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Competent tuners in the midwest for FI?

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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 03:01 AM
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Default Competent tuners in the midwest for FI?

I am in the search for a competent tuner in the Midwest to tune my car. Its a 95 LT1 car, but has the 24X conversion with LS coil packs and 2002 LS1 PCM. The car is a 383 with a 84mm turbo. Looking for a good dyno tuner to tune on pump gas and meth injection.

Any suggestions? And go...
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 03:03 AM
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I should add that I am in Indiana, and would prefer the tuner be able to come to me, but I am willing to drive a state or so away if I have to. But I'm not looking to drive all the way to the east coast just for a tune.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 09:10 AM
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Sponsor Livernois Motorsports is in the Detroit area; they are very competent and capable with multiple dynos at their facility. However as far as I know they only upgrade and tune "current" vehicles which may exclude an LT1. Pricing is around $1000 for a chassis tune plus any upgrades needed to complete the tune. Might be worth a call anyway.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 09:21 AM
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Detroit would for sure be do-able. I sent them an email. Thanks for the input.

Anyone else?
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 10:31 AM
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Tj at baker engineering is as good as it gets. Super relaxed guy and eextremely good at tuning. He's by Muskegon Michigan which is closer to you.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 10:38 AM
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Make sure you get some good run time on the vehicle and get all mechanical issues taken care of before you go anywhere.. no matter how good the tuner is , you can't work around mechanical problems.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted by BIGsmokey10
Make sure you get some good run time on the vehicle and get all mechanical issues taken care of before you go anywhere.. no matter how good the tuner is , you can't work around mechanical problems.
I couldn't agree more with this logic. This bites so many people and is frustrating to the tuners as well.

I have a buddy that can give me a base tune to drive it around safely on low boost to ensure bugs are worked out of the system. This will be the plan prior to bringing it to whoever I decide to have do the full tune.

I'll checkout Baker Engineering. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 11:27 AM
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Livernois Motorsports is out.

Got an email back. They said they "could" do it, but they would want it over the winter and need to do a "full inspection" first, and sounded like they had no experience in something like this. I'm not going to wait that long to have someone "experiment" in tuning something they have no have experience in.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 11:55 AM
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Call tj at baker and thank me later.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 12:31 PM
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Originally Posted by BIGsmokey10
Call tj at baker and thank me later.
Do you know if he has much experience in LT1's? I think this is one of the biggest hurdles. I am kind of a cross bread here with an old LT1 engine, but with the LS1 coil packs and 2002 LS1 PCM. Throw the turbo into the mix and you've got a pretty non-standard car to tune. It's gonna take someone with experience with a bit more than just tuning the same bolt on LS car hundreds of times.

I am hoping TJ gets back to me via email soon. I am actually out of the country for work right now, so I can't call him till I get home in a few weeks.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 01:55 PM
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Got an email back from TJ. He seems to have the experience level I am looking for. Added bonus is that his prices are very reasonable and seems to be a good character to deal with.

He is my front runner at this point. Thanks again for the recommendation.

I would still like to hear other recommendations if anyone has them so I can make a good choice when the time comes.
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 07:13 PM
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Tj tuned my lt1 on e85 and .It runs awesome. Wait to you see the shop he's at. Baker engineering is no joke, they are a top notch shop.


You should of put that turbo lt1 on e85
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Old Apr 6, 2015 | 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted by BIGsmokey10
Tj tuned my lt1 on e85 and .It runs awesome. Wait to you see the shop he's at. Baker engineering is no joke, they are a top notch shop.


You should of put that turbo lt1 on e85
Good to hear.

e85 is awesome fuel. But it is not sold near me. I street drive the car a lot, so it just doesn't make sense to have it setup on a fuel that is not readily available to me. From the research I have done, the 93 octane plus meth should be adequate for my power goals (1,000 RWHP).
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Old May 11, 2015 | 08:44 PM
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Originally Posted by SpeedJunkee
Livernois Motorsports is out.

Got an email back. They said they "could" do it, but they would want it over the winter and need to do a "full inspection" first, and sounded like they had no experience in something like this. I'm not going to wait that long to have someone "experiment" in tuning something they have no have experience in.
Comical at best! Dude...do some homework. No experience with LT1's? Laughable. Experience is the reason for the inspection! They aren't going to blow your junk up and be financially responsible if they didnt they build it.

They are running a business. Reality is that there is no money in LT1 stuff anymore. Pretty easy to comprehend.

Your "power goals" were achieved by the owner at Livernois when he was about 16 years old...which was 22 years ago.

Do a google or a YouTube search for Livernois then te me they have no experience.

Last edited by unit213; May 11, 2015 at 08:50 PM.
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Old May 11, 2015 | 10:28 PM
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Originally Posted by unit213
Comical at best! Dude...do some homework. No experience with LT1's? Laughable. Experience is the reason for the inspection! They aren't going to blow your junk up and be financially responsible if they didnt they build it.

They are running a business. Reality is that there is no money in LT1 stuff anymore. Pretty easy to comprehend.

Your "power goals" were achieved by the owner at Livernois when he was about 16 years old...which was 22 years ago.

Do a google or a YouTube search for Livernois then te me they have no experience.

Ah yes, someone speaking loudly when not even knowing the whole situation. I could care less about the inspection. My setup is done correctly, and am confident they would find nothing else but hard evidence of that. That's NOT why I said no. Nor was it the "lack of experience" you believe it is.

There are plenty of shops with experience. The one I had do the tuning previously had an abundance. It's the specific type of 24x conversion experience with FI that I need. Livernois did not have it. You know how I know this? BECAUSE LIVERNOISE TOLD ME THEY DIDN'T.
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