I will soon be moving to the Tacoma/Seattle area. What speed shops are in the northern half of Washington State? I am interested in any shops that cader to late-model Ford/Chevy/Dodge vehicles. I am aware of Brad's Custom Auto. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Speed Secrets in Monroe... Contact Ellis (TwoFast4Lv).

 

gen III motorsports in oregon is probably the best you'll find in the NW but it's in oregon.

Nate

 

Ellis is your best bet in the greater Seattle area. Are you looking in northern Washington or Seattle/Tacoma? Big difference. And welcome to the boards.

 

IT really depends on if you are looking for a mechanic or for someplace to buy parts.

Oh, and for what it's worth, Washington is a big state ... and the northern half coveres a pretty large area ... and from the SEA/TAC area, Portland is a heck of alot closer than Spokane. What you really want is a place in the I-5 Corridor.

Angi not Tom

 

Thanks for the input gentlemen. The reason I ask, is that I am planning on opening a speed shop somewhere in Oregon or Washington. I have tuning experience, as I am a mustang and corvette owner. In coming months, I will be a Diablosport/SCT/Accel DFI/AEM dealer and certified tuner. My two prospective employees are both experienced ASE technicians, one of whom is a factory trained viper technician (he owns a '70 Camaro). The other possesses a parts ASE certification, as well as a technician master certification (he owns a mustang and a focus). If things go well, I have another ASE certified technician lined up who is a trained engine builder and fabricator. He owns a 10 second grand national, with a highly modified engine and custom cage.
Starting out, the shop will have an in-house dynojet, as well as a host of aftermarket parts in stock.

 

So you're sizing up the competition more than looking for help on a car, eh?

Deception is not always the best approach...

 

 

Brad's Custom Auto did a very poor clutch job on my car. I recommend not wasting your time sizing them up.

Open a decent shop in the Seattle or Eastside area and you will be able to compete on price and focus.

 

What was the problem, narcszm? They have always done great work for me over the years...

 

Please don't buy a dynojet! Get a dynapack. You'd be the only guys in the area with one.

Oh and if you know how to SD tune then you'll probably make a lot more cash too.

Nate

 

I hope you got a lot of cash reserves. Getting into a business specializing in performance tuning isn't as easy as one may think. You have the internet (JEGS, SUMMIT, Tbyrne and other I-NET ******) to deal with for competition, and a lot of people will tend to buy from there than from you to just save the cash. Unless you have the cash outlay to make some rather LARGE buy ins, you won't be buying cheap enough to make a large enough profit unless you sell enough volume to make it. Plus here in Oregon we have Baxters Auto parts that sells performance parts, they themselves has Performance Warehouse that is their personal WD which is owned by the Baxter family. They sell to the public at nearly what people buy from Performance for, or close to it. So that means cutting your margins down just to compete with them. If I was in So Cal, I would be booked weeks in advance, but the market here isn't like that of So Cal. In So Cal shops get $700 to 800 for a BASE dyno tune!! Christ if I were to charge even the going rate of $150/hr people would go somewhere else. After all that BS you have to deal with the state to give them there share. Both has plus and negatives, Washington has a BO tax which taxes you on the GROSS, Oregon on the other hand has plenty of other BS taxes. Take for instance if you do a shop in Multnomah county, you have to pay a TRIMET Tax to help fund that POS TRI-MET mass transit system. That is based on your gross as well. Washington also has a sales tax, Oregon does not, but they have other higher taxes as well.

I have several customers with rather large amounts of disposable cash, who also happen to own some very expensive cars which require tuning. One such car happens to be a 1940 Ford street rod with a Dart Iron Eagle based 427 with Hilborn stack EFI with a GM/Delphi MEFI controller with ETAC throttle control. No one around here has any tuning experience with MEFI controllers but I do, so getting my normal dyno tuning rate on something exotic like that isn't a problem with this guy. Nor was it with the customer that owned a 2003 Viper with $8k blower installation that we tuned a couple weeks ago. However customers like that are few and far between in these parts. The average LS1/LT1 guy just doesn't have the cash reserves like these exotic guys. Not to say anything negative but thats the fact of life around here as I fall in just right next to them with my old blown C4.

We also cater to the street rod gang around here as I grew up with many of them. We do carbureted stuff with points and condensers as well as EFI. In fact during this time of year I have been known to even take in a damn ricer from time to time. Hell even they have cash, and if they are willing to spend it somewhere I may as well take it, if I don't some one else sure as heck will! Your other problem with Oregon or Washington is the weather, now with winter upon us, business has slowed to a snails pace. The racers are not doing much until late February for their test and tune days in Las Vegas or in March when PIR first opens for test and tune. The street rodders has all but put away their toys for the winter. I do a few mail order tunes and we do a lot of diesel work as well. But as I mentioned winter is here, christmas and then its tax time. All I can say is BAH F**KING HUMBUG! I shudda listened to my momma and stayed in my Engineering field even if it means traveling all over the world working in nasty pulp mills! At least then I had money to burn and 25 year old asian beauties to mess around with any day of the week.

No one seemed to list the speed shops with dynos around here. But there are a surprising amount of them.

Blood Enterprises in Auburn Wa
Turbo Technologies in Tacoma
Brads
Little Monsters in Maryville
Another dyno dynamics shop in Tacoma can't remember the name of the shop
Fast Specialties in Vancouver
Toms Performance Machine
Me here in Vancouver
Blue Oval Peformance (Ford Guys) but no dyno they rent mine

In Oregon there are few dyno shops in the Portland area.
Horsepower Freaks Ricer guys mainly
Ground Zero Ricers as well
Thortons Automotive
McGees Automotive
Paolas Automotive Machine
Private chassis and engine dyno service in North Plains (works for Monte Shelton)

There are several other speed shops/machine shops that don't have chassis dyno services. I am sure that there are a couple dyno centers I missed but these are the ones that come to my forgetful mind.

Some even work out of their home garage like Gen3 Motorsports.

As for me I am a degreed electrical engineer, I put myself through school in GM dealerships and private shops. I was a Certifed master mechanic long before ASE was known as ASE. Back then it was known as NAISE. I don't put much merit in ASE testing, my kid brother now 47 could easily pass their tests with his high school automotive shop experience, just don't put tools in his hands I know of several high school kids that can easily pass those tests and did, I had a couple here as paid apprentices working with for me last summer. Doctor their experience levels and put them through the tests.

Sorry for the long post, and good luck! Oh, and by the way if you plan on doing EFI or any kind of decent tuning. You have better plan on buying a load bearing dyno with a eddy current power absorber or a water brake. Dyno-Jet says that they have their eddy current absorber ready but when I was at SEMA this year, they said it wasn't ready yet. And don't let them tell you that their friction brake loading device will adequately load a car for tuning. If you beleive that I have a bridge in London I can sell you as well! I helped design friction brake tension controls for paper mill winders and all I can say is that unless they have some very and I mean very advanced control alogorithms and a matching controller, it ain't gonna work. A eddy current power absorber option will easily add $7 to $10k to the price of the dyno. That is why their 242 or whatever their model number only costs $25k as compared to $40k+ for a dual PAU dyno like my Mustang.

 

I think the other one you might be thinking of is Intec which is almost all imports... don't forget Carb Connection.

 

Fairlady Z in tacoma (ricer heaven) has a mustang dyno, but I don't think even they know how to use it.

Nate

 

I say let the guy open his shop and do his thing. If all the other shops are as good as they say then they have nothing to worry about.

 

Ditto. For all you guys know he could be a blessing to the NW for tuning. I know there is only one guy in the NW who REALLY knows how to Speed density tune, and he isn't even in WA. You guys are so quick to jump on the d.r. bandwagon when you haven't really experienced a reputable LSx based high performance shop. Give the man a chance and maybe he will help you guys realize that the people you love to have work on your car may not be the best, just the best available.

Nate

 

Well, I originally thought that about Competition Development down in Federal Way. Anyone remember them? Catered to the LSx crowd and Vipers... well, even though they were a good shop with good people they went under because the market just plain doesn't exist here enough to support a big dedicated shop. Unless you're catering to ricers or euros, your revenue ceiling isn't very high around these parts.

I wish the guy luck, but so far in addition to working on things myself I've taken my car to 4 different performance shops (with at least 3 of them specializing in LSx applications) and now there's only one that I fully trust to get the job done right.

 

Yeah, like "SD" tuning is so hard to do.......I do see your point in that most here will never want to pay the hours and I mean hours that go into SD tuning only....I however would always use a MAF tuned car this time of year....I seen the Trims change way to much with as simple as 20 degree temp change...you can Temp compensate a little (depending on combo) but FI engines are a different story as there is not enough resolution without going to a two bar setup as a minimum...

As far as "Reputable LSx high performance shop"....You need to get out more...

 

Thanks for all the insight. It's nice to hear from someone who is in the industry, as well as the same general geographic area. I do have a good chunk of money set aside, with which to open this business. However, I am still trying to acquire more. In my experience, Baxters has been extremely expensive for parts. The types of parts that I would carry, on the whole, are things that Baxters either cannot get, or would have to order (last I heard, they didn't carry Roe superchargers for vipers, or HP Performance turbo kits). Their price-matching ability would pose a slight problem. This is true for their competitors (autozone, etc.) as well. You are largely correct in your discussion of profit margins for small speed shops. Obviously, you know Chung Oh. He has been selling only late-model ford parts for the last five years or so. How long have they rented dyno time from you? They used to make customers drive all the way to Torque Freaks .
As for the California market, I agree with your summation of the amount of business available. I moved out of southern california 15 years ago. I go back now and wonder how people can afford to live, or do business there. There is certainly a lot of money to be made there. The problem in SoCal is the single largest barrier to entry- cost of living. Though, if you think that taxes are horrible in the northwest... California is horrible!
Your list of area shops is about as complete as mine. It's funny about shops not knowing how to use Mustang Dynos...I was told that Fast Specialties is not well-trained on theirs. I talked to a few shop owners, who said that the software on dynojets is easier to use. Do you have an opinion on this statement? As for the ongoing dispute over the importance of eddie-current style dynos...I would certainly prefer to have one. I priced mustang dynos about a year ago. I appreciate your insight on the "new" dynojet eddie-current dyno. They have it displayed on their sight, though I was a bit skeptical. It doesn't surprize me that it isn't ready yet!
You mentioned GenIII Motorsports. The owner, Robert Judd, lifts weights at the same gym I do. He's a big dude! I see him, from time to time, in his '99 ACR Viper. He wrecked his C-5 a while ago and he told me that he was rebuilding it. However, I have yet to see it on the road.
My friends have told me much of what you have, about ASE testing and certification. I am sure I could pass much of the testing as well. Though, such a feat would have nothing to do with my high school auto shop experience. Our program was worthless!
Lord knows if I decided to open a shop for STI's and EVO VIII's, I would be a rich man. If I do open a shop, I am sure there will be plenty of Focus and SRT-4 owners (teenagers), who will stop in to procure intakes and gawk at anything in the showroom.

 

Speaking of needing to get out more. You have no idea how funny this is.