FAQ

PRE-DYNO CHECKLIST

• Make Sure the car is 100% ready to be tuned and the bugs are worked out! Fans need to be working.  Everything should be already wired up and ready to go.  The motor shouldn’t be smoking excessively or leaking fluids.

• The main objective is to tune the car, not have to fix mechanical or electrical problems on it.  Matt may be able to fix some minor problems during the dyno session, but not always for free.  If your car is not in proper working order, you may be asked to bring it back once the repairs have been completed.  Customers will be charged for any tuning or labor/diagnosing time.

• Seating is limited, pretty much everyone will be standing or have to wait outside. We do not recommend bringing your kids, girlfriend, boyfriend, or other non car enthusiast friend. Dyno tuning can take many hours and they will be bored or driven crazy by the noise.

• Remove any unnecessary items from the passenger seat/floor.

• If your car spills excessive fluids on the dyno floor, you may be charged a clean-up fee.

• Please don’t help yourself to any tools, shop supplies or equipment unless you are given permission.

• Tires and Tire Pressure – Make sure all of your tires are at a proper pressure and equal. Make sure your wheels are properly torqued down.

• Fuel filters – Replace your fuel filter if it has 30,000+ miles on it.

• Fuel – Come in with at least half a tank of gas, unless we are going to be doing tunes on 2 different fuels.  Tune on the gas that you are going to run the car on.  Don’t put in octane booster, if you aren’t going to run it all the time.  If you are tuning on pump gas and have had any race gas in the car recently, make sure to run through 2-3 entire tanks of pump gas to get any mixed in race gas out of the system.  If your car has been in storage or sitting for a while, please put in fresh fuel.

• Clutch – Make absolutely sure that your clutch isn’t slipping and that it will hold the power that you want to make.  We can’t tune a car with a slipping clutch.  Matt has had to cut short many tuning appointments due to slipping clutches a couple hours into tuning.  Also, make sure your clutch pedal is properly adjusted with a small amount of free play.

• Check Engine Lights – If you have any check engine codes, fix them before your tune or contact Matt about them.  He can turn some off in software on some cars.  Don’t just assume it’s an unimportant rear O2 sensor code.  Matt can’t tune cars with critical CELs running in limp mode.

• Misfires – If your car has an ignition problem for a bad coil, bad wires, bad ground, bad igniter or some other problem and it is breaking up under load, then you won’t be able to get a good tune.  Some misfires are tune related and can be fixed during your dyno session, but a tune won’t fix physical problems with the ignition system.

• Compression test – Make sure your engine compression is where it should be for your compression ratio and that all the cylinders are within 15psi of each other.

• Boost/Vacuum Leaks – Check your car for boost leaks.  This is very important on cars with a MAS/MAF setup.  Any leaks will affect tuning and power output.  Fixing a boost leak on a MAS/MAF car after it has already been tuned will result in it running leaner during boost, which isn’t a good thing.  Speed density cars like a Honda or most standalone systems will run with huge boost leaks, but they will lose power because the turbo is having to work much harder. Any boost/vacuum leaks after the throttle plate will cause idling issues on a MAS/MAF or speed density setup.

• Timing Belt – Check your timing belt alignment before coming in for tuning.  Have someone else check it also, if you are not sure.  This is a very common problem on Hondas. Just because the car seems to run okay, doesn’t mean that the timing belt is on correctly.  Matt can’t tune a car with the timing belt installed wrong and we often don’t have time to fix it immediately.

• Timing Covers & Crank Pulleys – On cars with adjustable cam angle sensors or distributors, Matt usually needs to set the base ignition timing.  He can’t set the timing without the lower timing covers on the car and a crank pulley with proper marks.

• Spark Plugs – Run the correct heat range plug and gap for your application.  A boosted car will need a much tighter gap than an all-motor setup.  If you don’t know what plugs to run or what to gap them at, give Matt a call.  Bring an extra set, if you have a car like a Honda, Evo, 240SX, or Supra that is easy to change plugs on and often need new plugs when boosted.

• Fluids – Make sure your oil is at the proper level, do not overfill, and your cooling system is full and bled.  Fix any oil, coolant, or transmission fluid leaks.  If your engine oil and filter have more than 3000 miles on them, then please replace both.

• Cooling – The car needs to have a perfectly working cooling system with fans.  MATT CAN NOT TUNE A CAR THAT IS OVERHEATING. You should have a thermostat!  Not having a thermostat or restrictor plate (on race cars) will make a car hard to tune, inconsistent and overheat easier.

• Battery/Alternator – Make sure your battery isn’t weak and that your alternator is producing the correct voltage. Battery voltage can greatly affect your fueling and ignition strength. A battery that requires a jump every time you start the car can cause problems during WOT tuning.

• Wiring – Solder all connections.  Don’t have any exposed wiring or solder joints.  Heat shrink or tape over any bare wire.  Don’t just twist and tape connections, especially any important sensors or injector wiring.  If you are trying to run peak/hold or low impedance fuel injectors on an ECU designed to run high impedance injectors, then make sure to wire in a drive box, resistor box, or resistors before coming to your dyno appointment. Make sure your fuel pump is getting good voltage.

• Exhaust – Fix any exhaust leaks.  Leaks near your O2 sensor can cause idle and fueling problems.  Leaks before your turbo will increase lag and lower power output.  If you have a tuning system or setup that requires us to put our wideband O2 sensor directly into your exhaust system, make sure your stock O2 will come out or have an extra bung welded on, and make sure the opening into the pipe is as big as the bung.  A stock O2 sensor will often fit, while a wideband won’t.  With a lot of cars we can use a tailpipe sniffer, but if you have a standalone engine management, open exhaust system, or non-functioning stock O2 sensor then it is sometimes best to install the O2 sensor into the exhaust.

PRE-DYNO CHECKLIST CONTINUED...