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I'm a little confused about Spartan "custom" tunes

1K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Pahrump 
#1 ·
This is my first diesel truck but I have modded turbo cars before and the process is surprisingly similar. Remove exhaust restrictions ad boost and fuel. What confuses me is the use of the phrase "custom tune" for a tune that is emailed to you. In the Subaru world we would call that a tweaked off the shelf tune. Where a custom tune has had the map custom built for your vehicle by running the car on a dyno and adjusting the fueling, boost, timing, cam avcs system ect. I have a Subaru STI that is modded pretty nicely and it has been truly custom tuned, on an all wheel drive dyno with a Tuner sitting in the passenger seat with his laptop monitoring the car as it is run on the dyno and adjusting variables between the runs. With a nice ratio between maximum power and reliability being the goal. I have read a bit on this forum and others but I haven't found this to be the common practice, does anybody do this?

If your curios about the STI it still has the stock engine and turbo. Mods are:
Walbro 255 LPH fuel pump
Deatschwerks 850 cc injectors
Perrin fuel rails
Perrin prototype Short ram intake
Perrin front mount intercooler--Subarus come with it mounted under the hood scoop
Perrin PWI-1 water injection kit spraying 50/50 H2O and methanol
Grimm Speed phenolic manifold spacers
Perrin equal length headers
Perrin catless 3" downpipe
HKS 3" catback exhaust

Car was tuned by Tim Bailey of Surgeline Tuning using a Cobb acessport version 2.0. I have maps for 92 octane, 92 octane + meth/water spray and an E85 tune. Why E85? It's 105 octane and very knock resistant. I made 380 torque at wheels on E85. Not bad for a little 2.5 liter four cylinder.

So who does true custom tunes and are they worth the money in the diesel world?
 
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#2 ·
Yes most of the tunes are just "tweaked" Spartan Builds off a platform and test on thier own trucks. As far as a "custom" tune not too many people have Dyno's (Preformance Shop) with people that are familar with the 6.4 engine to build full custom tunes. I know that you can email Spartan with the mods that you have and they can adjust anything that you want. In the end it boils down to a money game. Mass produce a product that has prove power or just cater to people that want full custom tunes........:dunno:
 
#3 ·
Unless you have a built motor that could benefit from a individual case tuning, why mess with it on these diesels....The companies that provide us with these tunes have spent a lot of time and money on dynos so that we dont have to all take our trucks to a dyno to get a crazy tune....

Plus, for about $1500, a tuner, and exhaust...These 6.4s are breaking 600HP at the crank, right at 500 HP at the wheels and over 1100 tq.....It really is a complete waste of money unless you have a built motor that has much more potential than most of our stock 6.4s, and that hasn't already spent large amounts of time being tested by the tuning companies.

My $.02.......:thumb:
 
#4 ·
Another thing that I remember from messing with anything other than naturally aspirated gasoline engines, is the custom tune keeps you from running too lean, etc and ruining a motor. Now, I don't mess with any tuning myself, but diesels seem to be MUCH easier to keep reliable. Therefore it's not nearly as critical to have a full blown live, custom tune. That is my thoughts on the subject.
-Aaron
 
#6 ·
On a gasoline engine, you have to fight to get a few extra % in horse power and torque. Dyno tuning makes sense, since you want every last drop. In a diesel, like the 6.4l, you are getting such ridiculous gains from just slightly tweaked off-the-shelf tunes that it is really a waste to worry about that last few %. The difference between my friend's stock 460hp corvette and a dyno tuned vette is 97hp.. wow.. I can nearly double my Hp and get over 1100 ft/lb of torque with these mostly generic tunes. It's just not worth the effort to do it the hard way.

Don't get me wrong, it would be really cool to do. But I am not going to spend the money on it.
 
#7 ·
Actual custom tuning would be the best route for a true race truck. Since most people use this truck as a dail driver and like to go have fun at the track sometimes then leaving a few ponies on the table is not a big deal. If you are seriously competing and need every hp that you can muster than the ONLY way is a true custom tune...be it on the track with data logging or on the dyno, every truck is different so some might be able to handle more timeing than another, some may have stronger fuel pumps from the factory..etc..etc.

But the real need for custom tuning is not needed until you start to modify your hard parts...pumps, turbos, etc....then...no way would I even think of running a shelf emailed tune.
 
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