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XS Engineering tuning.... how much???

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Old 10-05-04, 05:27 AM
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The Laser Man

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Question XS Engineering tuning.... how much???

Has anyone tuned their car at XS Engineering located on huntington?
I wanted to tune my pfc and stuff but I called and the estimate was around 700+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just for tunning the PFC????

Is there any other place that tunes PFC's pretty well without the super jacked up high price????? I'm not trying to be cheap but I think 700+ is just off the wall.............. Can you even tune the car yourself???? learning from others and such....
Old 10-05-04, 07:35 AM
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i know rx7store in ohio charges 300 to tune it. 700 is really steep though. Im sure you can easily find another tuner in cali to do it. Check out the west section.
Old 10-05-04, 07:45 AM
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Wow. $700 is WAY too much. That's rediculous.
Old 10-05-04, 07:56 AM
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yeah well know this....they tried to tune my car three times...every single time they fukked it up....in the end it cost me my new ported motor. you see, 13:1 AFR's in high boost and high rpm's isnt something that should happen when you shell out the cash like I did.

First, you will take your car there. It wont put down the power you hope for. They will blame your non xs related intercooler or any other part which they sell. Then they will load some map into your car and do a half assed job tweaking it so that you are somewhat close on AFR's

I spent 2100 dollars in tuning costs and misc repairs (splice some wires in the harness and install the omp which all of the sudden I needed done) . In the end they couldnt figure out why my EGT's were so high and blamed it on my turbos. Took it to gotham and put it on the dyno in dallas and sure enuff...timing was fukked....not even adjusted is more like it...and guess what...afr's were way too lean....and the reason for the high egt's was found.

their work was half assed at best. problem is that half assed leads to a blown motor.

avoid them.

Jason

if you dont believe me i will upload the datalogs for you. We kept them.


J
Old 10-05-04, 08:36 AM
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PFS dynoed my car and tuned it for around $300. I think they charged $150 an hour for tuning and they did a hell of a job.

Artguy's experience ought to close the book on considering XS.
Old 10-05-04, 10:53 AM
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making something clear


xsengineering is NOT the same company as turboxs


you would be suprised how many questions i get about xse's stuff.
Old 10-05-04, 12:50 PM
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Originally Posted by artguy
yeah well know this....they tried to tune my car three times...every single time they fukked it up....in the end it cost me my new ported motor. you see, 13:1 AFR's in high boost and high rpm's isnt something that should happen when you shell out the cash like I did.

First, you will take your car there. It wont put down the power you hope for. They will blame your non xs related intercooler or any other part which they sell. Then they will load some map into your car and do a half assed job tweaking it so that you are somewhat close on AFR's

I spent 2100 dollars in tuning costs and misc repairs (splice some wires in the harness and install the omp which all of the sudden I needed done) . In the end they couldnt figure out why my EGT's were so high and blamed it on my turbos. Took it to gotham and put it on the dyno in dallas and sure enuff...timing was fukked....not even adjusted is more like it...and guess what...afr's were way too lean....and the reason for the high egt's was found.

their work was half assed at best. problem is that half assed leads to a blown motor.

avoid them.

Jason

if you dont believe me i will upload the datalogs for you. We kept them.


J

I 'll agree with this atatement. They tuned my single set-up about 3 years back. Tuning was super expensive Over 1200

Car ran OK . Had 392.2 RWHP and was fun.... Then the idle started messing up and surging. Did some poking around and found that when they spliced in the Ign. Amp. They had the harness off the car. In the mean time they broke the CAS connectors. probably because they are sooo fragile, But THEY Broke it not ME. ( Pulled wires out of the clip) Sooo their master fix was to just stick the wires back into the plastic connector and pour solder inside. ( Whicjh melted the backside of the connector.) This was on the leading CAS So detonation was evrywhere when stomped on!!

All this "expert" work cost me over 1600 at their shop AND a blown Apex seal. I haven't even begun to think about how crappy their maps are on my PFC. It is justr getting the Steve Kan treatment from now on!!


Soo again AVOID THE NOID!!!

Last edited by BigIslandSevens; 10-05-04 at 12:53 PM.
Old 10-05-04, 04:28 PM
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When you bring your car into XS they will charge you a $75 diagnostic fee. This is to make sure that your car is in perfect running order (no vacuum, exhaust, boost leaks) before it goes on the dyno. If your car has any problems that they find, they will charge you to fix those problems. They then charge you $75 to set the car on the dyno and then $150 an hour to dyno your car.

My experience with XS has been good, I got what I paid for. My car made 380rwhp on their dyno with 91 octane gas. I have been driving the car for over a year now and have had no reliability issues whatsoever since they last tuned my car. Overall, I am happy with their work.

If your car isn't properly set up or needs a lot of maintenance or has a lot of problems, I can see that they might charge a lot to address those issues hence the high price.
Old 10-05-04, 04:28 PM
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Oh yeah, the only problem I have had with them that comes to mind is that one particular person on the front desk was very rude. I won't give out any names but I'll just say that it wasn't chris or reggie.
Old 10-05-04, 04:43 PM
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$700 is too much. Everywhere I've seen has charged in the area of $300 for dyno time + tuning.
Old 10-05-04, 04:50 PM
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Honestly, hit up one of the other tuners in the area or fly steve kan out....its just not worth the risk taking it to xs. they are careless and abrasive and cost me thousands and thousands of dollars.

my car was perfectly set up....and is...i have all the mods to do what i need the car to do. the car was on a new motor and new turbos and everything else. now that new motor is in the trash and the turbos are sitting on a shelf now that I have gone single.


not fun.


j
Old 10-05-04, 07:15 PM
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For the record, the TUNING itself is around the $300 range. $75 diagnostic+$75 setup + 1.5hours of tuning give or take (@$150/hour)

However if your car has issues and requires attention, XS will charge you extra for their labor to repair and replace certain parts which is why I can imagine some people spending upwards of $700-$2000 when they bring their cars there.
Old 10-05-04, 07:55 PM
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$300 would be reasonable but i've never heard of anyone leaving there paying less then $450. The normal mechanic rate is $80-$100/hr, so why are they $150? For higher rate, one would expect less hours billed. $75 setup fee? ...that's like those extra charges on home loans that are 100% profit. Unless they do not start billing you by the hour untill "after" the car is completely "setup" and ready to dyno, then the charge is poop on a stick.

There are two 7's in there right now but I don't know their forum names (who are you guys?). One is white bought from rx7.com (I think he said) and engine was removed but it had greddy twin oil coolers and the other is black with R85 single turbo and M2 medium. They do not like SMIC's at all. I have not had any tuning done there cause i'm skepticle from ArtGuy's experience.

Last edited by GoRacer; 10-05-04 at 07:58 PM.
Old 10-06-04, 03:36 AM
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never have i ever heard of anyone getting out for under 450

what they do during diagnosis is make a list of **** they want to sell you. like saying "we have never seen an m2 large IC on a car with more than 360 rwhp because it is so restrictive." you want to know what they did next? Thats right...I was told I needed their front mount. Thank you very much...the m2 large is one of the best IC's on the market for high hp applications. Period.

THankfully, I knew they were full of ****. I didnt buy the IC of theirs. Maybe that is why the maps they loaded were so half assed even though they spent time on the dyno...i tuned the car cleaner than they did.

I wont even go into the old dirt about their mail order maps...this is tune on the dyno info.
Old 10-06-04, 03:50 AM
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Originally Posted by artguy
yeah well know this....they tried to tune my car three times...every single time they fukked it up....in the end it cost me my new ported motor. you see, 13:1 AFR's in high boost and high rpm's isnt something that should happen when you shell out the cash like I did.

First, you will take your car there. It wont put down the power you hope for. They will blame your non xs related intercooler or any other part which they sell. Then they will load some map into your car and do a half assed job tweaking it so that you are somewhat close on AFR's

I spent 2100 dollars in tuning costs and misc repairs (splice some wires in the harness and install the omp which all of the sudden I needed done) . In the end they couldnt figure out why my EGT's were so high and blamed it on my turbos. Took it to gotham and put it on the dyno in dallas and sure enuff...timing was fukked....not even adjusted is more like it...and guess what...afr's were way too lean....and the reason for the high egt's was found.

their work was half assed at best. problem is that half assed leads to a blown motor.

avoid them.

Jason

if you dont believe me i will upload the datalogs for you. We kept them.


J
i really appreciate ppl saying which shops are evil. i called xs myself as well as many other shops in search of the best engine builders. this guy is a good man for re living a bad experience so that others wont have to learn the hard way. sounds like xs is a bunch of stupids.

how much did gothem charge you for tuning? and who tuned it? steve kan?

Last edited by L8NightDrifter; 10-06-04 at 03:53 AM.
Old 10-06-04, 03:53 AM
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Man... so much bull **** about that place..... damn... yea... I think 700+ is just rediculus!!!!!! and I feel bad for the people who got ripped off from that place!!!!
Thats why I really hate auto mechanics who touch my car.... they say that the problem is this when the problem is comming from something else. Man... So if you guys don't goto XS Engineering then where should you guys recomend me going to???
I don't want to drive all the way to Ohio either.... kekekeke...

Is there any good tuning places you guys know??? and thanks for all the replies...
man... this forum just makes me happy!!!!~~~~ yahoo!!~~~
Old 10-06-04, 04:04 AM
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Fly Steve Kan from Gotham Racing out to your place. Get a few people together for a tuning session and it will help the cost a little.

I am flying him out here to do a bunch of customers cars and my own. Next year probably though. Still getting everyone ready.
Old 10-06-04, 01:28 PM
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If you dont' want to go to XS and are willing to drive north, you can go to motorsport dynamics who is an authorized apex'i excel dealer or you can contact osdesigns as well.

Oh yeah for the record, I spent around $350 my first two times going in for dyno tuning at XS
Old 10-06-04, 01:29 PM
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Tha'ts not true. My car made 380rwhp there with the equivalent of an M2 large SMIC =)

However it is much easier to dyno tune a car with a FMIC because there is less heatsoak, which is why they like to see front mounts on their car. As to which one is actually better, go to the link I posted regarding my recent switch to a FMIC.

Originally Posted by artguy
never have i ever heard of anyone getting out for under 450

what they do during diagnosis is make a list of **** they want to sell you. like saying "we have never seen an m2 large IC on a car with more than 360 rwhp because it is so restrictive." you want to know what they did next? Thats right...I was told I needed their front mount. Thank you very much...the m2 large is one of the best IC's on the market for high hp applications. Period.

THankfully, I knew they were full of ****. I didnt buy the IC of theirs. Maybe that is why the maps they loaded were so half assed even though they spent time on the dyno...i tuned the car cleaner than they did.

I wont even go into the old dirt about their mail order maps...this is tune on the dyno info.
Old 10-06-04, 03:49 PM
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Try Jeff from Rotary Power in Gardena. Hes knowledgable with the Power FC, he just learned how to tune the AEM EMS too. I think its http://www.rotarypowerusa.com
Old 10-06-04, 04:20 PM
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Originally Posted by akiratdk
Has anyone tuned their car at XS Engineering located on huntington?
I wanted to tune my pfc and stuff but I called and the estimate was around 700+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just for tunning the PFC????

Is there any other place that tunes PFC's pretty well without the super jacked up high price????? I'm not trying to be cheap but I think 700+ is just off the wall.............. Can you even tune the car yourself???? learning from others and such....

First I need to clear few thing,

I recenly bring my car over there Retune. the actural dyno and tuning cost me about 300 US. but they done a lot of small misc. like change plugs( 100 US dollors on plugs and another 100 on labor) check leak fix small problem. one reason they are so $$$ because they charge 90 a hour on Rotary . But I have told you they know what they are doing (that what I hope for ). when I was there there were like 5 other RX-7 over there. I think if you know how to work on your car you can lower the price a bit. ( I got no time back them other wise I will save like few houdred). If you do dyno tune your car. change spark plugs. wires. oil. check coolant would be good idea

AND BTW what had you done on your car? Did you just install PFC? some time the the untune PFC is worst than stock ECU this happend on my friend CYM R1 with higt flow twin the A/F after PFC un tune is worst than stock, Luckly I got it all done to control by use LM-1. oh and did you Dyno put a lot of stress on your motor....

Last edited by diyman25; 10-06-04 at 04:24 PM.
Old 10-06-04, 06:26 PM
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I got mine tuned by xs as well

I was told my CWR IC (a hair bigger than m2 large) was a big bottleneck for my gt35/40 (rebuilt from Ihor's car). I needed their fmic to make more power than 350 ponies. So when are we flying mr kan out?
Old 10-06-04, 06:48 PM
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dunno but count me in - I'm in Tustin too!

How about early next year? let everyone recover from Xmas a little
Old 10-06-04, 07:08 PM
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Originally Posted by 1FooknTiteFD
Tha'ts not true. My car made 380rwhp there with the equivalent of an M2 large SMIC =)

However it is much easier to dyno tune a car with a FMIC because there is less heatsoak, which is why they like to see front mounts on their car. As to which one is actually better, go to the link I posted regarding my recent switch to a FMIC.
well whether yours made it there or not, the fact of the matter is that we were told they never pulled more than 360 rwhp from a car with an m2 large. your comment supports my point. the m2 will work fine on high hp cars.


as far as the SMIC on the dyno...nothing a bag of ice and a giant fan wont cure. so what..you have to wait a few minutes for temps to come down after each pull....thats what they are paid to do. to tune your car.


you spent two trips to xs at 350 each....thats seven hundred bones. kan tunes for half that much and it gets done right.

honestly man, i think you should datalog your maps and see what is done to timing and fuel.


Jason

Last edited by artguy; 10-06-04 at 07:11 PM.
Old 10-06-04, 08:21 PM
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has anyone had their cars dynoed at Autotech Motorsports or Sport Car Motion in San Diego ?


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