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GM 8.1 tune

B

bigsixman

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What are you 8.1 owners doing for a tune on a basically stock 2500HD ecsb. I would like to hear what you have been using and how much of an improvement you experienced. I have been looking at getting one of the custom tunes over a hand held.
 
Have you done any intake/airbox and exhaust modifications so far?

I'm not an 8.1 owner but I'm sure they'd respond to the above mods..

Maybe some high ratio roller rocker arms, that'd be a good bolt on IMO.

BTW welcome to TTS.
 
trouttrooper is the only member I can think of with the 8.1, maybe he can give some insight.
 
They do respond well to tuning. Disabling traction control is the biggest improvement over stock. Supposedly, these motors can really produce some low end beans after they've been tuned.
 
I haven't done anything to mine yet. Done a ton of research though and once I have the money and get up the nerve I'll most likely send my PCM in to get a mail tune from http://www.wait4meperformance.com/ . Biggest thing that holds these engines back is the torque management which the mail tune can obviously delete. Handheld tunes don't give you much. I've been told that intake and exhaust mods won't really do much as they are pretty free flowing already. There is the spark plug regapping to .045 to improve throttle response.

I'll be sending my PCM off this next spring. We got our first snow yesterday and I'm not putting the truck out of commission when we may need 2 4wd vehicles up and running.
 
I have done the .045 AC plug change and plan to do the 180 degree thermostat swap and I also plan to add a Gibson catback exhaust. I appreciate the posts with your advice and thoughts on the 8.1. I agree, the torque management appears to hurt the performance of these 8.1 powered trucks and a good tune should take care of that issue. A friend of mine has one with a hand held tune and he says the tune and a CAI did little if anything for his truck. I hate to spend hard earned money if the mods do not make a positive change.
 
I never really did any tuning changes to my '03 8.1/A in the 53k I had it but I really liked that engine alot. I just couldn't stand burning 10 gal of gas a day any more so I went DMax. Interested in seeing the info on yours as you improve it. Ya never know if an 8.1 just shows up in my driveway some day again...;)
 
Thanks. I kinda wondered. I never have seen any hard data on it doing anything, more just theories and reports of "feeling" better responses.
 
I installed a Nelson tune and a 180 degree themostat in my 8.1 today. The motor definately responds to the throttle better and revs much quicker. I have not had a chance to check for a mileage increase, but I hope that it will improve some. I normally receive about 14-14.5 on the open highway at 65 mph.
 
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