Dan.1977P
Active Member
During my trip last weekend I noticed my gas mileage had taken a nose dive. I was averaging 37ish but I ended up getting 33 - 35 the whole trip. I figured it was the crosswinds and multitude of canyon passes but I also expected it to get better since I had hours of straight level interstate so I was a bit bummed.
I decided to zero out the power commander today and go for a normal ride for me that would give me 36-37 mpg. When I fueled up, it was 45 mpg. I expected that, but what I didn't expect was the minimal difference in performance I could feel. At the lower RPM's I noticed it was lugging more so I was having to downshift on a couple climbs I would usually stay in 5th gear on and maintain 60 mph. I also noticed the gas smell when I stopped was gone, though I expected that too. Oil temp hung around 190 - 210 like it usually does until it gets hot outside or I'm running 80 mph for long stretches. I didn't notice any pinging either. I checked the plugs before the ride and they were slightly fouled (dark grey) but I put them back in as is just to make sure it wasn't them causing the fuel to not burn.
I;ve been holding out on getting it dyno'd until I had the cash and found a good deal on some 2:1 pipes. If it's not getting to 250 deg+ and not pinging, do I need to concern myself with running on a stock ECM? If I play the numbers, it would be about 30k miles before I would reclaim the money spent on a tune if it cost $350 and increased my average from 37 to 42. If I ever break down and get new cams, I'll absolutely get it tuned but until then, will I be good?
I decided to zero out the power commander today and go for a normal ride for me that would give me 36-37 mpg. When I fueled up, it was 45 mpg. I expected that, but what I didn't expect was the minimal difference in performance I could feel. At the lower RPM's I noticed it was lugging more so I was having to downshift on a couple climbs I would usually stay in 5th gear on and maintain 60 mph. I also noticed the gas smell when I stopped was gone, though I expected that too. Oil temp hung around 190 - 210 like it usually does until it gets hot outside or I'm running 80 mph for long stretches. I didn't notice any pinging either. I checked the plugs before the ride and they were slightly fouled (dark grey) but I put them back in as is just to make sure it wasn't them causing the fuel to not burn.
I;ve been holding out on getting it dyno'd until I had the cash and found a good deal on some 2:1 pipes. If it's not getting to 250 deg+ and not pinging, do I need to concern myself with running on a stock ECM? If I play the numbers, it would be about 30k miles before I would reclaim the money spent on a tune if it cost $350 and increased my average from 37 to 42. If I ever break down and get new cams, I'll absolutely get it tuned but until then, will I be good?
