Tuners

Where does the term "Tuner" come from? As far as I know it refers to the Japanese cars also known as "Ricers". I can understand "Ricers", but where does "Tuner" come from? Does it refer to a car that is nothing more than a support system for a stereo, or tuneup as in new plugs and points?

 

the first I ever heard that term was in reference to "performance tuning" on old Brit bikes.

 

The original TUNERS in the current sense of the word was from the German engineers from Tuning companies like AMG and Alpina that "Tuned" new cars to get the most out of them on the road. It has now transitioned to anyone that can bolt sH*t onto a car.

-Sobastrace

 

Its the European term for Souping up...

 

I think tuner means:Go to Kragens buy big 4 inch chrome muffler stick on the back and listen for the sound of a perverted bumble bee.Oh I forgot put a big spoiler on the trunk.Other than that whats to tune?Timing?dwell?jetting the carb?NOT...............

 

I'm not defending the kids with fart cans on moms old civic but some of these guys are die hard car guys who choose to work with a different platform. There's a guy in my cul-de-sac that has a early 90's Nissian 240 that was dynoed at almost 450 hp at the wheels. The car can be driven daily and still gets better gas mileage than my SUV. Most of his tuning is done with a laptop but I will go out on a limb and say that he knows his car as well as most of the guys on here. About 75% of the car was built in his garage including an engine swap from Japan. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't trade him for my beat up old Plymouth but I can respect what he has built. The damm thing is scary fast.

 

........well said zues. First and foremost, I am an automotive enthusiast. Always have been, always will be. I like some aspects of the hobby better than others, but there isn't a motor vehicle rolling that I can't find a use for.
I agree, the "punk" kids with the fart cans and stickers aren't at the top of my list. Neither is the guy I know that intentially built his car to be a rolling death trap because he thought he would gain stature in the "Kustom Kulture" world for driving a "Rat Rod." He's also the guy that has a tribal arm band that goes 3/4 of the way around his arm. When I asked why it didn't go all the way around, he said, "It would cost another $20 and besides, it hurt back there!"
I'm sorry about the "sermon." It's just that zues made a good point. Some of these kids are REAL hot rodders. They build their own high performance cars in their own garages and their "rice burning" ****ers run like scalded dogs, get great gas milage and handle like slot cars. Not really bad people to get to know........

 

as one of the younger crowd, i can say that none of us consider ourselves "tuners" .... the term is used (for the most part) to describe cars that have been modified by a company to get the most out of it, and are sold thru dealers

tuner cars are built for amazing performance while maintaining all legally required equipment & safety for the market it will be sold in.

amg, hennessy, salleen, rouche, steeda, srt, slp, buschur, ralliart .... there are tons of companies that build tuner cars

there's also plenty to tune on the engine, cold start map, fuel pressure, spark advance, injector pulse width, injector timing, (which can be done cylinder by cylinder on some systems) fan controls, emission controls, sensor activation & deactivation, accessory activation and deactivation, boost curves ( for t/c cars) speedo corrections, rev limiter, launch control, shift points for automatics, iac motor controls, vtec engagement point (for Honda's and cars with similar systems) turbo anti lag settings

and by the way, i know of a slightly modified STI that beat a 90's corvette 30-120 while the sti was towing a jet ski on the highway

use youngins (what some people simply referre to as ricers) are capable of biulding 11 second 4cylinder cars that retain all their originally drive-ability, and hardly suffer any loss of gas mileage when driven nicely

 

HAHAHAHHAHAH...... I love that ****!

 

I see both sides of the fence. The SAE car my team has built runs a DOHC Yamaha motor that have been extensively modified, including liberal use of carbon fiber throughout much of the car, custom suspension, Tec3 engine management. The possibilities are endless. Most of us think that a Holley is adjustable. Wait until you datalog a dyno pull and tune the ignition timing and fuel air ratio by cylinder to flatten the torque curve and to compensate for peaks and valleys in intake manifold pressure. Many of the tuner guys are die hards. Craftsmanship comes in all forms.

I still preffer my Holley, and this is about as On Topic as the "Free iPod" Thread

 

Who gives a **** how fast they can make -em run .Hell 18 wheelers , have alot of horse power ,john deer,boats,airplanes,they are not hot rods,they belong to the Geek Squad

 

m.i.a.

 

I gotta lot of respect for the real tuners. The guys that tune their little 4 and 6 cylinder engines to get phenomenal performance and maintain drivability. I do believe the term has bled over to include some of the wanna-be's, though. The guys who customize their small cars [usually imports] to look like the real "tuners" cars with bolt-ons and a lowering job.
So, how are you gonna know the read-deal cars from the fakes?
By doing the old, traditional "stop light challenge".. You'll find out who is a tuner and who is a wanna-be.

 

Every aspect of a hobby, lifestyle, whatever you want to label it, has those that are serious and those that are wannabe's. In that side of the automotive world they have tuners who are about the performance and they have the wanna be's with the stickers and the wings. Same thing happens with hot rods and customs. It's all about how deep you want to immerse yourself into the life and how much you're will to sacrifice.

My opinion, even though no one asked me.

 

Speaking of tuners, how 'bout those new VW commercials! The ones where they smash the tuners. My favorites the one where they fling the winged one with a trebuchet.

 

Ooouhh, SNAP!


LMFAO!

 

There was a time when guys that built race motors were called "Tuners" The idea being that there is more to makeing one run than just bolting a couple fo extra carbs on.

Racefab a**** others here on the HAMB would be considered to be a tuner for all intents and purposes.

As I understand it the term applied to the jelly bean cars is along those lines the guys theat built 'em to go faster than the factory intended were tuners so the car bacame known as Tuners.

 

Well, I'm 26 and I'm into both "tuner" cars and "traditional" cars. The same kind of people that ruin the sport compact car scene are the same kind of people that ruin the "traditional" hot rod scene. How are guys who put on big fart cans exhausts, cut their springs, and put on lots of vinyl different from guys who used to take their **** box in the 60's and cut the springs put on some pinstripes, and run some cherry bombs. I see some of these cars in magazines that look like complete ***. To me it's just a different platform to customize on. A lot of these kids, from my experience, build these cars because they were p***ed down to them, or they were really cheap. These kids want something different, but don't have the experience or money to go and put together a hot rod. I myself was a little intimidated by older cars. I knew nothing about carbs, or V8's.

My group of friends have some really serious cars. I kinda see ourselves as the same as a lot of the hate to use this term but "rat rodders". Most of us don't give a **** about fancy paint, airline spoilers, and vinyl stickers. We like to make what we have look better and perform better. I have a 2000 ford focus hatchback, that is done very nice I feel. It handles better then my 49' shoebox could ever.

I guess the point of my senseless rant is that even though you don't like or don't understand why these "tuners" are around, embrace the fact that these kids are doing the same thing we are but on a different platform. Personally I would have never gotten into "traditional" type cars if it wasn't for my enthusiasm that started with "tuners".

 

I can't vouch for everyone else but I really don't have a problem with someone building whatever they want to build. I met a guy at a local grudge night that had a hot Neon who drove it in, switched his tires ( had them in the back seat/trunk) uncorked his exhaust and run 11s. Then ****oned it back up and drove it home.

His little mill was tweaked to the max, and it ran good.

I have yet to figure out whay everyone with bolt on ground effects, and a garbage can for a muffler thinks they need to go stoplight to stoplight with me when I'm just trying to get from point A to point B in the Pusher. I have yet to have anyone with a really tunned banger want to race. That has a tendency to get real old.

But back to the question, you being a tuner guy and all. Why are they called tuners?

 

I think they're all called 'tuners' the same way we're all called 'ratrodders' because we have an older car. Marketing my friends, marketing

 

tuners...a very specific and once honorable ***le, that through the machine of marketing and glossy magazines has been peddled to the insipid m***es to provide justification for thier inept kragen fixation; and thus preverted extensive knowledge and dedication of the few into the slogun of the mindless proletariate.

 

its all marketing at this point but started off british, and crossed over to true race cars in japan, were talkin lil straight 6s pushing 1200+ hp and can be driven on the street legally... i myself have built 1 12 second honda and two 11 second honda, one that dynod over 345hp at the wheels from a 1.6l motor on street pump regular gas, NOT premium... and while this may not sound like a lot, keep in mind its in a 2000lb car, and even with ****ty 2.4 60 ft times i was turning low low 11s.... no race gas, same exactly as it ran on the street.. could have pushed 200hp more with tuning, laptop, more boost, slicks, all taht ****, but this was a fun car for me, did it all myself and scared the MESS outta new vettes and novas all around, LOL... also remember taht these cars are fwd, so worst thing i did off the line was spin while teh V8 guys feather it out so as not to hit me... and from 35mph, ****er took out several mid 10 second cars on 35-120 runs, usually by a car length or two....


all that being said, old cars are the real thing, and besides everything else new ones are ugly, loose value, but are fun cause its a lil more challenging tuning down all kinds of power from tiny 4 cylinders

 

What he said, but I'd say it's specifically British in origin, (like 51ratt said) since it is an English word, not a French, Italian or German word...

The factory owners manual in my '73 MGB GT has a chapter ***led "Tuning" and it isn't about setting the timing or adjusting the idle.
It's about what replacement cams and bigger SU's will give how much more power over stock, etc.

but it's been *******ized into something it wasn't originally, like the word "Lowrider" has.

 

I've seen a new one here in SoCal recently - and more than once, mind you... So, you've probably all seen the fake "spinner" hubcaps that make it look like you have those spinner wheels? Well, I've now seen ones that have fake brake rotors and calipers so it makes it look like the clown in question has rear discs rather than drums (like anyone cares). The best part is that since the fake calipers are obviously on the hubcap, the calipers SPIN around and around... that was what made me notice the ones on this joker's car. I was rolling up to a stoplight and did a double-take... "what the hell is wrong with that guy's car?". Pretty funny ****...

 

The term derives from the "Tuner Girls" you see at car shows; e.g., "Smells like tuner, tastes like ice cream."

 

How come this thread isn't locked yet? the RAT ROD steelie thread that's semi on-topic is locked, where this one has nothing to do with traditional hot rods.

 

OK...