Making Quality Horsepower | Our Experience With The TTS Master Tune System

05. We then picked a base calibration from TTS's massive library. These "canned" calibrations have been amassed from the thousands of dyno runs and tuning sessions TTS has done of various Harley-Davidson motorcycles with hundreds of aftermarket component combinations.

06. This graph shows how the TTS system can even adjust each cylinder's AFR mixture separately to control spark and temperature throughout the RPM range.

07. When the MasterTune system had secured the information it had been given, we turned on the software's VTune mode. This part of the process allows MasterTune to gather massive amounts of data while the engine is running through various gears, RPM, and throttle position. In short, VTune is pretty much is a dyno inside of the software. So much so, that a person can do this stage of tuning without the use of a dyno while riding the bike around his neighborhood.

08. Once all of the needed values in the VTune graph were filled up, we checked out the info. It was at that time that a few parameter changes were made to the canned calibration the bike was running. These changes were adding a bit more fuel to the rear cylinder between 1,800 and 2,000 rpm, richening up the mixture between 3,400 and 4,400 rpm, as well as also adding slightly more spark where needed.

09. From there we dynoed the bike at wide-open throttle and tweaked the calibration slightly more to smooth out acceleration at higher RPMs. A few more pulls were made to see if any beneficial changes were needed to the software. It was decided that with only the mild upgrade we made, it was better to not get too crazy trying to squeeze every last pony out of our engine; it is better to have a smooth running bike with the proper air/fuel ratio, spark, and timing. With this done, the final numbers on our bike with the MasterTune installed was 74.2 hp with 93.7 lb-ft of torque.

10. This was only a 12.1 hp and 14.9 lb-ft increase over stock, but the quality of how the bike makes these factors is the key to the MasterTune's success. When riding the bike on the streets, the power feels much stronger and comes on in a more linear fashion. There was no hesitation in the powerband while shifting like before and no popping on deceleration where the bike used to sound like a drum set. Even though we only scratched the surface of what can be done with the MasterTune system, the consensus was if you are looking for big dyno numbers to impress your friends and don't care about the quality of how you get them, then the MasterTune is not for you. This system makes power by tuning all of the engine's various activities and then it makes them work in unison. By doing so, the MasterTune system meshes the ECM and the engine as one strong running package that you know has been properly tuned.