Chris Harris

Ben's book and class are WAY different...the book is retarded honestly, the class is more than worthwhile.

Tom-Guy

101 was milquetoast, I haven't been any further.

Chris Harris

You and I took it at different stages in our tooning careers

I am probably going to take advanced this year just to say I did...

Tom-Guy

It's the format it's presented in - you've been told for years on HT that turbo cars should be run at 12:1 or richer and that most B-series like .5 deg/psi ignition retard, that and a basic automotive theory book off the Barnes and Noble shelves (I have a couple dozen, I know you have at least a few) explains everything you need to know.

I met some kid who went to Cali for some EFI university week long course, he talked about Dyno Dynamics dynos like he was the freaking brochure, tried to tell me how a Mustang wasn't an eddy current dyno where you can fix wheelspeed, and told me how his ITB'd Type-R made 200 whp (believable) but what was really sweet about it was it had a solid 150 wtq up to 6000 rpms and then jumped to 160 wtq all the way to redline. :1

Ben's great, but his classes are hand holding confidence builders for rich kids or people who want to buy a five minute ride on the Hypewagon.

It seems to be the thing to have to impress the people who don't know what they should when it comes time to choose a tuenarboi. Do you ever have anyone ask you about EFI-U certifications?

leed

That made me laugh. Even more so, because its true for the most part.
The one thing that I liked about Ben, was he was very biased on emphasizing the method over the raw #'s that you type into your pretty little editor. He wants you to understand the basic operation of pumping air, and the effect of burn rates at various cylinder charges and VE. He wants you to learn by trial and error, and have a way to measure your changes.
It was fun watching him talk about how guys on internet car forums will balk about the power difference between 11.5 and 12.0 A/F's, or the effects of 1* of timing, all while he loaded a car up at WOT, and then varied both timing and A/F and there was ZERO measurable TQ differences. The sweet spot is a much bigger window than its made out to be. Use as little timing as required, and you get the same work done on the crank w/ much lower peak cylinder pressures. Have an adequate cooling system and your sleeves and HG will have a hard on for you. Calibrating a car is so ------- overhyped. Troubleshooting and diagnosing is where your experience shines.

That would be the cliff notes of EFI 101. If you take it as a total beginner, you will get ALOT out of the class.
If you want to read a book, the two that you will get the most out of (IMHO) is "How to tune & modify Engine Management Systems" by Jeff Hartman, and "Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals" by John Heywood. The former is pretty basic, and would be a good beginner book. The latter is in depth and may require an effort to read unless your in the mood.
I just got Taylors text book, but haven't gotten to far in it yet.

If there is one thing that Ive learned over the past few years, its dont believe anything you read on an internet car forum regarding EFI calibration, unless you are familiar w/ who is posting it. IE, they have demonstrated that they can intelligently think for themselves and are not just an overhyped HT sponsor or tuner of the month. Even then, take it w/ a grain of salt untill you see the same result w/ your own eyes.

Nukka what?

Tom-Guy

---- Taylor, half his bibliography either doesn't mean what he says it does, or it's completely wrong. Heywood isn't much better.

Ricardo, Obert, Glassman (Combustion), and your own sweet noggin, Mister Lee. You should have a copy of Ricardo's The High Speed Internal Combustion Engine I had hosted up.

Slo_crx1

Lol...I'll take that as a compliment JD

The more I read through this thread, the more I realize that I don't want to be the "common user" that Quadnie mentions, but someone who knows the intricacies of tuning. The area that I live in has a huge void for tuners and tuning in general, and from what I've seen so far the mass population of Honda owners and builders in this area are still having to rely on the archaicness of products like the fmu and afc. I go to about a dozen car shows a year, mostly with the intent of seeking out individuals who might benefit from the knowledge of better tuning options. Sadly, I do get quite a few people who laugh or scoff at some of the options I mention, but a few do listen to what I have to say...mostly because they refuse to listen to what's been spoon-fed to them by their local "tuenarboi's". A general knowledge of the programs and tuning in general may let me skate by with some of the phone calls I receive for tuning help, but I want to be able to do much more than just that.

Tom-Guy

Good, that's the way it was meant.

Chris Harris

NOT ONCE!

All I see at this point is Honda's though, and without going out and buying another make for myself will I not get much broadening hands on experience unfortunately. Advanced would provide some of that. There is certainly enough business with Hondas only at this point, but it does get a tad boring tuning the same setup over and over and always fixing someone elses same problems.

Dave Lee...I think that is the longest post I have ever seen you make!

quadnie

JD, PM me. I'm up for the read.

I've heard of the book but I was always gunshy on purchasing it in fear of wasting money for things that I already know or knowledge that can be easily sought out on the net. Combine that with the fact that I hate to read books and pretty much reading in general, except if it's on an LCD screen. It looks to be a worthwhile expenditure of a jackson.

I don't know about you but I have scooby drivers begging for reflashes all around me (the dealership sells a lot of WRXs to rich college kids). The DSM market is always thriving and in need of parts (mostly because the cars keep breaking). I cannot find enough rich people to charge for advanced services, but to my knowledge I'm the only toonerboi in the area.

Speaking of problems, this local integra is getting no spark and the guy wants me to come by and look at it on sunday. Come to find out he has a xenocron chipped ECU. I'm gonna get to admire some cold solder joints :P