Is this worth tuning...

[Ron Burgundy]

I recently installed K&N setup on LS3. Duct only and K&N AIR filter...

I called the tuner and wanted to book my car in for a tune.

He basically said this would not make much difference even with tune and that VCM tuned would give me extra 30kw compared to K&N setup....

I am not sure what to do know as I really prefer this setup to VCM for a number of reasons...

I am not entirely convinced that the difference would be 30kw between these two options...but I have little experience with all this...

Thoughts ?

2 questions for VCM owners...

How often do you have to clean the air filter ?
Is filter visible through the grille and what would this mean for driving in heavy rain at high speed...?

 

[Ginger Beer]

Find a good tuner and get it tuned on a dyno

Flash tunes are piss

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Find a good tuner and get it tuned on a dyno

Flash tunes are piss

This is the dyno tune i am talking about and this guy has been in the game for years....

 

[dassaur]

This is the dyno tune i am talking about

I love my tune, I do have a vcm but the timing and gearbox is so much better. Drives so differently. Is yours auto? If it is I wouldn't hesitate. The question is whether or not you plan future upgrades and whether to wait etc
I have done 3k kms with it and it is squeaky clean. Unless the rain is coming down just about horizontal I don't think it will impact.

 

[warrick]

mine is the harrop otr but have done nearly 40k and never had an issue. as far as cleaning have only done it twice and even then i dont feel it needed it.depends where you drive it,dusty roads etc.mine stays on tarmac.
cheers

 

[EYY]

Won’t make much difference on the dyno, maybe 5kw. The difference you’ll notice is in real-world traffic where the engine bay heats up and the engine starts sucking hot air, which retards ignition timing and decreases air density.

There is also a slight ram air effect with the OTR, combined with a straight shot to the throttle body. Air speed is lost when it has to navigate through bends. They don’t make a massive difference in the dyno, but in the real world it’s night and day.

 

[[paradox]]

I am not entirely convinced that the difference would be 30kw

yeah i cant see it

 

[07GTS]

depends if ur tune is stock or not now, a stock tune will kill the power for high iat's so u could easily loose 30kw compared to OTR that stays cooler for longer and better recovery if it does heat up, but if ur already tuned then it will depend what tables have been changed with timing, but on a airflow difference there will be some power difference as any longer curved pipe is more of a restriction but would be minimal at the n/a stock engine level

 

[VF Ute]

I have a VCM too and I'm as happy with the trans tune as the engine tune. If Auto you'll notice a big difference even if you don't get maximum engine numbers.

 

[Skylarking]

depends if ur tune is stock or not now, a stock tune will kill the power for high iat's so u could easily loose 30kw compared to OTR that stays cooler for longer and better recovery if it does heat up, but if ur already tuned then it will depend what tables have been changed with timing, but on a airflow difference there will be some power difference as any longer curved pipe is more of a restriction but would be minimal at the n/a stock engine level

Wasn't there a thread that went into measuring differences in IAT with different intakes and the result was 2/10 of not much?

As for efficiency, I always liked the Ford shaker (sacrilege ) as an method of getting cooler air into the engine. Sadly no maker does such induction from factory. Pity, as you really couldn’t get a shorter cooler path with some ram air affect if you wanted to. Heck, it did look promising quite some years ago when I first saw the WRX; i thought finally some cool air into an engine but on popping the bonnet, the scoop was just for the intercooler

I really suspect a tune can achieve more power and improved throttle response simply by not adhering or meeting any pollution laws which can maximise the mods one installs. They can tune them as rich and produce as much NOx as they want and just focus on the oomph. Heck don't they usually switch off the Cat’s rear sensors to not flag errors...