FAQ

An e-tune or a dyno-tune are BOTH better then running a basemap. For the average user, a quality e-tune is sufficient, but for an all out performance enthusiast the best answer is both. A user can run JUST a dyno-tune alone if a complete top to bottom dyno-tune is done properly. This will tune your completely part throttle and full throttle for the conditions present in the dyno shop at the time of the tune. Typically, this involves 5 hours of data analysis (reviewing information) and 3 hours of related physical work (strapping the car, changing parameters, uploading, etc etc) for a total of an 8 hour day. This can get expensive when your paying $100-$150+ an hour for use of the dyno.

An e-tune will average the values out in real world conditions, taking the numbers from the datalogs you provide for the conditions AT the track. This means that the best answer to this question is to get both an e-tune and a dyno-tune. Why Both? For one reason you are going to get 2 opinions on how your car is running, which is better then one. For another you are going to save money getting the majority of the basic work out of the way before ending up at a $100-$150+ an hour dyno shop. And finally, an e-tune bases its feedback on the complex OBD-II systems in your car for real world conditions. Combine this with a good dyno shop which can further “fine” tune parameters such as ignition that are hard to gauge in a datalog the final dyno tune will complete the tuning process for a perfect running vehicle that is fully tuned.

However, something to remember is that the bottom line with all tuning, is that a tune is never complete, it is after all software, and when a good idea comes along you can always further improve it. The more time spent analyzing your tune, and how the car is running, the better it will run. Its a law of averages, just because it runs perfect when its sunny and dry doesn’t mean it will run the same when the barometric pressure falls, and the humidity rises. There’s always another issue that can be found and better averaged out for ideal running conditions.

A naval acoustic engineer once said something similar. No matter how quiet you make a submarine, there is always the next loudest noise. Even if the engines, propulsion shafts and sonar systems are silent, there’s still people, footsteps, turbulence, and electrical noise. The work is never done, its all a matter of how far you want to pursue it.

Tuning a combustion engine is very similar, it can always be improved given enough time to analyze the averages. The more detailed the datalog and the more revisions in place, the better then tune. The problem today is often a much smaller time frame of data is analyzed on a dyno leading to a poorer quality tune due to a very narrowband of analysis, this is especially true if the user can only afford to analyze WOT values. Also, this is because the data gathered while the car is both IN the shop and TURNING the dyno, rather then at the track in the weeks leading up the dyno. The user understandably doesn’t want to spend 8 hours for a complete part throttle tune and often there is not enough time to capture all the issues. The dyno tuner’s hands can be tied if the user doesn’t want to spend the money for the time on the dyno. The good news is with modern OBD-II systems 90% of the tuning can be done before hand, off the dyno. We recommend getting a quality E-tune, ensuring your tune is free of error and running as optimal as the OBD-II system can measure. Then if a dyno tune is desired, E-tuning will save you TIME and MONEY on the dyno as the majority of the tedious work is complete, and the tuner can focus on WOT. In the end ensures a better overall tune as all areas have been properly analyzed and tuned.

A dyno-tuner will appreciate the fact that your car is READY to be tuned as well, the basic issues are out of the way, the car is running properly and performance areas like RPM indexing, engagement points, basic ignition and fueling values have already been sorted according to your goals. This means more time can be spent optimizing the car on the dyno and using that feedback rather then correcting unforeseen problems. In the end you will get more for your dollar, as the time at the dyno-shop will be used to fine tune and gather feedback from otherwise unmeasurable parameters such as MBT (Minimal advance for Best Torque) which is an ignition value.

E-tunez can put you very close to the ideal parameters based on sensory feedback and experience. A dyno-tuner with other issues out of the way has a great idea of where to find those extra 2-3 degrees and finalize the WOT portion of tune, and they will be able to do it in less time if you come to the shop with a pre-tuned car. This saves you money.

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In the days of carbureted engines, tuning on a dyno was a necessity. A dyno graph was the only form of feedback, aside from the art of reading plugs, and listening to the tone of the exhaust.

Now-a-days, tuning a fuel injected vehicle has evolved from an art of the gear heads down to a science. It’s a battle of numbers, instead of a battle of sounds, colors and smells. For example we tune for 13.1 AFR, 54 psi of fuel pressure, and 27 degrees of WOT ignition advance as opposed to light brown spark plugs, a crisp exhaust note and no ping. The tuning process has evolved and we have learned that the result of good number’s, IS good colors (plugs), tones (exhaust) and no knock (ping) rather then vice versa.

There are many other forms of feedback available to the enthusiast. You have a large array of sensors that your vehicle uses to compensate for elevation changes, manufacturing variances, fuel condition, and driving habits, to name a few.

We can use these sensors combined with the FACTORY built-in Wide Band O2 sensor to tell how your car is running, and verify any changes made.

E-tuning your car will ensure that Short Term Fuel Trims (a measure of how close the car is running to “ideal”) are as near ideal or 0% as possible, it will confirm your AFR’s are within the target range (13.1 – 13.5 for the K20Z3), it will confirm that your map is free of errors (RPM indexing, VTEC fuel transitions) and it will tune your car FOR the way YOU drive it!

When you provide a datalog of your daily driving, we can see how the sensors are responding to your input, and your current location. When your car was produced, the manufacture did not know where it would be driven, who would be driving, and how you would be driving it. The manufacture did not know the quality of fuel you would use or the exact concentration of ethanol in that fuel. On top of that, every car of the same model and trim level leaving the factory had the SAME ECU mapping despite all of the above variables.

This left the difficult task of using one ECU mapping, for tens of thousand’s of different cars spread across the continent… IE the North American 8th Gen Civic Si. Honda didn’t know which part of map you would use every day, and they certainly did not take a car all over the globe to test in every real world scenario IE Colorado (elevated and dry), vs Miami (sea Level and Humid), vs Canadian Winters on the prairies… etc. All those factors affect the STFT or overall performance of the vehicle, and how long it will take to learn to correct itself.

When the STFT shows it is out (anything other then 0%), the car must “re-learn” how to get things right. This time that the car spends “re-learning” costs performance and mileage. When the fuel maps appear incorrect due to closed sensor production variance, location (air density, humidity), or modification, this re-learning will happen EVERY time you change the pedal position, or the vacuum in the manifold.

When we tune your car, we look at WHERE it is being used and HOW it is being used, and our tunes account for those conditions, along with conditions that were not accounted for at the factory, like sensor production variance… For example, not every Mass Air Pressure sensor is exactly the same, and the same can be said for every other sensor in the vehicle. When your car was brand new, it could typically run a +/-10% Short Term Fuel Trim… as you add modifications, un-tuned it will drift even further, unless your really lucky and happen to compensate in the other direction. Either way you won’t know until its tuned and the numbers are analyzed. Within the first 2 revisions we usually have the K20Z3 running within 5% of ideal, including all modifications… by revisions 3-5 we are typically within 1-3% of ideal, in all conditions measured. This results in a huge improvement in drivability, as seen in our feedback section. Just start and go… no bucking, or hesitation when cold… great performance from startup to shutdown, unlike a stock or similar baseline map.

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The first half of the answer is SAFELY.

For users that are only capturing specific variables in the datalogs be sure to capture the following:

The second part of the answer is drive normally, use all the gears and all the conditions you might encounter in your daily drive. This will allow us to see WHERE the ECU is having to the most learning and where the AFR’s are incorrect, or timing or other related condition is causing knock.

If you are at the track or a race event, drive the same as you would as if you were not datalogging.

For AFM based tunes where MAF Cal is important, to ensure proper STFT and Grams/Second data, we suggest maintaining a constant speed of 35 MPH to start… and every 20 seconds, bump up the cruise control 3 times. Continue this until you reach 80 MPH, or the limit that the conditions impose on safety. This way the car gets sufficient time to datalog each level of vacuum for each grams / second reading. This is good for both style tunes, but is more important for AFM or MAF based tunes, and less important for SD or MAP based tunes.

This will allow us access to the information we need to adjust your tune according. We do ask for two WOT 3rd gear runs from 2000 RPM to Red Line. These should be done at the track under safe conditions. Above all drive safe and IF you choose to provide a datalog done in day to day driving conditions (we recommend logs done at the track), obey local traffic laws! A good tune can make your car perform better, burn less fuel, meaning fewer emissions, and lead to more reliable operation, which will reduce the overall cost of ownership… Our biggest reminder for datalogging is to drive safe and responsibly.

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