What's A Tuner?

[rusty bumper]

Pardon me for asking this, but, what's a tuner?...

[Don]

Basically someone who tweaks and "tunes" their cars to better levels of performance (this does not include the addition of performance enhancing decals and wings suitable for a 747 ).

[2000]

I use to have a pioneer super tuner!

[ftboomer]

For instance, I have an '02 Lincoln LS. Through the Lincoln LS owners Club (www.LLSOC.com), I've found that removing the baffle for the air intake I've increase the ariflow into the airbox by 200%, added a K&N air filter and Magnaflow dual exhaust. With these mods alone I've picked up and additional 15 HP.

That kinda thing all the way up to the addtion of superchargers, turbo-chargers, souped-up computer chips and lots of money qualify as "Tuners".

[rusty bumper]

Thanks,
I thought a tuner might be a modified car, but I wasn't sure...Where can you get the K & N air filters?...Are they that good?

[ftboomer]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
Thanks,
I thought a tuner might be a modified car, but I wasn't sure...Where can you get the K & N air filters?...Are they that good?

I got one at my local Discount Auto Parts, the other was only available online. Do a Fruggle search.

Yes they make an improvement, but each upgrade is incremental, don't expect to replace an air filter and feel a 5G increase. It's just one step in the process.

[Rick]

Ohh don't get me started on K&N's. You will get more air flow from them, but they let small dust through. And I know of several instances where they have sprayed their oil in to the air box and messed up some electronics down stream (ie MAF sensors particularly). Maybe good for a carbuerated car if you don't mind a litle extra engine wear, but the truth can be seen by having a $20 oil analysis done. The silicon (sand) readings will go off the charts.

Ok maybe I've just had a bad experience with K&N in the past. I found one product that has potential though. www.greenfilterusa.com A bit more expensive, but their data is impressive. Filtration down to 5 microns (oil filters don't even catch particles that small) and more air flow. I'm considering buying one when they start making it, run it for a few thousand miles then have an oil analysis done to see if it has the same results as a K&N or not.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by Rick
Ohh don't get me started on K&N's. You will get more air flow from them, but they let small dust through. And I know of several instances where they have sprayed their oil in to the air box and messed up some electronics down stream (ie MAF sensors particularly). Maybe good for a carbuerated car if you don't mind a litle extra engine wear, but the truth can be seen by having a $20 oil analysis done. The silicon (sand) readings will go off the charts.

Ok maybe I've just had a bad experience with K&N in the past. I found one product that has potential though. www.greenfilterusa.com A bit more expensive, but their data is impressive. Filtration down to 5 microns (oil filters don't even catch particles that small) and more air flow. I'm considering buying one when they start making it, run it for a few thousand miles then have an oil analysis done to see if it has the same results as a K&N or not.

How do Fram air filters stack up test wise?

[Rick]

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

This is where I have had some oil analysis's done. Very neat little service, you can actually sometimes determine a problem before soemthing breaks. They can detect stuff like a leaking head gasket because there would be coolant in the oil, or certain high metal counts of a particular metal will point to some specific part etc. I think a fram filter should be fine. With the K&N you see high silicon numbers. Right now I'm sticking to the manufacturers filters because in foresight it's really cheap insurance in case something happens under the engine warranty.

I actually got to talk to an offroad engineer for GM, we got to talking about it a little. He said they aim to filter to 5 microns. Consider anything that gets past the air filter that doesn't go out the exhaust goes in to the oil. There was some web site I found a ton of technical analysis on, but for the life of me I can't find it tonight. I'll see if I run across it I'll post a link. Maybe they'll have some fram examples.

[rusty bumper]

Thanks for the link.

I used to use Fram oil filters until I saw a report on their shoddy construction...So I switched to Wix, (NAPA Brand) for the same price.

[Mark McGuire]

Here is a site for oil analysis, bobistheoilguy.com I think that's it. I have seen it from time to time on pickuptrucks.com.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by Mark McGuire
Here is a site for oil analysis, bobistheoilguy.com I think that's it. I have seen it from time to time on pickuptrucks.com.

Yep, that's the one.

Here's another thread about it.

[Rick]

Yes bobistheoilguy, thats what I was thinking about. Thankyou.

[laff488]

Ref Tuner

This is my Tuner Check it out
www.theflyingmiata.com

[laff488]

Ref Tuner

here is another one