to die when coming to a stop"? They only know what their dyno guy tells them for the most part, and that isn't much. And its really because the customers don't demand enough out of them. I tell everyone looking for a tooner to ask everything they can think of and really grill them before hiring them. Don't just bring it to them after a part is installed and take whatever they give you - ask how they plan on fixing the known issues that tend to accompany that mod, like a camshaft. And when they're done, check their work. And take any excuses with a grain of salt... There's a lot more to dialing in a camshaft than RPM and VE - because a larger cam does a lot more than just change fuel consumption and idle speed requirements.

 

I have a buddy who constantly begged me to start a tuning business with him and I kept explaining to him that it isn't that easy.
I think another thing that has driven the tooner craze is social media. If any of you have any sort of social media you know exactly what I am talking about with the "car culture" and that sort of thing. It is so cringe worthy.