My first dyno tune - some questions

[wagonwes]

So, I am going to be dyno tuning a friend’s car running a speed density setup on MS2 in a couple days. I have done quite a few street tunes over the years on MS, HP Tuners, AEM EMS, and some OBD1 stuff and am very comfortable with tuning in general and all of the theory behind it. But, I have some questions on dyno tuning specifically. I have done a fair share of reading and still have these unanswered questions:

1. I will be on a load-bearing Mustang dyno and I know that I can lock in the rollers at a constant speed so I can go through the VE table RPM breakpoints and sweep up and down the MAP cells. Do I do this from idle (say around 1000 RPM or so) all the way to redline in 500 RPM increments? Or is running the engine loaded up above X RPM unnecessarily hard on it? For example, do I really want to lock in the rollers at 6500 RPM and start at 15 kPa and sweep up to 350 kPa? Or should I only tune up to 3500 or (locking in RPM and sweeping all MAP cells), and then do WOT pulls from idle to redline after and just fill in the uncharted cells by interpolation?
2. For spark timing – do I do the same as the above and go cell by cell trying to find MBT, being sure to watch for knock? Again, is it really okay to run big boost at high RPM and just leisurely go from cell to cell, taking your sweet time?
3. How long do you let the car cool down for between sweeps? Or do you just watch for high ECT’s and keep going as long as they are under control?
4. Presumably under these high load scenarios the exhaust and under-hood temps get HOT. What should I be watching out for?
5. Any other general tips/ tricks to keep in mind?
6. Bonus question – how do guys with extreme setups making 2000+ HP tune their cars? I would imagine most engines would blow chunks if you held them at 50 PSI and 9000 RPM (or whatever crazy numbers they are making)? Do they just do WOT sweeps only?

By the way, in case anyone is wondering, the vehicle in question is a 92 Dodge Dakota with a 2.5L turbo Dodge motor with forged internals, ported head, BW HE351 turbo, custom fabbed intake, big front mount, and a manual trans. Goal is 400+ WHP on around 25 PSI or so.

Thanks guys, really appreciate the help.

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[wagonwes]

Anyone?

At least on number 1, that's my main question anyway.

 

[rexaroo]

Admittedly, I have never tuned. Nor have I messed with an AEM ecu (tried, but the WRX hated it. Even the AEM engineers couldn't figure it out). Is it the new Infinity ecu?

Regardless, I have been on a mustang dyno driving the car while the tuner did his thing. We just did some lite pulls at low boost, then slowly upped rpms, then boost, then timing. Pretty straight forward. We did about 8 runs back to back, but started letting it cool after every full rpm run for a couple minutes. My IAT's never hit above 10* over ambient, but the engine started getting warm.

I'd highly recommend asking the owner of the dyno what he suggests you do. There is a specific process for bringing up the car on each run.

And is it a holset HE351 turbo?