Eventually, I want to install my cam and get a set of heads. I will be sending my PCM out to get tuned for this. I am two hours away from anyone that does dyno tuning as far as I know.

when I was a tech, I never got into deep stuff like AFR, spark etc. maybe checking injector pulse width here and there, but for the most part everything was kept pretty basic.

Im just curious for programs like HP Tuners or EFI live, how difficult is it to learn how to tune? I know a mailorder tune isnt going to be optimal, and I would like to be able to learn and tune myself.

is there an advantage with either EFI Live or HP Tuners?

If I bought one of these programs, could I order a "file" from a tuner and load it myself without having to physically ship my PCM?

 

Anyone have some answers to his questions I'm in the same boat and had the same question as him

 

yes it can be done.. all you would have to do is pay for the file tune and 2 credits...

 

What are credits?

 

Tuning isnt easy. Its very time consuming and if you dont have a clue on what to do you have to read thru tutorials and figure it out. If your good at learning and have the patience then go for it.

 

I will say this, tuning correctly is not easy nor it is easy to learn. It takes time, and experience... Hack tuning is easy.... You just have to put in the time reading and make small changes very few at a time to see the changes... When i first started over 4-5 years ago, i screwed up my tune soooooooooooooooo many times, had alot of issues, but i learned from my mistakes and i consider myself a decent self taught tuner... If you NA then you can actually screw things up and not blow it up, these motors are pretty durable...

BTW, learning to use the scanner, and use it correctly is more important... you will be spending 90% of your time watching that scanner, and only 5% actually making changes, the other 5% will be spent cusing at the damn software....

so in short choose the software that has the better scanner... that is just my 2 cents on this matter...

 

I have efi live I'm not being biased my any means as iv never used hpt but when it comes to tuning for forced induction efi will shine over hp tuners

 

I was in your shoes about 8 weeks ago. I wanted to get my stock 6.0 tuned, but I was worried I wouldn't be completely happy with the results, and do-overs are annoying and time consuming.

So I went ahead and got HP Tuners. IT IS AWESOME. I love tinkering with stuff, and I've spent way more time reading and researching already than I care to admit.

The software itself is easy to use, but tuning is a different matter. It's not rocket science though. Just read, read, read, and read some more. When you have a question, do a search, it's likely, (as in 99%) been encountered and discussed before. If you do have questions that you can't locate answers for by searching, be respectful of those who can help. Don't post vague useless questions that nobody has time to deal with.

Also, when I'm cruising the HPT forums and come across an interesting thread that I think may be useful, I just make a shortcut link for future reference. Sort of my own library.

I'm very glad I bought it. I've likely tinkered and uploaded about 15 different revisions already. My truck is snappier, more fuel efficient, and shifts much nicer. And I'm still a complete NOOOOB!

The comment above about learning to use the scanner proficiently are bang on too.

 

I just bought efilive. It was really the licencing that did it for me, I don't feel like I should have to pay to licence my car, tune it...... then pay again later on for expanded VE tables if I decide to slap a turbo on it

When it boils down to it they both are super powerful peices of software and the knowledge base of both forums is always at your fingertips. You just might have to figure out the differences in the table/parameter nomenclature.

Having said all that, I will echo what has been said in this thread a few times already. I haven't even received my scanner yet and just reading and playing with the demo has made it obvious, tuning is not something you're going to get good at without devoting a lot of time to it.

 

Tuning is like building; measure twice and cut once. Like BlackGMC says, uderstanding the scanner will make you better at tuning. Make two 20 minute scan logs using the PIDs recommended on either tuning forum and analyze the results. That will give you the information on how the tune should be improved. As other have said read all the information you can on tuning and running scan logs and what they mean. Tuning is an art and the more you do it the more you will understand it. Also, it is extremely important you understand the vocabulary. To know what a scan log means you now only need ti understand what a PID does or represents but also how it interact with other PID when you make a change to the tune.