so I am about to start tuning for the first time, but there are a few things I still don't understand and searching hasn't layed out well.

after reading the tuning VE for 730 article. we talk about starting with the lower VE table. when I think about this, I imagine bringing the car out in the drive way, letting it warm up and go to closed loop. once in closed loop, start dataloging and walk the car up in rpm in 100 or 200 rpm increments holding each increment for 30 second or so for the blm to really level out and let me know what I need to adjust by.

after reading though it sounds like it won't learn a new blm without a VSS signal (ie car in drive). it will just stay in block 4 (can someone explain what this means?) if that is the case, then am I just supposed to drag the brakes to hold each rpm? that seems like a really bad idea.

also, I read that there is a highway mode that comes on and will lean out the the motor. is this active on a stock bin file for a 350? do I need to turn this off? what other things do i want turned off that will mess with base tuning. I know to tune at the same temp and then play with the MAT % change table to stay 128 in all weather conditions (my car is a summer fun only car though).

I no longer have a smog pump or egr and have made those corrections to the Bin as directd by the 730 tuning articles, so that should be no problem.

AE tables, how will this screw with the tuning? if the throttle is increased or decreased by a certain % then this will add fuel and spark, so if I real lightly increase and let off will I be ok? or since it is such an immediate increase, the change in afr will only be shown in the afr voltage log and not affect overall blm once holding the rpm right?

I am just being really careful as I don't have the money to rebuild this motor a second time. I'd rather take 5 years to tune the car completely than do something stupid for 5 seconds and blow the motor up!

 

That is correct, but you don't necessarily have to drag the brakes although I have done that myself to help get a stable reading. Best to do it on the highway or low traffic area. Just normal cruising will get you allot of the cells but there are some higher areas with high load that are difficult to get to. Dragging the brakes for a few seconds while increasing throttle can reach some. A big hill can help too.
Hiway mode is disabled by default, check the temp enable is set too high to ever be reached and that will ensure it doesn't become active.
You may want to increase the setting for where PE mode comes on. Raise it just a little (and know where it is at) so you can get to some of the higher rpm/load points without going into PE mode. This can be dangerous because you could go lean when the motor needs fuel under higher loads. Use care and all will be fine.
Move your foot slowly to avoid getting too much influence from AE. The o2 sensor will react to the fueling as it sees it. Most of the time the inflence will not matter and the BLM will compensate overall. the update is around 2 seconds and the AE effects only last a short time.
You've done your homework, just watch what is happening and it will be fine.
The WOT/PE stuff is where the quick damage comes from when the basics have not been done first.
Just remember, it will probably never be good enough.
I'm on 4 years and still counting