Looks like Brian will be in the area of North Alabama coming up (maybe the end of this month). I am sure anyone who needs some tuning performed could get him to do it while he is here.

 

Yep, since the whole mess with Travelocity loused up my original schedule of doing Charlotte and you guys in late July, it looks like I'll be just driving out. You guys aren't terribly far from me; I've been to Alabama several times. It takes me about 10 hrs or so to get there and I figure this way it will be easier #1 on my pocketbook as it will cost less instead of getting an airline ticket at this point and #2 I won't be bound to any particular return itinerary schedule.

B

 

I should have myself along with 2 others needing your services!! I passes your contact info on to them today. Mike

 

He Tunned A 1/2 Bridge Putting Out 400hp & 20mpg. Thats Hot

 

20mpg??? thats nuts!!!!

 

All The More Reason To Bring Him Over Here

 

Well Darkphantom I'm not sure if I'll be driving all the way to Miami but I am definitely coming out to Alabama here soon. I've got two motors to finish up for a customer and I hope to be done with them by the end of next week (weekend of the 9th/10th). My plan is to tenatively leave around the 12th or so, give or take a day or two, and head on out that way. I've basically got a couple of stops in Alabama to make including Mike's place for a couple of days. Since I'm in my own car, it'll be easy for me to be flexible to a schedule depending on what you guys need and when. I'm bringing all of my own stuff and tools. So, the question is: Who's in Huntsville, Birmingham, and any other major city in AL?

Along with Mike's place in Huntsville, I'll also be going to BNR for a few days so perhaps folks in that area can meet up there. Whom else is in the area?

B

 

Brian, Let me know when you head to BNR. I would at least like to meet you in person.

 

Sure thing!

B

 

I need to compile a list of those in the area that are wanting to get some work done. If you could, please reply here or toss me a PM.

B

 

Brian, Whats the latest??

 

im not trying to start an argument, but why have i heard so many bad things about you and your tuning?

 

WOW! I have heard only the best about him. Not just from everyday newby's on the forum but guys like myself who have been on the forum for a long time... Well I will give a full report very soon. I hope!

 

Brian, We need to get garfinkle and his crew to come down when you get here. Maybe a little track action....

 

I only heard great thing about him. I am planning to have him tune my car. There are three guys that I know that have used him and they were very pleased with his tuning

 

Fair question, I don't know by whom, although I've got a guess given your location. If there's an accusation in particular, I'd like to hear it, as long as a specific date or whatever type of work I did can be given. More than likely I can defend it and dispell the accusation.

I do my best at what I do 100% of the time. This is my only job and it pays for not only my lifestyle (which is this same car hobby as well) but also my mortgage and other bills. I therefore can't afford to have a bad reputation or do a shoddy job on anybody's car, engine, or whatever I'm doing, besides the fact that it's wrong to have that kind of lousy work ethic in the first place. So, needless to say, I'm surprised to hear it when you say that you've "heard so many bad things about me and my tuning." I've never heard such a thing before but I'm willing to listen to whatever it is that was said about me as long as I am given the opportunity to reasonably defend against it.

B

 

Hey, turns out once I'm at Bryan's place @ BNR, I'll be real close to you guys; atleast near Murphreesboro.. That'd be cool to meet up and have a Gar-B-Q

That way you guys can make fun of my car and my lousy paint :p

B

 

Wow... Now that was very classy and mature response. Especially when being shamelessly accused. If your tuning is a good as your professional demeanor (through your last post) - then I doubt anyone would have a reason to doubt your skills.

Thumbs up.
Keep up the good work. Perhaps other shop owners/tuners here can learn from your attitude.

 

yes thank you for not jumping on me, like i said, im not trying to start an argument. when you came to columbia SC, and charlotte some people (not going to name names) thought you didnt really know what you were doing.(like guessing at what to try) and they said you were VERY picky on what you would and would not tune. now im not talking about the whole reese thing, so please dont go there.

again im not trying to come accross as an *******, just trying to figure some stuff out. im gonna be getting my car tuned in the next few months and you might do it.

-masin

 

Brian,

From BNR to Murfreesboro, TN is slightly over 200 miles.

I also wanted to ask you some questions and hopefully you could clear up some rumors thats been floating around. I've heard that you don't tune past 13 or 14lbs? Also, what ECU's can you tune and have tuned in the past? (ie, motec, haltec, aem, etc?).

I also want to say that I've also heard great things about BDC tuning. Actually more good things than bad.

Hope to see you at BNR.

 

That's fair and I know where you're coming from -- the "don't shoot the messenger" part.

In any event, I'll respond to both points:

First one concerning my being very picky about what I do and don't tune -- whomever asserted that is exactly right. I am very picky and it's for what I feel is a very good reason. Consider not only my previous post about being forced (by way of the forces of competition) to do a good job and have a good reputation, but also this: It's in my best interest to not sell a false sense of security to people about what their own engine/turbo/whatever setups will do and not do. I'm very strict about this because of liability issues. If I go out of town and tune 6 cars, I have to keep in mind the liability factor for 6 separate people. I don't want to be held responsible for someone's car blowing up after I had a ride in it for a few hours and after they've paid me their $350 to do that. If I tell someone it's safe to run 18psi on pump gas, tune their car, then leave, leaving them with this false sense of security that yields the belief in that person's mind that they can romp it no matter what and never have an issue, then while I've taken their $350 and earned in the short term, I've set myself up for failure in the long run when their stuff does blow up (and it will). In the long run, if that were to happen over and over again, it wouldn't be worth it, and I'd soon develop a reputation for being a bad tuner, blowing engines up left and right. So, with that in mind, I refuse to do certain work or types of tuning unless the vehicle fits a strict profile and is otherwise safe to do. This is why you find me either directly saying or find others saying that I don't tune much on pump gas but will on race fuel. I'm a professional tuner that's been doing this for quite a long time and having been there I know the inherent risks with pump fuel, namely its unreliability. I would rather default to the conservative, "give yourself alot of room", safe-side on things and leave the customer with 20hp less knowing that they can indeed romp on it alot more than leave them with at ticking time bomb that bites me in the long run.

Secondly, the "not knowing what I'm doing part". I ran into two issues while I was out in Charlotte/Rock Hill. The first one was with Ernst's car which wound up being a discrepancy in the O2 readings from two different wideband setups as well as possibly a mid-reading of the AEM gauge reading dramatically lean when it wasn't supposed to. If Ernst felt this way about me, atleast on the onset of this problem, I could certainly understand it. This led us basically on a wild goose chase (fuel pump, fuel pressure problem, etc. etc.) that I had concluded later was a phantom once I'd put my wideband on to compare. We never had the opportunity to re-try a 2nd map I'd made since he was busy catching up on some more important work so the tuning on that car hit a stumbling block and ceased. The second issue that I can think of was with another customer who owned a red FD that I'd offered to whip a base map up for since he'd just purchased his PowerFC and had it with him. I did this at no-charge. Well, it wasn't quite as simple as I'd thought and I had to make several changes throughout the day to it. Needless to say, there was a alot of going back and forth. In all of this, however, there wasn't any concerted effort on my part to actually tune the car; I was merely attempting to give him something he could use to drive the car around with (which I'm still not certain was successful). I didn't have my wideband in the car, he wasn't a paying customer, and I hadn't taken time out of that day to necessarily spend 2 or 3 hrs with him as I would with the other customers there. It was very impromptu to say the least.

Other than that, I'm not sure what anyone could be talking about. I had good luck with Mark and Mike as well as Carlos after a bit of work. While this concluding comment isn't aimed at you personally or anyone else for that matter, what people don't seem to understand about my job (and the job of tuners in this same manner) is that we're dealing with people's babies -- We're willingly being allowed to get in a car that someone may've spend $20,000 on and hack it up, potentially putting it in a path of danger that could yield yet thousands more dollars spent as well as alot of back-breaking work doing the whole yank-it/re-install it thing. That's a big deal and it's frightening to me every single time I sit in someone's car. Can you imagine travelling halfway around the country, messing with a car that you've never seen who's owner you've never met, having not only the ultimate desire to do a good job and win over a customer but also having this fear of liability in the back of your mind the entire time?

Hope this helps,

B

 

I'll vouch for Brian, he's a very honest and straightforward guy...he is conservative with tuning, but for good reason: these engines don't last long on the hairy edge....my car is running great, that's all I can say

Ernst hasn't had a chance to take his car out for a spin with the Haltech map Brian gave him (for free), so the jury is still out on that one....the problem seemed to be his wideband couldn't read anything below about 10 without flaking out, but who knows

 

Brian

Please give me a call to see if we can work something out for the 12 or 13. These are the days off I have.

Thomas
615-483-1070

 

brian, i didnt catch this until recently. i would have loved to hung out. . . man, was that even correct english? hahaha. . . oh well. . . its the intArw3b!!

anyways, i hope all went well. i would have put off my headlight progress (which is coming along nicely, now) to hang out. . . though, i was probably on the right path by choosing the headlights. . . cause, you know. . . driving at night isnt an option for me at the moment.

also, brians knowledge, enthusiasm, and willingness to help never ceases to amaze me. this is not to negate his professional manner on the subject. i have never come across someone who can so elequately handle any mess in front of him.

i really wish we could have all hung out again. i even mentioned it to my wife and strangely enough. . . she was actually willing to hang out with a bunch of "rotary nerds" again!!!. . . but it was evidently too late. hopefully, another venue will arise.

 

IF you need a place to stay in my area just call .Thomas 1277 is near me and I have been doing some to his car,now he need you to tune it . Mine runs great with your tune . come see us .