How good are tweaked basemaps from sites like phearable and xenocron? is any one particularly better than the other?

since they are coming from people that tune cars all the time wouldnt they be reasonably close to accurate for most NA/all motor setups?

i understand you cant get spot on without an actual dyno+street tune from your local tuner but for a "rough" starting point are these "tunes" worth paying ~$30 for?

thoughts, opinions, hatred, praise all welcomed.

 

I got a basemapd obd1 ecu from phearable on my gsr and it worked great, noticable power gains all over the power band it was well worth the money. and it all depends on your setup, give john vega a call at phearable he will help you out.

 

well im getting ready to swap a built b20v into my crv and it has a fair amount of upgrades. i already have a chipped P28.

guess i should list the setup...

bottom end:
b20 with stock crank (ballanced)
stock rods
rs machine 84mm HC pistons

Head:
01 gsr head ported
stock valves
ITR dual springs/retainers(I&E)
ITR intake cam
blox v3 manifold ported to match head and 70mm tb
70mm holley tb
rc 310cc injectors
aem rail/fpr
pwjdm whale dong
felpro head gasket, hondata intake gasket.

plm big tube tri y header, no cat, 2.5in exhaust to vibrant muffler
exedy stg 1 clutch/F1 chromoly 12lbs flywheel


going in a 2000 awd 5spd crv.

looking for ~200hp

 

If you want the best bang for your buck... get your car tuned via dyno and street tune! A base map will get you there! Sure your engine could run OK on a base map. However it will never be at it's best.

 

A basemap is an ecu program is specifically modified for your vehicle & its modifications.

A basemap should not be relied on to be used as a final tune for a setup with large cams, aftermarket injectors etc unless you use a widbeand oxygen sensor gauge to monitor your vehicle's air fuel ratios.

When using a basemap on an aggressively built or forced induction setup you should monitor your air fuel ratios to make sure they are within spec of being safe.
If they are not within spec you should seek a local dyno tuner to have the vehicle dyno tuned.

 

i understand how it all works and i understand that a good tune would be better but im asking how decent are the ones you sell at phearable?

AND since you are here, IF they arent that good why even offer to sell them in the first place?

im not as dumb as you might think... and i believe i mentioned i was not going to skip out on tuning nor am i trying to convey any sort of negative attitude here.

 

Good enough to get you in the ballpark and up and running. Obviously it's not going to be ideal.

 

Let me give you a clear example.
We have had countless of customers order basemaps from us for anything from a turbo ls on 440cc injectors with a 2.5 bar map sensor to a ls/vtec with ctr pistons etc.
The customers don't have any issues & have reported that the basemaps were literally spot on.

Does this mean it happens every time? No it does not.
Most of the time there is an issue with the customer's setup mechanically or electronically which causes them to have an issue which usually isn't figured out until a tuner looks at the vehicle with the proper hardware/software to diagnose issues such as burnt IAT sensor or ECT sensor showing incorrect readings etc.

 

thank you for a good detailed answer.


from what i've been told, my local tuners have a handful of good maps they burn to a rom chip then just clean up minor imperfections on the dyno/street. so yes, the money you pay them is going towards their time and knowledge but they may very likely have the same map one could get from you for much less and pay much less to tune that map later.

one of my local tuners has "dyno days" and for a small fee you get 3 runs and for only a little more money he cleans up the tune. he does this a few times a year to provide people "seasonal tunes" from what others have said.

 

Please allow me to put in a little bit of experience here, although I am literally brand new to tuning and all this exciting knowledge.

When I first hooked up my wideband to my Neptune, everything started and ran reasonably well. It drove down the street and seemed like everything was A-Ok. Well, looking at my wideband, this thing wasn't even reading on the wideband because it literally was burning so lean it was out of its limits. After adding more fuel, it started to come down finally, but it took quite a bit of increased amounts to get it to begin to register.

Just be careful about these basemaps. All vehicles have different "feelings" about how much fuel and ignition it wants to respond like you want. I would strongly recommend not to drive long on a basemap because you are only increasing your chances of overheating your internals and damaging something that you will have to completely overhaul to fix (if your that lucky).

 

The main reason you should consider a basemaps is so you can get the car up and running to get it to a tuner.

For most of these setups a seasoned tuner can get it reasonably close to get you up and running to at least check for leaks, engine codes and gives you a chance to go over the car before making the trip to the dyno (either driving or towing the car there).

Most basic all motor applications are normally pretty close if you have minor modifications, but obviously any time you extensively modify the engine it makes the basetune for that particular setup that much more difficult to get spot on.

 

I cant add anything more than others...

They are meant to get the car fired and running, hopefully well enough to get the car to a tuner.

 

If your local tuner has basemaps, I'd suggest going with that. Many of them make bases from their tunes that already account for local pressure & temp conditions, and although it's still just a basemap, it's likely your safest option until you get it tuned. However, if your tuner says he can safely tune your car in three pulls, he's either a warlock or an idiot.