Too many cars come in supposedly ready to be tuned but are, in reality, not prepared at all.
EFI tuning is the last step after EVERYTHING else is working perfectly.
This shouldn’t even have to be repeated, but the five most obvious things that need to be addressed are:
vacuum or boost leaks
cylinder compression
fuel pressure
oil or coolant leaks
ANY electrical problems
You would be god damn amazed how many cars come in “needing” a tune that don’t meet these basic requirements.
Ask the car’s owner and they always tend to reply: “yeah everything’s perfect, the car is ready”.
And then the car can’t even fire up.
This is not to say that, to have a good tuning experience, you must buy the most ballin turbo and use the most exotic materials.
No. The point is simple:
Don’t cut corners. It only costs you more in the long run.
---------- Post added at 02:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:58 PM ----------
So with that said…
…the following list shows items that are typically found in cars which are not yet ready to be tuned
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Household wiring used for 12v accessories
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No relays when needed
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Home plumbing tube used for charge piping
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Seventeen gauges all wired to the cigarette lighter
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Any Prosport or similar bargain gauges
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Fans hard wired or activated only by a cabin switch
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Dash vents or trim painted bright colours
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Dirty as fuck air filters
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Fuel pump hard wired (with no safety roll over switch)
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MB Battles
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Ebay turbo
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Used turbo from craigslist, “but the seller said it was mint”
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Any piggyback whatsoever, including eManage, Ultimate or not
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Eight year old spark plugs
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Underglow
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Any red RTV anywhere on the engine
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Open breathers
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Wood screws holding on body panels