Hey everyone!

So, I am going to be installing a few mods soon (cams, 255 walbro, injectors, etc.) and im not sure where to take my car to have it tuned... I bought my evo in NY and the previous owner had it tuned at EFI Logics. I have heard many positives reviews on EFI Logics, however it is 1.5 hours away.... On the other hand, I have heard many people talk about Iveytune, but with both really positive and really negative reviews. The good thing is that Iveytune is only 30 minutes away from me... So, what should I do... Trek up to EFI Logics or go to Iveytune or any other place? Thanks!

Let me try to put this as concisely as I can.

I personally would only give a shop small, day jobs first. Before they can consistently finish those jobs with competence and care, I would not give them any major jobs that necessitate leaving the car overnight.

I also take that time to build rapport with their managers and mechanics. Whenever they do well, I give them pizza delivery gift cards, Godiva chocolates, and tips (usually $5~$20). I will severe the relationship with a shop if I see any of these red flags:

1) Lack of integrity, such as lying, scamming, backstabbing.
2) Hostility/bad attitude. You can't make a good deal with bad people.
3) Abusive owners/managers. Only happy mechanics can make clients happy.

Usually if a shop is actually competent and caring, building a good rapport with them should be able to get them motivated enough that they exercise that competence and care on the jobs I give them. This is somewhat unlike many other works such as a maid service, because talented mechanics are rare and may have some rights to be arrogant, similar to plumbers and electricians. Considering electricians. An incompetent or uncaring electrician obviously cannot perform your job well, but even if a electrician is competent and caring, he may not be motivated to perform the job well just for you. Maybe he doesn't like you in person; Maybe he thinks you are silly, or your jobs are too small, or you are not deep-pocketed enough. (Or maybe he has some agenda where you don't fit. For example, he may not be motivated to do any jobs at all, but is actually leveraging on his reputation and competence to sell grossly overpriced parts he fabricated himself to deep-pocketed suckers.)

Therefore, if I were in your shoes, I will put those mods on a shelf and forget about them for now. Both EFI and Ivey are supposedly among the most competent and caring shops, although it remains a question if they will be motivated by my jobs. I will start by giving a nearby shop some small jobs and see how they do, while building a good rapport. Then I will worry about cams, fuel pump, and injectors (which are quite tricky to be done correctly and reliably on an Evo anyway).

​​​​​​​Wow, thanks for the advice.. Its just that I can't find any small shops nearby.. Those are really the only 2 in my area.. There is a place even closer, but I don't know if they will tune my car -- they focus and tune German vehicles.

I mean to give a shop small jobs first, irrelevant to whether the shop is big or small. For example, why don't you start with either Ivey or EFI with some small repairs and service jobs, and take the opportunity to see if they are good, and build some rapport?

​​​​​​​Oops, misunderstood there, sorry bout that.. Well, my evo is a project car for myself. I want to be able to install/do everything myself.. I just need my car tuned.. Lol

Do yourself a favor and bring your car to Evans Tuning in Mt. Bethel PA. Should be no more than an hour or so from you. Jeff and company are among the best you'll ever find.

​​​​​​​Nice, thanks.. Its a little over an hour away from me.. Their website looks good and their reviews seem to be mostly positive.. There's just 2 things I'm concerned about.. 1. Its a lot more than the other tuning companies and 2. Is it safe to drive that distance with new cams and other stuff?

talk to Jr Barrios he is out in Jersey very good tuner.

(Edit I mis-read some comments)

If you don't mind traveling I can do your car for you. Cars come from all over to get work done by us.

Usually I do keep the cars overnight when they need physical labor though to make sure everything is 100%

and nothing is shortcut or rushed. Simple bolt-ons that only require 1-2 hours can be same day though.

I'm pretty far though, but we get NY/NJ cars all the time.

I don't agree with Lightsaber (skimming through what he said). A shop who wants to take a car for more than one day just shows the shop wants to truly make everything 100% and right,
at least in my case. Most shops want the car in and out ASAP to get the money and go to the next guy quick. We make each customer personal and detail the engine bay and clean cars up
and do extra no charge. I wash off 90% cars that come no charge.

If a shops reputable there is nothing to test Lightsaber. If the shop does a bad job they will get a bad review / bad word of mouth. I don't think anyone wants either of those to happen.

You make good sense and good points. Just for the "If a shops reputable there is nothing to test Lightsaber. If the shop does a bad job they will get a bad review / bad word of mouth," I could not agree. I personally call exclusively the most highly reviewed shops to work on my car and only about half of them is good, and the rest half is bad. I don't have the resources to investigate every single shop that has great reviews and deserves barely a single star, but for the couple of shops I did look into, it appears that (1) they motivate their customers to write 5-star reviews; (2) they pay top dollars to Yelp and Google Reviews, so good reviews appear on top (and bad ones are "not recommended"); (3) one shop even pays top dollars to hire lawyers to aggressively go after unsatisfied customers who review them.

In a perfect world, we can choose shops by reading reviews. In the real world, we can only choose shops based on real reviews, and as reviews by strangers are often hard to verify, the best real reviews are our own reviews.

Yes you make a good point. You're right that does happen, and some reputable shops do pretty bad jobs sometimes. It never hurts to be extra cautious and make sure all stars align. Can never be to careful these days.

Ddatuning in blauvelt speak to remey