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Ok this is a thread kinda of people and how they STREET tune.

Well heres my story of I think us finally tuning right.. maybe?

First fixed my idle using this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=8651&highlight=

Actually used raene's advice of just changing the timing, i think adding some more idle room might still be necessary or just changing surround timing cells to the same as the others. (If you read Raene's post youll understand)

Went around doing some full throttle boost tuning. Got AFR's from 10 AFR to about 12's so I think thats better.

Its kinda difficult, we do a low third gear pull, my friend drives and i watch where the tracer goes, I follow it and lower the fuel (because it was running too rich 10 AFR's ,remember? thats rich, i go more lean)

So once I got in the 12's we did timing.

For timing I did the same thing, for both fuel and timing when youre fuel throttle you dont really see it jump around much, only around a certain number of cells that it does everytime, is that right?

Anyway I went in the options and got to a point of .37 degree retard per lb of boost. No pinging, spark plugs look fine.

I wasnt sure because im really not sure how much im suppose to advance the timing. Anyone wanna give me more info on this part?

Well all in all I like how the car runs, a lot smoother but still I think it could have a lot more power, at least my butt wasnt feeling it.

Any advice? Your tuning methods/ stories?

Gimme some ideas here guys, I think my car could in fact be slower than when I had the first basemap (although its a lot healthier now).

When I can barely beat a BMW Z3 something has got to be wrong right!? lol

Go to a dyno or pay someone to tune. Nobody can sum up calibrating your ECU in one posting.

Throughout the tuning of my N/A B18C1 I have found that when it "feels" faster it is actually slower and vice-versa. Butt dyno's usually don't have much merit in them unless the owner of said butt has "tuned" said vehicle and made healthy gains that shown up in ET's and mph AND showed improvement in the butt dyno department simultaneously.

.37 degree retard is a bit agressive I'd say. For me I did a 1 degree retard for every pound of boost. I didn't touch timing all that much I tuned for good AFR and then I cleaned up the timing a bit and left it as is. And for a SOHC honda 1st, 2nd, and 3rd I have no traction.

I'm new to tuning, too, but can share some ideas that I have picked up reading other posts.

I'm under the impression that .37 deg/lb is too aggressive, too. You're the ultimate judge of detonation, but be careful. It's not always easy to hear when you're WOT. Reading plugs seems to be somewhat of a black art, too. Everyone has their two cents about it; most of which conflicts with someone else's. It's pretty easy to see severe detonation, but other than that there is room for error. I've seen the insulator get blown right off the tip of a plug once. That's *severe* detonation. Are you checking the plugs with a loop and light?

You want to get as many cells of the map tuned as possible. It's like finding corner cases in code. Sooner or later the ECU is going to read those cells and if they're way off you will have problems. Try different combinations of loading your car by driving up a long, straight, constant sloped hill and/or putting a bunch of extra weight in your car. Then vary your accelerator by different degrees to try and hit all cells.

For example, put your car in third and start out about as slow as you can go in that gear. Then slowly matt the throttle. Watch your datalogger trace cells such that you get a reading in every cell in the row. You'll only be able to do this if the motor cannot climb in RPM faster than your foot slowly removes vacuum and then possibly adds boost. Adding a hill in there somewhere might help. Then let your motor speed up a bit so your map tracing is in the next row and repeat the process.

Another example is to put your car in second and then very slowly feather the throttle so that as RPM climbs the vacuum remains constant. This will allow you to fill in a column from top to bottom. Slow down and repeat with a little heavier foot to hit the next column over.

This takes practice and some thought. I'm getting better, but still can't get all the cells. There are some cells you probably won't ever get. I think as long as you get a lot of cells and then apply smoothing to surrounding areas of the map you should be okay.

These techniques aren't as good at controlling RPM and load as a dyno, but it's better than just doing WOT pulls all the time.

Disclaimer - Be careful when you're doing this so you don't run off the road or hit someone else! Having a buddy with you is very helpful. You probably already know that, but thought I would put it in as a disclaimer.

Good info guys, thanks.

Ill probably use a dyno some day, im just starting to realize how expensive this habit is.. X_X

Anyway when i check plugs i just look at them, nothing special. They look normal to me, ill compare them to pictures of bad plugs in integra manuals for example.

I'm not a plug reading expert, but almost everything I've read says that using your method to read plugs isn't going to tell you what you need to know. You can probably get a good long-term picture of your tune, but any short duration events, like mild detonation, are going to be completely invisible to an inspection with an untrained and naked eye.

More info on reading plugs found below. One thing I didn't see you mention is turning the car off quickly after making a pull. I've read in several places that unless you shut the car down quickly after making a WOT pull all evidence will be gone.

Also, cracked or broken insulators mean *severe* detonation. If you see any of that you're going to have other problems.

http://forum.pgmfi.org/viewtopic.php?t=9100
http://forum.pgmfi.org/viewtopic.php?t=12276 - check point #6

Appreciate it , thanks =)

Just curious - what AFRs did you target for your tune? I'm using a slight variation on the default autotune settings. We've got a bunch of ethanol in our fuel here during the winter, so I'm shooting more for 11.9:1 at WOT.

My wide open throttle is somewhat low 12's if i remember correctly.

In fact it kinda looked like..

first 3 columns: 14.7

next few: 13's

towards boost 12s and -