Go time!
 

Monday the TBSS goes down for a while for Gerald to do some magic. The following is happening while he has it:

Circle D 3200 RPM stall torque converter
Gerald is building trans
PaceSetter (yeah I know, but they're pretty nice for the $) COATED LT headers and catless Y-pipe.
NGK TR6 plugs with PCMforless custom wires with heat socks
And JP is going to tune her for me.
Hopefully will have my 4" intake with LS7 MAF sensor in by then as well.

Anything else fairly cheap you guys think I should tackle while the trans is out?

a plate system

Don't bash the pacesetters, they look nice. Welds are good and clean, nice clean bends.....not bad for the $ at all.
http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_3006.jpg
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http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_3008.jpg

I'm already close to maxxing out my $$'s for this round of modding. It is coming soon enough! I'm doing my homework on this mod before I pull the trigger. Never had the N2O on any vehicle I've owned. Hell, never driven with N2O, much less designed / hooked up a system. I will research first. But it's coming soon.

Cool deal. Im not expert by any means, but it is a ton of fun. Very addicting.

I can only speak from personal experience, but Pacesetter is garbage. They're cheap for a reason, they look good until holes start popping up around the welds. I'll never run one of their products again.

ive installed probably 10 sets of pacesetters on fbodys and never had a single issue

What he said.

I wish I was that lucky with mine, every set I've had has had the same issues.

Well, for $500 coated versus 1200$+ for Kooks or ARH or something next up the chain, if they pop a whole, I can buy a whole other set and still not be at what Kooks would cost me, so it is what it is. Dyno numbers are the same, and that leaves $$ for other mods, so I pulled the trigger. Finance department (read: wife) has a hold on my wallet, so even springing for this round of stuff was a huge chore.

But, I figured I'd get all these necessary mods out the way, b/c eventually I will work on the motor.

Anybody actually have any experience with JP and tuning? He sounds like he knows what he's doing, but for the money, I could get Alvin at PCMforless to mail me a tune that would be good enough for me to drive up there for a road tune. Including gas I would come out cheaper.........thoughts?

Congrats on the modding Buddy! :cheers

Both Edward and I had Alvin mail us a tune, then we decided we wanted to get dyno tuned, so we went up there. His mail order tune was pretty much right on with the dyno tune. I wouldn't trust anyone else with my truck.

The mod bug has bitten me once again...harder this time...lol. Got an awesome deal on a TVS1900 and heads. Alvin is going to spec a cam for me and tune her when she's done. And of course, gotta get her tranny taken care of to handle it all.

WOW.......very nice. I guess you decided against the Vette then huh?

I don't really ever wanna go FI, but I'm sure once the limits are reached with H/C/I, it's the only way to go....so we'll see.

And after talking with some other trusted friends, I think I'll have Alvin mail me a tune. Then eventually i'll take a trip up there for a road tune. He can't dyno tune me b/c I'm AWD, but I'm sure the road tune will be top notch anyway.

You can't go wrong with Alvin.

Yep, changed my mind on the vette. I decided to keep the money pit TBSS project going. The del Sol is finished, so I had to think of something else to do that didn't include a car payment. May as well make what I've got bought and paid for faster. lol

I dont think Alvin will be cheapier. JP only charges $275 for a tune. Its gonna take you two full tanks of 93 to go there and back. $120 in gas and $100 for a mail order tune. Then you figure in a whole day of your time and Whatever he charges you to dyno tune when you get there. I dont see it being cheapier.

JP does a good job. Bad BOB car is Hauling @ss. He just tune my old gto and it runs like a different car. It ran the same as my best ET in the car and it was 50 degrees hotter outside and they added about 300lbs back to the car.

JP told me $375. And Alvin only charges $50 for mail order........

$375 seemed a little high when I talked to him, but that's what he said for sure.

Not to mention, I could make a weekend out of it if I drove up there. I need a day off anyway.

I thought he charged $275 for a tune. My mistake. When I had my TBSS years ago alvin charged a $100 for a mail order deal.

No problem. Just trying to weigh my options first ya know. I mean, I would love to have someone local tune the truck, that would be very beneficial in the future seeing as though I can't leave this damn thing alone. BUT....Alvin and Kelly have been super to deal with, and even his mail order tunes have been spot-on so far.

Alvin is a good tuner for sure.

same here. he started out with 275 then said 375 later. that is for a street tune i think. seems like a nice guy.

I always heard his mail order tunes were $100 if he emailed it to you but that is just what I was told. There is a big difference between just loading a tune that you already have into a pcm or emailing a tune to someone VS actually tuning it in person. One takes 5 mins and the other takes several hours but is actually tuned for your exact vehicle and not tune a tune from another one with similar mods.
I am not saying Alvin is a bad tuner or bashing him, because he is very good but you can't compare a mail order tune price to someone doing it in person. You also have to consider the future, what if you change something or you always going to drive to NC or mail your pcm back and forth. I see people doing that with the dodge stuff here and there is no way I would have a tuner in another state on something I was always playing with. Either way you cant go wrong, JP or Alvin will both do great jobs.

i believe that having it tuned locally would be the better bet bc if something happened and something was wrong in the tune for some reason then once you find that out with a mail order tune you would have to send it back out to we fixed. it just dont make sence to me to have to send it out vs having it done local even if it was more expensive within reason. JP is a good guy and i believe he is good at what he does. he will work to get it right and stand behind it. good luck with what ever you do

We use Hhp for our tuning and am happy. They too are local. I prefer a local tuner for reasons badbob mentioned. If no good tuner than of course go elsewhere. Just because a tuner sponsors a big messageboard doesn't make them the best option

If we had such great tuners here, why aren't they known on other forums? Legitimate question.

Not 1 person on the corvetteforums has mentioned JP, where as, PCMForLess is talked about.

I'm all for supporting local business, but a handful of reviews from a tuner is not something to boast about. Tuning can fuck up a car badly. That is why I am hesitant.

Looking for advice, not asshole replies.

Mainly because PCMforless has been around for a very long time, and JP hasnt? And what's wrong with a handful of great reviews vs a million reviews and multiple screw-ups? JP is good at what he does, and as mentioned Jeff (HHP) seems to know what he's doing also. And I dont think either are dealers or what not on corvetteforums.

And not being an asshole, but why didn't you take your car to them if theyre spoken of so well?

Not everyone is on forums either.

Not being an ass but the corvette forum is a joke, its run by sponsors. Half the guys on there wouldnt know a good tune from a bad tune anyways. A pretty dyno sheet doesnt equal a good tune. If you pay to be a sponsor then you can get ALL negative posts deleted. So all you will read about is good reviews. If your not a sponsor and someone mentions you and a sponsor complains it will also get deleted. Most forums are like that, so unless JP is a sponsor you probably wont hear about him. Alot of the forums now are so ridiculous priced ($500-1,000+/month) I wouldnt even consider trying to be a new sponsor.
Talk to JP yourself, ask questions, if you like what he says try him, if you dont try someone else. In the end you need to be comfortable with your tuner. He has tuned several pretty fast cars on here and many that arent on forums.

^Thanks for the honest reply. Exactly what I was looking for.

I don't mind working with JP if he is good. I'd like to talk to people that have had tuning experience with him FIRST hand, but it seems few and far between. I'd like to get opinions from the horses mouth, not word of mouth essentially. I am on a few local forums, and I haven't had many people post about first hand experience with JP. And I was just wondering why. Thanks.

Just sent JP an e-mail.

Most of our (HHP) forum presence is centered around the Dodge forums since that is where the companies' main "national" focus is. Specifically, Challenger Talk, LX Forums, etc. Nearly any of the big Dodge,Chrysler forums you will find HHP.

Forums are very expensive and you really have to weigh the benefits.

Alright....I've been bitten. I want to strip the truck down and run for a AWD bolt on record. Neal has inspired me! LOl. Not really, but I think with our weather, this fall, in good DA, I will strip the TBSS down and see what it will do.

Pipe dreams @ 12.56? Or can I do it all bolt on and tuned by Alvin? Even worth caring about?

12.56? I thought tuned only TBSS' were hitting those times.

a 5klb truck need more than a tune to go mid 12's ... stainless works makes good headers .. if i change mine im going kooks ... Alvin is supose to be really good.

I had my 06 mail order tuned soon as it hit 3k miles from vector .. who was #1 back then .. it has abt 95k miles on it now

heads/cam/ yank converter yes 12.50's easy ... but why not put a plate on it ? look thats right $700 for a tune and cold air kit in 06

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l6/tta299/258.jpg

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Yup. That's next on the list is some juice.

Here's a link to the "fastest" thread.

http://www.tbssowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37340

Thought I would get flamed like a mofo for that last one!

Pick truck up Tuesday I think.....can't wait. Gerald had been awesome, can't wait to drive the damn thing!