GearHead Tunes Experience/lessons learned.

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

SHOthyme

SHO Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2020
Messages
393
Reaction score
491
Location
MN
I'm not trying to throw around any BDE, but I can't help but chime in here, I'm in IT and in routers/switches/firewalls/wireless we are pretty much bound to very similar parameters. I'm not going to flash the firmware to some "special edition" but I can tell you this, I've walked into some pretty screwed up networks with people that thought they were pretty decent at networking, but they were very wrong.

I imagine tuning is very similar, some of it is best practice (listening to knock sensors), some of it is art (AO tune) because you are the painter so pick your paint, but most of it is experience and having great mentors. I know what good networks look like because not only have I done a ton of "book learning," but also because I've been lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of giants while looking at hundreds if not thousands of different networks from every vertical, and all over the world.

With that in mind it seems as though there are people that love to argue semantics, so while you might be technically right that everyone has the same nerd knobs to choose from just like we do in IT, people don't get paid for turning knobs. They get paid because they know which ones to turn in a certain way to get the most bang for your buck. I believe @mattr66 is one of those guys that knows exactly how to turn the knobs. While it is true almost anyone can throw in a home router and make their home wireless work, it takes an expert to spin up a wireless network in a stadium, where the client density is much higher and most of it is built like a faraday cage and make it actually work.

YMMV, but please stop trying to take away what he has done for this platform with the "special sauce" to make it work so well just because you came up with your own "home brew" and believe it to be much better. To try to compare the two is not only disparaging, but it is like comparing night and day. Heck if your tuning is so great, start selling it, we'll see what the masses have to say about it.

TL;DR - If you think you're an expert at this, put your own tunes out for sale, I'm sure just like everyone else you will have to deal with your haters.
 

SM105K

Streetlight Grand Prix Champ/ IG @fafomotorsports
Joined
May 3, 2018
Messages
7,402
Reaction score
9,700
Location
Arizona
I am not tuning shit....
 

SM105K

Streetlight Grand Prix Champ/ IG @fafomotorsports
Joined
May 3, 2018
Messages
7,402
Reaction score
9,700
Location
Arizona
Ha, I wasn't talking about you. ;)

I don't think I've ever read anything from you that was trying to call out GH either.

I know. Your comment just cemented the fact I want nothing to do with tuning (at this point in my life). Lol.
 

Angrymongoose

SHO Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2019
Messages
309
Reaction score
384
Location
Omaha
I would love to learn to tune, but that would require a much larger time commitment than I have available right now. So I leave it to the experts as well.
 

Kevin81

SHO Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2020
Messages
666
Reaction score
540
Location
USA
Oh, and I'm a completely satisfied GH customer. I got their tune over a month back...and while the power gain wasn't what I thought it would be, I will say, the shifting is outstanding, especially in sport. In addition, their customer service was top notch × 1,000.

My only regret is not knowing if my car had a tune installed already or not.
 

stripSHO

Idiot Savant
Joined
Sep 9, 2019
Messages
778
Reaction score
853
Location
Detroit
I'm not trying to throw around any BDE, but I can't help but chime in here, I'm in IT and in routers/switches/firewalls/wireless we are pretty much bound to very similar parameters. I'm not going to flash the firmware to some "special edition" but I can tell you this, I've walked into some pretty screwed up networks with people that thought they were pretty decent at networking, but they were very wrong.

I imagine tuning is very similar, some of it is best practice (listening to knock sensors), some of it is art (AO tune) because you are the painter so pick your paint, but most of it is experience and having great mentors. I know what good networks look like because not only have I done a ton of "book learning," but also because I've been lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of giants while looking at hundreds if not thousands of different networks from every vertical, and all over the world.

With that in mind it seems as though there are people that love to argue semantics, so while you might be technically right that everyone has the same nerd knobs to choose from just like we do in IT, people don't get paid for turning knobs. They get paid because they know which ones to turn in a certain way to get the most bang for your buck. I believe @mattr66 is one of those guys that knows exactly how to turn the knobs. While it is true almost anyone can throw in a home router and make their home wireless work, it takes an expert to spin up a wireless network in a stadium, where the client density is much higher and most of it is built like a faraday cage and make it actually work.

YMMV, but please stop trying to take away what he has done for this platform with the "special sauce" to make it work so well just because you came up with your own "home brew" and believe it to be much better. To try to compare the two is not only disparaging, but it is like comparing night and day. Heck if your tuning is so great, start selling it, we'll see what the masses have to say about it.

TL;DR - If you think you're an expert at this, put your own tunes out for sale, I'm sure just like everyone else you will have to deal with your haters.

I think the real TL;DR is that McDonald's food is the best and the best for your body because they sell the most of it. That's the logic being dished out.

I made my peace with Matt on this "secret sauce" AO nonsense forever ago (publicly, in this very thread), so I have to assume you're actually upset about the excessive KR thread.

Listen, I'm no expert and you'll find not one post on this whole site with me claiming to be so, or even making any claim that my own tune offers better performance than anyone else's. But I'm also not a KTI (**** twisting idiot) and have spent 100's of hours on research and invested over $1600 in training and guidance from folks far more qualified than ANY email tune peddler you can name to ensure myself of such. So do us all a favor and don't project your own ignorance of the subject onto me. The mere suggestion that a canned email tune from GH or any other vendor even remotely qualifies as some sort of gold standard is flat-out ridiculous.

As for me, I will continue to use my education to push my own vehicles as hard and far as I choose, and continue to try my best to share my experiences and knowledge in hopes of helping others in the process. And I will also continue to use my ever-accumulating research to point out perceived problems with any product as I see fit, whether it pleases you or not.

If large, persistent and repeatable +KR activity really revs your engine and you want to fool yourself into believing that's the way it's supposed to be, then go for it. Have a personal problem with me knocking [pun intended] blatant deficiencies in a tune? Block me. But want to tell me what I'm allowed or qualified to say here? Take a hike. It's not my fault if the facts offend you.
 

stripSHO

Idiot Savant
Joined
Sep 9, 2019
Messages
778
Reaction score
853
Location
Detroit
I'm not trying to throw around any BDE, but I can't help but chime in here, I'm in IT and in routers/switches/firewalls/wireless we are pretty much bound to very similar parameters. I'm not going to flash the firmware to some "special edition" but I can tell you this, I've walked into some pretty screwed up networks with people that thought they were pretty decent at networking, but they were very wrong.

I imagine tuning is very similar, some of it is best practice (listening to knock sensors), some of it is art (AO tune) because you are the painter so pick your paint, but most of it is experience and having great mentors. I know what good networks look like because not only have I done a ton of "book learning," but also because I've been lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of giants while looking at hundreds if not thousands of different networks from every vertical, and all over the world.

With that in mind it seems as though there are people that love to argue semantics, so while you might be technically right that everyone has the same nerd knobs to choose from just like we do in IT, people don't get paid for turning knobs. They get paid because they know which ones to turn in a certain way to get the most bang for your buck. I believe @mattr66 is one of those guys that knows exactly how to turn the knobs. While it is true almost anyone can throw in a home router and make their home wireless work, it takes an expert to spin up a wireless network in a stadium, where the client density is much higher and most of it is built like a faraday cage and make it actually work.

YMMV, but please stop trying to take away what he has done for this platform with the "special sauce" to make it work so well just because you came up with your own "home brew" and believe it to be much better. To try to compare the two is not only disparaging, but it is like comparing night and day. Heck if your tuning is so great, start selling it, we'll see what the masses have to say about it.

TL;DR - If you think you're an expert at this, put your own tunes out for sale, I'm sure just like everyone else you will have to deal with your haters.
Oh and p.s. your analogy makes zero sense. We're talking about tuning cars, namely one specific platform. You're trying to portray it like Matt is out there tuning space shuttles while I'm tweaking the carb on my chainsaw
 

mattr66

SHO Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2015
Messages
320
Reaction score
694
Oh boy..... You guys are something. Once the octane learns on a Gearhead AO tune, the Knock sensors activity oscillates around the zero line just like stock. The Knock sensor microphones don't actually allow for knock until they reach the edge of adjustment. They can pick up irregularities in combustion noise well before damage occurs and make timing trims. Very seldom will you see more than 2 degrees of timing being pulled on the GH calibration once the octane is learned.

So what's your strategy? No knock sensors used ever?

I've been tuning Fords since 2001 with a Tweecer on my fox body. GH has been around since 2007. I'm well past the 10000 hours it takes to be considered an expert in the field. I also hold an engineering degree that allows me to be even better at what I do.

The rest of the industry had 7 years to come up with a drop-in intercooler that works for the SHO. Why was I the one to make it happen? Seems like the little guy prevailed here as we can't keep them in stock.

Matt

Sent from my motorola edge plus using Tapatalk
 

High on Ethanol

Just Ain't Care
Joined
Aug 3, 2019
Messages
1,641
Reaction score
1,763
Location
USA
Oh boy..... You guys are something. Once the octane learns on a Gearhead AO tune, the Knock sensors activity oscillates around the zero line just like stock. The Knock sensor microphones don't actually allow for knock until they reach the edge of adjustment. They can pick up irregularities in combustion noise well before damage occurs and make timing trims. Very seldom will you see more than 2 degrees of timing being pulled on the GH calibration once the octane is learned.

So what's your strategy? No knock sensors used ever?

I've been tuning Fords since 2001 with a Tweecer on my fox body. GH has been around since 2007. I'm well past the 10000 hours it takes to be considered an expert in the field. I also hold an engineering degree that allows me to be even better at what I do.

The rest of the industry had 7 years to come up with a drop-in intercooler that works for the SHO. Why was I the one to make it happen? Seems like the little guy prevailed here as we can't keep them in stock.

Matt

Sent from my motorola edge plus using Tapatalk


What's the likelihood of an AO 87-e50 happening with fuel upgrades? Or is E-tuning restricted to fuel specific tunes?
Keep up the great work and dropping that knowledge.
 

mattr66

SHO Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2015
Messages
320
Reaction score
694
There isn't enough octane sensitivity at part throttle to make that happen. Once it reached mbt timing at part throttle, it would stop trying to add more and thus couldn't drive the OAR any harder. Maybe if we had a couple more points of mechanical compression it could work.

Sent from my motorola edge plus using Tapatalk
 

Kevin81

SHO Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2020
Messages
666
Reaction score
540
Location
USA
Oh boy..... You guys are something. Once the octane learns on a Gearhead AO tune, the Knock sensors activity oscillates around the zero line just like stock. The Knock sensor microphones don't actually allow for knock until they reach the edge of adjustment. They can pick up irregularities in combustion noise well before damage occurs and make timing trims. Very seldom will you see more than 2 degrees of timing being pulled on the GH calibration once the octane is learned.

So what's your strategy? No knock sensors used ever?

I've been tuning Fords since 2001 with a Tweecer on my fox body. GH has been around since 2007. I'm well past the 10000 hours it takes to be considered an expert in the field. I also hold an engineering degree that allows me to be even better at what I do.

The rest of the industry had 7 years to come up with a drop-in intercooler that works for the SHO. Why was I the one to make it happen? Seems like the little guy prevailed here as we can't keep them in stock.

Matt

Sent from my motorola edge plus using Tapatalk
And boom goes the dynamite...or dare I say it...the LMS tuned sho!
 

SHOthyme

SHO Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2020
Messages
393
Reaction score
491
Location
MN
Oh and p.s. your analogy makes zero sense. We're talking about tuning cars, namely one specific platform. You're trying to portray it like Matt is out there tuning space shuttles while I'm tweaking the carb on my chainsaw

Actually it is a great analogy, while many people might be able to setup the exact same wireless controller and get it working, there are those of us that could set it up to function much better with all of the same tick boxes and drop downs. But I'm sure like you say, your $1600 of training is much better than what Matt has done, since he's just an email tuner. So I'll bow out, because obviously you are much smarter than anyone else on the site, especially because you need to point out the fact that we are all idiots if we don't agree with you.

Whether it is this thread or the KR, I'm not upset about anything, especially some keyboard warrior that needs to keep reminding others how smart he is to everyone. I was merely pointing out how silly it sounds to compare a person tuning one car as opposed to someone that tunes lots of cars.

Have a great day!!!! :wavey:
 

gwrabbit

SHO Member
Joined
May 22, 2019
Messages
135
Reaction score
133
Location
Wisconsin
I'm not trying to throw around any BDE, but I can't help but chime in here, I'm in IT and in routers/switches/firewalls/wireless we are pretty much bound to very similar parameters. I'm not going to flash the firmware to some "special edition" but I can tell you this, I've walked into some pretty screwed up networks with people that thought they were pretty decent at networking, but they were very wrong.

I imagine tuning is very similar, some of it is best practice (listening to knock sensors), some of it is art (AO tune) because you are the painter so pick your paint, but most of it is experience and having great mentors. I know what good networks look like because not only have I done a ton of "book learning," but also because I've been lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of giants while looking at hundreds if not thousands of different networks from every vertical, and all over the world.

With that in mind it seems as though there are people that love to argue semantics, so while you might be technically right that everyone has the same nerd knobs to choose from just like we do in IT, people don't get paid for turning knobs. They get paid because they know which ones to turn in a certain way to get the most bang for your buck. I believe @mattr66 is one of those guys that knows exactly how to turn the knobs. While it is true almost anyone can throw in a home router and make their home wireless work, it takes an expert to spin up a wireless network in a stadium, where the client density is much higher and most of it is built like a faraday cage and make it actually work.

YMMV, but please stop trying to take away what he has done for this platform with the "special sauce" to make it work so well just because you came up with your own "home brew" and believe it to be much better. To try to compare the two is not only disparaging, but it is like comparing night and day. Heck if your tuning is so great, start selling it, we'll see what the masses have to say about it.

TL;DR - If you think you're an expert at this, put your own tunes out for sale, I'm sure just like everyone else you will have to deal with your haters.

I work in IT as well and what has been said in this post is true. Just because it works (runs) doesn't mean it's good. It took me all of 5 minutes to figure out that LMS is a dumpster fire and should be avoided at all costs.
 
Back
Top