FAQ

• Make Sure the car is 100% ready to be tuned and the bugs are worked out!  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.
   

• Please keep in mind that the dyno session will be extremely loud and can possibly take a number of hours to complete.  I do not recommend bringing friends/family that are not prepared for this.  There is often hours of troubleshooting before a single dyno run is made if the car comes unprepared. 
   

• Remove any unnecessary items from the passenger seat/floor.  I need to use this space for dyno remote, laptop, cables, etc. 
   

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

• Wheels/Tires– Make sure all of your tires are at a proper pressure and equal. Make sure your wheels lugs are properly torqued.  Ask me if you are unsure of what is a suitable pressure
   

• Fuel System – Make sure your fuel system is appropriately sized for the power you are planning to make.  This often becomes an issue when running alcohol based fuels (E85/Methanol).  Make sure your fuel pump(s) can flow enough, injectors can flow enough, lines are proper material and size (ptfe recommended for alcohol fuels), pumps are properly wired with large enough wires to handle the pump’s rated current draw. 
  
  An inadequate fuel system is the #1 issue I see on cars running E85.  Please ask me if you are not sure on what fuel system components to run!
  
  I highly recommend a fuel pressure sensor for most all aftermarket ecus.  This can often be used as feedback to the ecu to adjust fueling if pressure is dropping unexpectantly.
   

• Type of fuel- Always tune on the fuel that you will be running regularly in the car.  If you use octane booster or race gas on the dyno then that is what you should be running all of the time in the car.  If you tune on 93 octane then do not fill up on 87 octane and expect the tune to be safe.  Also, do not bring your car with old fuel!  If your car has been sitting for 5 years with a full tank of gas then it should be flushed and refilled prior to tuning.
   

• Flex Fuel Tunes – If we are tuning on pump gas and e85 so you can run a flex sensor and blend the fuels then I recommend the following: Come in with ¼ to ½ a tank of pump 93 in the car.  Bring at least 4 5 gallon jugs.  One jug should be empty and the other 3 jugs should be filled with E85.  We will use the empty jug and likely one 5 gallon e85 jug for flushing the fuel system to E85., 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.
   

• Check Engine Lights – If you have any check engine codes, fix them before your tune or contact me about what specific codes you have.  Some codes could be tune related and easily fixed, but other codes may be an actual problem with the car that needs fixed before we can tune it.
   

• Misfires – If your car clearly has a misfire on one or more cylinders then likely a tune will not fix this and it needs to be fixed prior to your dyno session.  If your 4 cylinder sounds like a Subaru and does not have a Subaru engine then it has a problem!
   

• Compression/Leakdown – Please make sure your engine has healthy compression/leakdown numbers.  I cannot tune out a dead cylinder
   

• Boost/Vacuum Leaks – Check your car for boost/vacuum leaks.  This is very important on cars with a MAF setup.  Any leaks will affect tuning.  If your car is idling abnormally high then there is a good chance you have a leak. 
   

• CAM Timing – Please triple check that your cam(s)/crank are properly aligned.  I see this issue more often than you would expect.  If you are not sure how to properly align your engine timing then please take it to someone that can do it.  I cannot tune a car with an engine that is out of time.
   

• Timing Marks – Please make sure that you have clear marks on your engine for setting base ignition timing.  Please note that many newer engines such as the GM LS do not have these marks.  If you are using a standalone ecu then you absolutely must have a timing mark and pointer made to properly set base ignition timing.  You can use a basic piston stop to properly set this.  There are several YouTube videos describing how this is done.   
   

• 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 then please contact me and I will tell you what to get.  I recommend bringing multiple sets of plugs if this is a high power car where we will need to pull the plugs during the tuning session to inspect them. 
   

• Fluids – Make sure your oil is at the proper level. Do not overfill it!  Make sure your transmission is full and not underfilled.
  
  Fix any oil, coolant, or transmission fluid leaks prior to coming!
   

• Cooling – The car needs to have a perfectly working cooling system with fans.  I CANNOT TUNE A CAR THAT IS OVERHEATING!  Make sure the cooing system has been properly bled with no air pockets.

• Battery/Alternator – Make sure your battery isn’t weak and requiring a battery charger every time the engine needs to be started.  Make sure your alternator is properly charging as well.  Ensure that your battery/alternator and ground cables are appropriately sized.  You should have minimal voltage drop across the cables.  This is particularly important when the battery is mounted in the rear of the car.  I often see extremely undersized cables being used for this that cause terrible startup problems. 
   

• Wiring – Ensure that all wire connections are solid.  You should not have any connections twisted together.  I recommend non insulated butt connectors with heat shrink where splices are required.  Don’t just twist and tape connections! 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 wires are appropriately sized for the loads they are being used for (Fuel Pumps, Coils, etc.).  Please make sure all sensors are reading properly on your ecu.  If you need help with this then let me know.  

 

• 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 do not have a wideband wired to your ecu then I will be installing mine in your exhaust.  Please make sure you have spark bungs or that I am able to get to your factory O2 sensors to remove them.  Ensure that I can easily remove the OEM O2 sensor or bung plug for installing my sensor.  It is a good idea to make sure this can be removed prior to coming. 
   

• Supercharged Cars – Ensure that your belt is tight enough to not allow slip.  I experience belt slip on a large percentage of supercharged cars while on the dyno.
   

• Vacuum Lines – Secure all vacuum hoses on boosted vehicles with clamps or zip ties. The lines and ports on many factory non-turbo car were not designed to handle boost and might need lines or to be secured.  This is very important on your MAP sensor connection and fuel pressure regulator connection.  A leaking fitting on either of these can be catastrophic to the engine.

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• Turbo/Wastegate – Have the right spring and right size wastegate for your setup. Not sure of the right size? Contact Me.  Make sure your lines are properly plumbed for the boost controller.  There are many diagrams showing this on the internet.  Do not leave ports on the wastegate open that should be plugged up. 
  
  If you have CO2 or on board air then you will absolutely need to have a dome pressure sensor.  Make sure the sensor is plumbed near the wastegate(s).  Contact me if you have questions about how to hook all of this up.
   

• Oil Feed/Return Lines – Too much pressure on the turbo feed or a bad flowing return line can hurt the turbo. Make sure the return line is not kinked, is flowing at a downward slope to allow a gravity drain, and is large enough to flow enough oil.  For the feed line it is often a good idea to run a regulator such as what Turbo Smart sells if your engine makes excessive oil pressure. 
   

• Do not use non-reinforced couplers meant for PVC on your turbo charge pipes.  They will usually rip or melt from heat.  Use good quality couplers of the correct size. 
   

• Wastegate Dump tube – Put a dump tube on your wastegate and make sure it isn’t blowing on your radiator or at your turbo inlet/air filter.  You do not want to create an EGR effect by blowing exhaust gas into your turbo inlet.  This is terrible for power. 
   

• Please contact me if you need a base tune to get your car started.  DO NOT BRING A CAR TO ME THAT HAS NEVER BEEN RAN BEFORE!  You need to be able to check over the things I mention in this list prior to bringing me the car.