standalone right for me?

[blmlozz]

I'll be honest, I don't know the first thing about how to acutaly 'tune' a standalone, I'm ready to throw my gt28rs into my car and the only thing left to get is tuning, I was going to just get some unitronics and be done with it but now I have grander things in mind, namely to build a 2.0L and some BAT out of my spare engine.. so spending $900 for a one-time-only tune dosen't sound so great anymore since I can spend a bit more for something like a 034 EFI IIc and have complete control. I have a basic understanding of what's involved mechanically and how an internal combustion engine works and what most of the technical terms refer to but the acutal process of it is foreign to me(ie.. how adjusting A will effect B.. ect). That's also kind of why I want the 034, since they give you a base map to start with, otherwise I'd be lost. I guess my question is, has anyone ever just dove into something like this before? How steep a learning curve is something like this? Obvisouly there's lots of dyno time and cash/trial and error involved.. but is there some great thread or website that gives a understanding of something like this? Or do I really need to find someone that knows what they're talking about and learn from them.

[Mcstiff]

www.motorgeek.com would be a good place to start searching.

[pac1085]

I went at it on my own, and would not recommend it unless you have a junk car to practice on. I've been using it for 1.5 years and still don't fully understand everything. Granted, I started without any sort of basemap or support line like 034.

You can definitely screw your engine up easily. My engine didn't blow because of the standalone, but you could see the cylinder walls lost their cross hatching marks likely from running too rich when trying to tune cold start, cranking & warmup enrichments.

[Mcstiff]

My plan is to convert to standalone first and get it up and running on a stock engine (7a for now). You can still mess things up but I should have a little more cushion then starting out trying to tune for power with a ton of boost.

[1NaudiA4]

just read as much as you can about tuning. Theres also some classes you could take to eventually become an EFI certified tuner. Its a little bit expensive (500 or so per class) but its still cheaper than having to get a new engine. http://www.efi101.com/schedule.php?cat=ALL&country=ALL

[onemoremile]

so spending $900 for a one-time-only tune dosen't sound so great anymore since I can spend a bit more for something like a 034 EFI IIc and have complete control.

Well.....

Buy a used ecu tune for half price and get the car running. Sell your stock ecu to recoup costs or keep it to use with the standalone later. When you install the standalone you can sell the ecu tune for what you paid for it.

Two scenarios, buy an ecu tune or standalone.
1. ECU tune. Open the package, install, and drive. You'll obviously have fueling already installed and may have to tweak fuel pressure or another variable but this is very close to plug and play. Tunes for turbos ranging from a 28r - 3076 tend to be the same tune with slight tweaks, if any.
2. Standalone. Load a base map if it is available. Start tweaking and tuning and driving cautiously and eventually it will be right and potentially better than the ecu tune. The quality of the tune depends on you, a knowledgeable friend, or the tuner that asks for a large hourly rate. It may or may not be a better tune but will definitely cost more initially and even more over the long run. The standalone always has the potential to be a better tune than the ecu tune.

[blmlozz]

Well.....

Buy a used ecu tune for half price and get the car running. Sell your stock ecu to recoup costs or keep it to use with the standalone later. When you install the standalone you can sell the ecu tune for what you paid for it.

Two scenarios, buy an ecu tune or standalone.
1. ECU tune. Open the package, install, and drive. You'll obviously have fueling already installed and may have to tweak fuel pressure or another variable but this is very close to plug and play. Tunes for turbos ranging from a 28r - 3076 tend to be the same tune with slight tweaks, if any.
2. Standalone. Load a base map if it is available. Start tweaking and tuning and driving cautiously and eventually it will be right and potentially better than the ecu tune. The quality of the tune depends on you, a knowledgeable friend, or the tuner that asks for a large hourly rate. It may or may not be a better tune but will definitely cost more initially and even more over the long run. The standalone always has the potential to be a better tune than the ecu tune.

money really isn't a factor, just the learning curve. after talking to 034 the car is 'supposed' to be driveable with the base map they give you, so I'm going for it.. that was really the only thing holding me back since the car is a semi-dd.. I do have access to another vehicle for sure, but it gets about 14mpg.
thanks for the input! will have it ordered withing the next couple weeks.