I've been reading through a lot of forums on tuner histories in SoCal but it seems there are only 3-4 people who actually respond to those threads. I'd like to know which VQ tuners are recommended for FI/NA in SoCal.

It would help if you could state experiences you've had with them in the past to give other members a better sense of direction when choosing a tuner.

The few that come to mind are Sam@GTM, Shawn Church@Church Auto, & Tadashi @Technosquare but I'm limited on what I can say since I have had no experience with either, but I will state that I have not read anything negative about any of the mentioned shops.

Anyone else care to chime in?

 

Not really going to help if you just take advice from people you've never met. So as much as I'd recommend Sam at GTM. I'd suggest you do what I would do and give each place you are interested a call and talk to them personally and form your own opinion from that.

 

Although that is a good idea, I still carry the notion that a shop is there to win your business and could cater whatever they say to what you want to hear. That's the reason I'm asking the masses, because I'd like to hear the other side of how the car has turned out. A shop will tell me they've done "x" number of cars successfully but may withhold any "bad" tunes that they may have turned out. A customer on the other hand, whether a good or bad experience, is more inclined to share the story. At least I would think so...

 

I can't speak for GTM or Church Auto, but I had my ECU tuned by Technosquare. I was actually one of the first to have it done which meant T-Square had to send the ECU to Japan to crack. Tough job but they did it and then Tadashi went to work on the tune. Its been about a year and a half since it was done and I have nothing but great things to say about their work. Car still runs beautifully, same as stock but with more power. I'm sure he could have pushed the engine more but he wanted it to last. Which I totally agree with, no need for more power if your engine blows in a couple of years.

 

^^ Thanks Doug. This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for.

I guess the real question regarding all the tuner's out there and the experience you've had with them is, would you go back/recommend them to other's?

 

Well my plan is to get a SC for the car and I want to have Tadashi tune it specifically for me and my car. Nothing outrageous but I trust him. So, yes I would definitely go back and am going back.

 

GTM did my twin turbo installation / tune and I haven't had any major issues. They can pretty handle any project. The big problem is they are always super back-logged with full up installations, so you'd have to talk to them to see how your tune would be scheduled in.

They are all reputable so you should still talk to the other shops to see what their options and turn-around times are. Then you can discuss your options here in more detail and see what others would do in your shoes.

 

I am driving all the way from Edmonton Canada to Cali to get GTM to install my SC and tune.

 

simple:

SAM = FI
Tadashi = N/A

I have no expereince with GTM but hear only great things from them. Tadashi has tuned my n/a 350z and let me say, the guy knows his sh*t. it's hard to understand him the first few minutes but he clearly knows nissan ecu tuning. he didn't just dyno tune my car but road tuned it as well...basically drove around and tuned the car! i cannot say enough about Tadashi.

 

I know there is another guy on the G35 forums who had his Cosworth build done at Corner 3 then tuned the TT setup with Tadashi with no problems.

I know Sam@GTM knows his stuff but like Terry said, they are always booked and I would need to get in-n-out within a days time. I've spoke with Church and it seems like he would be able to get me in even on short notice. Tadashi is a little more complicated and I'm having a hard time gauging their ETA because they would require your ECU to see if they have the means to tune it, otherwise I think it would have to be sent to Japan ~ 2 week wait.

 

Why are you not getting it tuned by Sam? This kit is designed by GTM. They know the ins and outs of system. Sam tunes so many of these cars with their kits, so I feel he knows what he is doing. Although other tuners might be perfectly capable of tuning our cars, they are definitely less experienced with this twin turbo kit.

 

Tadashi would only send it to Japan if they do not have the tune for your ECU. You can find out your ECU part number from any dealership, they'll tell you the part #...call Tadashi and he will confirm over the phone if they have it present. If it is then the actual tuning process should only last a few hours. If not...then yeah, it's going to be a while.

 

I know all these shops are pretty reputable, maybe I'll just give them all a call again. Looks like if I have plans for FI, Sam is the man to go to.

 

Tadashi is perfectly capable of tuning FI.

I suppose you don't know his history with MK3/4 MR2s and MKIV Supras...

He's made bigger hp cars than Sam has, by quite a large margin, although to be fair, a 2JZ is a much stronger engine.


To better put it, this is how the tuner's line up.

Sam @ GTM - VQ, EJ, 4G specialist. (Seems to be focusing on the VQ only lately) Sam will do fab work. He can pretty much do any custom setup you want, provided that you have the time.

Tadashi @ Technosquare - Nissan/Toyota specialist

Shawn @ CAT - Honda/VQ specialist. Shawn is a tuner and tuner ONLY. He does not do installs or fabrication. He can, however, guide you in the right direction.


Of the 3, Shawn and Sam are more heavily booked; you'll need to either schedule far in advance or work around their schedules.

You can't really go wrong with any of the 3. If you do go to CAT, be sure that Shawn himself tunes your car; he does have other tuners there (not to belittle their ability; the other tuners have some serious race car experience, but my personal experience is with Shawn and shawn only).

 

So it seems as though all are very capable for reliably tuning our VQ's even with FI?