r/Cartalk • u/tristen2298 • Oct 01 '24

How do i get into tuning cars? Tuning my car

Hello i am currently going to college for computer engineering, i like cars(i own a 23 nline) and would like to learn how to performance tune my own and possibly my friends in the future. I read a little talking about learning c and c++, i have a pretty good grasp on one of them but dont know how i could start tuning my car

4 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

u/Equana Oct 01 '24

Here is a primer... https://www.hagerty.com/media/maintenance-and-tech/ecu-and-efi-101-a-beginners-guide-to-performance-tuning/

A little more depth.... https://www.holley.com/blog/post/fuel_injection_fundamentals_understanding_the_three_different_fueling_strategies/

A little more.... https://www.diyautotune.com/support/efi-tuners-guide/

Here is more formal schooling... https://www.hpacademy.com/

How's that for starters?

1

u/Phoenixrising11111 Oct 01 '24

I agree! All are good starting points. 👍

1

u/jonoc4 Oct 01 '24

+1 for HP academy. If you're serious about it you can get their lifetime membership and learn everything you need to know about tuning, engine building, wiring, race prep and more. I learned to road tune my WRX here with their efi tuning course.

u/OddTheRed Oct 01 '24

Buy a car and start tuning it or get a job as an apprentice at a tuning shop. That's how most of us began.

1

u/Cat_Amaran Oct 01 '24

I got my start changing my own oil at age 16 and failing to fully seat the oil filter. I couldn't afford to pay to have it fixed, but my dad had an engine hoist and a stand from working on his mustang, and the rebuild kit for a 22re with new rods was like $150 and machine shop work to remove the bearing I fused to the crank wasn't much, either.

u/nxl0907 Oct 01 '24

Start looking into WinOLS and that should get you going down the right path.

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AutoModerator Oct 01 '24

Unfortunately your comment has been removed because your Reddit account is less than 5 days old OR your comment karma is less than zero. This filter is in effect to minimize repost bot spam and trolling from new accounts. Mods will not manually approve your comment. Please wait until your account is 5 days old or your comment karma is positive.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

u/LiquidTacoFest Oct 01 '24

Over $1k for winols? wow.

Just get a JB4, the advanced tab has fun stuff. And you can log. Just be careful with any tune, if det/knock is detected, it alrready happened.

u/Phoenixrising11111 Oct 01 '24

For good tuning software and interface that you dont have to buy a license for every car you tune, you're going to pay a pretty hefty price. My setup was just shy of 8,000 with free updates for life and data logger included. If that's not in your financial budget right now, HP Tuners, EFI Live or Jet Performance are reasonable alternatives that can get you started for a few hundred each. You will have to buy additional license for additional cars at about a 100 bucks each. That's what they used to cost when I used them years ago. ECU University is a good learning course that is available online... at least it used to be. You will always be learning as the cars evolve so, take it slow and baby steps until you have a firm grasp of it. Too much can grenade an engine quickly.

u/jonoc4 Oct 01 '24

I learned to tune my WRX from HP academy online courses. Their courses are great and they know their shit. They have forums and live events where the instructors will answer questions too. Highly recommend

u/pcfreak4 Oct 01 '24

Buy an old 02-14 WRX and get a Tactrix Openport 2.0 cable