"The PTP ?Tuning Path?
Now I get several PM?s everyday that are asking ?what to install?? ?What?s next?? and many others in regards to getting the most out of there car.
Well here is my path for tuning, its long but it will help.
So you want 300 HP out of your stock turbo, go to the Aaroneon?s ?How to 300 HP? thread and follow it. If not keep reading. Now before you read this you need to read this
PTP's How to make sure your car is running at the TOP of its game. (see inside) as well. I know it looks like a lot but the info from both these posts will make sure that your car runs a long time and stays that way.
Modifications should be followed in this order:
Power Adders!!!
Exhaust from the turbo back that includes the 3? o2 housing as well. It should be a full 3? systems or our 4? side exit system. Now you may set a down stream o2 sensor code and for that we have a little extension (race use only) that will keep the codes from getting set. Why exhaust first? Because the next mod we will be upping the boost and the exhaust is a restriction on even the stock boost levels.
Upping the boost:
WGA or Staged PCM. For all 05? SRT-4?s I recommend a staged PCM. 05?s are code setters and its damn near impossible to get them to go away. WGA will work great on stage 0 thru stage 3 cars but on the stock PCM anything over 15 psi in most occasions will hit fuel cut since the stage 0 PCM sees it as an over boost condition. To go much above 16 PSI on a stage 0 it will take a fuel control device (see below).
Stage 1 and stage 2, now stage 1 seems to get a little difficult around 20 psi and stage 2 gets difficult around 22 psi (pulls timing). Now this may not be true for all cars but it?s a safe place to start since that seems to be where I have seen the problems arise.
Staged PCM?s take about 2 hours to install if you don?t know what your doing and 30 minutes if you have done them in the past. We can order them and they are on our site as well.
WGA? Now this is where I get the most complaints, people installing there WGA?s and not getting the results that they want. If this is your first WGA install set 2 to 4 hours aside to get it to work correct. Why so long? Because fine tuning your WGA will take over an hour to do and you have to wait for the car to cool down so you can work on it with out burning your hands. Now the different boost control that is out there can vary from EBC to no boost control (just WGA control). You have to do some research on the different ways and how to hook it up. I used to give advise on this but there are to many ways to control your boost, I will leave that up to you.
Wideband AFR monitor:
Now that you have the exhaust cleaned up and you have upped your boost do you know where your car is running AFR wise? Probably not, well its time to get a wideband so you can tune your car and keep it safe. In order to add a piggy back or a map clamp you need to know where your car is running AFR wise or you will hurt the motor. So wideband is needed unless you plan on stopping your modifications here.
Additional fuel (you should be out of fuel buy now if you are a stage 0 or 1 PCM):
We have several options for this,
Return line kit
Bigger injectors
PTP FPR mod
Twin injector combo
Ect. ect. ect.
So you have to decide again ?how much HP do I want?? and go with the appropriate fuel system.
Return line kit is the best way to go since its adjustable and can feed 450 HP very easy with bigger injectors.
Bigger injectors can feed 400 HP fairly easy on stock fuel pressure but daily drivability may be hurt.
PTP FPR mod, great for 300+HP cars but not much over that.
Twin injector combo, bring money and very difficult to tune, good luck with this one.
Now we have the fuel system that you have chosen and you need some additional mods to go with it. The would be,
Bigger fuel pump (up to 400 HP with appropriate system above)
Bottle neck fix (over 500 HP with appropriate system above)
Pump re-wire (every car, even stock since the stock system really sucks in a big way)
Second inline 255 pump (for over 500 HP applications)
So now you have the fuel and the supporting mod to go with it you need a way to tune it, see the next item.
Fuel control:
Now that you have the wideband installed you can add a fuel controller. These can come in many shapes and sizes but we will be doing the piggy back and map clamp only for simplicity reasons.
Map clamp is a very simple item that keeps your map sensor from seeing the actual voltage from the boost signal. So the PCM sees only 12 psi instead of 21 psi giving better AFR?s and better ignition timing. Most are easily tuned with a small screw driver and you tune them based on your AFR?s
Piggy backs can be simple like a SAFC to something as complex as the PTP FTM or the E-manage. Again these are used to manipulate the map sensor signal to get the best timing and AFR. When tuning keep the AFR?s below 11.8 since that seems to be the sweet spot for cars without water injection and cars with water injection can be taken to 12.5 on most occasions. Now all cars are different so don?t follow this to a ?T? its just a guide line for tuning.
So you have fuel, air, and more boost but the car runs like crap when tuned?
Ignition system:
Now I should have put this above fuel but when you add the fuel and additional boost is when you will need to adjust the spark plugs (its kind of an all at one time thing).
Spark plugs, the popular choice seems to be the NGK 4306?s or the Champion 570?s. Both are a heat range cooler and need to be gapped at .032 to .036 depending on boost levels. The stock wires are crap so those need to be replaced as soon as the boost goes up and while your at it you might as well add a coil heat shield (less heat means less resistance in the coil = more spark). So you have done all this to get your faster and need to add more air. See below.
Intake system:
Now there are several parts to you intake system and I will list them in order.
CAI or SRI, at some point the stock air box becomes a restriction and that will need to be addressed and this is the time to do it. There are all sorts and sizes on the market for the intake systems and knowledge plays a part in making a good choice. We have CAI with a splash shield and that is the one that I recommend since the CAI does have a noticeable drop in intake air temps. SRI is also an option but sucking hot air from in front of the radiator never sounded like a good idea to me.
Intercooler (yep its part of the air intake into the motor). Now this again is something that is up for debate so do your homework on what intercooler to get. You don?t need an intercooler that can make 700 HP if you only plan on running 300 HP and sometimes the bigger units will hurt HP readings and performance if you don?t match the intercooler to your HP range. So make sure that you get the flow and performance ratings for your car before buying an intercooler.
Throttle body, so you have the CAI the high flow intercooler and now you have a 47mm restriction right at the intake manifold, why keep it there. An upgrade to a 55mm unit or a 60mm unit will raise your AFR?s (leaner) and almost always add 7 to 20 HP. Just make sure that you get one that doesn?t leak (search is your friend here on the forums).
Last thing on the intake system is the intake manifold. The stock manifold doesn?t line up with the head and is about 2 to 4 mm smaller then the opening on the head. Get it ported and you will see gains across the board. Our 55mm and ported intake combo made an additional 14 HP on a bone stock SRT-4. Bigger turbo cars have seen over 30 HP gains by just upgrading those 2 items from stock.
So we have most of the simpler bolt-on?s installed and now it time to start looking at moving more air (CFM). More air is not more boost so don?t get the 2 confused. 24 psi on the stock turbo will not make the same amount of power as a GT35R running the same psi. It is CFM or air volume that makes power not psi (psi helps but its not the end all to power).
Turbo upgrades:
This is where we may loose a few of you since the price can be as little at $300 and as much at $10k, so try to keep with us.
Upgraded stock turbos (bigger compressor wheels). There are only 2 that I know of here on the forums that are offering them, FM and PTP. There are differences between them so do some research on them. These turbos are normally good for around 350 HP to 400 with supporting modifications and a good tune.
Big turbo upgrades, these come in all shapes and sizes from GT40R to Hann 16G?s. What I can tell you is plan on spending anywhere between $4k to $12k to get a properly installed and tuned big turbo on your car. Things like clutches, axles, additional fuel control boxes, standalones, and the list could go on forever will eventually be needed.
Now there is a few options for the stage 3 owners as well but they are a bit of an elite crowd so I will not touch on there turbos much. We will have an upgraded compressor wheel for there car very soon and that will be the ticket to hitting 400 WHP for them.
Now that you have all this additional CFM flowing there are some other things that need to be addressed.
Intake piping:
Stock piping is a joke and it all needs to be replaced with 2.5? or bigger. Now I only know of one person making a charge pipe (turbo to hot side pipe) for all the turbo options here on the forums (PTP) and that will fit the AGP, stock, aftermarket turbo companies and very big units (2.5? outlet on the turbo). The stock charge pipe necks down to 1.8? and just like your exhaust it?s a restriction for flow.
The UPP pipe (intercooler to t-body) and hot side pipe (intercooler to charge pipe) can be bought by anyone but some have fitment issues and hitting the slave cylinder, so do some searching again.
Well as far as power goes you only have the hard parts of the motor to replace or remove and they would go in this order,
Cams and cam gears,
12?s for stock turbo or DBB big turbo
14?s for big turbo or modified stock turbo cars
16?s for those that want more top end and less torque (need additional valve train items)
Ported head,
this really seems to be needed around 450 HP since the stock head hits a flow restriction at this point. You can make over 450 HP with the stock head it just not as easy with a ported head.
Built bottom end,
This seems to be needed around 400 HP since the bottom end starts to get worn out very quick making power at this level. To many options are at this level so I will not even start to direct you.
Now there are some other modifications that are not power adders that should be added before you even get to the WGA section of this list and these would be.
Motor mounts (all 3 if you can take the vibration)
Short throw shifter (I like TWM, but there are many to choose from)
Remove the balance shafts (good for 4 to 12 HP and you will need to pull these when you put you WGA on. More of a safety measure then anything.)
Water injection (almost a must have when you really start to push the limits of the stock turbo or a stock motor)
Thermostat, 180 degree unit really helps keep the temps down
Check valve for the PCV system (it leaks for the factory)
t-bolt clamps (if you run over 20 PSI you better have them)
A way to monitor knock and timing (OBD II port reader) this helps with your tune
So you took the time to read this and realized that you didn?t do it this way? Not a problem, its just a guide to making your car faster. If you have made more power and don?t have a wideband that is OK as well. You must know what you are doing. This thread was made for the few that don?t really have an idea and this is there first turbo car.
Enjoy the read and I hope you use it to its fullest.
John with PTPerformance.
The PTPerformance tuning path!!!
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