Need referrals for tuners in SoCal
- Thread starter Daryl
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01yellercobra
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Honestly, get the stuff to do it yourself. IMO socal is severely lacking in good tuners. And it seems most remote tuners aren't tuning California cars anymore thanks to the EPA.
Plus, a tuner will never be able to put as much time into your car as you can.
Plus, a tuner will never be able to put as much time into your car as you can.
ttocs
Post Whore
with out knowing his experience, budget or the time he has to learn how to tune I think its kinda crazy to throw that out on the table when maybe %20 of the modern automotive crowd might be ready to learn to tune their own car.
01yellercobra
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We all start somewhere. I went from a vacuum gauge and timing light to tuning my cars. Budget is moot as he'd be spending money either way. And usually you can get a base tune to get started with the software.
I think with the live tuning available now it's even easier as you can see what your changes are doing immediately.
But like I said, it's just my opinion.
I think with the live tuning available now it's even easier as you can see what your changes are doing immediately.
But like I said, it's just my opinion.
ttocs
Post Whore
right I mean its just that easy Plug it in, download the tune and your good go to the strip and start running 10s. No need to worry about learning new software or the subtle nuances of tuning. We all wince at the idea of bama tunes which is supposed to know what they are doing so why would it take more then 5-10 mins on a youtube vid to be better then them, another email tune or a local tuner? maybe a wikipedia article or two? I mean you can see all the data live like you say? Sorry but I fell into this hole a while back and now after a LOT of learning I am still not sure I made the right decision. Someone told me the same thing "comes with a tune/self tuning/nearly plug and play and your off" and I have seen it thrown around since to ANYONE with out finding out if they are even remotely ready for it. Daryl and I have spoke on pm and on a couple of his posts and I like him and I with all due respect to him your suggesting to go to a standalone tuner to someone that currently has posts up about how to replace his IAC and remove his oil pressure sender. No offense daryl your not ready to go to a standalone and I know because I wasn't either.....
Going stand alone can be a great thing.
Now that I’ve said that I’ll add that it’s not for everyone. It’s not for those who are just learning stuff on their car. It’s not for those who need to get it all done and running quickly.
I’m not gonna take anything away from anyone who wants to try it. Daryl has shown to be quite active on here and with his car in a short period of time and I’m sure one day stand Alone could be great for him, but he needs to know just what he’s getting into should he decide to go that route.
I recently had a friend sell a fawking awesome turbo notch fox cause he couldn’t get his tune right. He had the same Holley that a few members here have and he knows mustangs pretty well. Unfortunately that didn’t mean he could easily learn the tuning and it drove him to just throw the towel and sell the car.
So to recap, stand alone is awesome if you either A) have a good tuner, B) already know tuning, or C) don’t need the car drivable for some time and have the patience to learn a whole new system.
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Now that I’ve said that I’ll add that it’s not for everyone. It’s not for those who are just learning stuff on their car. It’s not for those who need to get it all done and running quickly.
I’m not gonna take anything away from anyone who wants to try it. Daryl has shown to be quite active on here and with his car in a short period of time and I’m sure one day stand Alone could be great for him, but he needs to know just what he’s getting into should he decide to go that route.
I recently had a friend sell a fawking awesome turbo notch fox cause he couldn’t get his tune right. He had the same Holley that a few members here have and he knows mustangs pretty well. Unfortunately that didn’t mean he could easily learn the tuning and it drove him to just throw the towel and sell the car.
So to recap, stand alone is awesome if you either A) have a good tuner, B) already know tuning, or C) don’t need the car drivable for some time and have the patience to learn a whole new system.
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ttocs
Post Whore
also realistically until you get into the heads/cam you are just wasting money on a tune. Not a bad idea to have something in mind by all means but it seems early at this point.
OP
OP
ttocs,
No offense taken at all! You’re 100% correct: I am not ready to try tuning myself. I very likely and inadvertently “put the cart before the horse “ perusing that line of questioning merely in an attempt to wade through and figure out what I should be doing next!
I have NO intention of changing, altering or upgrading the heads, cam, crank, pistons, rods or any of the internals. My reasons are twofold:
1. The car I s plenty powerful for me; and
2. The ‘94-95’s are gaining in value, so I want to keep it as close to stock. Any mods I’ve done or intend on doing can be easily removed and returned to bone stock should I ever decide to sell it.
I have to say that I am grateful (and blown away quite frankly) for EVERYONE’S input. You ALL are helpful and clearly highly knowledgeable and my learning curve is steep especially right now being new to this car. So, I value everyone’s input, whether I heed their reply or decide to go another route. “It’s all good“ is my opinion now.
So bottom line: yep, I don’t know squat at this point! But with feedback/input to my queries gains me knowledge. And knowledge is King!!
Cheers everyone... and please keep the replies/feedback coming
If you're near Ventura, there is no one better than Ray at Full Throttle Kustomz in Fillmore. He's using a Mustang A248 dyno, which is a loading roller, so it allows him to tune various loads, all kinds of different situations, etc. They really pride themselves on tuning the cars for great driveability and safe reliable power, and so far I can vouch for that. Before I went to FTK, my mustang had pretty iffy street manners, it would frequently stall, was difficult to drive at the lower rpm range. All of that is gone. While on the dyno we also found out that one of the cylinder banks is running leaner than the one one, and that my fuel pump is running out of fuel near the top, something that none of the previous tuners have ever mentioned.
https://fullthrottlekustomz.com/
https://fullthrottlekustomz.com/
01yellercobra
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Projecting much?
I never said he needed to go stand alone. There is software that allows you to tweak on the stock ECU. Yes, there is learning involved. But most can pick up tweaking a stock ECU.
I guess you missed the last where I said I learned too.
But apparently I think too much of others. Good luck Daryl.
Without a chip that can be tuned then no, 94-95 can’t be tweaked. We’re still obd1
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ttocs
Post Whore
I think your missing the point in trying to defend yourself. I know we are all here to help but we need to do so with a little bit of caution. If I thought he was ready for it and could benefit from what I have learned I am happy to help which is why I said what I did. From what I have learned about him and tuning he is not ready for it and he has even admitted he is not ready. Now if you think you can get him from where he is today to where he needs to be to tune it himself then help yourself and good luck to you.
Jakespeeds
Active Member
I live in Camarillo and have been using FTK in Fillmore since they were in El Rio. They have sorted out my 98 twice. He has always been quick with email answers. The current tune has been in the car for 3+ years and it still runs great.
So I another vote for FTK. If you are looking for another recommendation try Wild Pony Motorsports in Santa Clarita. He might have another recommendation based on your needs. I have asked around locally and he comes up quite often as a solid shop. He called me back on questions I had asked earlier and was super nice guy and just wanted to help.
Jake
So I another vote for FTK. If you are looking for another recommendation try Wild Pony Motorsports in Santa Clarita. He might have another recommendation based on your needs. I have asked around locally and he comes up quite often as a solid shop. He called me back on questions I had asked earlier and was super nice guy and just wanted to help.
Jake
I would absolutely stay away from Wild Pony. I've known Darren for years, we used to attend same track days, etc, and he's worked on my car plenty of times with ok quality of work, but he fucked up royally when he built my current engine. And why I say built, I mean he let his shop apprentice build it (with very little experience). The motor came back from him leaking from every end, blew a header gasket, snapped a rocker arm, wasn't tuned properly. Every time Darren would break something while building it, I would get the bill. I kept coming back to have him fix it, and would come back with more issues. Eventually I realized that in order to me to have any actual success with my engine, I have to take it somewhere else, because doing same thing over and over and expecting different results is a sign of insanity. When a different shop went through the motor, they found that torque specs were all over the place, there wasn't any locktite on the cam retainer plate, so cam pretty much ate itself while sending metal through the motor, basically I got really lucky that I took the motor to the other shop when I did, because if I wouldn't, it would have failed catastrophically.
Darren may hold his head up high, and think he's great, but it's far from the actual truth. I guess I should have picked up the clues about his quality of tuning when he can't even figure out how to make his own race car idle, or the fact that he gets really low numbers on dyno consistently. Just to give you an idea, Darren made 308 rwhp on DynoJet, while Ray from FTK made 358 rwhp on Mustang Dyno (which reads low by comparison to jet, that's about 400 rwhp converted to DynoJet numbres). FTK tune drives perfect makes nearly 100 rwhp more, while Darren's tune was complete garbage, would stall pretty much every time I'd let it get near idle while rolling, wasn't able to make a full wide open pass without stumbling. I cannot go out of my way enough to dissuade people from ever entering Wild Pony.
Jakespeeds
Active Member
Well that is an experience far beyond what I had. Mine have only been phone conversations. I will take everything you laid out into consideration and stay away. Luckily around here we have a lot of choices so I have never had a need to go out to Santa Clarita. Thanks for letting me know.
Jake
OP
OP
Fantastic, ReplicaR! Just what I’m looking for... and close! 15-20 minutes max. I will definitely touch base with them. My supercharger is on its way back from Jon Bond Performance as of today. Soon as it arrives, I’ll piece it back together and get ahold of FTK and have them do for mine exactly what they did for yours: full range drive ability.
Ver cool, THANKS
OP
OP
RAU03MACH
Legend
if you want it done right the first time do it yourself
I have been around many shops like that
good friends and that's it but your not touching my engines
