Tuners in Melbourne

[AC34GTT]

Tuners in Melbourne

Hey guys

I'm looking to get my GTT nistuned, and I've more or less settled on going to Chasers Motorworks in West Melbourne.

They've been a great help and very informative with all my questions via emails. Just looking get a second opinion before I make my final decision, so if anyone has brought their car there please let me know your personal experiences!

Cheers

[iruvyouskyrine]

Chequred tuning is a forum favourite. Trent and Cat are 2 of the nicest people I know and bent over backwards to help me out. If I ever move back to melbourne this is where I would be going 100%

[chilzzi]

can vouch for Chasers - excellent!

[Odium]

Nobody likes the tuna

[AC34GTT]

3 hours ago, iruvyouskyrine said:

Chequred tuning is a forum favourite. Trent and Cat are 2 of the nicest people I know and bent over backwards to help me out. If I ever move back to melbourne this is where I would be going 100%

I've heard nothing but good things about Chequered Tuning. But they are an hour each way from where I live...

 

3 hours ago, chilzzi said:

can vouch for Chasers - excellent!

May I ask what work you had done at Chasers? Just tuning?

[iruvyouskyrine]

I was actually living in Wagga at the time haha. Towed my car 6 hours each way for Trent to tune it. And when there was an issue on the dyno (not there fault, it was the way I assembled the dump pipe [had installed a bolt that was too long and prevented the wastegate flapper from opening past halfway]) they offered to get it fixed and retune it for free.

[Birds]

ALL tuners have good and bad reviews, friends who love them and ex-customers not happy

There will be names tossed around the forum, those are usually good leads. Ultimately I would go with the one that gives you the most confidence in their communications to you and is confident in a good outcome for your vehicle. Be clear about your requirements, what you expect etc. so you have a degree of accountability; also keep in mind that the tune in many ways will be limited to your vehicle setup.

[AC34GTT]

19 hours ago, iruvyouskyrine said:

I was actually living in Wagga at the time haha. Towed my car 6 hours each way for Trent to tune it. And when there was an issue on the dyno (not there fault, it was the way I assembled the dump pipe [had installed a bolt that was too long and prevented the wastegate flapper from opening past halfway]) they offered to get it fixed and retune it for free.

Oh wow! Speaks volumes about your confidence in them! Makes my 1hr each-way drive to them seem like a trip to the supermarket

 

16 hours ago, Birds said:

ALL tuners have good and bad reviews, friends who love them and ex-customers not happy

There will be names tossed around the forum, those are usually good leads. Ultimately I would go with the one that gives you the most confidence in their communications to you and is confident in a good outcome for your vehicle. Be clear about your requirements, what you expect etc. so you have a degree of accountability; also keep in mind that the tune in many ways will be limited to your vehicle setup.

That's true, thanks for the tip!

[iruvyouskyrine]

I agree with what birds said. Definitely ring and have a chat and see if you feel comfortable with them, but I'm sure you won't be disappointed by chequered

Be sure to let us know how you get on and where you go!

[AC34GTT]

17 hours ago, iruvyouskyrine said:

I agree with what birds said. Definitely ring and have a chat and see if you feel comfortable with them, but I'm sure you won't be disappointed by chequered

Be sure to let us know how you get on and where you go!

Will do! I'm so excited to get my car tuned!

[vxsr33]

Personally I've been to chasers for a tune and i wasn't too happy with the outcome. At the time i had a hypergear g3 r34 highflow turbo on my r33 gtst, blitz return flow cooler, full exhaust and all supporting mods.

I was happy with the power of 250rwkw at 16psi, what i wasn't happy with was the fact the car was making full boost at 5000rpm.
When i saw the dyno sheet i had a chat to paul the tuner about why it was so laggy and he basically just told me it's the turbo and he can't do anything about it.

Even though i had a return flow cooler, exhaust was a bit restrictive (wasn't too bad though) and the bigger turbo i don't think i should have been reaching full boost no where near that late. I wasn't happy to not get any suggestions or solutions other than to get another turbo.

Not trying to bag chasers out or anything just sharing my experience, heaps of other people have been very happy with their service. Other than that the car felt way smoother to drive, idled perfectly, cold start was perfect aswell.

Imo if you have a hypergear turbo go to chequered since they deal with hypergear all the time.

[AC34GTT]

1 hour ago, vxsr33 said:

Personally I've been to chasers for a tune and i wasn't too happy with the outcome. At the time i had a hypergear g3 r34 highflow turbo on my r33 gtst, blitz return flow cooler, full exhaust and all supporting mods.

I was happy with the power of 250rwkw at 16psi, what i wasn't happy with was the fact the car was making full boost at 5000rpm.
When i saw the dyno sheet i had a chat to paul the tuner about why it was so laggy and he basically just told me it's the turbo and he can't do anything about it.

Even though i had a return flow cooler, exhaust was a bit restrictive (wasn't too bad though) and the bigger turbo i don't think i should have been reaching full boost no where near that late. I wasn't happy to not get any suggestions or solutions other than to get another turbo.

Not trying to bag chasers out or anything just sharing my experience, heaps of other people have been very happy with their service. Other than that the car felt way smoother to drive, idled perfectly, cold start was perfect aswell.

Imo if you have a hypergear turbo go to chequered since they deal with hypergear all the time.

Thanks for sharing your experience vxsr33. What happened after that? Did you go to another tuner?

I guess people's experiences will always be mixed since every car/build is different.

PS i'm still running the stock turbo. 

Edited June 8, 2017 by AC34GTT

[vxsr33]

Nahh i left it as is and drove the car for around 6 months until recently as i swapped the highflow for a HKS gtrs (better response).

Car needs a retune now and I'm planning to take it to chequered.

Imo just go with chequered, you literally can't go wrong with them i haven't heard of a single person that hasn't been satisfied with their service. Just make sure your car is up to scratch for the dyno like do a good service on it, clean coils and change plugs etc because they only tune. I don't think they will fix any mechanical issues you may encounter on the dyno.

Either way I'm sure you will get a great tune from whichever tuner you pick

[Birds]

12 hours ago, vxsr33 said:

Personally I've been to chasers for a tune and i wasn't too happy with the outcome. At the time i had a hypergear g3 r34 highflow turbo on my r33 gtst, blitz return flow cooler, full exhaust and all supporting mods.

I was happy with the power of 250rwkw at 16psi, what i wasn't happy with was the fact the car was making full boost at 5000rpm.
When i saw the dyno sheet i had a chat to paul the tuner about why it was so laggy and he basically just told me it's the turbo and he can't do anything about it.

Even though i had a return flow cooler, exhaust was a bit restrictive (wasn't too bad though) and the bigger turbo i don't think i should have been reaching full boost no where near that late. I wasn't happy to not get any suggestions or solutions other than to get another turbo.

Not trying to bag chasers out or anything just sharing my experience, heaps of other people have been very happy with their service. Other than that the car felt way smoother to drive, idled perfectly, cold start was perfect aswell.

Imo if you have a hypergear turbo go to chequered since they deal with hypergear all the time.

The G3 from memory is a laggy turbo (iirc people usually make full boost from 4300-4500 onwards). But they also make 300kw+ with it, so your power level was definitely down. Did they check engine comp etc.? I have a Blitz return flow and 3 inch turbo back and with my HG highflow I made 252rwkw at 15psi, full boost at ~3500rpm. So I would say there was something vastly wrong with the engine, turbo or setup. A bad tune can make things laggier for sure but it shouldn't be /that/ bad out of anyone who has half a clue what they are doing - untuned the turbo should be more responsive than that!

It's a shame in a way you're not following up the turbo change with a tune at the same place as it will be difficult to compare a different tuner and hub dyno setup when it could have been the turbo that had issues. I understand dissatisfaction with service or attitude towards fixing issues though.

[vxsr33]

Was expecting boost full boost to come on around 4200 especially since i got the ball bearing CHRA for $400 extra. Engine comp isn't the best but the motor seems to run well and idle smoothly.

I spoke to Tao about it, he said something like check the preload on the wastegate because it could be opening up too early and he said to check if VCT is working.

All i can say is the response with the HKS is amazing, feels like the stock turbo or even better. Although i haven't boosted it over 5psi since i need a tune.

[Birds]

Will be interesting to see the HKS dyno figure as that could at least isolate the lack of power to the tuner or old turbo. Those are supposed to make about 280rwkw on 98 I think?

[AC34GTT]

18 hours ago, vxsr33 said:

Nahh i left it as is and drove the car for around 6 months until recently as i swapped the highflow for a HKS gtrs (better response).

Car needs a retune now and I'm planning to take it to chequered.

Imo just go with chequered, you literally can't go wrong with them i haven't heard of a single person that hasn't been satisfied with their service. Just make sure your car is up to scratch for the dyno like do a good service on it, clean coils and change plugs etc because they only tune. I don't think they will fix any mechanical issues you may encounter on the dyno.

Either way I'm sure you will get a great tune from whichever tuner you pick
 

Oh cool, be sure to let us know how your car goes on the dyno when you bring it to Chequered!

Thanks for the reminder about getting it serviced first haha.

[vxsr33]

Will be interesting to see the HKS dyno figure as that could at least isolate the lack of power to the tuner or old turbo. Those are supposed to make about 280rwkw on 98 I think?

I've heard the HKS gtrs is good for around 250rwkw. I'm only hoping for a responsive 240 so it should meet my requirements.

[NickRB20]

I went to chequered because my car had been tuned there by the previous owner. Had a great experience, Trent and Cat both so friendly and helpful. I had wastegate spring issues and Trent changed it over with springs he had in stock, no problem. He also found a loose earth wire that was causing havoc high in the rev range. I would (and will) go back in a heartbeat. I travelled from Bendigo to him (2.5hrs each way)

[AC34GTT]

11 hours ago, NickRB20 said:

I went to chequered because my car had been tuned there by the previous owner. Had a great experience, Trent and Cat both so friendly and helpful. I had wastegate spring issues and Trent changed it over with springs he had in stock, no problem. He also found a loose earth wire that was causing havoc high in the rev range. I would (and will) go back in a heartbeat. I travelled from Bendigo to him (2.5hrs each way)

Ok now you guys are making me want to go to Chequered too... and seems like my 1hr each way is nothing compared to how far you guys travel lol