To tune or not to tune? 2008 Chevy silverado 5.3 LMG

[K&Dmech]

Basic information. I bought my son a used truck last year knowing it had a bad (cracked block and damaged head)engine. I pulled the engine and it rebuilt at a machine shop. I had the machine shop perform the dod delete. I knew there would be issues without modification. I turned off the afm using my friends tuner. I set the comp to not monitor the for dod codes. The truck runs and idles good. But, in my opinion it lacks power. It may very well be in my mind. My truck is a 2500hd with an 8.1 liter. So, I may just notice it more than I should. My other son has a silverado with the 5.3 (not deleted) and his feels weak too. (to me). So, basically my question is did I miss something? It's not throwing any codes, it runs good, idles good. But I didn't know if it may still require actual tuning even though it's basically a stock engine. I don't know exactly what cam it has in it (I can find out), but didn't ask for anything to increase performance. I just wanted a good stock type engine without dod/afm. I'm more or less asking this question in advance of receiving my tuner. It's due here by the 13th. So, I want to use this time to ask the stupid questions beforehand. I did look around the forum, but most of what I saw had to do with performance parts. Bigger cams, ect.. This is his first truck. He doesn't need anything with real power. I just need to know if actual a/f programming is required when doing a simple delete without performance mods. Any help would be appreciated.

[GHuggins]

Depends on which "OE" like cam was installed. At the least it'll benefit from basic MAF dial in and add a touch of timing since you already killed the DOD actuation stuff. That's all the regular repair shops want me to do when they do something like this for their customers.

[Josue Galban]

Basic information. I bought my son a used truck last year knowing it had a bad (cracked block and damaged head)engine. I pulled the engine and it rebuilt at a machine shop. I had the machine shop perform the dod delete. I knew there would be issues without modification. I turned off the afm using my friends tuner. I set the comp to not monitor the for dod codes. The truck runs and idles good. But, in my opinion it lacks power. It may very well be in my mind. My truck is a 2500hd with an 8.1 liter. So, I may just notice it more than I should. My other son has a silverado with the 5.3 (not deleted) and his feels weak too. (to me). So, basically my question is did I miss something? It's not throwing any codes, it runs good, idles good. But I didn't know if it may still require actual tuning even though it's basically a stock engine. I don't know exactly what cam it has in it (I can find out), but didn't ask for anything to increase performance. I just wanted a good stock type engine without dod/afm. I'm more or less asking this question in advance of receiving my tuner. It's due here by the 13th. So, I want to use this time to ask the stupid questions beforehand. I did look around the forum, but most of what I saw had to do with performance parts. Bigger cams, ect.. This is his first truck. He doesn't need anything with real power. I just need to know if actual a/f programming is required when doing a simple delete without performance mods. Any help would be appreciated.

First, it will depend on the heads you have. The other fundamental part could be the cam you chose, perhaps it is not the correct one. If it is slow without mechanical problems, it would be good to tune it to find more power.

[K&Dmech]

I’ll ask tomorrow about the cam he put in. I normally don’t like to do programming stuff, but business always seems to push in that direction. I don’t have my tuner yet. But want to be prepared for when it comes in. As a general principle, I don’t do any tuning for customers. Too much of a risk. But I have more and more people asking me about doing deletes. I guess it’s my fault for not learning when I had the chance but never intended to tune anything. This may be a dumb question, but are there any tunes that cover this type on situation? Maf and timing? I understand it’s hard to give info without looking at current numbers.

[K&Dmech]

Stock heads. Stock engine (except delete), stock headers, intake, etc. I'm going to ask him tomorrow to find out exactly what cam it has in it. I believe it's a stock non-dod. I'm asking basically for my sons truck, but if I can learn a new trick it may help me out later. My main business is pulling stock engines for rebuild. I don't do any performance.