Nor cal tuner/dyno...
Umm, not to stir the pot, but I know of 2 of my friends that went to Nick, had issues and Nick wanted to charge again for services.. Just throwing it out there.. However, I do have several other friends that have had work done by Nick and felt everything was perfect, including a buddies recent 427 build done by Nick.
Same as above goes for Rick at Synergy. Few friends swear he can't tune and others swear by him.
I can tell you from tuning a lot of cars myself, with out a decent amount of actual drivetime, no tune is going to be spot on for every occasion. When a car comes in to a shop, it's most likely already warm. I promise they are not getting it down to a very cold 40-50* temp for a real cold start. It's very hard to do that. If you the tuner don't experience the issues the vehicle is having on cold starts, how can you honestly rectify the them. It's not like there is a magic number to put in all the areas of a tune. Every car is different and every car wants something a little different.
Would you leave your car with a tuner for a week to get all the bugs out?
Would that week be enough time?
What if it was summer when you left the car, winter rolls around and now all of a sudden, you have a cold staart issue in the 20-30* coolant temp span?
See what I'm getting at. Things might be close but it's hard to get everything dead on..
It really depends on the car and what your tuning for. A bolt on car that needs mainly WOT tuning 45-60minutes. A heads/cam car with huge cam, injectors ect, it could take several hours to get going good.
I can't begin to tell you how many hours are in my truck, but that's with tons of cold starts, fidling around with this ect. I will say though, you can cold start it with a Trex, it goes right to idle and goes to 14.7 with in 4-5 seconds. Doesn't matter what temp you hit the ignition at. No surging, no bucking, even when I have the verter locked at 1,800rpms on back roads.
To get it perfect, lot's and lot's of time!!
I can't begin to tell you how many hours are in my truck, but that's with tons of cold starts, fidling around with this ect. I will say though, you can cold start it with a Trex, it goes right to idle and goes to 14.7 with in 4-5 seconds. Doesn't matter what temp you hit the ignition at. No surging, no bucking, even when I have the verter locked at 1,800rpms on back roads.
To get it perfect, lot's and lot's of time!!
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We have a good 6+ hours in getting my big cam car to drive/idle perfect under different conditions etc, WOT stuff is the easiest, what makes a good tuner is their attention to detail and tuning for driveability IMO. I already recommended the guy that I know will do the both of those to the best possible degree as possible. It may be expensive but happens when you have to spend the money to travel long distances each time something changes or you arent happy with it.
goodluck
goodluck
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,058
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Hi, saw your post. You should try Force Fed Performance off of Antelope/Roseville Rd, 916-331-1611. He has a professional dyno facility and is an excellent tuner. Just about every car I've seen him tune runs well. I met Nick from NewTech recently.
The thing about Nick, is he doesn't just tune cars, he races his own as well. A brief conversation with him was all it took to realize he enjoys what he does as much as I do, which rates high w/me.
A word about Keith at ForceFed. 5 years ago, I was preparing for Vette Magic. Keith stayed up ALL NIGHT, kept his shop open till 6am and we wired my car up for a nitrous kit, as well as worked on other cars. The he let me borrow his helmet, a fire jacket, and a set of tires. About 4am, Keith is over there modifying my dashboard for switches and the nitrous and was just as in to the work as if it were 4pm. I was nothing less than impressed.
Good luck w/your selection. Might I also suggest you invest in tuning equipment and learn to do it yourself. Its really not ~that hard anyway.
The thing about Nick, is he doesn't just tune cars, he races his own as well. A brief conversation with him was all it took to realize he enjoys what he does as much as I do, which rates high w/me.
A word about Keith at ForceFed. 5 years ago, I was preparing for Vette Magic. Keith stayed up ALL NIGHT, kept his shop open till 6am and we wired my car up for a nitrous kit, as well as worked on other cars. The he let me borrow his helmet, a fire jacket, and a set of tires. About 4am, Keith is over there modifying my dashboard for switches and the nitrous and was just as in to the work as if it were 4pm. I was nothing less than impressed.
Good luck w/your selection. Might I also suggest you invest in tuning equipment and learn to do it yourself. Its really not ~that hard anyway.
Don't think you can really go wrong with synergy or newtech they both know what they're doing.There's always going to be people that complain and sometimes **** does happen but that's true for anything. Can only speak for myself but Rick @ synergy built and tuned my engine and I have nothing but good things to say about it. The guy knows what he's doing and is a pretty mellow dude.
loli actually already did it with new tech, i posted it up in the dyno section,
its pretty good with driveability, i think he needs to take a bit more time on it.
but since i dont have a underdrive pully or better TB, i only Dyno`d 409/368. that was with it sucking up hot air. once i get a better intake coming from outside iwht better air, ill get around 415-420. looking at gettin a TB and IM set up soon, looking for a good deal either 92MM and up. aslso pulley.
Also, am i able to advance my timing? i need to at least +2: basically i have a lsa of 112+0, but i want and need +2. do i need any aftermarket stuff? better chain?
its pretty good with driveability, i think he needs to take a bit more time on it.
but since i dont have a underdrive pully or better TB, i only Dyno`d 409/368. that was with it sucking up hot air. once i get a better intake coming from outside iwht better air, ill get around 415-420. looking at gettin a TB and IM set up soon, looking for a good deal either 92MM and up. aslso pulley.
Also, am i able to advance my timing? i need to at least +2: basically i have a lsa of 112+0, but i want and need +2. do i need any aftermarket stuff? better chain?
Last edited by 1991ls13; Jun 10, 2010 at 11:53 AM.
I think he is talking about the timing of the cam?? "basically i have a lsa of 112+0, but i want and need +2"
To spread the LSA more, you need a new cam. You can advance the cam, but that's going to change all the valve events..
To spread the LSA more, you need a new cam. You can advance the cam, but that's going to change all the valve events..