Hennessy Tuner School

[bondo]

Anyone have any experiences with the Hennessy tuner school? My son is interested. Would like to hear from some that might have some inside knowledge good or bad
Thanks in advance

[RifleBowPistol]

I know Tracy, that was with Maximum Velocity went there, but from what I heard, she never tuned a single car, once she got back. I know when she was there and since she left, all tuning has been done by John Lund remotely.

I would assume, you should get some good basics. But I would say, you should know as much as possible about engines, and not just one type of engine, then have a very good understanding of the whole vehicle. Then have a pretty good understanding differences between different style heads, intakes, understanding how various cam changes change how a engine runs, performs, what happens with the vacuum, ECT. Then have a pretty good understanding of the various different types of power adders.

If you have that stuff down pretty good, then I would consider a tuning school. But if the person, only has two or three years of working on cars, in depth. I would wait on a tuning school, till the person has more experience, and a much better understanding of engines drivetrains, ECT.

If the person does not have quite a bit of experience like I suggested, and that person goes to a tuner school, they are not going to fully understand a lot. They won't get as much out of it as they could, probably not fully understand why things are done.

There is a a few thousand tons of info, related to just gasoline engines alone. Now days, most younger people getting into cars, skip over all the basics of how, why, and just try to go straight for the more in depth stuff, miss out on a lot of info they really should have. Then wind up in situations where because they skipped over a lot of basics, they don't understand why something is happening.

You might call Hennessy and talk to them and see what they have to say, to get an idea of how in depth the tuning school goes and what type of knowledge you should have before attending the school. I have my opinion on the subject, but they may tell you otherwise.

[CabezaBlanca]

John Hennessy….do your research!!!!!! A simple google search will keep you busy for hours!

[Artos]

John Hennessy….do your research!!!!!! A simple google search will keep you busy for hours!

This...

[Big Lee]

Steer as far clear from this as possible. Big money grab with false dreams attached.

Sent from my SM-A536V using Tapatalk

[BlackHogDown]

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22What+exactly+did+Hennessey+do%3F%22&sxsrf=ALiCzsbciAo1incrrbr5yjiGVUmAczzk9A%3A1654861488296&ei=sC6jYunZEbyyqtsP2oyKsAM&ved=0ahUKEwjp8aW556L4AhU8mWoFHVqGAjYQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=%22What+exactly+did+Hennessey+do%3F%22&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIHCCEQChCgATIHCCEQChCgATIHCCEQChCgATIFCCEQqwIyBQghEKsCMgUIIRCrAjoHCAAQRxCwA0oECEEYAEoECEYYAFCrBFirBGDfBmgBcAF4AIABmgGIAZoBkgEDMC4xmAEAoAECoAEByAEEwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

[91cavgt]

It would have been nice to have a school available when I tuned. There is a plethora of information on tuning on the web now so it is a LOT easier than what it used to be. My thoughts would be for him to find a shop that does tuning and see if he can get a job there working as an apprentice. Then he could get hands on experience and be taught by those who actually tune.

My experience with schools like this is typically they give you a 10,000 foot view of what to do, which anyone with common sense would be able to figure out on their own(like ignition timing needs to be decreased when boost is added or load is increased, you need to add fuel when the load increases or boost is added, fueling needs to increase for cold start, ect).


And no matter what, don’t tune an engine to blow if the customer turns the boost up above your tuning point. Jo Tec in Garland(don’t know if it is still there or not) tuned a buddys car that I later bought and tuned better. Jo Tec programmed it to add timing and decrease fuel if the boost was increased over what they tuned it for. This is a recipe for a blown engine. Please don’t do that.

[Sackett]

Wow, I never knew he had such a bad reputation. He puts out some awesome vehicles. Too bad he hasn’t done it the right way, it sounds.

[Budman68]

Just an add, a good tuner also has to be a really good mechanic. When most shops drop off a car its a fresh build that has never started. In most cases you spend the day chasing assemble mistakes. I.E. Leaking fuel lines, bad electrical connections, etc. If they want to be a tuner, first be a mechanic or then build a tuning reputation.

[Budman68]

Wow, I never knew he had such a bad reputation. He puts out some awesome vehicles. Too bad he hasn’t done it the right way, it sounds.

There is a reason his shop is 75 miles out of town and has a guard at the gate.

[RifleBowPistol]

Just an add, a good tuner also has to be a really good mechanic. When most shops drop off a car its a fresh build that has never started. In most cases you spend the day chasing assemble mistakes. I.E. Leaking fuel lines, bad electrical connections, etc. If they want to be a tuner, first be a mechanic or then build a tuning reputation.

Very true.

[91cavgt]

Just an add, a good tuner also has to be a really good mechanic. When most shops drop off a car its a fresh build that has never started. In most cases you spend the day chasing assemble mistakes. I.E. Leaking fuel lines, bad electrical connections, etc. If they want to be a tuner, first be a mechanic or then build a tuning reputation.

100% truth here.


You can also have everything run but tuning doesn’t give you the results that it should. You could have bad grounds, internally leaking fuel pressure regulator, vacuum leaks, ect. ect. that can adversely effect tuning that you need to be able to troubleshoot and find. If you are a good mechanic(NOT a parts changer) then you will be able to troubleshoot and diagnose these problems before they become catastrophic problems.

[RifleBowPistol]

It would have been nice to have a school available when I tuned. There is a plethora of information on tuning on the web now so it is a LOT easier than what it used to be. My thoughts would be for him to find a shop that does tuning and see if he can get a job there working as an apprentice. Then he could get hands on experience and be taught by those who actually tune.

My experience with schools like this is typically they give you a 10,000 foot view of what to do, which anyone with common sense would be able to figure out on their own(like ignition timing needs to be decreased when boost is added or load is increased, you need to add fuel when the load increases or boost is added, fueling needs to increase for cold start, ect).


And no matter what, don’t tune an engine to blow if the customer turns the boost up above your tuning point. Jo Tec in Garland(don’t know if it is still there or not) tuned a buddys car that I later bought and tuned better. Jo Tec programmed it to add timing and decrease fuel if the boost was increased over what they tuned it for. This is a recipe for a blown engine. Please don’t do that.

Those youtube tuning experts, don't always know as much as they think. Once one of the gives bad info, if that guy is a respected guy amongst the internet guys, a bunch of the rest will follow what he says. Then in months to a few years, they are all saying the same thing.

What I find a lot of them are clueless on is, tuning for light and medium load conditions. They will be using almost the same numbers for light load conditions that they are using for WOT. Then they tell me, there is no way, that I can make a NA 306 Mustang run low 11s and get 26 mpg, with 4.10 gears. I was doing that over 20 years ago. With what I know today, I am sure I can make a low 10 second NA 306, that will still get right around 26 to 28 mpg. I don't follow everything that is said on youtube, internet forums, ECT. Now some of that info, if I think it sounds logical, I give it a try. But usually find that it's not what someone claimed. I have talked to numerous tuners over the years, a few have given some pretty good advice, but I have found, don't ask most tuners for timing numbers, they typically won't give you info, that will blow up your engine, but they are not going to give you good timing numbers. But depending on who you are talking to, they very likely might give you timing numbers that will kill your engine, fast.

There is some good info on the internet and a lot of bad info, but when you are young, and don't have much of any experience, you really don't know what is good and what is bad info. Doing a lot of reading about engines, all of the various types of engines and why different style engines, and different style heads need different timing numbers. You don't ever want to run the same timing that worked best for you 1971 Chevy 350, in a tune for your 2018 Coyote engine. That engine will die very fast. Vise versa, use the numbers for a stock Coyote engine for a old SBC, and that will be a very gutless ****. Knowing why a different style head and engine needs different timing numbers is very important to know, too many guys who claim to be tuners, never learn that stuff. They just learn that more boost, equals less timing, higher octane more timing. But they really don't have any in depth understanding when the timing should be adjusted up or down and why. They may be ok at tuning one type of engine, with one type of combo, but throw a completely different engine at them and they will usually try to use the same numbers and make a mess.

Just looking at small block Fords, there are so many different types of heads that will bolt on to them, that are greatly different in design. You can have very large timing requirements between the different head designs. Then throw in different compression ratios, different head materials, vehicle weight, fuel, engine running temps, gear ratios, then throw powder adders on top of all of those variables and most guys don't have a clue how to adjust for those variables.

[Fordnandez]

Wow, I never knew he had such a bad reputation. He puts out some awesome vehicles. Too bad he hasn’t done it the right way, it sounds.

Bad stories about this guy go back 20+ years. The fact that this guy is still in business even is pretty amazing even if a quarter of the stories I have read/heard are true.

[91cavgt]

Those youtube tuning experts, don't always know as much as they think. Once one of the gives bad info, if that guy is a respected guy amongst the internet guys, a bunch of the rest will follow what he says. Then in months to a few years, they are all saying the same thing.

What I find a lot of them are clueless on is, tuning for light and medium load conditions. They will be using almost the same numbers for light load conditions that they are using for WOT. Then they tell me, there is no way, that I can make a NA 306 Mustang run low 11s and get 26 mpg, with 4.10 gears. I was doing that over 20 years ago. With what I know today, I am sure I can make a low 10 second NA 306, that will still get right around 26 to 28 mpg. I don't follow everything that is said on youtube, internet forums, ECT. Now some of that info, if I think it sounds logical, I give it a try. But usually find that it's not what someone claimed. I have talked to numerous tuners over the years, a few have given some pretty good advice, but I have found, don't ask most tuners for timing numbers, they typically won't give you info, that will blow up your engine, but they are not going to give you good timing numbers. But depending on who you are talking to, they very likely might give you timing numbers that will kill your engine, fast.

There is some good info on the internet and a lot of bad info, but when you are young, and don't have much of any experience, you really don't know what is good and what is bad info. Doing a lot of reading about engines, all of the various types of engines and why different style engines, and different style heads need different timing numbers. You don't ever want to run the same timing that worked best for you 1971 Chevy 350, in a tune for your 2018 Coyote engine. That engine will die very fast. Vise versa, use the numbers for a stock Coyote engine for a old SBC, and that will be a very gutless ****. Knowing why a different style head and engine needs different timing numbers is very important to know, too many guys who claim to be tuners, never learn that stuff. They just learn that more boost, equals less timing, higher octane more timing. But they really don't have any in depth understanding when the timing should be adjusted up or down and why. They may be ok at tuning one type of engine, with one type of combo, but throw a completely different engine at them and they will usually try to use the same numbers and make a mess.

Just looking at small block Fords, there are so many different types of heads that will bolt on to them, that are greatly different in design. You can have very large timing requirements between the different head designs. Then throw in different compression ratios, different head materials, vehicle weight, fuel, engine running temps, gear ratios, then throw powder adders on top of all of those variables and most guys don't have a clue how to adjust for those variables.

Very true.


The situation I referred to above where Jo Tec originally tuned the car was a 1991 Chevy Cavalier station wagon with a turbo 3.1L V6. When I got the car, it was getting 14 mpg on the highway and wouldn’t idle worth a flip, but WOT was ok. After I tuned it, it was getting 24 mpg on the highway and it passed the tail pipe emissions testing in Dallas county. There are DEFINITELY a lot of differences from one motor to the next, and from one build to the next even if they are the same motor. I have found some aftermarket ECU websites have message forums where there is some good information to be had, but YouTube and vehicle specific message forums are spotty at best for good information.