I have been wrestling with a strange problem with my 06 C6 for some time. I have a Vararam CAI, 160 stat, LG LT Headers, GHL catback and 4.10 gears.
I have always had a worse than normal throttle hesitation and KR off idle and some strange spikes and dips in my high cylinder air mass that looked to be a stray air leak post-TB. I had quite a few other tuners take a look, but no one was able to fix it completely. I re-flashed with the original factory tune and tried some different things, changed couplers, gaskets etc, but thought it might be an intake gasket leak and decided to do the best we could and just live with it until I was ready to do a FAST, heads etc. We tuned around the problem, and I’ve been quietly living with it.
I had met and spoke with Jeremy Formato many months back. He was able to fix a bad tune for a friend that installed an STS Twin Turbo in his 05 LS2 GTO. Jeremy took a poorly running 475 rwhp / 505 rwtq, did a speed density tune and turned it into a 500 rwhp/550 rwtq monster that has to be driven to be believed. Although he is based in Tampa, Jeremy travels to select cities in FL and around the country to do tuning. He is very, very well known in FL, the GTO forums and on other Corvette forums.
When I heard Jeremy was going to be tuning at a shop in Gettysburg during Carlisle Weekend (Gettysburg is a short ride from Carlisle). I decided to give him a call and see if he’d like to take a look. He said he would appreciate the chance to tackle it.
After looking at my logs and tune, he thought that we were dealing with Burst Knock and some very strange peaks and valleys in different areas of the tune. He said he was confident he could tune it out, so I said lets do it. I met him at the shop on Friday which was a blistering hot afternoon. I wanted to be sure to rule out a possible manifold gasket air leak, so I had him install one of his ported intakes and TB and we also did a PVC delete since my manifold and ports were soaked with oil after only 7K miles (Im sure that wasn’t helping detonation any). Jeremy and Nick were gentle and respectful of my car during the entire process, taking their time and ensuring everything went together smoothly and correctly, despite the 95 degree heat and humidity. We fired the car up and the scans showed my old friend KR and hesitation were still there….Jeremy was right, it was in the tune. We drove it on the dyno, and that’s when I realized just how talented Jeremy is as a tuner. I knew he was good, but it was like watching Merlin himself. The first baseline pull was 350 rwhp, and 345 rwtq. (Please view these numbers for before/after comparison only. I want to stress here that I was not looking for any peak numbers. As we all know, dyno readings vary among manufacturers, design, ambient conditions, etc. I was looking for a fix for my hesitation and KR issue. Ill never get into a debate with anyone over who has the higher numbers. If my dyno says 100 hp and it gives me a thrill when I drive, that’s all that matters to me personally…but everyone is entitled to expect different things from their cars.) I have seen other tuners work….some are interested in giving you a quick SOTP thrill, some want to get you out the door fast with a canned tune from another car, others take their time and make sure your fueling and timing is safe and optimal, but never have I ever seen a tuner calc in his head the proper coefficients to bring individual cells to Lamda. I remember sitting in Greg Banish’s class with our calculators, endlessly churning numbers to get to the same place Jeremy was doing in his head! I was astounded how quickly he went through my tables making adjustments without the help of a calculator, and without cutting and pasting from other tunes. We did a total of 5 modifications and pulls over the course of an hour or two until Jeremy was satisfied. The best pull was 380 rwhp and 374 rwtq….nice numbers for a steamy day on a dyno with 4.10 gears and the Vararam gulping for air instead of being fed. But again, I don’t care about the numbers….I wanted to know the feel.
It was then time for the road tune….Jeremy insists on road testing and tweaking the dyno tune to make it right for your car on the road. We did some back road running and Jeremy had to make 2 more small reductions to the timing table to correct a few very small KR issues in the 5K range. We ended up with a final 378.31 rwhp and 371.13 rwtq. All I can say is I am humbled and grateful, I never thought my car could have the perfect combination of smoothness, crisp and instant throttle response that I wanted. I know this is in part due to the ported intake and TB, but the problem of KR and hesitation I chased is gone and the car feels completely different. It pulls harder than ever before, I can launch far easier with the newly smooth throttle ramp without the wheel hop I used to fight. Blip the throttle, and your head snaps against the seat…on throttle response out of corners is much snappier than before as well. The sound of the engine and exhaust is even smoother, much more refined sounding than it was. I actually had Jeremy coaching me and laughing…I had grown accustomed to short shifting around 5800rpm as that’s where the power previously fell off and Id hit the rev limiter quickly after that with the 4.10s. He kept yelling “6300 Craig!!! 6300, we’re still pulling hard!” And it does, much more so than ever before…it feels like it will keep pulling hard all the way to the limiter, even with the stock heads and cam…It was never like that before no matter what I did. My good friend/ lead mechanic at my shop who accompanied me agrees; the car is transformed. I’m not a racer, just a street guy…but I cant wait to get it to the track and let Cameron make a pass to see if Jeremy is right about it being a 1/4 mile surprise for me .
I can’t thank Jeremy enough for his time and talent. Anyone looking to make the most of his car and mods, do not hesitate to give Jeremy a call. He is a true gentleman that gives of himself and his family’s vast experience to give you the most performance and service possible.
Here is the final dyno chart, sorry I didn’t have all the runs printed. Take a look at the A/F…talk about flat!
Last edited by Craigster05; 08-26-2007 at 08:28 PM.
Location: Objects in your mirror are losing , Long Island, NY
Nice read craig, you must be real happy with the new found power, I was very impressed with your c6, going back to NY from carlisle. Running you a few times on the highway, you are not too far from Z-06 power, you my friend have a new beast lurking under that hood.
After I get my fast intake installed in the next day or two by spinmonster contributing his talents to my cause (he has spent many hours of tedious work at no charge on my fast intake ported, modified and free install,) I would definitely go to Jeremy Formato for a serious tune, hope he can add some extra power to my already potent mill. Hopefuly it will be a bunch of us (Joel, hoffie,jimmy,frank)can take a ride to him for a tune.
I would have no problem running your car at the track. Would love to see some low 12 second passes . Congrats on your new found joy ride.
I agree! Jeramy did my tune in 05 in Tampa. I runs great! He is a real perfectionist! He definetily knows the business and takes it a step above others
Jeramy did a dyno tune for me on my 03 z ,stock pulled a 373 rwhp ,ran 1.60 60 ft and 11.98/ 12.0s consistantly , this kid knows his nos also from the ground up ,glad a tampa boy hooked u up .
Location: Objects in your mirror are losing , Long Island, NY
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucky7
I agree! Jeramy did my tune in 05 in Tampa. I runs great! He is a real perfectionist! He definetily knows the business and takes it a step above others
Charlie
Are you hoffies' dad? I was one of the 7 cars driving to Carlisle with your son, We had a blast. He is a unique individual,(always watching out for his friends) guess he takes it from the dad man.
Yes, Jeremy is the greatest. He has worked on my C6 4 times, 2 tunes, a ported intake and a ported TB. He also corrected a problem on my 02 Camaro SS. I am sure glad he makes the trips to PA. See sig for numbers.
Jeremy tuned my car also. My car now feels nice and crisp. I ended up with 378/366. Headers, VaraRam, ported intake/tb. Jeremy is a wonderful person to work with.
Thank you Craig it was a pleasure. I want to try to help people that have had problems with their tunes or setups. We have seen numerous issues and most of the time we know how to resolve them. The car felt great and was fun blasting down the road. "6300!" hehe
Next time i would like to try to do hoffies car and may make the trip up to Long Island.
Chuck7 I can make the tune even beter with the newer software and porting the int and TB.
JAck frassina- hadnt heard from you in a long time, drop me a line 813-495-8778
HEY RALPH!! thank you for th nice words hope all is well!!
Fore58- Brian sweat?? Give me a ring if you guys have any problems.
I hope to help you guys out if there is anything I can do.
Jeremy Formato
HEY Jeremy. Everything is fine. The Vette and my Camaro SS are running fine. I just installed the Corsa Extreme on the C6. A great improvement in the sound.
Hey Jeremy
I have heard nothing but excellent results from your work.My father has highly recommended you to all of us.Craig was extremely pleased with your tune.It will be a great pleasure to meet you in person.If only people knew what you could do to a car.Hopefully by all of our recommendations,they will listen
I was looking for a tuner in Florida and decided to go with Jeremy based on the kind words of forum members. He is installing ported TB, Intake, 160 deg. thermo. and tuning my car on Friday in Orlando, I can't wait. I did not know there where so many great Corvette tuners in Florida. I love corvetteforum.com
Corvette Store
Jeremy Formato finally slays my KR issues
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