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Can a race tune pass emissions? Halfway there to proving it...

6K views 31 replies 19 participants last post by  genie144 
#1 ·
Well my quest is to create a tune that makes about the same amount of power as any other racing tune on the market, yet have the ability to control smoke and even EGT's. I've believed it's possible for a long time now, and I'm set on proving it.

Today I went and had my truck emissions tested. It not only passed, but with flying colors. This is on a truck with stock injectors, stock HPOP, intake, exhaust, and a 38R turbo.

The downside was the shop was a bit too busy to let me do some dyno pulls on that tune, so I'm scheduled for Wednesday morning bright and early for some pulls and opacity tests. I'm shooting for at least the average power that most people see with a race tune on stock sticks/HPOP's - around 315-325 hp. We'll see in a few days.

Opacity numbers on the lug down test:

60mph - 5% opacity
50mph - 3% opacity
40mph - 14% opacity
zero shift - 1% opacity.

Previous two years had 60 mph at 8-12% opacity, and 40 mph about 10-12%.... on stock tuning. Stock tune last year made 225 hp on the dyno. Fail is 35% opacity.
 
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#5 ·
I don't know that it moves more air through the range used for emissions testing. Maybe someone can post up come compressor maps that would tell us. If anything, I always thought the stock turbo was slightly better down low?

I dunno, I was never really able to tell the difference between the two, other than the stocker surged like hell, and the 38R didn't on my truck. That and a bit of an EGT reduction. Track times were identical.
 
#14 ·
#15 ·
AZ test and it's WOT opacity ,, so three times you hit the rev limiter ,, so passing with a tune isn't really a good thing since the revs are usually raised with a tune
I am actually looking for a stock low rev tune for emissions
 
#19 ·
Not to be rude Pocket, but that would be cake.

Does CO still pass anything less than 31% opacity?

I've ran that test myself 7 years ago when I lived in CO and my rig now, w/ 200% nozzles, a huge turbo, 600ish rwhp in my DD program, and GearHead tuning, smokes LESS than my truck did back then w/ a hot chip on stock injectors and turbo. In fact it smokes a LOT less.
 
#20 ·
Tuners are practitioners in witchcraft. They absolutely amaze me.
 
#22 ·
Well, dyno run this morning had it's fair share of glitches. The dyno operator had trouble getting it set up to record runs, then the calibration wouldn't set and stay set, so the horsepower and torque numbers ended up way low, and last... the printer wouldn't work.

So we had to write down the dyno results, and got to see the graphs on the screen in between pulls. The opacity meter was also still hooked up, so I got to see the smoke output between the pulls.

Had 3 runs that we were finally able to record.

Stock tune: 189 hp, 376 tq, 39% max opacity
My tune: 223 hp, 409 tq, 48% max opacity
Another tuner's race tune: 225 hp, 393 tq, 76% max opacity

Those are the results, and unfortunately there's not much I can say as far as max power. My tune and the other race tune made close to the same power according to those results, but with very different amounts of smoke. It's fair to say that I can't really compare power because of the dyno calibration. I had other tunes I was also going to compare, but unfortunately the dyno problems plagued us way too much. The only thing I can really compare is smoke, since there wasn't any dyno calibration needed to set it up. Visibly, there was a huge difference in smoke. The guys in the shop noticed that right away.

Peak torque for both of the tunes (not the stock tune) showed up at around 2400 RPM. Peak HP for both tunes showed up at the end test range at about 3500 RPM, basically the HP curve just kept rising until my foot came off the pedal. Both graphs looked almost identical. Basically it seems the rollers weren't putting down nearly enough load. Peak torque and horsepower should have registered at much lower RPM's. Stock tune had peak HP and torque occur at lower RPM's, and HP fell off above 3000 RPM as the stock tuning pulls the fuel back in a hurry.

At this point my only other option is drive out to a different dyno and see what I can do. Maybe I could head up to Greeley and pay a visit to PFI. That's the same shop that dyno'ed Blowby's truck IIRC.

Please note, do not ask me who's tunes I'm testing alongside mine. I will not name names, as I have absolutely zero incentive to start some tuning war, bashing, etc. This is simply a test of my own personal efforts, not someone else's. I simply wanted to see how my efforts stack up against others. Personally I've been very happy with my tuning, but at this point I don't really have concrete power numbers to show everyone. Sorry to disappoint.
 
#27 ·
so who's tunes you running? Clearly not a comparison to a hack like you ;)

Results suck... Did you take it to that place up by 470 on east side of Parker? If so... They really aren't reliable - well at least they didn't have a clue a few years ago...

Sam
 
#32 ·
My not stock 1996 did 144.2 uncorrected on reliable dyno...

I took my '02 to get emissions done today and passed. I didn't have a chance to run high power tune. Truck was at ~7% opacity in the daily driver tune until something broke loose from the stacks and it jumped to ~60%. They re-ran the test and it was max 12% on the 40mph shift. The dyno said 267hp - pretty nice compared to the 1996. Ohh - and that was on WVO.

As a side note... Anyone in Denver needing testing - go to diesel's only on alameda. Very friendly and VERY fast. If I hadn't gotten there at 5:10 (they closed at 5:00), they would have done a few more tests.

Sam
 
#24 ·
Question, how can states and countys inforce emissions on vehicles that came from the factory exempt with next to zilch for emissions equipment.
 
#26 ·
Very true, It should've hit me that if the government wants to do it they will since they have that power.
 
#28 ·
I think the only thing 7.3 trucks can be tested for is opacity and why the % has to be generous compared to trucks with emissions equip. I think the lug down tests are BS though as they are trying to make the truck perform poorly. The snap revs no rollers I think are not to big a deal. What I would have issue with is some dumb@as tech redlining my engine period. I have Sen whatsome of these idiots do to vehicles holding them floored for 10+ seconds. Someone did that to my truck we are going to have issues.

For those that have the tests where they go to recline why not get a tune flashed for emission only that puts redline nice and low. 2500rpm and have fueling adjusted. Might not be a bad tune to have if you lone the truck out or have family you do not trust with the full power.
 
#31 ·
The 7.3 is a powerhouse! LOL

I think your results are about what we expected and show that your tuning is working the way you expect it to. You bested your race tune in tq and equaled it (almost) in hp w/ way less smoke. Success! Maybe it will get better mpg too?

Years ago I dynoed for emissions down in Parker (forget where) and when the truck did like 352 hp they claimed it was 150 hp more than they had ever seen. It was a dyno verified 476 rwhp truck at the time. My point being that those emissions dynos aren't going to show any kind of hp so I wouldn't worry about it.

I can tell you that I've been custom tuned by several tuners including DI, DP, and now Gearhead and all 3 are capable of greatly reducing smoke while maintaining hp levels when they custom tune. They just need the actual truck to do it effectively.

PS. Matt pulled this off the best in my truck however.
 
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