Dyno tune needed for manual swap?
 

I realize that manual swaps are pretty uncommon, but thought I'd ask anyway.

Engine is a 2010 5.3 LMG engine. I'm told 5.3's never had manuals.

I'm not making any changes to the engine, except for the manual tranny. Are manual flashes good enough that I can get by with a mail-order tune, or will I likely need a dyno tune?

Dyno or not makes some difference where I send it now.

Related question: I'm starting out with my stock sm465, with a possible future upgrade to a nv4500. Would either a mail-order or dyno tune be affected by a future change in gear ratios? The engineer in me is thinking it would be possible to tune an engine to predict what gear it's in based on the VSS, and be custom tailored for each gear. Is this the case, or am I overthinking it?

Re: Dyno tune needed for manual swap?
 

yes...get it dynoed.....you won't regret it...I picked up about 45hp on the dyno over a base tune.....
mine has nv4500...when it was on the dyno they never put it in 5th....
all dyno pulls were in 4th gear....
4th in the sm is 1:1
4th in the nv is 1:1
with the nv4500 you won't need the vss...

Re: Dyno tune needed for manual swap?
 

You will need a tune for everything to work right but you don't need a dyno tune.

Re: Dyno tune needed for manual swap?
 

4.8 & 6.0 had manual option, but not 5.3. I put a Muncie M20 behind my 5.3 with a time from lt1swap, but haven’t been able to drive it yet. I do plan on a dyno after I work out some of the other kinks I’m sure I’ll run into.

Re: Dyno tune needed for manual swap?
 

I went from an automatic to a T56 so it's a different transmission but still a manual. So here's my input.
If you are happy with the tune you have them the only real thing you might need to change is the speedometer settings. You can swap from the auto to the manual and nothing needs changed.
I'll back up and ask is it running now in your truck and you are just changing the transmission? And what kind of tune is done to it now?
There is a lot more to do when going to an auto. I have now swapped back to a 4l80.
Good luck.
Dave

Re: Dyno tune needed for manual swap?
 

I have not swapped it into the squarebody yet. I'll need to send the PCM off for VATS delete, emissions mods, and auto tranny delete.

The question is how likely will I need a dyno tune? If someone can do a mail-order tune that is 90% as good as a dyno tune, I'll save my money. Again, I'm not modifying the engine, and I'm satisfied with stock performance.

Re: Dyno tune needed for manual swap?
 

I'm sure they're not all the same but my base tune was about 75% as good as the dyno tune. ..

Re: Dyno tune needed for manual swap?
 

Yes, you'll want a dyno tune. Bonus points if your tuner will take a ride with you to make sure it actually feels right on the road.

The torque converter in the auto trucks will soak up some things like small cam surge, which you'll notice in a manual car pretty quickly, even more so if its cammed or moving serious air. In general the "first flash" for most manual swaps (and even most manual cars in general) almost always needs to be cleaned up once or twice.

I'd say find a local tuner who can get you a base flash to get started (the gear values can be used to rough predict some of the speeds@load as you mentioned). He should be able to get you started on something that will allow you to start, run, drive and test the car as needed and sort out any functionality or mechanical issues right off the bat. Once the car is ironed out, you wanna get it back to the tuner on the dyno. That's where he'll be able to focus on performance and efficiency and actual net a gain.