Need Help To Find A Good Tuner/mechanic

[AngryRB]

Hey guys,

Apologies if this question has been answered already in the forums,

Im having trouble finding a good tuner, seem to be spending/wasting money on tuners who dont have my best interests at heart, seems they all just after making a profit, i seem to get fed bullshit and feel that they are falling short of getting every kw out of my beast,

can anyone recommend a tuner who isnt just bout profit and that will involve me in every detail of the mods and tune, im not a tight arse just getting sick of falling short of what i know could have been a better job, so far ive gone thru 3 business in brissy which im not sure if i should name, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

cheers in advance

[doo doo]

What computer are you running, what mods and what power are you making?

[AngryRB]

Im running a pwr FC with following mods

-Walbro fuel pump

-FMIC

-3inch exhaust

-AVCR

- turbo is a highflow which has a garrett 2871R with 56trim , but uses the standard housings, althought the wastgate has been made bigger with a gt35 flap to control boost creep.

After 2 tunes costing $1200 it makes 214kw at 6000rpm, its been set to 1.25bar and 90%duty on the avcr but only reaches 1.05 so from 6000-7000rpm it drops like 20kw instead of flattening or peaking more.

Cant help but think for that money, and messing round with different garrett and HKS actuators that a better result could of been produced, or do i have to spend even more on tuning???

[AngryRB]

actually it drops from 214kw at 6000 to 175 at 7000rpm..

[ARTZ]

sounds like you have a 14psi wastegate actuater, if so I beleive theres your problem.

But your tuner should have told you this. You can get a 20 psi one, but it will probably need to be modified.

Does your wastegate actuator have a bent arm?

[ARTZ]

sounds like you have a 14psi wastegate actuater, if so I beleive theres your problem.

But your tuner should have told you this. You can get a 20 psi one, but it will probably need to be modified.

Does your wastegate actuator have a bent arm?

[DVS JEZ]

Where are u located?

[AngryRB]

Hey yeah its a standard actuator and has 2bends in it, the tuner tried a garrett and a HKS and apparently they were not fitting, so they just put old one back on and told me , i should upgrade my turbo and dump if i want to make better power....

Apparently all this stuffing around took them 2 n 1/2 hours and $600 to figure out , it had already been tuned a fortnight before so it was just meant to be a boost increase and tune...

OK so today ive looked at the AVCR which has the F/B speed setting switched off , so i turned it on to setting 4 for gears 1-4, and hey presto i instantly get the full 1.25bar in second gear but with the engine light flashing ( so i assume ive either knocking or running out of fuel, standard injectors)

point is , if i took 1minute to get that result, what am i being charged $600 for???? feels like a rip off to me... i maybe not be spending massive money or have a 1000hp GTR but i should still get every last kw outa my tune.....

I live in brissy, and have been to 3 different workshops and each dont seem to have a clue, i just want to find a tuner that will do the job properly

any suggestions based on experience...

[ARTZ]

well from my experience I was only getting 14psi and 220kw before the WG would push open and it couldnt make any more power, for 100$ we modified a 20psi actuator to fit by bending the arm and adding some washers to get the right angle and now gets 19psi and 240kw. Its a bit rough but it works, My exhaust temps will no doubt be through the roof if I stay on booost for to long but its just a streeter so Im not to stressed,ill get some pics of the WG if you like.

i have no idea what a AVCR is so I cant help you there

[Birds]

Your fuel system should definitely be upgraded before you go any further. Injectors and AFM stat. Both items max out "safely" at around 220-230rwkw. Not something I'd want to be depending on though.

[ARTZ]

thanx birds i was so blined by the WG issue I forgot to mention that

the reason I say its WG is because to my knowledge theactuators with the bent arms to suit the skyline housing only come in 7 or 14 psi. If there is stronger ones I couldnt find one.

[Birds]

Curiously, what fuel system are you running Arthur? Upgraded or are you pushing the stock one?

[ARTZ]

650s and I think its a walbro pump.

I guess didnt see my post in the dyno thread last week

[AngryRB]

yeah ill definitely get another wastgate actuator, I was wanting to get the z32 airflow installed but the tuner said the standard one was good for 250kw, and the z32 is for 250kw-350kw, would the z32 make it rough for normal driving and idling or was that so they didnt have to do much work??? lol

I think the injectors must of maxed out on 1.25bar, cause the engine light flashed a few times, so i put it to 1bar again..

so i guess ill get some injectors , actuator, and install that z32 and do more research finding a tuner...

So have you done a quarter mile in your car arthur?? 240kw's is getting a bit nasty, does it loose traction in 2nd???

[ARTZ]

of course...

its real nice now actually , last tune he knocked a bit off the top back to 235kw ( although this could be cause I went back to a panel filter as well, its quieter and I fell it gives a smoother transition onto boost than a pod) but made more power and torque everywhere else at a few hundred revs earlier.. first tune I hadn't replaced my fuel filter, it must of been dirty cause I put a new one in and it stuffed my tune, Trent worked his magic on it and i was shocked..

Its on this page, check out the differences..

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/55845-rb25-turbo-upgrade-all-dyno-results/page__st__700

All the torque comes in earlier and its a rocket of the mark, dies out after 6000rpm like yours, as the small housings are restricting it, but the power and response down low and thru midrange is great. yours should make about the same I'd imagine, but you would be better with larger injectors and Im not sure about stock afm going to 250kw i think you'd be pushing it..

If you have the standard 21U rear housing I think realisticly 210-220kws is about as much as it will take on a racetrack as it gets too hot (well so Richo tells me) but I only street it so i hope it wont stay hot long enough to do any damage. If I was going to track it regularly I would be dropping my boost back a few psi..

But I really dont think its your tuners fault, about 215 is all your setup will make 'safely'. If you want better results get a 20psi actuator z32 afm, injectors and fuel pump take it back for a retune and I reckon you should see around 230-240kw too. Hows your clutch? I was recomended the 480cc s15 injectors, they will do the job great and are super reliable, I went bigger because I picked em up pretty cheap and I wouldn't mind tuning for e85 someday, Im hoping this will see me close to 250kw and 500nm, fingers crossed

[AngryRB]

you could be right about the housing being too small, ive asked a shop called MTQ about my setup, i was going to buy a proper garrett housing to make it complete, cause the gt2871 is rated at 440hp, that would be with .86 housing, he said the standard housing is about a .7 and estimated it should do 250kw.

Its interesting how steep your power curve is compared to mine and with the bigger GT30 your making same as me till bout 3000rpm then your 20kws more the rest of the way, 5mm bigger doesnt sound like much but certainly making good power increase, but you'd be running 19psi wouldnt you????

so maybe they'd be closer after upgrade the injectors and actuator, who would of thought the fuel filter would of made such a difference.. so quarter mile do you do??? I have a Exedy HD clutch too,

[AngryRB]

Going back to the point though, i wouldnt say its a bad tune that i got done, it drives alot better than before, i was just that there was such a stuff around.

First tune it has 195 and im told it wont hold a bar, only 10psi, so need to upgrade actuator

2nd tune, after 2hrs im told, after trying both a garrett and a HKS actuator, they dont work either, must be the turbo itself

but then as i turn up, oh its just worked now, it must of been the angle on the actuator, so effectively nothing was really done for 2 hrs, it works now so you just tuned it quickly in like 10mins, and now its pay time, $600 thanks

what kind of tune can be done in 10minutes? It really seems to me that they should of fit the HKS actuator straight away and modified it like you were saying, and then it would of held more boost over more rpm and therefore better tune, more power, more torque and customer satisfaction..

and also they pulled my plugs out , which had 10 000k's on them, said they were needing changed, they were iridium plugs how could they be needing replaced?? shouldnt they be good for more ks than that? so i got plain copper ones for $50

so $1200 in tuning and the jobs not done properly..

[ARTZ]

coppers are better but 50$ for coppers

I see what you mean does sound like they're taking you for a bit of a ride..

With my housings the GT30 core is as good as useless if you ask me, It made just over 220kw on 14 psi initial tune. I think yours will be just as good with some more boost..

it is a turbo I picked up secondhand cause it is labelled a 3071r beleive it or not but is nothing in comparison,

It is what it is and does ok..I could put a bigger rear housing for more power/topend but Im happy enough for now.

Havent been down the quarter yet its on my todo list though, if it gets in the 12s i'll be happy

[AngryRB]

yeah id like to have a few runs down the quarter soon, cause it is going alot better than the last time i raced it, and i got a 13.8 with bold tyres, slipping clutch and no power fc,

so if i can get some good take off's id be happy with a flat 13, the tein coilovers and 18's i have now should make a difference this time,