Hey Guys,

I have a dumb question. Does the tuner need to know what mods are in my car in order to optimally tune it? Or will his computer and gauges just tell him everything he needs to know?

Like.. if my car has forged pistons/rods, does he need to know that since he can't actually see it??

Thanks!

 

Tuners will typically start with a rough baseline, utilizing a broad idea of what components you have. But, in all reality, they're going to tune it off of fuel ratios, timing, etc.... Whether or not you have replaced pistons/rods, won't really matter. They'll be pulling data from the sensors available to them.

 

So.. how does forged pistons and rods actually increase horsepower? Like i get intake/header/exhaust/more fuel can increase power due to more airflow/fuel, etc. But then how does forged internals help the tuner get more power out of the car? how does that affect air & fuel ratios and timing and stuff???

 

They should not need that info. But it's ideal for them to know.
I like to know stuff relating to; rotating mass, piston shape, combustion chamber, Cam specs,

 

Actually, the tuner does need to know all modifications done to the car. Because that's not only how he creates a basemap, it's also how he determines what the safety level of the engine is for what power he can get to without worrying about catastrophe as a general rule of thumb.
For example, pistons and rods don't create more power (except when going much higher compression than stock), they simply allow the engine to not break at high power levels. If the engine is sleeved and has all forged internals, and the customer wants around 500hp, the tuner knows that could be easily possible. But if the customer wants 500hp, and the engine is stock internals, hell no the tuner won't even think about attempting that.

If someone gives a car to a tuner with zero info, and says make as much power as possible, expect to get a dyno chart with a lot of power, and then a big dropoff because it blew up.

 

right!!!

 

totally true! the only way to know reasonable limits is to know all the parts that aren't stock.
if it's all stock, then i think this route.
"x" mods, then i factor that in.
and no, just looking at the sensors or data doesn't tell me everything.
for instance if you put on an omni 3 bar map and didn't tell me, i'd know something was up because the map isn't reading where i think it should be but there's also and omni 4 bar. and you can get kinda same results in the data by having tps and map plugs swapped.
tell you tuner all you know about the car.