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BDC (Brian Cain) Tuning WEEK in Norcal

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Old 03-24-06, 04:53 PM
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Talking BDC (Brian Cain) Tuning WEEK in Norcal

I have booked Brian on a flight arriving Monday April 24th, and he will be staying through the 30th. During this time he will be based near Santa Rosa, zipcode 95492. As many of you may know Brians last trip up here was very popular, with folks coming as many as 12 hours to have their cars tuned by Brian. My personal results netted a solid 500+ RWHP on a E6K, a PT67 .81 P trim, and a cast manifold. This set-up ran flawlesly @18-20 psi on the road courses of norcal, with no tune related problems ever.
HERE IS WHAT SETS BRIANS WORK APART from most traveling tuners.....
Brian will wrench, troubleshoot, and work on your car in advance of, during, and after the session as needed, or arranged. Need help installing a Haltech, or PFC, want to set-up a new fuel system, want to know BEFORE the tuning session what weak points your set-up may have, Brian's the man for the job. There are a small handfull of proven tuners that travel, and fewer still who take the time to focus on the nuances of tuning such as driveability, and fuel economy. This is not just a power tune session, this is an opportunity to have your RX7 worked on by one of the best tuners around. Brian will be doing both street, and dyno tuning, though he prefers street tuning for most cars (mine excluded ). The price for tuning is 350.00, dyno time is being arranged, and will probably be available as needed during the week. We plan to attend the 4/29-30 NASA event, so hold on to your helmets. Carl Byck 707-696-2705 c.byck@comcast.net
I will post links to some of Brians past tunes, and events shortly.
Old 03-25-06, 01:02 PM
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cool, we'll see you at nasa!
Old 03-26-06, 10:28 PM
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Originally Posted by j9fd3s
cool, we'll see you at nasa!
Should be fun, I haven't run Infineon since August. Brian will have the use of my fully stocked garage, so if anyone needs work prior to their tune just let me know. Thanks, Carl
Old 03-27-06, 02:52 AM
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Im down. I need to get my new set up tunned. If only I have my fuel system done in time.
Old 03-27-06, 03:01 AM
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Hmmm...if steve is only tuning for power on the dyno I may want to do this instead. Will we have a road set up for tuning? I'm pretty sure my car will not get traction under 60mph so what good would it be to tune if it was sliding all over the place?
Old 03-27-06, 04:57 AM
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if would have to guess the road portion of the tune will be for fuel economy and driveability, the power portion of the tune will be on the dyno since it is quite hard to tune for power without it accurately.

a few guys in the hatch area should keep the FB on the dyno.
Old 03-27-06, 05:03 AM
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Looking at the turbo I'm almost positive it's a T04B with a 1.06 hotside or something like that, so if I can actually find a cheap larger turbo before this date we may have a whole new bag of traction issues.
Old 03-27-06, 05:07 AM
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well if you plan on it plan on it soon so i will have plenty of time to modify the exhaust if needed. still almost a month away so plenty of time to pick and choose.

preferably sooner than later so i won't have to pull an all nighter like we had to on Nick's car.
Old 03-27-06, 11:41 AM
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Originally Posted by rx7what
Im down. I need to get my new set up tunned. If only I have my fuel system done in time.
We can help with that, Brian and I have done quite a few fuel systems to say the least. Do you need parts, design help, install help time? I have a fully equiped garage with an extra bay, a trailer, on, and on. If you can get the car here on a certain day, we can help with any install stuff, and check the rest of your system for things that need attention. Drop me a PM w/your contact info when you get a second. Talk to you soon, Carl 707-696-2705
Old 03-27-06, 11:49 AM
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Originally Posted by snub disphenoid
Hmmm...if steve is only tuning for power on the dyno I may want to do this instead. Will we have a road set up for tuning? I'm pretty sure my car will not get traction under 60mph so what good would it be to tune if it was sliding all over the place?
We have several options including some long hills, Brian really takes the time to understand the customers goals, makes sure the hardware is up to the task, and then tunes. In terms of all on road tuning saftey equipment commensurate with the capabilities of the car is all we ask. What size rear tires do you run, maybe a good set of R compounds that you could later sell will get you a bit more traction. The NASA PRO Racing forums has many R compound tires used, and new for sale in variety of sizes. Drop me a line, and we can talk more, Carl 707-696-2705
Old 03-27-06, 11:51 AM
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Originally Posted by snub disphenoid
Hmmm...if steve is only tuning for power on the dyno I may want to do this instead. Will we have a road set up for tuning? I'm pretty sure my car will not get traction under 60mph so what good would it be to tune if it was sliding all over the place?
Steve tunes for streetability as well.

Carl, glad to see you are back in action.
What is the reason for a new tune?
Old 03-27-06, 12:27 PM
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Hey Dave, I am upsizing my primaries from 680s to 850s, also we are installing the Aquamist 2C, trying to interface a WB w/the E6K, etc. Beyond that I have decided to completely rewire the car for simplicity sake, the system I have has alot of unneccesary wiring(stock), and the car weighs to darn much. I'll be ALOT more comfortable with Brian overseeing the electrical end of things. I have probably killed my ECU with a crappy battery charger, so now is the logical time to adress the wiring. As far as the socal vs norcal sessions, really geography will be the biggest deciding factor.
We are also incorporating a NASA track weekend into our schedule, so a customer could actually have Brian tuning on track. If a customer runs into problems we have an open ended schedule, and Brian has the flexibility to stay longer if required. For me the biggest frustration I can think of is to hire a tuner, pay for it, encounter a mechanical problem, and end up farther from my goal than when the tuner arrived. I think it is clear that both guys are great tuners, just depends on what the customer needs, and where he or she lives. Moving forward I think it would be healthy to keep discussions about the two sessions seperate. Thanks, Carl

Last edited by Carl Byck; 03-27-06 at 12:41 PM.
Old 03-27-06, 01:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Carl Byck
What size rear tires do you run, maybe a good set of R compounds that you could later sell will get you a bit more traction. The NASA PRO Racing forums has many R compound tires used, and new for sale in variety of sizes. Drop me a line, and we can talk more, Carl 707-696-2705
Currently I have some stiff sidewall, hard-compound 195/50/15s. My wheels are 15x7 I believe and my car doesn't have any body modifications, so the most I'm going to fit is a 205 under the stock fenders. I think for the tuning session I may just purchase a set of BFG drag radials in 205 and roll my rear fenders, or go with a tire with a gushy sidewall, like the Toyo T1-R or the Kumho MX. My goal is to eventually bring this car out to some local tracks, so I think a 5-lug conversion and some fender flares are in the car's future, but for now it's probably going to be some skinny tires and a few sandbags in the rear hatch.
Old 03-27-06, 06:26 PM
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Hey guys, I wanted to post up some of the galleries of some of my tuning trips and sessions I've taken over the last year or so.

http://bdc.cyberosity.com/v/Tuning/?...6a9aded29df20d

I do this for a living and have been doing this for quite some time. I'm also an engine builder by trade and do alot of subcontracted porting work. As far as my tuning goes, I charge a flat rate that covers however long it takes to get the car fully tuned. I put a great deal of focus into streetability, gas mileage, cold-starting, etc. It's important to me to be meticulous about that sort of thing so I don't just focus on one thing only; I try to be all encompassing. To be a good tuner requires one to be a mechanic as well, so alot of the work I do can be involved in changing things in the engine bay around, removing components, or fixing other things. I like to call what I do, "full spectrum" tuning. I can spend as much as one entire day tuning one car, hence the open-ended schedule Carl is setting up for me while I'm out there.

If any of you have any other questions, feel free to PM me and I can shoot you my # if you'd like. For those that are interested in coming out to get some tuning work done, I'd like to speak to you guys ahead of time to get a feel for your individual cars and setups, etc. so I know what to work with. As far as the systems go that I do, I work on both PFC (for the FD's) as well as all of the Haltech models (E6K, E6X, E8, and E11).

See you guys in April,

B
Old 03-27-06, 06:27 PM
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Originally Posted by snub disphenoid
Looking at the turbo I'm almost positive it's a T04B with a 1.06 hotside or something like that, so if I can actually find a cheap larger turbo before this date we may have a whole new bag of traction issues.
I prefer to do road tuning on the highway in 3rd gear, but we can do some dyno stuff if we wind up getting a day or two scheduled to get some hp and torque figures.

B
Old 03-30-06, 05:51 PM
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Just a note for you guys that for some reason wasn't conveyed before his trip out to the east coast here.

Unless his policy has changed in the last month, if you are running pump gas, your tuning will be for 13psi or less. There were a couple of guys here that were a bit crestfallen when Brian declined to tune any higher due to reliabilty (engine safety) issues. Another issue which could curtail your tuning session is boost creep.

I've had Brian out twice. The first was for a 1/2 BP 13B-RE. Great setup! The other was this year to rebuild my 20B. Unfortunately, my tuning session doesn't appear in the gallery due to a lack of time for getting the car to run before he left. There are pictures of the build in the Engine Assembly section of his gallery though.

Have fun, make power!

Reese
Old 03-31-06, 01:37 PM
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Originally Posted by 20B10AE
Just a note for you guys that for some reason wasn't conveyed before his trip out to the east coast here.

Unless his policy has changed in the last month, if you are running pump gas, your tuning will be for 13psi or less. There were a couple of guys here that were a bit crestfallen when Brian declined to tune any higher due to reliabilty (engine safety) issues. Another issue which could curtail your tuning session is boost creep.

I've had Brian out twice. The first was for a 1/2 BP 13B-RE. Great setup! The other was this year to rebuild my 20B. Unfortunately, my tuning session doesn't appear in the gallery due to a lack of time for getting the car to run before he left. There are pictures of the build in the Engine Assembly section of his gallery though.

Have fun, make power!

Reese
I'd like to interject my thoughts on this...

Reese is right about the liability issue regarding pump gas stuff. I know the common thing is to "tune for 15psi" (or perhaps even higher) on pump gas, but there's so many issues that come into play when tuning for loads like that on that kind of fuel. Here's my thoughts on it: I don't want to tune a pump-gas driven car for a customer that high who may then feel that they can drive the heck out of the car anytime, all the time, anywhere, at that level on pump gas. It's just too risky, especially in the warmer seasons. My concern has to do with where the blame will be shifted or placed if an engine does happen to let go while running under such loads. The tuning I do for customers tends towards the conservative side and I try my best to "leave room" for error, but there's so many things that can negate that that are only exacerbated to the extreme when using pump gas. Pump gas just plain sucks and it only seems to be getting worse. It's a very unreliable fuel to use when tuning for higher loads in my opinion, especially concerning the heat our engines create.

So, what I do during out-of-town tuning sessions is tune for moderate boost levels (10-12psi) that are lower loads and more reliable. I have no idea how a customer is going to drive a car once I leave as all customers have different temperaments. However, I will go along with a customer if they wish to tune higher and accept the responsibility and risk. A tuning session from me is meant to be a $350 charge to get the car sorted and running tip-top; it's not meant to be a $2000 endeavour into engine work.

Race gas tuning is the exception to this rule. With race gas, you can get away with murder. Carl's car, for example, was tuned on 111 octane leaded and I tuned his car on the moderate to aggressive side when it comes to both leading and trail-split spark advance as well as his air-fuel ratios. In other words, it's a completely different map than what would be setup on a pump gas setup. His car runs NASA road-race events at 20psi of boost for 20 minutes at a time. The trick here is the gas that is used. I am not sure of the chemical differences between pump and race gas (besides the common use of lead as a chamber lubricant in race fuel), but I do know that our engines, even though they produce a substantial amount more heat than piston engines that can challenge even the best pump gas, run exceptionally well and highly reliably on race gas.

So, don't be surprised if I limit highway type of tuning to 11-13psi depending on the turbo/engine setup for those that do pump gas. If however the customer is fine with going higher and accepting the responsibility of it, then I'll be happy to do it. Cars that are setup with nicely-balanced turbochargers (meaning large hot-sides with respect to the size of the cold-side), heat blankets, water injection, and the like, fare much better when it comes to this reliability issue than ones that don't have a good deal of focus put into heat-expulsion.

Comments and questions welcome.

B
Old 04-03-06, 12:06 PM
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Thanks for posting that up Brian. Posts like that are one of the reasons why people recommend you to others. I'll see you this month bro.

Zach
Old 04-03-06, 07:33 PM
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I've talked to a couple guys at this point, but I will be on vacation back East the week before Brian comes out, with this in mind anyone who may be interested in tuning or other work should contact me ASAP. This way we can size up what it will take to be ready for Brian. I can easily take all of Brians time, my to do list is over a page long, so I'd like to have an idea even if you are tentative. Also, there will not be Dyno time available on the weekend without special prior arrangements.Dyno time during the week will be at a location about fifteen minutes from my house. The plan is to do the mechanical preperations at my house(3 car Garage w/ any tool we might need, and spare parts galore), and basicly have the dyno shop on call. I'll be at the April 8th meet, so if you have questions, and you're there, you can ask them then. We hope to have my car done, and at Infineon 4/29-4/30. I understand there should be a good showing of rotaries at that event.
I cannot stress enough the tremendous value that Brians services represent, I hope everyone interested will get an opportunity to take advantage of his expertise on this trip. Thanks, Carl 707-696-2705
Old 04-07-06, 01:45 AM
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Well, the clocks ticking, you know, every moment Brian and I work on my car is going to be the schooling of one more of the " Tuned by another car at Infineon". Step up, nobody has a haltech? what's the deal honestly, I can keep brian busy for week, but if you want to dominate go BDC... Plus, we` will have fun How many clients will be at Infinon? You guy need not to miss this event, it' is all about fun, I can instruct, the whole bit Get tuned, come play with free instructing at Infinon. Anyway, Its about fun, an our cars, if you're in northern California, you owe it to yourself, and your to your car to let BDC lay his hands on your car. Peace be with you brother rotor heads, Carl
Old 04-07-06, 02:00 AM
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i may have him do my tuning but i'm still not sure. in a pinch for money right now and waiting on payment from a few customers leaves me wondering if i can afford it when it comes around. it's the mortgage/electricity/water/shop payment/shop electricity or tuning... my priorities are in the right place so i can't say yes or no.
Old 04-07-06, 01:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Carl Byck
Well, the clocks ticking, you know, every moment Brian and I work on my car is going to be the schooling of one more of the " Tuned by another car at Infineon".
LOL Carl.
Old 04-12-06, 11:23 AM
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So Dave, Steves rebuilding your motor why??? Who is going to tune this motor? I hope your "luck" improves I also hope I finish my car in time for Infineon so I can make good on my **** talking. Just for the record, Dave and I have a friendly rivalry, so nobody should take it as more than that. This is just funny since neither Dave nor I have running car with a couple week to go, and were talking about who's gonna beat who at a race I may not even be ready for. So Hopefully Dave and I can get our cars done(I am sure Dave will), and Brian will see if I have given him enough time to fix whaever it is that I have done to mine.

We will have time to tune a couple cars should anyone want during Brians stay, otherwise he's all mine. Everybody stay safe, and hope to see you at Infineon, Rotary Gods allowing Carl
Old 04-14-06, 01:01 AM
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Carl, we may have to push our cars around the paddock to see who is fastest, or should I say "least slow".
Anyways, I would come up to help you out again but I will be slammed that week myself between car **** and providing ways to support the money pit.
I know we'll both get it done though so we can swap some paint out there...or primer in my caes

btw, Steve is rebuilding my engine again because my car has been up at the bodyshop for a few months so beforehand I decided to pull the engine so Steve could try out a new port design. I should not forget to mention the front iron and my lack of sef-control around boost controllers
Old 04-22-06, 12:07 PM
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Originally Posted by RX-Heven
Carl, we may have to push our cars around the paddock to see who is fastest, or should I say "least slow".
Anyways, I would come up to help you out again but I will be slammed that week myself between car **** and providing ways to support the money pit.
I know we'll both get it done though so we can swap some paint out there...or primer in my caes

btw, Steve is rebuilding my engine again because my car has been up at the bodyshop for a few months so beforehand I decided to pull the engine so Steve could try out a new port design. I should not forget to mention the front iron and my lack of sef-control around boost controllers

Yea, I heard that rumor, perhaps Steve can make it so you can yurn the boost up to whatever your goal is... Seems a shame to keep blowing motors when you could simply have a pop-off valve installed in a lock box on your IC piping, Steve would be the only one with a key LOL, You can also do that via your BOV. I just hope I have a working ECU to run the whole thing, new harness, injectors, and water injection are here. Tim Spencer loaned me an ECU, so all should be OK.

We will tune a couple cars mid week, so if anyone in Norcal needs tuning give me a call, so Brian does not go blind rewiring, and tuning my car As a Side note my motor has never been out, or opened in 6 years, I think that speaks worlds about whom, and how tuning of my car occurs. Keeping in mind that it has been at 400-500rwhp for the last three years, with plenty of road racing. Talk to ya later, is Steve bringing your motor as a carry-on, and why is he re-building it for free if it was your fault? I guess I better hold BDC to the same standard at Infineon... Good luck, I know you'll make it, just hop have no suprises. APR is supposed to finish my custom wing Monday, I have no idea of how I will mount it yet It is over five and a half feet across, Dry Carbon, no mounts though, I will need to fab those, so do not follow me too close when we are over 100mph Take care, Carl


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