Cost Of A Tune

[Lukas 33]

lukas 33,

nice avatar, are u acquinted with them

hahaha no wish I was though. That is just a nice googley image

Update: Went to the mechanics. They said the car was ready to drive home. So I started to drive home real slow and to keep the revs under 3000. But to my amazement IT WOULDNT EVEN GET TO 3000! It would cough and splutter to 2.5 and then run like a bag of shit. Anyways end of story I just got a tow truck and took the car to a different mechanic. See if they can do a better job.

[N I B]

Microtech do come largely pre setup and take very little time to tune.$1000 to tune a Microtech on your average Skyline would workout at around $500 an hour, Steep!

[STATUS]

Look that is all well and good... however...

Vipec/PFC both have pre-formatted maps with the cold start populated etc etc. All the important/hard to configure things - made much easier

Far as i know the Microtech requires this all to be done manually from virtual scratch and so on, which would take a considerably longer amount of time.

To do cold start is a pain in the ass from all reports.

Exactly, these has minimal setup time.

The microtech has a base setting too, but cold start is miles off.

Edited November 30, 2009 by URAS

[Lukas 33]

Exactly, these has minimal setup time.

The microtech has a base setting too, but cold start is miles off.

Yeh that's is exactly what I was thinking. I will see how these guys go and see the quality of the tune hopefully soon enough. I have heard good things about them from a couple of other members so hopefully they live up to the talk. Will obviously keep you guys posted on cost and time taken. I was surprised that when I rang them to let them know I would be towing a car around that they were fine with it and even waited back an hour or more for me to get there. Anyway enough chatting shit I have a load of washing to do

Cheers

[Swiper the Fox]

Yeh that's is exactly what I was thinking. I will see how these guys go and see the quality of the tune hopefully soon enough. I have heard good things about them from a couple of other members so hopefully they live up to the talk. Will obviously keep you guys posted on cost and time taken. I was surprised that when I rang them to let them know I would be towing a car around that they were fine with it and even waited back an hour or more for me to get there. Anyway enough chatting shit I have a load of washing to do

Cheers

Luke buy a Vi-PEC and a wideband controller and tune it yourself using quicktune. Would work out about the same money. Once you learn how to tune send all the other halfwits running shops up there out of business. Make a shitload of cash, retire early, buy a Yacht and live off Lizard Island with a boat load of hotties.

Simple.

[STATUS]

Luke buy a Vi-PEC and a wideband controller and tune it yourself using quicktune. Would work out about the same money. Once you learn how to tune send all the other halfwits running shops up there out of business. Make a shitload of cash, retire early, buy a Yacht and live off Lizard Island with a boat load of hotties.

Simple.

HMMMM lizard island ... i mean HMMM hotties

[Swiper the Fox]

HMMMM lizard island ... i mean HMMM hotties

lol

i thought it would have gone like this Trent...

HMMMM Vi-PEC ... i mean HMMM Link

Edited December 1, 2009 by DiRTgarage

[bozodos]

had some interesting discussions with other car fans recently RE: Vi-Pecs as a replacement ECU , there dosen't seem to be a lot known about them in the wider car enthusiast community.

Trent since you're a tuner by trade how long do YOU think it would take approximately to retune a Microtech ECU?

[Lukas 33]

Luke buy a Vi-PEC and a wideband controller and tune it yourself using quicktune. Would work out about the same money. Once you learn how to tune send all the other halfwits running shops up there out of business. Make a shitload of cash, retire early, buy a Yacht and live off Lizard Island with a boat load of hotties.

Simple.

Well that would be very lovely. Love the idea of yachts and hotties ALSO....back on topic....I do love the Vi-PEC. I would love to buy one actually and a wideband controller If there just so happens to be a plug and play Vi-PEC at the right price I would love it. You could shoot me a PM about the Vi-PEC price, other info and the wideband controller if you wish but yes it would be lovely to be able to tune the car myself. This is my first time to a tuner/mechanic and losing my mechanic virginity like this was not what I was expecting

[STATUS]

had some interesting discussions with other car fans recently RE: Vi-Pecs as a replacement ECU , there dosen't seem to be a lot known about them in the wider car enthusiast community.

Trent since you're a tuner by trade how long do YOU think it would take approximately to retune a Microtech ECU?

This will probably bite me on the ass. but here goes...

This is an often asked question, about most ecu's. to be honest its not so easy as the cost of tuning requires a few more than a time sheet. High horsepower car require more equipment so cost more.

For example i charge $550 for a PFC, $700 for Haltech, VIPEC, LINK etc, for cars over 350rwkw i generally charge more as it requires more equipment (i fit double external knock sensors etc).

A Touch up from somewhere else is generally a tune as im usually not happy with the base thats there... so $550

A touch up for something ive tuned previous (say after injector install etc) is $350 (up to 4 hrs)

Then there are the credit based tunes (Holden and Ford) like LS1, LS2 and XR6 which range from $950-1100 (retunes are $400 if ive got the VIN already unlocked)

Leaded fuels have a $50 surcharge as it kills the widebands quickly (2 on v8's so double)

My business has changed alot and we now operate soley around dyno tuning and development (and engine building). We dont do general mechanical, i have set it up this way so i can book in one tune a day, this leaves ample time for those tunes that dont go as planned (coilpacks, fuel pressure, boostv leaks etc). If we encounter an issue we can persevere untill its sorted without the worry holding up other jobs or having to rebook another dyno day.

So for a mictrotech i would charge $700 from scratch or $550 for a retune.

I can understand why some places charge more and i think this is fair as your paying for thier expertise, as long as thier reputation warrants the extra $$'s i would be happy to pay more.

Edited December 1, 2009 by URAS

[Lukas 33]

This is an often asked question, about most ecu's. to be honest its not so easy as the cost of tuning requires a few more than a time sheet. High horsepower car require more equipment so cost more.

For example i charge $550 for a PFC, $700 for Haltech, VIPEC, LINK etc, for cars over 350rwkw i generally charge more as it requires more equipment (i fit double external knock sensors etc).

A Touch up from somewhere else is generally a tune as im usually not happy with the base thats there... so $550

A touch up for something ive tuned previous (say after injector install etc) is $350 (up to 4 hrs)

Then there are the credit based tunes (Holden and Ford) like LS1, LS2 and XR6 which range from $950-1100 (retunes are $400 if ive got the VIN already unlocked)

So for a mictrotech i would charge $700 from scratch or $550 for a retune.

I can understand why some places charge more and i think this is fair as your paying for thier expertise, as long as thier reputation warrants the extra $'s i would be happy to pay more.

Yeh well I think that pricing system seems pretty fair to me Yeh well I dont think they have much expertise when it comes to rb's. The main guy who was working on my car said "Isn't there something you need to do with a water or oil gallery or something to put a VL block with a skyline head? Dont you have to like plug the block?" I was a little shocked by this but just let it slide as all I really needed their brains for was doing a tune which they have done many of before. BUT expertise when it comes to tuning or working on skylines is very minimal

[bozodos]

thats fair, I'm moreso curious from my own particular circumstance - owning a car with a Microtech LT10S and a KKR480 turbo, but looking at swapping over to a GT3076R (when funds permit), but also looking at a tune to curb the 18L/100km fuel consumption which is seriously bleeding me dry (have to drive 30km to get to Mildura and the fuel consumption is no different highway to town driving). In fairness to CRD who did the original tune, apparently climate factors are more important with MAP sensor based ecus (going from a very humid moderate climate to a very dry hot one).

[Lukas 33]

thats fair, I'm moreso curious from my own particular circumstance - owning a car with a Microtech LT10S and a KKR480 turbo, but looking at swapping over to a GT3076R (when funds permit), but also looking at a tune to curb the 18L/100km fuel consumption which is seriously bleeding me dry (have to drive 30km to get to Mildura and the fuel consumption is no different highway to town driving). In fairness to CRD who did the original tune, apparently climate factors are more important with MAP sensor based ecus (going from a very humid moderate climate to a very dry hot one).

Just out of curiosity what are your AFRs?

[PM-R33]

Luke buy a Vi-PEC and a wideband controller and tune it yourself using quicktune. Would work out about the same money. Once you learn how to tune send all the other halfwits running shops up there out of business. Make a shitload of cash, retire early, buy a Yacht and live off Lizard Island with a boat load of hotties.

Simple.

Teach me and Lukas your secrects, we'll give you 20% of all income from tuning and then down the track you come up here and teach us how to build a 9 sec RB

Edited December 1, 2009 by PM-R33

[Lukas 33]

Teach me and Lukas your secrects, we'll give you 20% of all income from tuning and then down the track you come up here and teach us how to build a 9 sec RB

WHAT HE SAID!!!

[bozodos]

fark i'd have to try n dig up the dyno sheet, but from memory it was 11:1

Edited December 1, 2009 by bozodos

[bozodos]

here is my original dyno sheet as scanned - 18psi, standard FPR and injectors KKR 480 and LT10S, however when I tuned my EBC in at 18psi I found the injectors hitting max duty so not so sure on dyno sheet :S

Edited December 1, 2009 by bozodos

[Lukas 33]

Cheers

[Lukas 33]

Hey Dirt your inbox is full! Trying to PM you about widebands and all that lovely stuff

[Lukas 33]

Now since it was mentioned about the ViPEC ecu and well Ive been looking at the V44 and the G4 (both plug in boards). Is their MAP sensors really limited to only 1.5 bar gauge (2.5 bar absolute)? Hey does anybody want to sell me a V88 with a plug and play adapter made up, a wideband and quicktune