well, its that time again, have a better paying job so time for a new tune, decided to go with 5start tuning. after talking with mike about my mods and what i want i ordered it this morning. not too happy about the extra charge to have them review a datalog but whatever. so in a couple days i will report back about the tune.

a little history on my tunes. first tune was from bama (jusnes modified) got the usual 3 tunes but custom for my jlt intake. ran the 91 perf and was happy. then went to vmp, i just got a 91 perf tune since i already had the other bama tunes if i wanted to swap to a tow tune or 87. well was not happy with the customer service, was told i was wrong about the truck being lean by just the sound of it, was told its impossible to tell the a/f by the sound.....hmm i remember pretty well tuning carbs by sound. sent in a few datalogs just for him to tell me it was running lean...he sent me a new one, same deal, he sent a 3rd and told me if i still think its lean just adjust the wot a/f in the user settings. few months later i borrowed a friends wideband, and sure enough it was still very lean. so i adjusted it till it was close. gas prices went up so i switched to the bama 87 tune, lost a lot of power and not happy with shift points. so im going with the 5 star tune on 87, asked for best power with aggressive shift points. I am buying a wideband this afternoon and installing tomorrow, so that when i get the tune i can monitor the a/f and datalog and have them review it to perfect it.

 

I'm not sure that I've ever heard of anyone tuning an engine purely by sound in regards to performance tunes. Most people use a vacuum gauge/spark plug exam to tune carburetors, not their ears.

 

Our ears was all we had back when my dad was teaching me to tune up my hot rods. You adjusted timing by ear and you adjusted the carb by ear. You just learned how a sweet running engine was supposed to sound. You adjusted valves by ear as well.

 

glad someone knows how to go back to basics, all I have to say is that I heard what I heard, told him it sounded lean, was told I was wrong for being able to tell by sound, then with a datalog it showed it was very lean. say what you want but it sounded lean then was proved to be lean. and like BJ said if you dont have a wideband/narrowband/datalogging/millions of other sensors/vacuum gauge....then you have to do it by ear, and hey it worked back then, works now. im not saying i can tune it to 14.7 by ear but it was very lean so i was able to tell by ear

 

I used to turn the adjustment screws all the time to get the dirt track cars we had close, dad always behind me and got it just "right".

Its been a long time, and it was a 900CFM holly on a 383 stroker, you can tell the deference by ear.

Last one I messed with was fairly easy to tune in, you got a high and a low/idle screw.

Nothing to it really, but the guys like my dad and a few other folks can really adjust it out just "right" and get that last little bit out of them.

Besides, carbed engines just have that sound that EFI doesn't.

 

Similar but different. Do you remember when soft drink cans had a pull tab that came off? When we were at the track or out racing and needed to check the points on the 289s, we would pick up one of those tabs to use as a "feeler gauge". They were just right for the 17-19 degrees required.

 

I'm not saying you can't get close, I just don't recall many people being able to make fine adjustments by ear. We can all turn a distributor to control advance and come up with a decent setting by ear, I was referring to hearing the minutia in a modern vehicle to get it dialed in at stoic.

 

I wish you good luck and buying a wideband is the best thing you can do!
and
I'm not hating on the jlt ram air......but its one of THE WORST cai's to tune for....the short tube length causes the air to remain unstable going past the maf......

 

I know its not the best, but I like the way it looks, and if you can get the tune right it adds decent power

 

x2.

 

ordered tune at 7:00AM got the tune 4:30PM

 

This is true.....I'm waiting to see how the wide band works for you.....so when get done installing it post up your a/f's.....thanks

 

ok first impression isn't so good...huge hesitation from first to second, power was ok slightly better than the current bama tune i was running. so once i get the wideband in ill do some datalogging and see what mike has to say about it

 

ended up not getting the wideband till late saturday, so I still dont have that installed