The specs are in my sig! This wed. I'm going to have it tuned, finally. The car runs well aside from a stumble / stall after dropping the clutch when approaching a stop light (maybe some tuning will clear that up...). I think it's gotten worse since the weather warmed up.

The car has had all sorts of maintenance: "low" mileage jdm motor, new oil pump, water pump, timing belt, plug wires, clutch, fuel filter, etc.

Spark plug question: I read most of you use the 7's but they can foul during long runs. Should I use 7's or 6's at the dyno? They are going to be new regardless.

Any other suggestions to prepare for the dyno day? I also have a questions about the EBC, see here.

 

Can you do a pull from low rpm all the way to redline in 4th gear without detonation, overheating, etc?

 

As in WOT with boost? I haven't done that since it's not tuned for boost. How safe is it using the mspnp base map? I've driven it gently around and applied boost in short intervals for at least several hundred miles.

 

Yes, as in WOT through the whole rev range.
Put the windows up and listen very carefully for detonation.
If you can do this, then it should be able to safely make a full dyno pull.

 

What kind of BS advise is that?
That is specifically why you take it to a dyno, so that afterwards you can do a pull from low rpm all the way to redline in 4th gear without detonation. Not before. On a dyno, the operator can interrupt if it goes lean, hot, etc.

Your advise is like trying to walk before broken hip surgery.

 

He never said it was being tuned on the dyno, he just said he was going to the dyno. So I assumed he was doing it to just get numbers.

I would wnat to be fully confident that my car is ready to do a entire pull like that before I put it in the hands of a dyno operator.

Not to mention the fact that street tuning is usually a more accurate representation of load on an engine, especially compared to a dynojet.

But I guess you do all your tuning on the dyno right?

 

the 7's are fine.

 

This makes a lot more sense to me
And yes I did mention that I am going to have it tuned on the dyno.
Surprised to see you here, Justin!

 

Well then I stand corrected.
But still, I would have it tuned pretty well on the street before I started dyno tuning.
The dyno just simulates driving. You can make all sorts of power tuning on the dyno, then go for a drive and blow the engine simply because the dyno didnt load the engine up as much as you do while accelerating at speed in a high gear.

 

I am also interested in this thread.

I am having my 1.6 tuned this weekend and i hope to push the limits of stock internals and transmissions with my setup.

Things i have on my list are:
Bring extra fuel, miata tanks are tiny and boost will run it out fast
Fresh oil
new bkr7e's

Besides that, im at a loss for what to do to prep.

My **** runs well... i can do pulls, i drove it around and it doesnt have any leaks.

 

Why the extra gas? At the last dyno day I did 6 runs on the dyno, about 20 runs from 50-100 WOT tuning EBC, and drove over 200 miles to and from my house with 45min sitting in traffic and I still managed over 20mpg. I am pretty sure it was actually closer to 25mpg for that fill up.

Even when I had my car load tuned 2 years ago I don't think I went through more then half a tank of gas if even that.

 

OP, where are you going to get your car dyno tuned. the few places that i have heard of here in GA, i have heard horror stories about.

 

My point exactly. Lots of shops are run by idiots, and lots of dyno operators have no business doing what they do. Some of the fubar dynos you see posted all over the net are proof of this.

 

one shop around here blew a kid miata up twice i think (kept advancing his timing, the kid left trusting the guy and BOOM!), another shop specializes in Nissan and Honda, they charge a flat 600 to tune your car and the others are pure ****!

 

lol, are you retarded or something?

A proper dyno tune out does a road tune any day. My tuner scraps EVERYTHING he hasn't done and does it all on the dyno. No blown engines so far... And they get tracked.

 

I assure you, I am not the one who is retarded here.

If you really think that a dyno perfectly simulates real world load then you my friend are a serious moron.
For one, it seems like dynojets are the most common chassis dynos around, and they put dramatically less load on the engine than driving does, you can actually see substantial difference in spool times. You could tune a car to make all sorts of power on a dynojet, stick it on the road and it will blow the **** up.

I never said that the dyno was useless. Its a very good tool. But the simple fact is that the vast majority of tuners and dyno operators dont know ****. I would rather be safe than sorry and know that when they start dyno tuning my car its already got a good street tune on it.

But thats just me. I guess if I were like you and had to hire a tuner due to my own incompetence then maybe I would fee differently.

 

Here is a brilliant example of an idiotic dyno operator.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=372775

The OP is obviously an idiot, but the dyno operator should know better, yet he did consecutive pulls on a boosted setup with AFRs in the 15's.
If this hadnt been such a weak sauce JRSC setup it would have blown up pretty quickly.

This is not an isolated incident, I personally know people who operate dynos in my area and most of them are back-yard mechanics at best and have no business anywhere near a dyno or tuning software.


But w/e, if you wnat to put your car in the hands of someone who is likely an idiot, than knock yourself out.

 

only because most of these guys swing my way

Oh and a dyno tune is great, but you need to do both dyno tuning and road tuning, IMO for best street mannerz

 

i'd try to find someone on here that's local and knows their ****, and try to get them to help you road tune for a bit and learn as much as you can. That's what I plan on doing before going to a dyno, so I can tune myself and be confident in the future.

So... anyone around NC want to help me out in a few months?

 

I'm going to Balanced Performance and getting tuned by Ed. He was recommended through Matt at DIYautotune. Also read some good things at mx5atlanta.com.

Any horror stories??
I'm interested in them even if they aren't from that shop lol