Looking for an experienced tuner in the Santa Clarita or Bakersfield

[Mountain GN]

Getting a bit frustrated trying to get my GN dialed in, so I''m crying "uncle" and looking for someone who can help me get this thing right.

I've had some serious problems getting this thing to run on 91 octane, to say nothing of even turning on the Alky.

Anyone know a decent tuner?

 

[meanchicken]

I've heard of issues with those MSD injectors...


If you can get it to Lou Czarnota in Lake Forest....he's the man...

 

[Mountain GN]

That's a bit of a drive, but if there's no one closer, I may have to consider it.

Also, my tune problems pre date the MSD injectors. These actually run much better than the 009s I had.

My problem is KR starting at 8-10 lbs of boost with standard chip timing (23/21). I basically have pull all of the timing out of the chip so I can run the 15 lbs that I'm supposed to without KR or Alky. I've always had this problem, done a ton of troubleshooting, and can't seem to have boost and some timing together.

 

[paulg]

X2 on Lou... back when I first bought my car I had replaced a lot of parts myself even left it at a shop for over a month and couldn't get the car to run right. Papa Lou had it squared away the day after I dropped it off.

 

[Reggie West]

You can bring it by apple valley this weekend I can give you a hand with it.

Do you have a scan master or power logger you can use?

 

[turbolou]

Reply

That's a bit of a drive, but if there's no one closer, I may have to consider it.

Also, my tune problems pre date the MSD injectors. These actually run much better than the 009s I had.

My problem is KR starting at 8-10 lbs of boost with standard chip timing (23/21). I basically have pull all of the timing out of the chip so I can run the 15 lbs that I'm supposed to without KR or Alky. I've always had this problem, done a ton of troubleshooting, and can't seem to have boost and some timing together.

Not a whole lot of info here to go by. My recommendation would be to first decide if your tuning for alky or just trying to get by on 91. On 91 fuel here in CA is watered down crap & 13-14 # boost with timing pulled all the way back is the best you can do. Contact Eric Marshall order some 60 # injectors & a chip custom made to your set up. Then get a hold of Razor & order one of his alky kits You will also need a scanmaster & learn how to use it. Start out with about 17# boost & slowly work your way up till you master it. You will need a good coilpack, Fresh set of R43TS plugs gaped to .028 new plug wires, fuel filter, perf. in tank pump & anything else that can throw you a tuning curve. Before you can start tuning, the car has to be running smooth & have all the basics covered. Cause you can't make a race horse out of a plow horse.There are several knowledgeable people here to help you. Pick one person that has a successful car themselves & listen to him. Everyone has a little different way of doing things & getting bombarded with too many opinions will only confuse you & the person that's donating their time.

 

[Mountain GN]

You can bring it by apple valley this weekend I can give you a hand with it.

Do you have a scan master or power logger you can use?

Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately, the wife has me booked up the next three weekends.

I did talk to Jeff yesterday, and it looks like we're trying to put something together for Memorial Day weekend, probably that Saturday. He thought we could do a "hang out/figure out why Mountain GN's car knocks" kind of deal.

And yes, I have a Scanmaster and Powerlogger. I'll even have a WB by then, though I'm not sure if I'll have it installed.

Not a whole lot of info here to go by. My recommendation would be to first decide if your tuning for alky or just trying to get by on 91. On 91 fuel here in CA is watered down crap & 13-14 # boost with timing pulled all the way back is the best you can do. Contact Eric Marshall order some 60 # injectors & a chip custom made to your set up. Then get a hold of Razor & order one of his alky kits You will also need a scanmaster & learn how to use it. Start out with about 17# boost & slowly work your way up till you master it. You will need a good coilpack, Fresh set of R43TS plugs gaped to .028 new plug wires, fuel filter, perf. in tank pump & anything else that can throw you a tuning curve. Before you can start tuning, the car has to be running smooth & have all the basics covered. Cause you can't make a race horse out of a plow horse.There are several knowledgeable people here to help you. Pick one person that has a successful car themselves & listen to him. Everyone has a little different way of doing things & getting bombarded with too many opinions will only confuse you & the person that's donating their time.

Thanks for the response, Lou.

I do have Julio's single nozzle system, through which I run 100% methanol. I spoke to him a while back, and he told me I need to tune the car to be able to hit 15 PSI with no KR before even trying the methanol. This has been the problem.

I do, for the most part, have the setup you recommend: Eric's TT Alky chip setup for 23/21, 50 lb injectors, and R43TS plugs. They are, however, gapped @ .035. Coilpack is about 3 years old, and I have a hot-wired Walbro 340 set to 43 PSI (line off). Fuel filter is new, too.

Car runs great, except that it starts to knock on the gauge at about 6-8 PSI with the default timing on Eric's chip. If I pull the max timing from the chip (about 9 degrees), I can eliminate most of it. I can run upwards of 22 PSI with no KR on methanol, but I have to max out the gain on alky system to do it, and even then, the car just doesn't feel that strong.

I've checked for vacuum leaks and can't find any. BLMs are in the low 130's, and about 130 at WOT.

I'm also fairly certain that it's not false knock, as it all goes away with lots of meth or race gas.

It's pretty frustrating!

 

[meanchicken]

Close the gap on them plugs from 35 to 28 per Lou's advice....then let us know how much better she runs....:biggrin:

 

[Mountain GN]

Close the gap on them plugs from 35 to 28 per Lou's advice....then let us know how much better she runs....:biggrin:

Wow..THAT much of a difference?

I'll have to try that!

 

[meanchicken]

Wow..THAT much of a difference?

I'll have to try that!

You might be surprised...:biggrin:

Before you do anything else....do this....

 

[turbolou]

Reply

Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately, the wife has me booked up the next three weekends.

I did talk to Jeff yesterday, and it looks like we're trying to put something together for Memorial Day weekend, probably that Saturday. He thought we could do a "hang out/figure out why Mountain GN's car knocks" kind of deal.

And yes, I have a Scanmaster and Powerlogger. I'll even have a WB by then, though I'm not sure if I'll have it installed.



Thanks for the response, Lou.

I do have Julio's single nozzle system, through which I run 100% methanol. I spoke to him a while back, and he told me I need to tune the car to be able to hit 15 PSI with no KR before even trying the methanol. This has been the problem.

I do, for the most part, have the setup you recommend: Eric's TT Alky chip setup for 23/21, 50 lb injectors, and R43TS plugs. They are, however, gapped @ .035. Coilpack is about 3 years old, and I have a hot-wired Walbro 340 set to 43 PSI (line off). Fuel filter is new, too.

Car runs great, except that it starts to knock on the gauge at about 6-8 PSI with the default timing on Eric's chip. If I pull the max timing from the chip (about 9 degrees), I can eliminate most of it. I can run upwards of 22 PSI with no KR on methanol, but I have to max out the gain on alky system to do it, and even then, the car just doesn't feel that strong.

I've checked for vacuum leaks and can't find any. BLMs are in the low 130's, and about 130 at WOT.

I'm also fairly certain that it's not false knock, as it all goes away with lots of meth or race gas.

It's pretty frustrating!

Later for this pen pal discussion. Why don't you just call me at 949-378-1590 so we can talk directly & can properly confuse you.. Lou

 

[Alky V6]

I had a fella come to me once that had a long laundry list of things he had done or replaced to try and solve a knock issue. He was very thorough.
The only thing I could think of to suggest was asking if the timing chain had been replaced lately. He looked at me oddly and told me the timing chain was old, if not the original. I told him to replace it.
Months passed and I ran across him somewhere and he brought up his tuning issue again. He told me that he replaced the timing chain and the engine woke up, smoothed out, and the knock issue disappeared. It was like a whole different engine.

 

[Mountain GN]

I had a fella come to me once that had a long laundry list of things he had done or replaced to try and solve a knock issue. He was very thorough.
The only thing I could think of to suggest was asking if the timing chain had been replaced lately. He looked at me oddly and told me the timing chain was old, if not the original. I told him to replace it.
Months passed and I ran across him somewhere and he brought up his tuning issue again. He told me that he replaced the timing chain and the engine woke up, smoothed out, and the knock issue disappeared. It was like a whole different engine.

I put a chain in it last October. The motor knocked before it was replaced, and didn't change at all, after.

 

[meanchicken]

Any progress?

Did you try regapping those plugs to see if it helped?

 

[Mountain GN]

Any progress?

Did you try regapping those plugs to see if it helped?

I've been on vacation the last two weeks and haven't touched the car.

I'll be getting together with some of the other local TB guys to shakedown my car this weekend, so maybe I'll regap then.

 

[ramon6795]

Do you live in Bakersfield?

 

[meanchicken]

Just sayin'...follow Lou's advice before you do anything else....regap the plugs...that gap definitely is at least part of the problem...might be the whole thing....

 

[Mountain GN]

Do you live in Bakersfield?

I'm up on the Grapevine.