Official Newb to Tuning Thread:

[Ironside]

OK, so... I hear you guys all talking about tuners and access ports and something called a standback and I have questions;

Although this is NOT my first turbo car (Neon SRT-4, Caliber SRT-4) I've never taken my modding further than basic bolt-ons for fear of the unknown.

Well, i'm tired of being a damn moron when people start chatting about air-fuel ratios, long term LTF-NFL's and other shannanigans of that nature... LOL

I'm here at the mercy of you guys asking for your knowledge... if you guys could kinda post up some basics to help me get started in understanding just what the hell is really going on under the hood of my car!

Is this a topic that requires an engineering degree or will a few weeks of browsing online kind of bring me up to speed?

I always wondered why, after adding say a downpipe, exhaust, intake, etc etc ALL of a sudden now you need a tune OR ELSE!! What is going on that requires you to tune the car and what exactly are you tuning?? (I mean, obviously the ECU/PCM but you know what i'm talkin' about)

Is it true that you pretty well have to deck out your car with scangauges and flux capacitors to keep an eye on 50 billion things to keep you from exploding???

Hopefully you guys can post up and help me make sense of all this and i'll post some questions as we go along (or if I dont quite get what you're sayin)

I figure its time to finally step into this unknown topic since a buddy of mine is pulling low 12's in his Caliber dabbling in all this... I'm not saying my MS3 will be able to do the same but low 13's would be swell. Hehe

[mzdaspeed3]

Same here any info would be helpful.

[Virzy]

Bump. Maybe a list of AP-related acronyms to start? lol

[snailD]

some info here

"Standback Tuning For Dummies Guide" The Official Q&A...

[Special--k]

Good post