I have been getting some people asking me lately what they should do before they get their car tuned, so here ya go. Any other things you guys can think of please add. 1. if you drive to Chicago to get tuned, bring all your mn gases you will be running, don't use theirs. If you're doing several maps don't show up with a full tank of gas, you can always add more but sucks if you have too much. 2. the best thing you could do is pressurize the system and check for leaks with soapy water, and fix them if needed. 3. make sure you have all t-bolt clamps and no screw type hose clamps on all ic or pressurized pipes, and make sure they're tight. 4. have new and a spare set of spark plugs with you and the tools to put them in, and make sure they are gapped to 28 5. if you're going for big power, make sure you have a good boost controller and a stiffer spring in your waste gate. The 8 psi spring that comes in the tial is good for around 26-28psi depending on how you control your boost. ( there are many different ways of running the lines on different systems. make sure you look into this), and if you have the internal waste gate dont forget your restrictor pill. 6. bring all cables and what ever your em came with with you. not sure what else i can think of...
like double check and make sure all of your sensors are plugged in, clean and ready, and in working order.
Some in the beginning yes, I didn't read the middle, too much bull**** for me to go through. From what I gathered from other pre-tune checklists: Compression and/or leakdown test Good battery+electrical system On cars that have seen lots of miles, clean and tighten ground connections. Clean oil, new filter. The car (suspension, tires, and brake wise) should be one that is in good condition and safe to drive for the test drive after the tune. Long story short, don't arrive with a un-maintained POS that you just spent you're last dime on upgrading the turbo.
Ok this may sound dumb, But in the first post you said no screw type clamps only T-bolts, why is this?
Worm-gear type clamps cannot maintain as much clamping force as a T-bolt clamp can. Even then, if you are running significant boost (>20psi) a bead roll on the piping may be necessary. I say may be necessary because I didn't loose a coupler until about 25psi, although I've seen a Honda loose couplers at 6psi. I did have one slowly work its way off, but that was with a cheap ebay clamp. I've sicen replaced them with nice ones from Diesel Components.
Also, the worm-type will cut into the silicon coupler, whereas T-bolt style is a smooth contact surface and will not grate the silicon. I helped idget with his stock intercooler and he had fastened his intercooler to his turbo with the factory worm-type. It ended up grating material away and made clamping it harder in the future (it wasn't mounted correctly, so it actually shaved material off the end of the coupler).
Yup. It actually was mounted correctly. It worked it's way off once stock boost was raised. It has worked it's way off again since we re-mounted it correctly. It's 90% on there, but leaking ever so slightly and causing -1.5 FBKC around 6000 rpm... basically just after it peaks at 19ish psi. The stock y-pipe is pretty much done. I will be going with a new pipe and t-bolt for this reason. edit: Also, this goes without saying, and the tuner will likely have the foresight, but budget extra time and money in case something does go wrong.
Its alot easier to overtighten T bolt clamps and cut through hoses.So I agree and disagree with this depending on who is doing the installing.Just keep in mind that there is no clamp that is going to keep your hardware store junk from blowing apart.With a properly rolled or welded bead on the end of the pipe a worm drive clamp is more than enough.
I can account for this my worm_type clamps, cheese gratered my turbo to intercooler hose making boost impossible.
