[murphster]

Best tuning tool I ever got was DirectScan. I still have a gauges and a scanmaster for daily driving, but its much easier to understand whats going on when you play back the data on a logger like DirectScan.

In all likelihood your injectors are just running max all the time. So by pumping up the boost to 22psi and adding alky you are probably have a tune close to where it should be. So just by luck and your combo your tune is already close. If you took away boost you'd be rich and if you added boost or upgraded the turbo or something you'd lean out if you're not careful.

My 87 Regal ran 12.7 with a stock turbo, 30lb injectors, and alky at 22psi. The only difference is that I have a TT alky chip which adds a little timing, injectors are still maxed the whole way. On smaller turbos I haven't noticed much benefit from higher timing with alky anyway.

When you upgrade the injectors, tuning will become more difficult. Instead of just playing with the alky to prevent knock, you'll have to adjust the fuel settings since the injectors should be capable of running more fuel then you'll need.

The key to finding the right tune is to watch the data carefully. Going over Directscan recordings to determine whether the car is knocking because its lean vs not having enough alky. The car could also be rich and need fuel taken out but need alky to prevent knock. Usually you don't run more alky than you need because there isn't much benefit to running alky at 100% all the time, but it will run out sooner and we all like our alky/meth to last as long as possible.

As far as reading the alky tuning thread 20 times, that sounds about right. It takes a lot of reading and going over data to understand it all. Paul knows a lot about tuning, for sure. But I also know he reads all he can and go over his data and recordings many times. And even after he changes his tune based on his data, he's still careful on his next run to make sure there's no knock or something else going on in case the car doesn't like the adjustment. A good tune takes time and learning your car along with having good feedback such as data loggers and timeslips. Living close to a track doesn't hurt either.