Hey Guys!

So I spent 5 hours at RT Tuning in Montgomeryville PA today to get my Fast Intentions RHFC installed and my 2012 X coupe tuned with ecutek. I figured I share a little about my experience and let you all know how I'm feeling so far- both with the mods and the experience.

1. My Experience 6.5-7/10

RT Tuning is a really impressive shop and there was a variety of cars out front. A number of 350 and 370Zs, a 3000GT, one mean looking CTS V, and a beautiful black RX7. It's clear these guys know what they're doing. I decided to come to RT because they are one of the few shops in the area with an AWD dyno and I've seen some positive impressions of them here on the forum. My appointment was at 9pm and my buddy and I arrived at 8:55. Here's where things got a little iffy. We took a short walk to a local deli, but after that we hung out at the shop. We were there until about 2pm (5 hours later) without any updates or interaction with the staff. They had a comfy couch and a nice TV to watch though, so we killed the time messing around on our phones and watching the Olympics. Occasional pulls from the cars they were working on punctuated the day. I would have appreciated a little more info throughout and a time estimate so I could have better planned this and brought a second car. I place some of the blame on myself of course as I could have asked this ahead of time.

Also, I spoke with someone at the meet on the 6th (sorry man can't remember your name) who was tuned at RT and reassured me that Vince was very communicative and asked many questions about his driving style and what he was looking for from his tune. I had none of this, and was only allowed back for the last pull (of 4 or 5) and even then I had to wait in a separate area behind glass for "insurance purposes". I was surprised at this, as when my buddy had his 350Z tuned at JDS in Keyport, we were present for each of the three pulls in the shop. Anyway, to bring a long story to a close, once I did start interacting with the staff again everyone was very pleasant and friendly. Vince is a nice guy who has lots of experience with our cars, I would have just appreciated a little more involvement.

2. My Results 8/10

I don't have a baseline tune of my stock power as my intakes, CBE, and RHFC were all installed by the time Vine started tuning. Looks like 275 was where I was at before ECUTek and I ended at 290. Decent power gains, but not much Torque at all. Though my numbers seem in line with what many others have posted with similar mods. I was hoping for 300 but new it was more likely to come in at 290-300 so I wasn't surprised. It was also 100 degrees today with high humidity. It's likely that I'm making closer to 300 than 290 in actuality.

3. The Cats

I love Fast Intentions. It's been a pleasure dealing with them on my CBE and now again with my RHFC. Props to Kevin over there who answered all of my questions and helped me out with advice. When my CBE arrive about a year ago my house burned down before I could have it installed. The exhaust came out of the wreckage without damage and has been on the car ever since going strong. Kevin sent me new instructions so I could double check I had all my hardware and was very respectful of my circumstance. I know the cats are expensive, but I gladly payed it for the exhaust note I wanted from a company I like.

The RHFC have definitely made me fall in love with my exhaust again. It's the same smooth and refined FI exhaust note but with a much more aggressive and growling edge to it. There does seem to be a slight increase in cabin noise, but hey, that's part of playing the game. The sound outside the car makes me smile every time. I suspect it will change slightly as the cats get broken in over time.

Overall I'd say it was more than worth the price I paid (which was very reasonable all things considered). While I didn't have the kind of hands on and interactive experience I wanted at RT, they did get solid gains out of my AWD, bringing it probably right up to my 300hp target. Plus, they were honest with me and said the cat install took a little less time than they were anticipating and deducted half an hour from my bill. Very stand up thing to do. I also have 3 maps now for 93, 91, and valet mode. Doubt I'll ever change from my 93 map, but it's still nice to have the option. My car sounds better than ever and I can definitely feel the extra power. It's not like driving a new car, but it's noticeable immediately. I wish it had been cooler so I could see my numbers in a more normal driving situation, but I feel secure in saying my car has 300hp now and I'm sticking to it
Experience as a whole: 8.5/10

Hope someone finds this useful and a couple of you made it through the wall of text. That's what I get for having majored in history back at Rutgers. She's not the fastest G around but she's better than she's ever been before and I'm more than happy with it. Thanks all.

 

<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/04LjvdeLQ_8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's a video for you guys. Video is from my phone through a glass partition in a viewing area.

 

Amazing review write up Steve! I'm glad overall thay you were satisfied with everything and that video... WOW! Even through glass I was able to hear the difference in your car from when I heard it in Rockaway when we met for the PA meet. Absolutely beautiful exhaust note you have there!

 

Thanks Kenny! Yeah the cats really woke things up and made me excited again. I'd encourage anyone that's considering HFC to pull the trigger.

 

I'm considering the FI non resonated hfc. I feel the Ark exhaust is fairly quiet to begin with the the resonated ones won't do much a difference.

 

Awesome read! Thanks man

 

Impressive write up!
That's the way to detail your impressions, should be a blueprint for how it's done.

Sounds like a good experience overall, and good to let others know to take the reigns and get involved when dealing w/ your tuner. Might have been an extra busy day for them as well???

Sorry to hear about your house fire, hope you were able to recover all that was most important to you.

 

Thanks Newt. I wanted to be thorough and get my thoughts down as soon as possible after the install and tune.

And as for the house I appreciate the kinda words. I only mention it because I feel like it's an extremely rare circumstance that nonetheless says a lot about FI and their parts. Everyone is safe and we saved a lot of our things so it could have been much worse.

 

I know its hard to truly quantify but how much extra cabin noise would you describe you got from your RHFC on like a 1 to 10 scale?

Also sorry to hear about the house fire as well.. Glad everyone s safe.

 

If I had to put a number on it I would say 4. It is not that much of an increase but I did feel a little self conscious about it when I had my girlfriend in the car. I popped it into M so I could leave it a gear higher than the auto trans wanted to be in and get it out of the drone zone. She should be used to it by now anyway

 

Did trans shifting get any attention?

 

hmmnn.. a bit disappointed
always thought baseline was in the mid 280s for this car and having dyno'd at 290 is blah..
even if it were cooler temps.. doubt its a difference of 10whp..
as far as RT tuning.. theyve aligned my old mazdaspeed6 after I threw coils on her and was satisfied with their service..

 

For what it's worth I think he made out well. 10-20ft# gains throughout almost then entire common RPM range. He's got to feel that improvement in the curve as well; way smoother than before. And most AWD stock sheets I've seen are in mid 270s.

 

Not bad!! Lets keep in mind this is 15whp solely from the TUNE, not from adding any type of parts. I bet you made off with 30+WHP from stock form to today. Enjoy it man!

 

I'm actually curious as to how much a tune costs? It's something I've been wanting to do but putting it to the side.