Any recommendations on a good GM performance shop in SoCal? I live in the south bay (Torrance)....my coworkers keep recommending places that specialize in japanese imports. I'm looking for a place that has more experience with GMs...especially LS1's. I found a place online called SoCal Tuning & Performance in Anaheim, but I've never heard of them. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

A&A Is very good in Oxnard, Van Gordon and Brown is in Upland, and there are a bunch of others, just do a search.

 

Strickly Performance located in Van Nuys.(818)342-5693 Ask for Rob.

 

Andy and charlie at A&A cant go wrong.

 

http://www.donleeauto.com/
http://haddadmotorsports.com/
http://www.spmotorsports.net/

 

**Edited out of respect and per request via PM for Charlie**

He explained the situation via PM, it appears some one is not telling the whole truth about the situation. There for, this post is edited.

Ryne, if you could edit your quote please.




this may sound funny.. "sorry charlie"

 

I agree, Haddad Motorsports is the nearest to you. Plus he has a good LS1 tuner.

 

post edited, everything is taking care of. misunderstanding

 

I don't know if they do PCM tuning, but Bothwell Auto in Torrance is awesome.

 

I recommend haddad motortsports he's good 3104128032 tell him cisko sent u

 

edited per request

 

post edited.

 

A friend of mine brought his supercharged LS1 swapped truck up to A&A for tuning. The truck had a basic idle tune in it when it was dropped off and ran decent. After A&A (charlie) couldn't figure out how to get it running right (I would guess because its not a vette and requires more than general tuning knowledge and requires more depth in HPtuners), they over wrote his PCM with a newer drive by wire program from andys supercharged truck into his PCM, which fried his pcm. Then the truck wouldnt run at all.

They then charged him for a new PCM.. also they mentioned they should swap the plugs out real quick before more tuning, without telling him they then charged him $100 to change the spark plugs because they were fouled (it takes 5 minutes on that 72 chevy truck to change plugs..literally), then proceeded to call his truck "A piece of ****, pile of crap" directly to his face because he couldnt figure out why the truck wouldnt idle right.

Andy/Charlie ended up telling him to come pick it up and that the wiring was messed up and that he put 20+ hours into it and theres nothing he can do until the wiring was repaired. After bringing the truck home, we noticed that the large brake booster vacuum line on the rear of the intake had blown off under boost and that the problem was the vacuum line the whole time.

They ended up charging him $800 for tuning and the truck didnt run when it left..$130 for a PCM that they cause to burn out and $100 to swap spark plugs in it.


Maybe high roller big baller C5/C6 guys dont see a big deal in dropping 1k for nothing but my friend got screwed. No one from my town has been back ever since... Another guy now does all the tuning for everyone around here...

 

well i remember seeing that truck there, but i dont remember what they were doing with it, all i knew is it had a ls1 in it.

 

LAPD in Chatsworth.
818.998.3966

 

.

 

Are you misinformed or just trying to be a pot-stirrer?

1) I tuned the truck in SD and the put maf the back on per the owners request. The owner, Greg, did not want to complete the SD tune (save a few bucks and I understand)

2) That tune ran fine by the owners own accounts and he took it to the drag strip and ran mid 10's - I'd call that plenty fine.

2) Greg brought the truck back in to me for was in everyone’s mind, a fast fix to the idle trims. (idle trims high - driving trims all 0 -1)

3) I checked all the obvious, including vacuum lines, and proceeded. With the MAF off, everything fine, MAF on idle rims wacky

4) Looking to make this a success I headed for the low hanging fruit and changed plugs, wires, checked under the valve covers and re-torqued the intake manifold. In other words, I did all the logical and even some not so logical checks and changes to assure myself that the basics were solid.

4) Spoke with Greg and he wanted the truck back, told him I wasn’t any closer and that I’d have to get more in-depth. Greg was adamant about not wanting to spend money and to let him know before I did anything.

5) I spoke with Andy and he made it clear to me, and me to Greg, that we were not going to work on the truck. There were several reasons, the most basic being that it would be more cost effective for Greg to troubleshoot the problems himself.

6) BUT no, me thinking it wouldn't be too difficult to continue and not wanting to leave the job without understanding the root cause, I volunteered to troubleshoot on my own nickel, free of charge to the owner.

7) I gave it my best shot and ran into more mechanical issues, poor fitments and then electrical issues. Each one I fixed or made a work-around.

8) Greg really wants his truck and I finally relent saying “come get it and let me know what the root cause is, because I’m stumped – NO CHARGE”

9) Greg says no, fix it, put in a PCM if that makes the job easier because the software is more accessible, etc. (LS1 edit v HPTuners)

10) I continue to troubleshoot at the labor rate of zero (0) and with a top budget of the PCM and dyno time for Andy’s shop and techs.

11) After another 30 (30) hours of time, more loose ends to tie-up, more electrical issues and switches failing, more dyno time (same HP/TQ as original) I am about to give up.
12) During a reflash from SD to MAF based, the PCM gets toasted – OK, is that my fault?

13) I wanted to utilize HP tuners and installed another PCM – one which I had software for.

14) Trims fixed – PCM still needed to be addressed for the FBW and this was related to Greg

15) Greg picked up his truck, installed the motor in another truck and now I am a bad guy

What did I leave out? oh, nobody, that I am aware of, called his truck a piece of **** let alone would dare to say that to his face. Greg's a nice guy but I have to believe that he may tear somebody's face off for that.

Charlie -

 

Ok - if you are speaking of a yellow C5, owner first name Gary...then here's what I know...

To begin with, you have no factual basis for your staements and would suggest that you chaeck facts and then make a retraction. y

That car showed up at A&A for what I was told "to verify the numbers" I was shown a dyno sheet from another facility and told, specifically from the owner, the car is all set to go. That usually means, at least to me, that I cn make baseline dyno run.

However, is this case the baseline showed A/F spiking above 12.4:1, by 4,400 RPM, so it was shout down. Susequent pulls, all shut down before getting past 12:4, showed that the boost was not controlled and the regulator no working.

On further inspection we noted that the dipstick was literally wired in place and the owner said this was to prevent the dipstick from being blown out AGAIN.

We put his car on the rack and found the boost control wiring wrapped around the steering coulmn and the regulator not to be functioning. We fixed the regulator and replaced several lines, one melted.

Owner still wanted it tested and we made a run one run at almost no PSI and several at 5.5 PSI - Surprisingly to us all there was no blow-by and made good power and plenty of torque - more than others we've seen....A/F was 11.6

Ok, so now the customer took it back to installer who then fixed the EBC and proceeded to test the car on the street. The owner reported to me that the car puked two quarts of oil in a quarter mile run once it was set to high boost.

Please check your sources and get the facts - you will find out I did not lean on this car - figuratively or A/F wise...

BTW, I like the turbo kit and want to install some - I certainly do not want or deserve negative reviews when I didn't earn them.

Charlie
__________________
My 427 Dyno

A& A Corvette Performance
805-278-4107 or 888-838-8377
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Hey i heard Mike Morgan is tunning there, i wouldn't take it to them if they were the last shop on earth everyone that works there is shady.

 

Stop trolling for business. Talk about about slim pickings.