Is Getting Tuned in the Summer a Mistake?

davemarco

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Hi all. I'm at my local custom tuner (well regarded by all, including Derek), and we seem to be having difficulty making any additional power beyond the Hondata basemap. I'm currently full bolt on with intercooler and exhaust, including the PRL inlet pipe and charge pipe kits. We baselined at 340 whp on the basemap, and immediately ran out of fuel. Timing advances got us up to 350 whp, but that's it so far.

Could this be due to the 85 degree ambient temps, or could all the extra air from my bolt ons actually be a detriment without the extra fuel?
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kefi

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Yeah, tuning in the summer isn't a great idea. Your dyno runs are near-guaranteed to be horribly pulled back due to sitting on the rollers without real airflow in a car that already has trouble using real airflow.

Extra air won't be a detriment besides needing to possibly limit max air charge.
 

Zeffy94

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I dunno man, when the weather got hot I was reminded that this car hates heat with a passion. I don't have any way to check but how fast my car pulls timing in this soupy northeastern weather is ridiculous.

I think the ambient temps have something to do with it. You have an upgraded IC so I would've thought you wouldn't pull power as easily. However, I'm betting if you went somewhere with an ambient temp in the low 70s you would be making more power. That's just my theory though.
 
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davemarco

davemarco

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Yeah, tuning in the summer isn't a great idea. Your dyno runs are near-guaranteed to be horribly pulled back due to sitting on the rollers without real airflow in a car that already has trouble using real airflow.

Extra air won't be a detriment besides needing to possibly limit max air charge.
Do you think that I'll need to get retuned in the winter?
 

kefi

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Do you think that I'll need to get retuned in the winter?
Maybe, maybe not. It depends how familiar the tuner is with the FK8 and how the tuning was done. It could be fine, or it could have a ton of potential left on the table.

You say he's highly regarded by Derek, so I wouldn't doubt the tune was OK.
 
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davemarco

davemarco

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My fuel pump seems to freak out over 5K RPM whenever we try to push power even a little bit above the basemap (~346 whp). At this point, it looks like my pump is just super weak and not willing to flow. My VIN isn't included in the recall though, so who knows.
 

fatherpain

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If ambient temperature is a concern, could the tuner attempt it in the early morning when it’s cooler?
 

MadMage

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85F is hot? Sounds like Winter in Arizona!
 

Zeffy94

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85F is hot? Sounds like Winter in Arizona!
Humidity and heat does not make for a happy turbo :( and we here on the east coast usually are bombarded with it several days a week during the summer
 

tinyman392

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Humidity, heat, altitude, air pressure, etc. can all mess with dyno outputs. It’s very unfortunate. I do like the idea of going earlier in the morning like @fatherpain suggested though. It may also be useful to shut off the car and let it rest every once in a while (if you can afford to do that). I’ve found that if I shut off the car for about 5 minutes, it’ll pep right up.
 


Learn2turn

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If you get 'er HOT, she won't give you any ass
Just like the wife
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Teach-R

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Where is your tuner located? Are they in the Albany region?
 
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davemarco

davemarco

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Where is your tuner located? Are they in the Albany region?
He is. He spent a good portion of the day on the phone with Derek from Innovative, and I trust that he knows his stuff and did what he could. At this stage, the major issue seems to be the top end, with DIFP starting to rapidly fluctuate up and down over 5k RPM.
 

kefi

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He is. He spent a good portion of the day on the phone with Derek from Innovative, and I trust that he knows his stuff and did what he could. At this stage, the major issue seems to be the top end, with DIFP starting to rapidly fluctuate up and down over 5k RPM.
Shiet, I wish I could get tuned by that guy. Sounds dedicated to the craft. We need a list of good tuners.

That's an interesting problem though.,. Did you see the fuel pump recall? Were you possibly in that group? https://www.civicx.com/forum/threads/2018-2019-fuel-pump-motor-recall.49929/
 

theslowest1

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You meant a professional tune right? Like the tunes from TSP and such won't matter. Only dyno tunes would potentially suffer?
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