EOI: Signal's top tuner to tune here in Adeliade

[Martin Donnon]

Nothing good comes easy mate!

After reading your last post I feel sorry for Bai. It would be like an Aussie mechanic flying to Japan to tune HSVs, and finding a carpark full of VB Commdores

[vendetta]

Thats why this tuning would be better for people with high mods such as Steve whos car is off the hook. But if you think about i know of a few ppl who have gone to places to get there car tunued and arent happy then have to go somewhere else to get it redone. so that twice about $800 bucks worth. Id rather spend the $1000 dollars and get it done right the first time. I agree with steve especially after hearing his side. I dont think there would be many ppl if any at all that could tune a jap car as well as a jap could. Its just like rice, no one else can cook it better than an asian...australian chefs go for an apprenticeship for 3 years and it still tasttes hard and shit. my two cents worth. if i had money and worth while mods id gt it tuned by this guy

[Steve]

gee thanks Martin, so no you compare my car to a VB commodore, biatch:p

I think Bai drives an S13 anyways (or perhaps that is just in the US part of the D1 circuit?), so he would have been blinded by the science:)

[CheekyR32]

Erica, dont you know some of the best tuners around?

Yeah I do, but if they WERE the best tuners around i wouldnt be faced with the current problem I have would i?

I wish some one would teach me to do a fully sick tune..., id tune all your cars for free!

[SR910]

wont the tuners have to have a bit of a play with australias really crappy fuel, because if they tune it like in japan they will just detonate everything. Also i dont see much point in getting a tuner that works on 1000+PS cars all day to come do some skyline with 300kw. Its like getting a F1 engineer/mechanic to change my mums AU falcon oil filter and oil.

[Martin Donnon]

What Steve is suggesting isnt a bad idea at all. It would do the local industry some good to be see what the Japanese are capable of first hand.

I am sure that Signal wont charge $1500 to adjust Ericas timing and clean the air filter - which is what a tune to a stock computer 32 comprises of....

[Steve]

Hey Martin, maybe HPI (and assoc magazines) can sponsor them, to do a series of articles on the differences between Japan and Aust - might help reduce the cost a bit:D and make for an interesting read.

[Martin Donnon]

Nice idea. Why dont you take it up with some of the magazines

[hippy]

there might be a reason for all these stories of bad tunes?? i wonder what it might be?? bad tuners?? YOU GUYS GOT THE ONES THAT JOHN WEST REJECTS!!!! LOL :D

[Steve]

have you got some contact details of whom I should approach?

cheers

[Martin Donnon]

James has plenty of contacts. Failing that look in the front of the magazine you want help from. There will be an editors name, and a phone number.

[CheekyR32]

Can anyone tell me, (lil bit off topic).. is the "John" that works at Turbo Tune, John Dickenson that used to work at Tilbrooks?

Or are they totally different.

[Miss*33]

Can anyone tell me, (lil bit off topic).. is the "John" that works at Turbo Tune, John Dickenson that used to work at Tilbrooks?  

Or are they totally different.

John at Turbo Tune is John Keen. Used to work out of Darlington Auto Tune a few years ago. Not sure if there are any other Johns there though...

[CheekyR32]

Ahh thanks lil dudette..

Tis all good.

[autObarn]

Dyno tuning prices are relative to how much the tuner wants to charge' date=' how much people are prepared to pay and the time it takes to get the results desired. QUOTE']

The above paraphrase is spot on the money, I think that most people/customers are too dollar driven when it comes to tuning. personally if I had the knowledge to tune PowerPC and the like I would not spend the time required to fully map and road test (on a moderately modifield car ) for a measly $500. it is not finacially viable (wages, time, dyno time etc) and i believe this is the reason so many cars are getting by on highly corrected air flow voltages and poor maps from obscure workshops.

there is a reason why many of Adelaide's best tuners or people with the most experience have turned their backs or pulled back from mainstream tuning and I believe it is due to the fact that the average Joe is bottom dollar shopping and not just looking for value for money. Comparing tunes from reputable people with extensive experience like martin, mike, scrappy, Simon with dodgy buy-ins has ultimately devalued their craft to a point where it is not worth the time and effort required to tune in mainstream circles. this has driven them to specialised workshops where they are duly appreciated and respected and far from the innuendo and Chinese whispers which dogged them previously.

Martin's performance figures are correct on all accounts when he says we have the fastest GTR etc. and the owners of these cars all have one thing in common they have their own respected tuners which are invaluable tools to their success, many of which cut their teeth with pocket shoppers in the past.

I will be getting Signal to look at my car and will pay the required sum, not because I don't trust any one locally (Morpowa has never let us down and will continue to have sole support from D1*GARAGE and myself because we believe they are the only local outfit which can deliver excellent service, value and technical prowess.) but because I think the experience and possible knowledge that could be gained (for everyone) from it, is well worth $1500. I realise not everyone will agree with what I have written but I value my time and car more than a few dollars. I have built more than my fair share of cars from V8 strip cars to 4cyl NA hill thrash all starting way back when I was an apprentice on $150 a week so I understand value for money and the to do things once, and properly. Saving a little money is all well and good until it cost you a lot and puts you behind where you started.

Trent Hewitson

ps these are views expressed by myself and may not reflect those of people mentioned,

[Bl4cK32]

Can i ask if there are "Respected Tuners" in this community, then why does no one offer any guarantee of blowing motor.

If you take your car to someone and you pay big bucks to get it done properly, which i would if i knew it would be safe how come they dont wanna know you if something goes wrong.

Seems like no ones confident enough to stand by the quality of their own work these days.

[EnricoPalazzo]

good point bl4ck32.

Im all for this whole Signal tuner, but steve, have u or james explained to him about the crappness of our fuel. How badly would that effect him when tuning. Like u said, he was spot on about the idle problem, because those sort of things are the same from here to japan. using this theory, when he would be tuning a car, he would expect that he could say have more responsiveness by advancing timing, only to find out that the tune u have is good for the fuel we have, and only doing what he thought will cause pinging. What i mean is that when Bai looked at ur dyno graph and said too much fuel, too late boost etc, i think it will be hard for him to do the things he thinks he can, only because of the fuel differences, not the tuner.

[autObarn]

Fuel type was the first question posed to me by BAi-san, so rest assured such an obvious mistake would not happen. remember these guys have shops in 4 different countries not just japan. some of the the quickest cars in these countries are also built in these w/shops. Signal US was one of three shops to recieve new civics for absolutely nicks to run in the import drag scene over there.

the reason no-one will accept ultimate responsibility for engine damage is no two engines are the same. one could be as healthy as and handle the extra cylinder pressures and associated loads whereas the second may be close to expiry. this cannot always be instantly obvious and only surface once its to late.

a perfect example is a r33 skyline i had the pleasure of fitting a few dollars worth of top shelf rx6 apexi turbo/ hks and trust parts about 2 years ago. this car already had a 'full" works 3 liter engine built by a now defunct worshop costing close to $16k. This engine was tuned by a more than competant tuner but had major engine failure three months later. failure was caused by shit engine build nothing else try explaining that to a person who has just paid 16k, luckily he did understand even b4 autopsy. the engine had no real signs of dramas b4 this (running standard turbo though) until it was subjected to more load. this extra load should have been easy to cope with considering the components used in the build. WHO is to blame? the engine builder in this case of course, but what if your engine is stock with bolt ons? indicated mileage are no indication of health especially as most imports speedos have had a haircut, bad servicing routines or even mistreated engines may only require a few hard runs on a dyno or on the street to show up signs of wear and imminent failure. it is all pot luck unless you know your engine is either fresh or have full granny history.

remeber these engines were built 5-10 years ago have had possibly 1-5 owners all who bought them because they are performance cars and driven them fairly hard. with power levels up on stock of anywhere between 30-100% there are sure to be a few which can no longer handle the pace, this is not the dyno operators fault, it is just bad luck or sometimes just inevitable as our greed for top power pushes the boundaries of the stock internals to far.

The ongoing "how many KW" at the wheels pissing contest is rife especially on forums like this, i personally would trade peak KW for low to mid NM any day. my 180sx makes an easy 250rwkw at 1.1bar and a shitload of torque my old series 6 made over 300rwkw but would get whipped on the street and in the hills by the 180sx. At 1.1bar and a flat dyno indicated a/f of 11.5 250rwkw is putting minimal strain on internals and the tuners conscience. We could get more power easily but reliabilty is the game and in its current state does not require it. 1.4bar would probaly see close to 300 but at the cost of maybe losing an engine due to component failure.... ill leave that to dyno queens and keyboard warriors.

[Steve]

Dean, Bai didnt see my dyno, he picked the problems just by looking at the maps on the power fc hand controller. he said it was using too much fuel, but at the same time the AF mixtures were too lean (they tune to 11:1, so different to most here).

As for tuning on the fuel here, well whenever a car is tuned it will be different. Just like when your car is tuned, they dont just say 'ok, i have a map now, I can use this on all similar cars' each tune has to be adjusted to the car in question. So although the fuel is no where near the quality it is in Japan, I am sure they would have tuned enough cars with different fuel setups, running different fuel, and be able to get reliable results.

Bl4cK32, I can understand why a tuner wouldnt offer a warranty - too many vairables from the car owner (or even someone given access to the car) playing with maps, to someone taking a cold engine and flogging it. If you try hard enough it would be possible to blow up just about any engine (deisels excepted:p)

[Bl4cK32]

yer i understand Steve. Just seems wierd how u can get a tune, blow 1 or more pistons and then have no one to answer for it (providing u didnt thrash it yourself )