Gotta tune the 69 LS1.. where are people going?

I have a great shop in Oxnard (A&A Corvette Performance) and they really know their stuff (so ive been told)..

Where else are people going? I know of the Turbo Shop in Compton but they take forever to get into and cost a bundle..

Thoughts?

 

How about Rob Barth at Strictly Performance in Van Nuys? He will be dyno tuning my Z28 (hopefully) sometime this week.

 

What dyno are they using?

 

Steve,
You just missed Jeff Creech from CAM. He'll be back out in late June/early July to do another dyno tune day in Colton.

 

Steve's PCM is a 2000. But buying HPtuners isn't worth it and waiting for Jeff to come back out won't work for him. The car has been sold to a guy in San Diego and getting it tuned is one of things Steve said he would do before the sale is complete.

If you want to see his 69 in person you better do it soon.

 

Andy (A&A) has a great shop and very professional.
I would love to see the Bling machine put down some #s in my hood
Let me know if you go with Andy

 

Yea, I am all set with Andy for the 30th (next wednesday) at 11am or so.. I talked with him and got a good vibe

Will be nice to get it running smooth.. it drives but it breaks up at high RPM, runs rich down low and lopes a bit at idle.. Oh and it throws smog codes like a ****.. lol

I am gonna bring a new set of plugs with me to put in before the tune.. i am sure these are sorta fouled out..

Strictly and A&A were about the same distance and I need to go to Oxnard anyways..

Funny there is nobody in OC..

 

See Ya there....... I'm on vaction for a few weeks and got time to kill

 

Ok, so this might be long, so just bare with me. First off, like I have in my specs this is what I just installed in my car:

2003 Z06 Cam, Springs, Retainers, Pushrods
Pace Setter Mid Tube Headers
2400 Stall Converter
New BUILT 4L60E Transmission
3.42 Motive Gears (Quiet as can be thank god)
295-35-18 Pirelli PZero Tires
Took off EGR, VATS, AIR, Rear O2's
No Cats

Now, when I first fired her up, it was just mean sounding. A little raspy but as I cruised around EVERYONE looked at the car. Idle was rough but I could tell overall I was making some good power. I searched here on the boards, mainly for a shop to tune the car. Luckily I ran into a thread regarding a shop in Oxnard. The website is: http://www.aandacorvette.com

I gave them a call, and Andy the owner answered the phone, and was very helpful with all of my questions. He told me he was running a special for the dyno tune, and it was $400. Now Oxnard is a 2 1/2 hour drive, at very high speeds I might add, but after my experience, believe me it was worth it. Let me go more in depth with the mission.

I arrived at the shop a little later then I wanted, but as I pulled in, I thought I was at a Chevy dealership. There were more vettes there then I've seen on alot of cruises. I couldnt believe how many 427 motors there were. Not to mention everything in there had a supercharger on it. Seeing all the custom Corvettes and the motors they were putting in was one of the most amazing things I have seen in awhile. The shop was absolutley awesome. VERY professional, but they made you feel like family. Yes I was sporting a car that created less then half the power of the Vettes, but they were very accomidating.

Now to the good part, My car dyno'ed about 20 HP untuned from the baseline I already had. Total we went up about 45hp/55tq. Great gains for me, especially since we didnt finish. On the second dyno run, coming down from 150mph we saw smoke come out, looked under the car and fluid was pouring out. We shut down the car, and I thought my motor was gone. (I thought to myself I shouldnt have signed the waiver form, I would have a 427 installed for free! Yeah right) anyways it turns out I blew off the tail shaft of my A4... Something NO one has seen the likes of. I will post the picture shortly, but I just couldnt believe it. My car made over 1000 RWHP, ok thats a lie, but some people probably believed it. Now back to the story... Andy took us for a ride to the tranny shop (Leons transmission shop, Oxnard, CA) and he couldnt believe that we ripped the tail shaft apart as well... unfortunately he couldnt get the part until the next morning, so we were forced to stay at the local Motel 6. Andy gave us a ride, and his wife picked us up the following morning. Got the tail shaft back on the car, but opted not to continue tuning the car until I get the stall converter balanced. The car surged from hitting the gas, even not in gear the car shakes when you hit the gas, the motor felt fine, so it had to start from the transmission, considering the flywheel and converter are hooked together, I'm sure the shop didnt balance the converter right, and thats whey the car is shaking, so thats the next adventure tomorrow.

Anyways bottom line (and this isnt a plug for a shop) is Andys shop was the best shop HANDS DOWN I have ever been to. He had tons of cars from all over the U.S. and I can tell you why. Another shop in the Montclair area tried to bad mouth him, but from my experience it can only be jealousy and envy. If you are in California (especially Southern) I wouldnt recommend ANY shop but his, you will get great service, and a family like atmosphere and REAL people, not some stuck up, non caring honda tuning punk kids.

I guess its best to say thanks to AandAcorvette and the employees and tell everyone here what a great experience I had. Also they are having a tuning special for $400. That includes all the dyno pulls. Which to me was WELL worth it. Also he isnt going to charge me to finish up the car, and will tune it again when I get the bugs worked out (Special thanks to Charlie).

Here is the shop number, I urge you to give him a ring and see if he can help you get some more ponies from your LS1. Tell him Mr. Tailshaft sent you!

A&A Corvette Performance
477-A LAMBERT STREET
OXNARD, CA 93036
805-278-4107 or 888-VETTEPRO
805-278-4108 (FAX)
email: Andy@AandACorvette.com

 

Mr. Tailshaft......

Your post gave me that extra push to take my ride on over to A&A That's the kind of pos. feedback customers should post. Thanks for the info. I'm gonna give him a call first thing tomorrow morning and set up an appointment ASAP. Hopefully he's still got that $400 dyno tuning special.

 

Make sure you take a camera with you. He has some bad a$$ rides their that are pushing 700+hp

 

I've got nothng but praises for A&A corvettes. Great customer service. Andy and the guys over at A&A are very down to earth. It was my first time at A&A. Upon arriving to the shop, I thought what kind of shop could possibly be out here in farm area.......and then "BAM" this awesome shop.

 

I was there for Steve's Dyno session, what a beautiful ride
And yes Andy's shop is TOP NOTCH

 

Thanks for the thumbs up Your car looks killer also. I love ur hood and the Z06 conversion mods. You've got a WICKED sleeper right there on your hands. By the way, how's your setup running ? No pinging I hope.

 

CSULALS1, what is your new setup and what were your results?

 

Sorry, Wrong car. I was there for Steve1969LS1 (69 Camaro dyno) and my 02 Z06 wasn't there (driving the wife's car)

 

What kind of power is steve playing with?

 

I went with a bigger cam (231/231), a set of Patriot S2 LS6 heads, and Motive 4.10 gears. I dynoed 442whp/407wtq I lost some whp/wtq due to the gears, but it was definitely made up with great acceleration.

 

Glad that Andy could help you, taking a tour of the shop is worth it in itself. I'm going to be taking my car back there soon, as I got the converter out that wasnt balanced, and after taking out my brand new built tranny, and having it rebuilt again, I'm into this car so deep it hurts. Man the things we do for our cars!!!

 

Hey Steve, you still have the 69? Are you going to bring it out to Garden Grove this
Friday?