I dont have time or a dyno to keep tuning on my own, and with lack of experience and me being afraid that I am going to blow my engine... I'm going to get the tune done by someone that knows how to tune....that being said...

I am scheduled to get a tune done by X-S Engineering. You can read my sig for the mods.

Now, they are estimating 3-4 hours of dyno time, and the prices aren't too great. But, they they say the tune will be for power and drivability.

Also, their tunes require a fuel temperature sensor to be installed. so this means they're going to have to butcher my secondary fuel rail to throw the stock fuel temp sensor in line. (I am running a power FC)

Now, this is how I figure the price:

$105 labor rate

1/h - Mandatory Diagnostic Check prior to tuning.
3-4/h - Dyno Time. 1st hour $250, every hour after $150.
2-3/h - Install Fuel Temp Sensor

So you figure... worse case is $1120. That is 4 hours on the dyno, and 3 hours to install temp sensor + diagnostics.

Well, a Kan tune is costing $350 plus $75/h for dyno.... obviously Kan would be the better option.... BUT.. if my car ***** up while tuning... Does Steve have the time to fix it? He has other guys he has to tune... so I'd be up **** creek am I right?

Besides... he doesn't require the fuel temp sensor either... and his tunes work out quite well... but I am hearing debate about the dyno they use at RRR.

Anyway, I just wanted to see if anyone was satisfied with X-S Engineerings tune, and if someone could post some experience either good or bad.

Thanks,
-Darren-

 

ill tune your car for 100 bucks...


no guarantees tho =P













haha jk. but after u get it done ull be around my area. hit me up and cruise by!

 

If I were you I would stick with Steve Kan. A lot of Positive Comment on him. None Negative that I've heard yet.

Read RX7_FANATIC comments about XS Engineer tuning on page 3 or 4.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...6&page=3&pp=15

 

I would say go for Steve Kan as well if you have to stay in SoCal for the tune. If you don't mind bringing the car to NorCal then you could probably still hop on the BDC tune days at the end of this month in the Bay Area. BDC is also a very reputable tuner and I know for a FACT that he will make repairs while tuning if needed. That's why he's going to be here for a week. PM him to find out details if you are interested.

I'm not trying to start any **** between the two tuners here!!!! Both of them are good guys, and both of them are excellent tuners. But I would surely go with either Kan or BDC LONG before I took my car to XS. Especially for the prices they are charging and with the stupid rule about the fuel temp probe. Just my .02

Zach

 

Well my car is a PITA, it never wants to work right.

I am battling between a few things...

1.) Sell the KAI or Keep the KAI
2.) If I don't sell KAI, Install KAI
3.) If I install KAI, do I tune for pump, pump/meth, or c16. Or 2 of the 3?
4.) If KAI is installed, KAN WILL TUNE (**** XS with the KAI setup).
5.) Steve's price isn't a raping.

STEVE IF YOU READ THIS, PLEASE RESPOND:

I need to do a tune for pump only, and pump/methanol. I run methanol injection but should my methanol system fail for any reason, I want to be able to load up my pump only map. I have a datalogit so this isn't a problem. In any case, would you charge me for two seperate tunes if I had to tune for pump and pump/meth? Or just dyno time? (This is a big deciding factor). I'd love to tune for C16, but I don't have deep pockets like LUPE, and running C16 on the FD to and from work would drain my bank faster than the wife at the Gucci Store.

Anyway, I am going to call XS tomorrow and canx the tune IF i can find the answers I am looking for.

Keep the input coming.

Thigns I know so far:

1.) XS Tunes Rich (aka COnservative)
2.) XS Charges an Arm and a Leg

 

I've never heard of a fuel temp sensor, is that hooked up to a gauge that you have to buy?

XS also charges a strap down fee.
XS charges dyno time per hour.
XS charges tuning time per hour.
XS does not allow you to view what they are doing and they charge by the hour.

If you do a search I think you will find of the few people that have used them it was at least $1k but mostly about $1400

Steve charges a "flat" $350 rate.
At worst, you will pay for more then one hour of dyno rental.
Mos people have paid $500-$600 total for Steve Kan tune.

 

Fuel temp sensor comes stock, it's in the stock secondary rail. It gets eliminated when you change out the rails with an aftermarket rail.

 

Just wait till rx7 fanatic see's this thread, i believe he payed 700 bucks to get his car tuned there for only ~300whp, with ignition breakup still on a single turbo with all supporting mods and now he's going to Steve Kan to have it tuned, because, well, look at the price of his tuning! And he's a good tuner!

 

I had my car tuned by XS around a year ago, the car made 380rwhp on 91 octane and drives very smooth (this was on 1kg boost). The total time my car was there was three hours which included diagnostic and dyno tuning. I walked out of their shop paying $350. That was a year ago so they probably raised their prices then. Also, when I had my car tuned it was in good condition and nothing needed to be repaired/changed. Anyways, the car still runs great today and I have no complaints. I don't have experience with Steve Kan but I hear he's great.


BTW, Dhalhen, your setup looks good, however if you go to XS they will probably tell you to change your spark plug wires and also recommend colder racing spark plugs

 

Just wait for Kan and do a street tune. If you want to get on the dyno and have bragging rights, fine. Just add the cost of dyno time to the $350 base price and you're good to go. Kan definitely has a following that seems impossible to match for 3rd gen tuning, from what I can tell.

 

I have HKS racing plugs but they are not required, and the wires were replaced 1000 miles ago... stock NGK's.

 

Also TiteFD, are those on twins?? or you running single?

 

You can see at the top of the thread on the current prices. BTW - that diagnostic check you got used to be $75, now it's $105. The dyno rates instead of being $150/h all the time are now $250/h for the first hour, and $150 every hour after. There is no longer a hookup fee. Installing my fuel temp sensor is what is bothering me... having to have thta thing in is going to cost me $315 in labor.

I need to tune for Pump, Pump+Meth, and C16 all in one session. That's going to cost me a fortune.

 

You don't need the fuel temp sensor in the PFC. IF you look at the pfc stock map, you'll see that at 60C (fuel temp), it gains 2% of fuel. That's really nothing and the only time you can actually get the fuel temp this high is when yous tank is low, racing in a road course, and/or driving the car for over 3 hrs.

I don't see it being necessary and the tune I do has plenty of margin to offset that 2% of fuel requirement (if needed). To think of it, when the car runs hot (where fuel, air temp, and coolant temp is high), you don't need as much fuel anyway so monitoring the fuel temp and adjusting the correctional table doesn't make sense to me neither.

 

I have the RX6 single turbo conversion. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for. At least after they do a full diagnostic on your car and fix everything that is wrong, you will have the comfort of knowing that your car is leaving there in perfect condition. I don't know about the fuel temp hookup because i use 1300 secondaries...

One thing that is interesting when they tune is that they hook up a stethoscope to your motor to listen for knock

 

That sounds like a good setup. Good thing you have the plugs, I was using stockers and the car started to misfire anything above 10psi on the dyno, then i switched to HKS racing plugs and the car didn't have any issues afterwards.

 

390hp @ 1bar on an RX6? Isn't that turbo rated at 430-450hp depending on mods at that boost level?

Thats pretty damn conservative....

 

i believe 430-450hp is the max the rx6 can make. 390 aint bad if the car was tuned on 91 octane.

 

It was 380 rwhp, sorry...

I didn't want to go higher because I wanted the car tuned on pump gas as 100 octane is not readily available at the pump where I live. Anyways, the car is more than fast enough for the street and drives very very smooth so needless to say, I am very happy with the tuning.

I haven't tried steve kan tuning yet, but from what I keep hearing he is also very good.

 

Its turning into a money issue. Why pay $1400 when I can get the same if not better tune for $500? My issue with XS is their damn fuel temp sensor requirement.. that really pisses me off. I am not about to pay 3 hours of labor at $105 an hour to get it put in, besides.. the sensor is huge, won't fit in an aftermarket rail.

 

I don't know if you read my post, but your money issue can be resolved to some degree by forgoing the dyno time. I pulled this from Gotham's website, under Kan's 'tuning info' section.
----------------------------------------------------
Street Tuning

Street tuning provides real world driving condition allowing the tuner to properly tune the a/f ratio to the safest mixture and ignition timing w/o introducing detonation. If you're looking for reliability tuning and still wants optimum performance, street tuning is the cheapest and most effective method. There are numerous times that a car perform well on the dyno and ends up breaking the engine on the street because of the inexperience tuner's inability to compensate the ignition and a/f ratio for real world suituation. This also goes true for drag racers. Tuning is the key for reliability and performance, there's no better way to tune it than in real world condition. The only draw back by tuning on the street is that you risk a chance of speeding ticket and potentially lose control of your vehicle. The types of tuning will depend upon what you feel is best for your budget.
----------------------------------------------------

 

I agree that street tuning is the most accurate and concise method of tuning as a dyno can never compensate for real day to day driving. However, by participating in street tuning you can potentially put other people on the road at risk. It would be more ideal in a closed track environment

 

I agree with you At least you're not one of those idiots who 'street race' What does 3rd gear top out at? ~100 mph? A fourth gear pull would probably result in some serious aerodynamic lift Not good on the street.

 

I am also wondering if I will need to purchase two tunes if I want one for pump&racefuel.

 

The power FC runs on one map at a time, if you want it tuned optimally you would have to load a new map in there between different octanes/fuel types.