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will i need to get a tune done

6K views 92 replies 5 participants last post by  87fubar 
#1 · (Edited)
my parts car came with a mild built engine

been balanced 0 decked trw flat tops with flycut has e303 cam edelbrock performer heads been port polished the intake is gasket matched trickflow street bbk 75mm TB/egr plate an 24lb injectors

the po said it was 10:1 compression what octane should I run

I have paper work on everything done to the engine but nothing on if the car has had a tune done
 
#2 ·
my parts car came with a mild built engine

been balanced 0 decked trw flat tops with flycut has e303 cam edelbrock performer heads been port polished the intake is gasket mached trickflow street bbk 75mm TB/egr plate an 24lb injectors

the po said it was 10:1 compression what octane should I run

I have paper work on everything done to the engine but nothing on if the car has had a tune done
To prevent the possibility of pinging I would run 92 or 93 .
 
#5 ·
Take a look at the ecu and see if you see a chip sticking out. Like the others said 91 will be ok and even if you used and additive it won't raise 91 to 93. When they additive bottles say that it raise the octane a point it's on going from 89-90 or 91-92 etc, it'll be like 91.3 or whatever.


Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
 
#7 ·
If you want to maximize your power and or you are having driveablity problems get a tune. If you're fine with the power level right now and aren't having any issues you can leave it as is. The computer will be able to compensate and the longer you drive the better it will run.

Side note I see you are running 24# injectors. Do you have a calibrated maf installed?
 
#8 ·
yes I have bbk cold air intake the maf/housing an injectors were bought as a set

I haven't installed the engine in my 89 gt yet need to replace couple gaskets figured it'd be easier with the engine out cant wait to get the new setup installed
 
#10 ·
the ecu that was in the 91 is f3zf-12a650-fa C3W

So the car isn't up and running yet? What ecu are you using the one that came w the motor or the old? I guess that doesn't matter really.. But anyway I'd almost imagine that the PO was running a tune and took the chip. If he didn't he probably should have. The older cars don't have the adaptive learning to compensate for that much more air going in as far as adding fuel. You're gonna want a tune. You'll know when you fire it up if it's running cruddy and no matter how long you drive it the stock ecu won't be able to "learn" to deal w aftermarket heads and cam. What fuel pump do you have?


Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
 
#11 ·
the ecu in my 89 gt is the a9L

the fuel pump out of the 91 gt is new I think the brand is a walbro 190 I have the receipt in my paper work for it you think this pump would be good enough or should I get a 255

idk if it matters but has adjustable fuel pressure regulator underdrive pulleys / msd 6a box / bbk ceramic unequal headers

the engine in my 89 gt came out of an 86 has the true flat tops an e6 heads so you can see why I had to find something better I was going to get an 96 explorer gt40 but found the 91 gt cheap
 
#12 ·
Let me clarify what I meant in my earlier post. Can you run and drive it without a tune, yes. Is it advisable, no. I'm all for a tune but there's many people out there that don't tune their car after they do a H/C/I.

90lxwhite is correct, they don't really have that much ability to adjust their fueling, only +- 12.5% of the base tables. I also think the PO had a tune because they come with a plastic cap on the J3 port instead of tape.

If you're worried about it running lean if you don't decide to get a tune, or driving it to the tuning shop you can always up the fuel pressure with your adjustable FPR to get it there.

190lph IMO is fine.
 
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#14 ·
Let me clarify what I meant in my earlier post. Can you run and drive it without a tune, yes. Is it advisable, no. I'm all for a tune but there's many people out there that don't tune their car after they do a H/C/I.



90lxwhite is correct, they don't really have that much ability to adjust their fueling, only +- 12.5% of the base tables. I also think the PO had a tune because they come with a plastic cap on the J3 port instead of tape.



If you're worried about it running lean if you don't decide to get a tune, or driving it to the tuning shop you can always up the fuel pressure with your adjustable FPR to get it there.



190lph IMO is fine.
That's pretty much what I was trying to say as well.

the ecu in my 89 gt is the a9L

the fuel pump out of the 91 gt is new I think the brand is a walbro 190 I have the receipt in my paper work for it you think this pump would be good enough or should I get a 255

idk if it matters but has adjustable fuel pressure regulator underdrive pulleys / msd 6a box / bbk ceramic unequal headers

the engine in my 89 gt came out of an 86 has the true flat tops an e6 heads so you can see why I had to find something better I was going to get an 96 explorer gt40 but found the 91 gt cheap

You know what, it might not have been tuned since he had an adjustable fuel regulator. An adjustable reg really isn't needed after a tune since they tell the ecu how much fuel and what not. But now that I'm thinking about it a more likely scenario is that he either got the regulator prior to the tune in hopes that it would be sufficient enough and it wasn't, so he went and had a tune. Or maybe he bought one bc he was misinformed. I'm thinking this because of the whole port being taped thing. But either way, I think he took the chip and ran. Can you call and ask him? It'll probably crank, idle, and drive but I wouldn't beat on it until you at least get your air/fuel ratio figured out. You're going to pumping in quite a bit more air than the stock motor and the stock "tune" can compensate for when you're "getting on it."
On a side note: I'd either get rid of the under drivepulley's or get a higher amp alternator. They came on the fox I had once upon a time and the lights were dim as sht (so I had to upgrade alt). Also since you have an aftermarket cam the idle won't be the best and a slower turning crank pulley won't help it any. You won't lose an hp if you go back to stock pulleys.
 
#13 ·
Your 190 Walbro will be fine. That's what I'm using and haven't had any issues.


Your best bet would be to do the swap and see how it runs. When I did mine, I had minor idle surging issues, probably from the cam. The car ran good, but the surging was rather annoying. I finally got an SCT ship and a tune and it idles great now.
 
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#15 ·
both my 89 an the parts car had the alt upgrade my 89 when I got it had factory alt id go to turn on lights gauge would drop to just above the red after I did the upgrade with everything on I have 14.5 v at idle

I wasn't sure if I wanted to run them pulleys ive always heard bad things with DD cars an underdrive pulleys
 
#16 ·
My '90 model that came w em was just a "bolt-on" car and the PO added all the bolt-on's and I hated those f'n pulleys. If I could have afforded it I would've found some stock ones and had them put on. The car was still slow as dog sht plus I had to buy an alternator that cost more than the damn pulleys, this was my DD at the time. Speaking of DD's, if the car in question is yours you're gonna want to opt for a tune. It gets old after awhile driving a car that'll drive fairly well in X condition but not in Y condition.
 
#19 ·
to start he said he built the car while single then go married had kids his wife wouldn't let him drive the car with the kids so he parked it for the past 4 or 6 yrs he slowly moved up CA from LA area to northern CA he just got tired or dragging it around with out doing anything with it so I seen it on craigslist he was parting it out or $2500 for complete car I went to grab some parts after I seen what was all there I went an got $2500 from my bank nabbed it up

It had a lot more then the built engine had new centerforce clutch / tr3550 trans only has 91 miles on it / 3.73 rear end / 95 cobra 4 lug wheels / lowering springs /lol 3inch exhaust the catback part wouldn't fit my 89 gt

what is sad is the car only had 41091 miles the interior showed that but he drag raced it with no bracing the rear I could move it back an forth almost touching both ends of the fenders after removing the rear axle every suspension mount had been fix over an over after I removed interior the floor under the rear seats had been welded a lot an there was cracking after those fixes I just didn't want to try to fix it my 89gt doesn't show any signs of abuse so its in way better shape

o ya I couldn't get engine to run had alarm system I removed it put everything back were it should but had other electrical issues after a month of trying to figure it out I gave up an stripped it
 
#21 ·
well my plan is get my 89 is mainly put all the nice goody's from the 91 on my 89 get it going good body/paint will probably be my last bit I do I know when I get to paint/body I'm thinking of changing the ground affects to the 93 cobra style Idk what color id paint it yet but I'm think a 2 tone just need to figure out what colors

the interior idk if I'm going to change the rear panels an put rear shoulder belts the panels from the 91 are in much better shape the front seats from the 91 are in little bit better but idk if I want to lose the adjustable knee brace on my 89 seats
 
#23 · (Edited)
Are the interiors the same color? Dash, seats, etc? If you need or want new carpet rockauto has the best deal going. It's the same carpet that everyone else sells which is ACC but it's the cheapest place to buy. Even when the free shipping and discount code from cj, am, lmr, etc rockauto was still cheaper and they make you pay for shipping. If you are on the market opt of the mass backing, it's the only way to fly.
 
#24 ·
interior's are real close if not the same color

only pic's ive got are my profile pic an the garage thing is all I have till I can take more pic's but only thing that has changed from those pic's is I put on the cobra wheels with new tires
 
#26 ·
Hardly fubar!! :wink: Looks like a great start to a very nice car!
 
#27 ·
hoping it'll be great once I get all the parts installed there is some body work I need to do around the pass side rear quarter other then that there's no rust at all

felt bad for doing it but I kept the pass side rear quarter an roof section of the 91 gt just in case I need them when I get to doing body/paint


an will this run lean or rich before I get the dyno tune done I'm wondering if it might pass smog till I can get to it the po of the 91 gt said it passed LA area smog as it was but it only had 2 cats I read the e303 has hard time passing with 2 cats at the tail pipe
 
#29 ·
would be fine around town till I can get a tune done or should I not try driving it till I get tune done

I pulled the intake off the built motor lifter valley is glossy painted oil in the valley looked clean the intake valves have hardly anything on them an I thought the roller rockers were those scorpion ones but these ones say (svo 1.60)

figuring id pull the intake the po said something about an intake leak so ill take care of that while its out
 
#31 ·
I'm going to smog it with 89's current engine them swap it out after shouldn't be an issue getting a tune done some time after the smog I just hope the 4 cats on my 89 are all still good

but I cant wait to get this all sorted out though 3550 trans only has 91 miles on it so ill need to drive it around enough to break it in so I couldn't beat on it any ways
 
#33 ·
the h pipe that was on the 91 gt looks to be around 2.5 size pipe an only has the rear newer CA cats but ill soon find out if it'll pass as is

if cats are bad I could always cut the front cats case an weld it over the 91's h pipe for visual inspection

or I could get 2 new cats put on the 91's h pipe so I have the 4 cats
 
#35 ·
when I looked the 91 gt over before I paid for it I made sure everything performance had the O.E numbers or that I knew was legal CA sucks for that

the only issue I might run into is if they do a visually check for the cats CA O.E numbers

hmm might help if I put in the eibach lowering springs that were on the 91
 
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