I do all of my own tuning and always have. I'm pretty experienced with the stock ECU and run Tephra V7 with DMA and LiveMapping. However, for the longest time, I have wanted to nail down my E85 tune to find where MBT is on my setup through the RPM range. With live mapping, this shouldn't take too long, but it still will be a number of dyno pulls.

I don't absolutely need to do it as I have been running a very conservative timing profile for quite some time (and used VDR for a few tuning sessions) and I'm quite content since this is my daily driver, but I was just wondering if any of you guys know any of the local Chicago/suburban shops that will allow a customer to tune his own car, so that if I do decide to do it one day, I will know where to go. I know most shops don't really allow that, but I won't let anyone tune my car except myself.


Thanks,
Eric

 

I'd imagine most will as long as you'll work within their schedule.

 

By way of warning, Mike Reichen had a few polite (if you know Mike, you're probably grinning right now) things to say about a recent "adventure" with one of the newer dynos in town (and, I believe, a site sponsor, so I'll refrain from giving their name outright). Search chitowndsm.com for details; he's "1 fast evo 2" over there (or just shoot me a PM). Mike's probably had his brick strapped to every dyno in town by now, so I give him quite a bit of credit for knowing how these things are supposed to work.

You might check with Performance Autowerks on Rt. 59 down in Naperville; they're a smaller place, but have an AWD mustang dyno. (Brian, if you remember back a while, you're the guy who sent me their way in the first place when I needed some Vibrant flanges. )

 

Boomba racing has a dyno rental but it's 5 hour minimum i think

 

Yep, Dave@PW used to be a vendor here, not sure what happened, but he's good a good guy.


I tried to look up information on Chitowndsm, but I haven't made multiple posts, sacrificed a goat or proven my street cred, so I can't use the site. . shame.

 

I have emailed them in the past asking this very question and never got a reply. Granted, I know I should call, but by the lack of response, I'm guessing he isn't in favor of it. I think that is the closest dyno to me though.

Also, this thread has me double thinking about going there. I'm waiting to see the outcome of that.

I had that shop weld on my IAT bung on my UICP and the owner seemed like a real nice guy, so that thread has me thinking now, until we find out what really happened.

 

Weird; I've had an account there since, well...pretty much since they started, back when the site replaced the old chicagodsm mailing list, so I have no idea what they're doing to newbies these days, I'm afraid. (See my reply to your post over there, I linked to Reichen's thread.)

I've learned over the past few years that most shops have a website and an email address these days because they have to, not because they've all suddenly become Internet-savvy. Trying to find anyone local who'd do refinishing of my stock wing by email was an exercise in futility. (The only shop that actually responded didn't want to do it. I'll probably end up just doing it myself.)

That's interesting; I wonder who their resident tuner is?

On the other hand, if all you want is dyno time, the quality of their tuner doesn't really matter all that much. Just keep an eye on the guy strapping your car down.

 

Please, Mine is only a few months older than yours. I just wasn't active enough to get my account out of noob status. :P

Thanks for bringing that up, IMO that's something somebody going to dyno there would want to know.

 

komet motorsports (st. charles, i think) has a un-altered mustang dyno that i hear reads comparable to buschurs. give them a call most likely he will be the one that answers the phone but speak to Kurt.

and to help you guys out with the PWerks questions Dave the owner tunes the cars coming from there. i dont want to sounds like im bashing the guy so if you'd like any more information on what i know about him feel free to PM me. id say you would be fine if you just went and used the dyno. i believe his dyno is un-altered also.

in the time ive known him he has never picked up the phone for me so he most likely doesnt check his email unless hes expecting something. if you want to get in contact with you you will need to go into the shop.

 

Heh, don't worry, everyone knows you're old school. (There's a few of the older guys still around on that board, but most of them are young kids.)

Yep. The only thing is, you have to take it with a small grain of salt: Mike is a great guy, but he can be a bit...er..."direct"...once he gets pissed off. (At least you always know where you stand with him; not enough folks like that these days.)

 

Komet in St. Charles does i think.

Kometmotorsports.com

 

Komet Motorsports in St. Charles is where I did my final tuning, good group of guys and great rates. Unaltered Mustang giving you realistic loads, my tune was spot on from the road to the dyno and needed very little adjustment

BenchMark Tuning in Melrose Park was my second option.