When does a tune become mandatory?

[Troublemaker]

My car has slowly been getting little add ons as I go. Nothing really performance enhancing to the motor, short of a set of filters, some smooth tubes, cat delete and underdrive pulleys. But a new clutch and Fidanza flywheel will be going in this week. The "replace engine soon" light went on after the cats were cut off but went away after a spirited ride. I had considered purchasing the SCT X3, but really didn't feel like the canned tunes were the route I wanted to go and the minor mods I have done warranted a round of Dyno runs. When is it time to bite the bullet and do it right?

[Viper Red]

Replace Engine Soon?? LOL

[Fatboy 18]

Often wondered about this myself? I'm in a similar position, Airfilters, Cat delete, Belanger cat back 3" system. New Clutch and Findanza flywheel.

My car does have an updated PCM (before I purchased the car) but apart from changing the plugs, is there anything else worth doing?

[plumcrazy]

whatever you do, do it right and get a tuner and let him tune it in person

[CSXT802]

I had gotten a sct hand held with mail order tune from unleashed tuning (a sponsor here) and had great results. my car had with smooth tubes ,filters, cats deleted, and mopar performance (borla cat back). Base lined at 406 whp and 446 ft lbs. the A/F were low 11's with the stock cal. I emailed my dyno graph and list of mods to Torrie McPhail at unleashed tuning. I bought the sct from him with 3 tunes on it. I took the car back to the dyno with the tunes from Torrie . My best pull netted me 426 whp and 468 ft lbs peak and more below the curve. The A/F were spot on at 12.8 - 13.0 after the tune. good bang for the buck if you ask me.

[Troublemaker]

That about sums it up, thanks guys.