Advanced Tuning Tweaks

Hey Andre, Quick question: Does HPA have courses for any further advanced tweaks like: TCC/Transmission tuning and control, proper Fuel Injector Timing for valve events (big cams), bigger throttle bodies changes, and throttle response fine tuning? Or is that something just better finding out by trial and error experience. So far I am pretty happy with the courses, as it has made things a lot easier for me to digest. There is a few steps I could never get myself to understand/confirm as an amateur but this has guided me to feel more confident about my "art". Still waiting on those GM Gen V courses!

Hi Carl,

Sadly at this stage the answer is no. We're planning to produce a trans tuning course first quarter next year but can't help any sooner than that. As for fuel injection timing events for big cams, there's usually no solid rule for what you must do. I've personally found that in most instances the stock timing works well even with a large cam. There can be improvements in low rpm performance to be had by changing the injection timing in some instances but this is really a trial and error as it will depend on the specifics of the cam overlap. Generally OE calibrators target injection against a closed valve which, however you may see an improvement by timing the injection to occur outside of the overlap period when only the inlet valve is open.

As for transient tuning, in 25+ years of tuning a very wide range of GM and Ford vehicles, I very seldom see the need to make changes to transient tuning (if that's what you're referring to as 'throttle response'). Usually if you have a hesitation or issue under transient conditions it's caused by something elsewhere in your SD or MAF calibration. With the throttle body situation I would suggest you tread carefully as in particular the Ford ECU is very sensitive to the throttle body parameters. I only recommend purchasing a larger throttle body from a company that can provide you with the required parameters to enter into your calibration otherwise you can pull your hair out chasing issues.

Gen V is on our list and hopefully we can cover this early next year. Sorry for the delay.

i will seek into it more. thank you for following up.

eagle240, I recently tried to help a local to me tune a 53 chevy PU with a 2010 GMC 5.3L 6L80 donor install. It is a very nicely built hot rod & the owners first LS conversion. He learned I was a hobbyist with a Mustang chassis dyno & called me out of no where. I really wanted to help this individual out as there are a few hot rod builders stuck in the carburetor time warp in my area. They are scared of FI especially anything that is not stock.

When I spoke with him on the phone he told me the DOD cam had been replaced with a Comp Thumper. I asked the spec's & calculated the overlap to +1*, not a problem that will be easy. It would barely run & was not drivable, so I travelled to his place to see if I could help out. When I arrived & looked @ his documentation, he had given me incorrect cam spec's. Turns out the camshaft has 9* of overlap & being the donor vehicle was a truck the torque converter stall was very low. Far below were that type of camshaft will idle properly.

As you probably know a low stall converter & large cam is a bad combination. When I finished with this it had a reasonable 650 rpm idle p/n & in gear with a slight pull in gear. Not perfect but very manageable, no stalling, very good cold & hot start, AC turns on with no issue. To do this hours were spent with the timing tables, minimum air flow tables, adaptive airflow & timing as well as a multitude of other start up airflow & CL vs OL tweaks.

I'm mentioning this as these are calibration changes that will improve running & driving ability with camshafts greater than 4* of overlap even with proper torque stall speeds & manual transmission. I found no help here & digging into my stack of written books, searching HPT forum I had a reasonably end result.

I had hoped the video presented here tuning a large cam LS would provide much more insight to my last project, there is much more required to have nice running large cam LS.