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Tuning Help


samuel082799

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I have a 2005 Subaru Outback XT that is getting a new motor soon, and i have decided that i want to do the tuning my self, I have read all of the resources i know of but i still have a few questions. I have asked these questions on the romraider forums, but it seems it is a bit dead over there. I am looking for someone who has experience with open source tuning who would be willing to answer a few questions for me. Let me know if any of you guys can help me out a bit, or if you want any info on what engine is going in the car. Thank you
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Moving to the tuning sub-forum.

 

 

I hope you understand the risks you are taking.

 

Yeah I understand, I've always been interested in it, the reason I am going this route is because I can't seem to find any reliable runners in my area. I call them to get a quote, and they are never available and never call back, I email them and they don't email me back, it's been a lengthy process of trying to find someone I trust to tune my car to no avail.

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Email Dave at Cryotune.

 

Getting an E-tune done might be a good introduction and a safe way to get a completed tune at the same time.

 

Unfortunately that seems to be the main complaint with tuners. Dave has a great Rep on this forum, but I haven't personally used his services. My car has always been dyno tuned.

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tuners have a rough life. They are usually contacted long after parts selection has occurred and probably after said parts have been bashed into place. Then the customer shows up asking for a one and done tune for the least amount of money. If customer is not happy, he usually posts negative comments on social media dissing tuner for not making his pile of parts ready for the world debut.

 

There are plenty of tuners in california. As well as a number of etune companies.

 

That said, tuning a turbo subaru as your first time is probably not going to be a pretty story for you. Not saying it can't be done, but you're going to be doing alit of self help. If you want a tuner to teach you his craft, you'll need to pay for that experience. Can I suggest efi university? they teach tuning.

 

Romraider is still alive however responses are slow. Especially to "teach me how" questions. Buy the tools, figure out how to use them, then start with small changes using a known starting point. All new components is worst place to start.

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Email Dave at Cryotune.

 

Getting an E-tune done might be a good introduction and a safe way to get a completed tune at the same time.

 

Unfortunately that seems to be the main complaint with tuners. Dave has a great Rep on this forum, but I haven't personally used his services. My car has always been dyno tuned.

 

This and if you still do not want to E-tune, buy 2 short blocks :lol:. My buddy got his first WRX, and this shady guy in my town tuned it for 75 bucks, yeah you know where the story goes :mad:, Short block city:lol:.

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Romraider is still alive however responses are slow. Especially to "teach me how" questions. Buy the tools, figure out how to use them, then start with small changes using a known starting point. All new components is worst place to start.

 

Especially with "how-to" stuff, there's no need for a reply. There's plenty of resources on RomRaider forums, here, NASIOC, etc. But, it does take time to do all the reading.

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tuners have a rough life. They are usually contacted long after parts selection has occurred and probably after said parts have been bashed into place. Then the customer shows up asking for a one and done tune for the least amount of money. If customer is not happy, he usually posts negative comments on social media dissing tuner for not making his pile of parts ready for the world debut.

 

There are plenty of tuners in california. As well as a number of etune companies.

 

That said, tuning a turbo subaru as your first time is probably not going to be a pretty story for you. Not saying it can't be done, but you're going to be doing alit of self help. If you want a tuner to teach you his craft, you'll need to pay for that experience. Can I suggest efi university? they teach tuning.

 

Romraider is still alive however responses are slow. Especially to "teach me how" questions. Buy the tools, figure out how to use them, then start with small changes using a known starting point. All new components is worst place to start.

 

The reason I was trying to get in contact with a runner this early was to find out what fuel system they are most comfortable with running. Alot of the reasons you say that tuners have hard lives would be solved if the provided better customer support and service.

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Suggested reading for someone who wants to learn to tune:

 

http://www.romraider.com/index.php/RomRaider/IncompleteGuideToTuning

 

Also, just ask your questions. You don't need permission to ask and you don't need someone to commit to answering them first. Just put them out there.

 

If you had started this thread by asking your questions, you might even have received answers by now. :)

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Suggested reading for someone who wants to learn to tune:

 

http://www.romraider.com/index.php/RomRaider/IncompleteGuideToTuning

 

Also, just ask your questions. You don't need permission to ask and you don't need someone to commit to answering them first. Just put them out there.

 

If you had started this thread by asking your questions, you might even have received answers by now. :)

 

To the above point, I got this same link and I spent 6 hours going down the rabbit hole and I couldn't be more enlightened. Really breaks down the basics and assumes you know enough to string the foundational information into a viable tune for your car. Its not going to tell you what values to input in each cell i.e. it isn't a how to tune your Subaru table by table. However if you want that information its all on the RR site.

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I taught myself how to tune. Everybody has to start somewhere. One thing I would suggest is to start tuning on the motor you're planning to replace. First get a wideband and a tactrix cable. Then learn how to log and what to log. Once you have meaningful logs, you can ask questions, and you'll get answers.

 

Oh, another thing. Make sure you have a pretty solid understanding of how an engine works. As well as understanding the specific features of the engine you're going to tune. Things like AVCS - how it works and what it does.

 

I taught myself how to tune way back. I got an EJ207 and no tuners would touch that motor at the time, so I had to figure it out. It's doable. Read a lot, and search on the RomRaider forum. Chances are, if you have a question, it has been asked and answered over there. When you get to tuning, just make small changes and see what they do. And get started on the motor you're going to replace.

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I taught myself how to tune. Everybody has to start somewhere. One thing I would suggest is to start tuning on the motor you're planning to replace. First get a wideband and a tactrix cable. Then learn how to log and what to log. Once you have meaningful logs, you can ask questions, and you'll get answers.

 

Oh, another thing. Make sure you have a pretty solid understanding of how an engine works. As well as understanding the specific features of the engine you're going to tune. Things like AVCS - how it works and what it does.

 

I taught myself how to tune way back. I got an EJ207 and no tuners would touch that motor at the time, so I had to figure it out. It's doable. Read a lot, and search on the RomRaider forum. Chances are, if you have a question, it has been asked and answered over there. When you get to tuning, just make small changes and see what they do. And get started on the motor you're going to replace.

 

Thanks for the helpful reply. I already started doing the loging and stuff like that on the old motor, so I understand all that. I also have a good understanding of how a motor works, I'm building it myself. As far as starting on tuning the motor I'm going to replace, it sounds like a great idea, but for all intents of purpose it is blown up, so I can't do that. I was thinking of buying a few classes from hp academy so I might feel a little more comfortable getting started.

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