New to tuning - Need guidance on reliable cam swap tunes?

[itskeevenistic]

Hello! I am new to the world of tuning. I'm into however many hours of research and videos and whatnot as you can get into in a couple weeks and I'm ready to learn more. I have been all over the forums looking for an answer to a seemingly obvious question, or maybe a specific question.

How do tune?

Well, more like, what am I looking to accomplish when tuning a new low spec cam that I'm currently swapping into my '06 Silverado 2500hd.

I see plenty of information on how to tune for max performance, and I've been lost on finding information about tuning daily drivers or workhorses. I have a TSP cam that I swapped in when I found out that one of the lifters ground away at a lobe by about a 1/16th of an inch. (I just bought the truck, finally tore into it)

Stage 2 Low Lift 212/218, .550"/.550", 112 LSA

Everything else is stock and I just want to know what I'm looking for when I find the "end point" for what I need from the truck. Every other post starts off with getting it idling to "finish the tune", but how do I find that reliable happy medium that you want in a daily driver truck, that gets used as a truck.

I see some people say they fixed the idle and just drive it like that, which I believe to be damaging to the engine long term and maybe even short term. So unless I'm wrong (which happens a lot) and you can just fix idle and everything else will follow, when can I be confident that I have made a reliable tune that isn't max performance.

I'm here to learn, I love being building and doing things myself. That's why I'm here. Anything would be appreciated.

Tl;Dr: I don't know jack sh*t but I know his cousin Jack Daniels. Dropping a 212/218 cam in an 6.0 daily driver work horse and want to know what I'm looking for to "finish the tune".

Thank you again

[5FDP]

With those trucks and that computer it's not super complicated but still takes a bit of time to dial in. The biggest things are fixing the airflow model or aka the fueling. That camshaft changes a lot with how much air can get into the engine and we have to adjust the airflow model so that fueling stays in check.

The MAF airflow table and the Primary VE table both control fueling. To keep it simple, if you increase the values in each table that would give it more fuel and same if you lessen the values in it table, that would remove fuel. The data logs would tell you where more or less fuel is needed to keep it happy all the time.

The computer can auto correct the fueling in closed loop fuel control but only to a certain point and you never want to rely on that. Plus the computer can not control fueling if you went full throttle, it has zero control over fuel corrections and that is why it's important that the fueling is correct everywhere. Tuning will require a wideband oxygen sensor as well. The factory computer uses narrowband sensors that do not work to tell you the real time air fuel ratio in the exhaust.


A 212/218 is a pretty mild camshaft and won't take a ton of changes to keep it idling happy. Increase the idle rpm to 700, add a little bit of base running airflow and adjust the idle timing to 18-20ish degrees. It's hard to give exact figures because every engine is different and not everyone lives in the same place.


Basically once the fueling with the MAF/VE is corrected, the idle it set and minor changes to torque mngt and power enrichment are done it should run way better than stock with a decent bump in power. If it's a work horse I probably wouldn't adjust the timing at full throttle, it still have more power than stock with simple power enrichment settings and the proper fueling.

One thing, even though all you did was replace the camshaft I still feel that it will push the injectors to their limit even with a close to stock rev limit and shift points.

A few guys on here do remote tuning and helping, maybe one of them will comment in here. Once you have a wideband and have it working in HP Tuners it will be a pretty smooth tuning process.

[itskeevenistic]

Basically once the fueling with the MAF/VE is corrected, the idle it set and minor changes to torque mngt and power enrichment are done it should run way better than stock with a decent bump in power. If it's a work horse I probably wouldn't adjust the timing at full throttle, it still have more power than stock with simple power enrichment settings and the proper fueling.

This alone gives me the "end game" I was searching for. I appreciate that greatly. Knowing what direction to head for what I need makes it a lot easier than just guessing until something breaks

As for the injectors, I was looking into that just before I posted this before dinner. I'm doing a little more digging into that but when I spoke to TSP they said that it shouldn't be an issue, but I'll definitely find that out for myself one way or another. I do appreciate all the info there. I have a stock tune that I've been playing with but it's obviously not the real deal, but at least I understand what you said for the most part lol.