tomiboy

I have an appointment for a dyno tune in a couple of weeks. I just installed headers, and this weekend I'm installing an Airaid intake and a 160* T-stat. It a manual trans. LS3. Will the tune make a noticeable change?

The headers alone, untuned, FEEL much faster, but it is also louder and that could be decieving.

BBA

Definitely. In fact, if it does not feel faster all around the tuner does not know what he's doing. (Which does happen, so cross your fingers).

knyght4

It's really hard to believe, but a tune makes all the difference. I only have headers and intake, and I tune my own car using HPT. Even though, you may think your car runs fine without the tune and mild mods, you'd be surprised what a scanner can tell you about how your car is actually running.

edcmat-l1

Headers, CAI and tune is easily worth 40 rwhp on the LS3s. Very noticable feeling. The tune itself can be worth 15-20 at the wheels. The LS3s are a little different tuning wise, so make sure your tuner has plenty of LS3 experience.

tomiboy

I noticed it used to burble nicely on decel with the NPPs open, now it's actually backfiring occasionally. I would assume a tune will remedy this. It also set off a CEL within a couple of short drives.

The tuner is Dan Bills at FLP in Naperville Il and comes highly recommended by the guys in the Great Lakes forum. It was a three week wait for an appointment with him

JRHAWK9

Dan Bills has tuned some NASTY a$$ cars, you should be good to go. He is also on MFBA.org as a sponsor. Do you know if he plans on street tuning it first before it heads to the dyno?

So, how did the header install go? Run into any snags?

tomiboy

It was my first header install and went pretty smooth. I'm 58, if I can do it anyone can. I did it on 6" ramps up front and jackstands in the rear! The headers are loud with the NPPs open but good loud! They backfire occasionally on deceleration now, before they just burbled nicely. I believe I read a tune will get rid of some of that.

I was told he will dyno and street tune but I don't know the order.

JRHAWK9

hmmm, gives me confidence to maybe even think about trying it myself.

He will street tune it first. You want to get the fuel trims in check and have a good base tune before strapping it on the dyno. If you could, let me know how it all goes and what your dyno numbers are. Are you going to be doing a baseline pull before he tunes it?

AndyAmador

Tune made a world of difference for me.. Can't wait to see your results...

tomiboy

I don't know if he'll do a baseline first. I'm having my sons drop it and pick it up. So I won't even be there.

Do you have a hydraulic floor jack that will fit under the back end and some ramps for the front? If so, and some very basic hand tools, you'll be fine doing it yourself. It did take me 8 hours on Saturday and a little more on Sunday!! I probably would have done it in a day easy if I was younger! Climbing under, or out from under,the car a zillion times when I forgot something was killing me. When I had questions on Saturday I called LG and they told me what to do.

JRHAWK9

yeah, I have plenty of tools; one professional low profile jack, 4 other standard jacks, a set of Rhino ramps and 2 sets of jack stands. I had to make some "pre-ramps" to use with the Rhino's in order for the Rhinos to clear the front bumper cover. I've had my car up in the air a few times already. Once to change out my tranny/rear end fluid and once to clean the whole car top to bottom when we got back from a 4,500+ mile road trip out west. Here's a pic of it in the air after I got it pretty much cleaned up:

tomiboy

I wish I had that much room!!

JRHAWK9

yeah, it's nice but it sucks having a gravel/dirt driveway!

Boomer111

I got 48 rwhp with those mods/tune.

JRHAWK9

What were your before/after numbers, out of curiosity?? I'm kind of leery of accepting that much of a gain as normal, as any dyno operator can "tweak" your numbers a bit so that the customer is happy with the overall "gain" when everything is said and done. Would be nice to see some trap speeds from before the headers/tune and after. If you're actually gaining almost 50hp, one would expect an increase of ~5mph in trap speed, correct?

If these LS3's really do gain 40+hp with headers and a tune, that's fantastic!

Boomer111

376 rwhp 381 rwtq. After mods 422.5 both rwhp/tq. So more like 46 gain. With tune only I was 400 both hp/tq. Dynojet smoothing 5 SAE corrected.

davekopell

I had a mail order tune done and was not impressed felt no different than stock.

tomiboy

Who's tune?

davekopell

I would rather not say who's tune it was, it cost me nearly $400.00 and i needed to have a local tuner fix the issues. The entire cost when all was said and done nearly $900.00. Needless to say it left a bad taste in my mouth

06MonteSS

ouch!!