Ask The Community: Tuning Tips for American Muscle?

Greetings people!

I have a question for the Forza Community.

Does anyone have any specific tuning tips when it comes to American Muscle? I have read a ton information on the forums regarding tuning in general but i just cannot get the grip on it. I guess practice makes perfect.

Anyway, American Muscle, we know to be some what notorious for having a bit to much HP for their own good and being RWD makes them a little hard to control.

This was my situation. I tried my first online race on FM6 the other day (I have been a long time Forza Fan) Anyway I though I would be cool and quickly buy a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona HEMI and blindly bump that up to an A Class to fit the requirements of the online race. Being the only player at the time in the lobby that was going to be driving a muscle car against a host of Euro and Asian type cars, i felt like a boss.

My ego was quick to deflate when i found myself at the back of the pack after the first turn. This was a wake up call that let me know tuning is a very important factor in the Forza Universe if you are looking to be a good racer and make a some what decent name for yourself in the game and community, otherwise i could just buy already made tunes and race with them.

SOOOO i would like to know if anyone has tuning tips that are specific for American Muscle Cars. Is there is a particular area that i would need to focus on a bit more on when tuning? I know it depends on the car and all so to make it easier lets keep it in the following manufacturers. Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Years: 1965-2015 (just to be safe)

I currently started another attempt to fine tune a 1969 Camaro Super Sport Coupe, i have upgraded it to B600 (i swear this used to be B500 in previous Forza Titles), no engine swaps, only a Positive Displacement Supercharger added.

Any information would be extremely appreciated!!

Good Racing!!

Try downloading some tunes from the leaderboard to compare to yours and test drive each yours and theirs.

If you tunes a lot slower, yes you have to work on your tune and build

Yet if your running around the same times with a top 100 lb tune compared to yours, it’s how your driving it.

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Never thought of that!!

I will give that shot.

Thanks for the help!

No probs.

If you want to compare your tune setup numbers wise. Eg springs,camber etc

Gtfootw has plenty of open sourced muscle cars in this tuning forum and they all quite good .

The topic is FOOTS Open source. It’s a few posts below this one.

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When possible try and use the 5.7L engine swap and the centrifugal supercharger. It usually gives you more pi to play with than other engine swaps and enables you to add more handling components.

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True, but I’m finding the 5.7 isn’t as relevant as it was 5…thankfully. I got very tired of putting that motor in cars in FM5. Sometimes just upgrading the stock motor is the way to go. Especially when it weighs less than the conversion

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Yup and even supercharger isn’t always needed. I got a Plymouth GTX running top 50s and 100s on stock motor.

No matter how you build them, knowledge of throttle control is key and tires aren’t always necessary if you get the car balanced right.

However, I would keep muscle cars in D - B class. B class if you want them highly modified and C and D if you want them to keep their character.

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Im always down to help a fellow muscle fan out. I have a lot in b class that are extremely fast. I will be online in about an 1hr and 30 min if u want to send me a party invite i will help u out.

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The Mopars are very competitive with their stock Hemis, some things shouldn’t be messed with. I like to upgrade the rear tire width at least 50 to 100 mm wider than the front, gotta put down that power.

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I’m glad to see someone else thinks like I do on the subject. It actually bothered me in FM5 pretty much being forced to swap the hemi out for that 5.7L. everytime. It made me feel dirty

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Some quick tips on building muscle…

Dont be afraid of a full cage. Yes you need to drive the car to see how it exits corners but for the most part a full cage is the way to go.

Street transmissions usually lower the pi.

Use rims that take you 1 or 2 pi over the limit then raise the front rim size up 2 and the rear rim size up one or until the desired pi is reached.

Stock motors do just fine but be prepared to shift earlier if need be.

Race exhaust if possible after ur choice of aspiration but turbos are garbage (except on the gnx) for the most part.

Window tint and flowmaster stickers help alot too.

Good stuff here.

I don’t use cage usually but I also don’t run B class. Weight is an issue in D and C class and cage adds too much weight for some muscle cars. On others a street cage can make wonders.

Pay attention to top speed. I’ve noticed some cars don’t have enough gears to make it down the straight without topping out. Another benefit of street transmission.

I run 20s on my rims since it usually drops PI and helps with handling and top speed. The heavy rims should be avoided if possible. They can hurt acceleration a fair amount.

Thanks for all the help guys! really appreciate it.

So a quick update.

I went home and bought another 69 Camaro and bought a ready made tune. i cant remember the creator but it was 5 stars and #1 in leader boards.

I was going to compare my current tuning setup to the one i bought but silly me, it was locked and i could not see the tune setup.

But anyway i checked the general specs. My camaro was a little faster (more HP and Torque) but the handling was short. I do recall in Forza Horizon 1 i believe i made an absolute beast Mustang 302 Boss B Class. it was clean (no engine swaps) only added aspiration. Anyway it was good and i tuned it to be a master at corners.

I took my Camaro for a test race last night, was not looking to come any specific place. I tampered with the roll bars and springs and all. I noticed that either the front had to much oversteer and the rear had to much understeer. Tried to balance them but then the roles would switch.

I might need to go back to the drawing board on this one and start fresh with the Camaro.

As a side note though. i agree with RPM Swerve when he said that muscles cars should be kept as C or D but highly modified ones can go to B. Although i would like to build an old school Muscle Car to hit A or even S class status, not to say i have a super fast muscle car but to put the classics up against some of the new racers. something about having a 19 something Muscle Car that can give a 2000 something Ferrari or similar a run for it’s money is somewhat satisfying.

Anyway Really Appreciate the help Guys!

This is why building muscle cars is tricky. You can have two builds that don’t appear all that different but the lap times say otherwise. Odds are the build you downloaded still had really good low end acceleration without compromising much on corner grip. Sometimes that’s more important than all out acceleration.

Don’t forget to use brake bias to adjust the feel of a car. I was having big problems with a no aero GTX but those all went away when I put on race brakes and put the bias two clicks to the rear. Then on the aero version, race brakes were completely unnecessary. You’ll notice oddities from time to time when you build up enough cars.

Muscle in B class are amazing. Numerous number 1s have been posted with muscles. A class they arent as great but they can definetly win races when driven, built, and tuned correctly. I should be on in a few hrs if u want more tips in a party.

Fair enough, I’m at work right now, wont be on till later in the evening. But i’ll keep an eye out

I see i see!

I will go back to the drawing board and try that!

i need to spend a good weekend with that.

Have fun.

You might discover a weirdo build. Don’t be scared to try crazy builds. Some of these cars seem to drive well no matter what you do to them.

+1 If your adjusting something in or out of the car and the “right” adjustment isn’t fixing it. do the opposite. I doubt any of mine could be considered conventional…whatever that

Sweet!

Appreciate the feedback guys!

Never knew the Forza Community was this good!

Happy Racing