Who tunes and datalogs their car

[ZL1Kid_AL]

Just picked up HP tuners as a gift to myself for Christmas.. The plan for right now is to datalog the car and start getting it dialed in with the help of my tuner, until I can feel comfortable to adjust things slightly on my own.

So my question is who tunes/datalogs their own cars? Seems very straight forward to Log pulls/runs, but anything I should know? Also who taught you to tune? (Self Taught, tuning school, books)

Thanks

[owhite3003]

[DrkPhx]

I datalog mine almost all of the time and use EFIlive. I've tuned for over 10 years now on the street, track and dyno. I was fortunate enough to have someone show me the basics when I first started and took it from there. Books and DVD's do help, but you will find tuning specific forums are a more up to date source of info when looking for help on certain topics and the HPT forum is probably the best one right now.

You will quickly find out the importance of data logging and how you can't tune until you thoroughly understand the information in the log. What parameters you data log is dependent on your ECM and really your mods. Sounds like you have a cool tuner, so he might be able to give you some tips as well.

Tuning is a steep learning curve (especially on the E67 ECM used in the ZL1, CTS-v and ZR1), so take it slow, read a lot, ask a lot of questions to make sure you fully undestand the data logs before actually tuning.

[hawk02]

Originally Posted by DrkPhx

I datalog mine almost all of the time and use EFIlive. I've tuned for over 10 years now on the street, track and dyno. I was fortunate enough to have someone show me the basics when I first started and took it from there. Books and DVD's do help, but you will find tuning specific forums are a more up to date source of info when looking for help on certain topics and the HPT forum is probably the best one right now.

You will quickly find out the importance of data logging and how you can't tune until you thoroughly understand the information in the log. What parameters you data log is dependent on your ECM and really your mods. Sounds like you have a cool tuner, so he might be able to give you some tips as well.

Tuning is a steep learning curve (especially on the E67 ECM used in the ZL1, CTS-v and ZR1), so take it slow, read a lot, ask a lot of questions to make sure you fully undestand the data logs before actually tuning.

Excellent advice!

I'm no expert but here are my recommendations:

1. If you haven't already, create an account on the HP Tuners forum. Lots of help and good info/stickies there.

2. I assume your car has a wide band. If not, get one ASAP. Hopefully you have a copy of HP Tuners Pro. The pro version Makes connecting a wide band a whole lot easier.

3. Download and read as many sample tune files and data logs as you can tolerate. I learned a lot by doing this. You'll begin to see patterns emerge and get a feel for common tuning practices.

4. YouTube also has a lot of "how to" videos to get you started.

As DrkPhx pointed out, the E67 (gen4) ECUs have a steeper learning curve than the gen3 ECUs and the gen5 ECUs are steeper yet. Start out slow and take your time to learn.

[rdemarce]

I am teaching myself to tune. I use HPTuners forum quite a bit and the people are generally pretty helpful. You have to put the effort in to research a bit because people don't like to answer questions that are easy to find.

Understand the logging and what the information means is the most important. Feel free to message me and I can try to help you out any time, but keep in mind, I'm still learning myself.

I did buy the tuning school material for level 1 since they have the 3.3x information. They're supposed to have level 2 for the new software soon. I like their material. Easy to use and they do a good job giving pretty basic information.

[mlee]

I have HPT pro and use it for data logging, but rely on my tuner to do the rest.

Some great advice already given here but https://www.hpacademy.com/ does some pretty good videos if you can get past the Aussie accent

[IDEALG]

The Best Advice on this topic is simple.

Buy the level 1 GM learn at home course from " The Tuning School "

Doing this will get you to start tuning the right way from the start so you're not confused reading online drama.

[ZL1Kid_AL]

Thanks for the info guys! Been on the forums and feel good about what I'm reading, and knowing a good amount of how everything works in these cars should be a plus for me. Once I figure out the abbreviations for everything I should be alright.
All that remains is to wait for good weather to do some good clean WOT datalogging.