doug@topspeed saves the day!

Mods: i have discussed posting this with bobby and sent alex a pm. if any flaming starts up or anything negative please lock this thread. DISCLAIMER: Doug@topspeed suggested i keep this between the involved parties but i have decided to post anyway. Several months ago i decided to do a turbo upgrade on my bugeye. bought the parts and did the install, now comes tune time. i decided to have my car tuned at TopSpeed by a tuner that no longer is with the company, though he comes highly recommended by the local community. the day of the tune finally came and we strapped my car down on the dyno, and "tuner X" as we'll call him, went to work. the base map for my vf 48 setup was from a previous vf39 setup that tuner x had tuned the weekend before. this other customers car had tumbler deletes wereas my car did not. this would not have been a problem except that this tuning day involved almost 8 hours of trouble shooting (which i was charged for) and returning home on another limp tune. returning the next week after going over the install with a fine toothed comb. same problem. tuner x asked Doug (the owner[the american hero possibly?]) why the car was boosting and not loading. "tumblers closed" doug nailed it from his office, didn't even look at the car. you see the problem therein was is the base map was for a car without tumblers, then all of the tumbler cels are turned off. i would expect a little more attention to detail from "the best". also on the day of the second tune, there was another customers car left over from the day before that tuner x didn't finish. that car needed the dyno, so off for a road tune we went. the road tune went fine about 3 hours and 1 horsepower guestimate later i was on my way home, anxiously awaiting the next dyno day to see what kind of numbers i could make. low and behold an official wrxatlanta.com dyno day at forge motorsports was just around the corner. also tuner x would be there, "this'll be fun" i thought. got to forge and i was the second car up on the dynohnoes: i was so excited. car straps down. first run. turner x looks at me, "did i tune this" 'yes',"stock turbo?",'no vf48'. he looks flustered. im standing outside the bay with my daughter trying to keep her happy, but i decide to walk up and have a look-see. im pretty disappointed by what i see. 206.5whp. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? i made 218 stage 2. now im not the kind of guy that gets outwardly angry, esspeccially not with my kid around. so i smirk, and wait for a reasonable explaination. tuner x chimes in with " well this dyno reads about 15% lower than a dynojet. (oh great so 230?). no time for a look gotta get another car on the dyno so mine comes off. the only explanation offered is "gotta do a leak down" then tuner x disappears for the next hour. i hear from others there that he's not back out until i leave cause it's naptime for my little girl. man what a dissapointment. (1200 bucks for a loss in power) i leave that day and call and pm doug to tell my story. not sure if my messages made much sense, i was pretty flustered by the whole thing. we set up a date to look at the car. doug first inspects my car. then drives it. he tells me that mechaniccally the car is fine. so it's tune time, the first pull shows the car is a little more rich than is normal for a protune, 221whp on topspeeds dyno. so there is the tuner x base line. next pull with some fuel adjustments and BAM! already at 250+whp. i think you can see where this is headed. Doug tuned the car for a solid 4 hours, smoothed every thing out on the road and the car was running great. i had a great time hanging out with Doug and Cicio, those guys are a whole lotta fun, spent most of the morining laughing at Cicio's wise cracks. When it was all said and done, i said ok let's antie-up. Doug just slapped me on the arm and said " you're good man!" holy crap! are you kidding me. i just got a butter smooth, bad ass tune for free? what a guy. It's not very often when you find an owner that stands behind their shop that way. Even though it was a former employee, Doug fixed the problem con gratis because it was his shop and his reputation. there are so few people out there who really care about customer satisfaction but Doug Wilkes is deffinitly one of the few. Doug made my car really "Go Faster". Below is a dyno chart showing the tuner x tune as a baseline and doug's tune is the one with the big numbers. enjoy. and if i need to i would be happy to go to forge and get another dyno sheet. i still have the one that reads 206 to compare it to!

 

That is awesome to hear! Doug has always been a stand up guy to me and has always been very professional.

 

Is there a cliff notes version of that post?

 

topspeed=top shop!

 

Congrats on the power. Way to go Doug.

 

Tuner x( a tuner that no longer works at topspeed) turned his car at Topspeed, he sucked. The car lost pwoer and he paid 1200 bucks.

He told doug over PM doug fixed it for free.

Doug is awesome

 

I am just happy that your finally happy, and if you ever need anything let me know.

Edit: My name is spelled Doug Wilks... no E.

 

Word of mouth is the best advertisement you can get! Trust me its how ive remained in biz! Keep up the good work guys!

 

Wow, you left out that you texted tuner x THAT NIGHT and said you'd had a boost leak and were down 3 psi from what you were tuned at. So tuner x assumed that you'd fixed the leak and all was good.

Had you contacted tuner x, who's cell phone number you obviously have, he would have happily checked the tune, and if it needed tuning without you having installed any more parts, he would have fixed it for free...

Did Doug pressure test it? Is it possible that it had a leak and that's why it was rich and low on boost? 270/286 is kinda low for a vf-48...

Just for the record, the $1200 included the turbo and everything else, not just the tuning. I don't remember you paying for 8 hours of anything, what was your bill?

Cliff notes:

You told tuner x you found a boost leak, never told him there was still a problem, and then didn't give him a chance to make it right... Why???

Siegel

 

Fwiw... the baseline pull was almost 18psi peak but was at 10.2afrs. No boost leaks


286 uncorrected is right in the norm for what the VF series turbo will do on a 2.0L

 

If it had a decent IC on it, I imagine the tune was for 20 psi and near 11.0, something changed...

Siegel

 

A vf-48 or 39 should make more tq than hp...

Siegel

 

Not to beat a hopefully dead horse but I found the text exchange... I was wondering what was up with the car, but we were really busy that day.

***THE SAME DAY*** (I think I was still dynoing cars at 6)
11/07 5:58 pm Joel P
Hey Scott its Joel with the red 02 with the 200whp dyno from today. Checked out the car and only making 17psi, target is 19. Also BOV may not be sealing.

11/07 6:19 Siegel:
If the bov is leaking, that will certainly cause problems...

Joel P:
Tightened all the way down and still getting a whistle/flutter could it need to be lubricated

Siegel:
Have to pressure test...

That was the last I heard of it... I thought he fixed it...

Siegel

 

:rofl:

I find this very amusing given today events at the shop.


Good job Doug for standing up on your shop!

 

What events.. did I miss something?

 

I am going to assume the events are where SS and everyone left TS

 

But that didnt happen TODAY

 

Nah you didn't miss any events. Just watched a freshly tuned car get retuned by another tuner and make 21 more hp and 34 more tq :wiggle::naughty:

 

wasn't the bov scott. the car was fine mechanically

 

i didnt' find a boost leak. you suggested a leak down, i mearly suggested were it might be happening, you said that could be it, and the car was at topspeed for 8hrs the first time round the second trip up it was 3hrs, it was something to the tune of 4 hrs tuning and 4 hrs shoptime minus 2 because i think you felt kind of bad for me plus the cost of an o2 sensor that you pulled and diddn't work when you reinstalled(yes folks he turned a wrench). look the point of the post is to exhalt topspeed. if you want the invoices i'll have to find them for you. or see if doug keeps a record of them. this is exactly what im talking about. im reading your posts and seeing excuses. you couldve offered up something at the dyno day but all i got was "dyno reads low" and you walked away. atleast offer to data log the car man wtf?

that being said, i didn't want this post to become a shit slinging contest.

bottom line, my car was tuned at topspeed, didn't like the results and topspeed fixed the car. topspeed has my repeat business and i would recommend that shop to anyone.

 

whistle flutter was just waste gate (never paid it much attention before, one of those once you start listening for things you start to hear them deals)

 

Locked at the request of the OP. Just to re-iterate, this is a post praising Doug for excellent customer service not bashing SS.