Folks,
Had an idea that may help folks as they learn to use this on the Cummins, as most of us have never had the flexibility offered by EFI.
These are some of the things I've learned so far that may help the next person that is exploring options and writing their own tunes.
1 - Save your OEM tune before you do ANYTHING else. Make copies, make several copies on different media. If you ever screw up, you'll have it to fall back on.
2 - LOG, LOG, LOG! Before making any changes, log what the truck is currently doing. This may take a week, this may take a month, but DO IT! It's like having gauges in the truck....you need to know what's going on first.
3 - When you decide you are ready to start making changes, MAKE ONE AT A TIME! It's too much of a PITA to figure out what's going on when you make multiple changes at one time. Modify, save, load, LOG! Repeat.
4 - The VERY FIRST things you want to modify are the parameters, NOT the maps and graphs. If you plan on running 4200 RPM's, modify all your parameters to reflect. If you plan to run 26K psi, modify the parameters to reflect. This will help you further down the road so that your tables line up with your intended changes. Save this file with NO OTHER modifications; this will let you use it as a base for other tunes without going back in an modifying the parameters again.
5 - Get to know the values. Understand what relation MPa is to PSI and how many microseconds of duration you really have available at a given RPM.
6 - BE CONSERVATIVE! It's like baseball....a home run is awesome, but base hits add up. Swinging for the fence often puts you on the bench.
7 - Put a sticky note right under you computer screen. On this sticky note, put the monetary value of your engine and transmission. This will help you keep things in perspective when you think, "Maybe just a little more."
Please feel free to add any tips, tricks and / or advice for the next guy.