Novice tuners

Hey all, happy to be here. I just was looking for some general advice as to what tables in the tuning software I should give my time too the most. Obviously main fuel maps an ignition timing are important, but what should I not even worry about or venture near in the beginning? I'm obviously very né at this an just want to stay out of trouble by being concerned only with the essential tables while I try my hand at tuning for the first time. I have an Sr20det Blacktop. Front mount, 3" turbo back exhaust, stock turbo, Stock maf and stock injectors, walbro255, and I'm leaning towards a Ecu reflash using nismotronic.

The essential tables that you'll spend most of your time on are the fuel and ignition tables. Boost control and idle speed control are also important if you have these features available. Transient enrichment and cold start tables are probably the other areas you'll need to spend some time. I'd suggest following the 10 Step Process in our Practical Standalone Tuning course as this will make it clear which tables should be adjusted and when.

Thanks Dre, and thanks again for all you do. I have an Sr20det blacktop that I'll be attempting to reflash with nismotronic. Not sure you e ever used this but it's pretty popular over here. I'm sure you've tuned plenty SR's in your day. I know you said it would be best to start tuninng with a low powered NA engine, but this is all I have. Any advice on what to watch out for on that particular engine?

I haven't used the nismotronic but I have used Nistune which i imagine is very similar. My advice would be to start out at the wastegate boost level and take your time. It'd also be advisable to confirm your base ignition timing is in fact correct too.

Thanks! Yea, that's what I plan on doing. I have a hallman manual boost controller set to all the way open, waste gate pressure, and I will climb incrementally. Also planned on making sure to check timing with a timing gun.

So I was told by the guys at nismotronic that I would have to make all the alterations to the fuel maps using the VE table. In the examples in your lessons your usually tuning with lambda or the AFR table. I've gotten use to seeing the 14.7 and knowing that less then that is richer and more then that is leaner. I don't understand the numbers in the VE table or how to read them. How do I learn how to read and interpret a VE table? I understand that it's the mass of air entering the engine and we need to find the right amount of fuel for it, I just don't know what I'm looking at when I see the numeric values. What number is stoichiometric in a VE table?

I am not sure about the features of Nismotronic, but make sure you have some means of determining if you are getting any knock.

If it is a VE based ECU, you should have a target AFR table that you will set to the actual values you want to achieve. Then in the VE table, you will adjust the VE values to achieve the target AFR. Larger values make it richer, smaller values make it leaner. Once your VE table is dialed in properly, if you change your target AFR to a new value, the true AFR should change correspondingly, assuming everything else is working properly (enough fuel supply, large enough and properly caracterised injectors etc.)

Hey all, hows everyone? So I just had a question. Some engine management systems are VE based, correct? So that would mean the A/F ration table would just be a reference to see how our manipulation of the VE table changes the mixture, right? We don't actually make changes to the A/F ration table when we're tuning. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks. I'm just trying to understand what table I would manipulate to change the air fuel mixture.

I'm not familiar with Nissan reflash software but I do know a bit about standalones. On most modern VE systems, changes to the LambdaTarget (Air/Fuel) Table will change the amount of fuel the ECU delivers even if you leave the VE Table unchanged. If you want the Air/Fuel ratio to be 11.0 you should set the LambdaTarget to be 11.0 AFR before making changes to the VE Table.