Pagin Dr. SSwt00SS

[aeroengineer]

SSwt00SS,
Congrats on COTM; sweet ride. Your mods are right along the lines of what I was planning. If you don't mind I would like to ask you a few questions?

1. Did you do your own HP tuning or did you have someone do it for you (impressive numbers BTW)? I am planning to end up with almost the same set up you have but need to do it increments, so I can struggling with paying for several HP tunes, doing my own HP tunes (steep learning curve), or using a VHP hand held which seems to have the most flexibility of all the HH tuners but is obviously limited.

2. If you did do your own tuning did you use a boiler plate HP tune to get you in the ball park or did you forge your own from the stock tune

3. Are you running larger injectors? I didn't see any in the list of mods posted on the COTM write up. To get the approx BHP of 480 that you have I would expect to need a 45lb/hr injector to get the duty cycles down to 80%. Not to say you can't do it on stock injectors (completely unexperience with LS1 here), I am just trying to determine what additional mods I will need and I am undetermined on fuel injectors.

4. Are you running a larger LPH fuel pump to accomidate the larger BSFC that is needed for that kind of power?


Thanks for your input and advice

V/r,
Aeroengineer

Anyone else with experience and advice please chime in.

[Y2KPewterSS]

Have you tried sending him a PM?

[aeroengineer]

No. I will thought this afternoon. I wanted to hold public discussion so others could benifit if having the same questions.
Thanks.

[SSwt00SS]

First off, let me apologize to you for not responding sooner, I was out of town for the Holiday and had a fun issue with changing passwords as well, that kept me from being able to post...

Secondly, thank you for the compliments about the SS. She's definately a blast to drive...

(1&2) I'll get to the heart of your post. I had my car professionally tuned by RPM in Lewisville, TX after having the parts installed. The last time I had the car re-tuned was back in August ('07) when I installed the ported FAST 90/90. I did my tuning in incriments like you described you plan to do above. I did the cam first (inital tune), the LT's/ORY (retune), then the heads and Ls6 intake (retune). Swapped the Ls6 intake for the ported FAST 90/90 (retune) and the rest is history...

Most aftermarket tuners like RPM fpr example offer a one time tuning fee and then charge between $40-$60 for a retune. I have paid for 3 retunes so yeah saving $180 by having my own HP Tuners would have been nice. There are other out there who have HP Tuners themselves and tune their cars themselves but they have the time, money, and resources to do so. My advice is, unless you have those three at your disposal, I would get a professional to do your tuning and elimate any hassle or frustration that might happen as a reuslt of a personal tune. However, HP Tuners does have a website that people who tune post up what they have learned to help other since HP Tuners does not have a customer support line...

(3) I am still currently running the stock injectors and they are duty cycling right around 90%. Yes, I would benefit from larger injectors (say 32-36 lb/hr) but since my car is not a daily driver I have not made the move. I will not make the move until I step up to a larger cam, if I so chose to do so...

(4) Also, I am still running the stock fuel pump at this time with no issues at all. Again, if I go up to a larger cam, chances are I will swap this out as well for one that will flow match and compliment the injector size that I feel I need to go with...

If there is anything else that I can help you with, please feel free to ask. I hope that other members who have self tuned using HP Tuners will chime in and help answers your questions that I have not been able to...

Brian

[aeroengineer]

[QUOTE=SSwt00SS;1147777]First off, let me apologize to you for not responding sooner, I was out of town for the Holiday and had a fun issue with changing passwords as well, that kept me from being able to post...

Brian, thanks for getting back to me and no need to apologize. I should have pm'd you and appreciate your advice.

(1&2) I'll get to the heart of your post. I had my car professionally tuned by RPM in Lewisville, TX after having the parts installed. The last time I had the car re-tuned was back in August ('07) when I installed the ported FAST 90/90. I did my tuning in incriments like you described you plan to do above. I did the cam first (inital tune), the LT's/ORY (retune), then the heads and Ls6 intake (retune). Swapped the Ls6 intake for the ported FAST 90/90 (retune) and the rest is history...

That is exactly the sequence I was contemplating. Was worried about adding a cam without headers given a restrictive exhaust, but sounds like it worked for you. I have gotten in touch with a respected local tuner (not well advertised for some reason) and will use him to do my tune. Before that, I was going to have to drive 2+ hrs and pay $1000 (quoted) for a tune. That kind of money had me thinking hard about HP Tuners and surmounting the learning curve on my own time.

Most aftermarket tuners like RPM fpr example offer a one time tuning fee and then charge between $40-$60 for a retune. I have paid for 3 retunes so yeah saving $180 by having my own HP Tuners would have been nice. There are other out there who have HP Tuners themselves and tune their cars themselves but they have the time, money, and resources to do so. My advice is, unless you have those three at your disposal, I would get a professional to do your tuning and elimate any hassle or frustration that might happen as a reuslt of a personal tune. However, HP Tuners does have a website that people who tune post up what they have learned to help other since HP Tuners does not have a customer support line...

Agreed. In addition to HP I was going to have to fork out for a decent WB O2 and associated data logger, some dyno time, and a lot of personal time. Not really a big savings advantage for someone who is not looking to become an expert tuner; just to get my car tuned properly and have a little flexibility. I have been on the HP website and unless you have the tool sitting in front of you it is a little difficult to comprhend advice/instructions. I did read "Engine Managment Advanced Tuning" by G. Banish and it helped to better put the pieces together. My only issue was that Banish dosen't focus on using one s/w package or GM specific vehicles, but hey how much can I ask for?

(3) I am still currently running the stock injectors and they are duty cycling right around 90%. Yes, I would benefit from larger injectors (say 32-36 lb/hr) but since my car is not a daily driver I have not made the move. I will not make the move until I step up to a larger cam, if I so chose to do so...

I have heard mixed opinions, but most say you can run 90% at WOT for light use applications (i.e. street/strip) but they also say to expect a shorter life span for the injector. Since you are running yours at 444 WRHP I think I will wait until an injector/s buy the farm.

(4) Also, I am still running the stock fuel pump at this time with no issues at all. Again, if I go up to a larger cam, chances are I will swap this out as well for one that will flow match and compliment the injector size that I feel I need to go with...

If there is anything else that I can help you with, please feel free to ask. I hope that other members who have self tuned using HP Tuners will chime in and help answers your questions that I have not been able to...

Thanks for the advice and thorough response Brian...much appreciated.

V/r,