LS tuning options in Calgary?

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

What are my options for LS tuning locally? Rev’d is booking quite far out as they are still waiting for their new dyno to show up. Just a naturally aspirated LS6 to tune.

[Skrilla]

Is Davenport still the big Corvette/LS guys?

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Is Davenport still the big Corvette/LS guys?

I think so however they might be very expensive.

[Skrilla]

Yea I have no experience with them, just know a few guys with bolt on Z06's tuned by them. Sorry not much help, but nice car! C5 is my all time fav vette gen.

[s dime]

How about that Dario character, or does he just to turbo stuff? Infamous racecraft on FB IIRC.

[A790]

Toma?

[ercchry]

vex did that crazy LS powered superlite

[HiTempguy1]

If you don't mind coming to Red Deer, Adam @ AFR Autoworks is the bees knees.

[Sentry]

vex did that crazy LS powered superlite
That was on Haltech, but we also tuned a supercharged C6 Vette last summer that was on factory ECU.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Is Toma still around? Vex is an option too I suppose. Possibly even AFR, my only issue is week days make that much more difficult.

[Sentry]

Toma still owns a dyno but has moved out to an acreage, kinda just does it for buddies nowadays

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Toma still owns a dyno but has moved out to an acreage, kinda just does it for buddies nowadays

That’s kind of what I thought. I just want to get it done, I was planning to do it myself but between buying HP Tuners, a laptop, and a wideband I’ll be $2k deep.

[HiTempguy1]

Is Toma still around? Vex is an option too I suppose. Possibly even AFR, my only issue is week days make that much more difficult.

I mean, I won't speak for them, but I think they can be pretty flexible at AFR. I've definitely seen them do dyno tuning on the weekend, so not outside the realm of possibility. Its not too crazy to tune a N/A LSx engine.

Toma is doing tuning out of Chestermere or something now? Last time I dealt with him, I think he was doing work out of Dario's shop. I deal with too many people and everything constantly changes with tuners and their locations, makes my head spin.

I didn't realize Vex dealt with many domestics now (besides, you know, the stuff they do for fun) probably be the best choice overall.

[04Terminator]

How about that Dario character, or does he just to turbo stuff? Infamous racecraft on FB IIRC.

I've been a critic of Canadian tuners forever since they generally suck and were blowing up GTR's trying to learn. We started using American remote tuners, or going to Washington and Seattle and flying in Strader. My GTR now has a Motec and custom firmware from Shane T (but you clearly can't afford that).

But Dario has done work for a couple of my friends and they are generally happy, and his cars are all over US media. He just bought a dyno, but I heard he was going down to LS Fest to win the burnout contest in his Mini, so you maybe waiting.

Think about this. The other "tune anything" bozos around here are charging $1000+ for tunes. You can get an American professional that only tunes one platform day in and day out to remote tune it for less.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Davenport is $900 and about a month out.

[Tony2]

I would pay Davenpot to do it, they are always stacked multiple deep on these tunes (with cars with various configurations) and are good at it, why chance it with someone that it is a hobby for or has done 2 in the past? Too risky in my opinion if not done properly.

[chrenan]

There's lots of Davenport tuned Corvettes and Camaros on the road course at Castrol when I'm there, never seen any have an issue.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I was about to book with Davenport but decided to just check with Vex first since they’ve done good work for me in the past as well.

[90_Shelby]

Agreed. A skim through their pictures on facebook shows the massive quantity of modified vehicles that roll through their doors. Some will argue that shop "ABC" will get more power then Davenport on a tune, but I'd rather be a bit more conservative and reliable personally.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Agreed. A skim through their pictures on facebook shows the massive quantity of modified vehicles that roll through their doors. Some will argue that shop "ABC" will get more power then Davenport on a tune, but I'd rather be a bit more conservative and reliable personally.

Valid point. I’m not overly worried about peak numbers, but I’d like it to run reliably hopefully without and glitches that cost me time and or money we well. I’m certainly not pushing the power envelope but my goal was to hopefully make 400/400.

I’m considering adding heads, intake manifold and throttle body next winter we well.

[90_Shelby]

What mods have you done currently? I'm wondering if a tune now is worth the money or if you're better off waiting until you do the rest on your mod list.

[HiTempguy1]

What mods have you done currently? I'm wondering if a tune now is worth the money or if you're better off waiting until you do the rest on your mod list.

I am starting to wonder why bother with a custom tune.

Even with mods, the things he wants to do are super standard and have been done a million times. Any shop charging $1,000 for a tune on that thing is spending 15 minutes loading a tune they already have and then spending the rest of the day "testing" it.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

228/232 0.600 cam with new pushrods, timing gear, BTR trunnions etc. Intake, long tube headers, exhaust, 4.10 gears. Various other stuff that doesn’t really affect tuning.

[legendboy]

One more for Dario and Toma hands down. Toma is a tuning wizard. How many cars have we tuned with him O great one? 20?

Dario is an extremely amazing mechanic and fabricator. These two guys working together is LS magic.

[90_Shelby]

228/232 0.600 cam with new pushrods, timing gear, BTR trunnions etc. Intake, long tube headers, exhaust, 4.10 gears. Various other stuff that doesn’t really affect tuning.

It's been a long time since my days of wrenching on C5's but I recall getting decent gains from an air intake, headers and a tune. With the addition of gears, like you've done, they were an absolute riot to drive. Regarding the cam, I've been out of the game for too long to know if it's worth it to tune it and what you'd pick up. 30rwhp? Most importantly, I don't think you'll hurt anything without one. I'm sure there are other guys on here that can contribute more on the topic then me.

I will say, this brings back a lot of memories of ripping around in Eisenberg's old C5 Z06 with 675rwhp. This was back in 2004 ish.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I think it’s probably worth tuning. It’s definitely running rich, you can smell all the raw fuel coming out the exhaust especially at idle or after getting on it, and I’ve noticed the fuel economy majorly decline even at an easy cruise speed. I still have two cats in my exhaust as well that I’d like to avoid melting down. Ideally I’d also like to get rid of the SESL that sets at idle because it thinks it’s misfiring.

[90_Shelby]

If it runs like that with the cam, I agree with you.

[mikestypes]

I'm surprised it is driveable with that cam and no tune. Davenport could obviously do it, but even a main order tune would be much better than nothing. I had a Frost tune on my old WS6 that was great (no cam, just bolt ons). https://www.efi-performance.com/product-p/mot_2.htm

There is also Matthew at Tecmotion. He could easily take care of the tune with your mods. Not sure how much he costs.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I'm surprised it is driveable with that cam and no tune. Davenport could obviously do it, but even a main order tune would be much better than nothing. I had a Frost tune on my old WS6 that was great (no cam, just bolt ons). https://www.efi-performance.com/product-p/mot_2.htm

There is also Matthew at Tecmotion. He could easily take care of the tune with your mods. Not sure how much he costs.

Thanks. Car is actually quite driveable as is, I’m surprised how smooth the low rpm is with this cam, but I definitely want it tuned and optimized before I drive it too much more.

[94boosted]

If local I'd definitely go to Davenport, they've got more LS experience than anyone else in town.

If you're ok with remote tuning I'd recommend a Diablosport inTune with a remote tune by Diablew (https://www.diablewtune.com/) I had the tune on my C6 vette for years and was very happy, also made tweaks as I added mods. Good buddy also has it on his GTO (LS1) and is quite happy.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I’ve never been much of a remote tuning guy. Likely going with Davenport.

[never]

Yours is a manual, right? Doesn’t really matter where you get it tuned, it’ll be fairly straightforward. The 6L80/90 is what was usually an issue.

And if you plan on doing multiple tunes, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get HPT or a handheld. Added benefit is you can log and make tweaks if needed.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Yours is a manual, right? Doesn’t really matter where you get it tuned, it’ll be fairly straightforward. The 6L80/90 is what was usually an issue.

And if you plan on doing multiple tunes, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get HPT or a handheld. Added benefit is you can log and make tweaks if needed.

It’s manual yes. I was just planning for one tune, I don’t drive the car much.

[M.alex]

Davenport has been hit/miss for me for tuning. Sometimes I've had good experiences, other times not so much. For basic/mild builds it's been a good experience. For big/unusual bids it's been negative primarily because it felt like they rushed through my tune and I got the car back half-finished because they didn't like the car (literally was told stuff like 'this car is too loud to work on'). One time they gave me a car back where, at full throttle, the a/f would spike to 15 before coming back to 12.7. Of course most of my experiences go back ~10yrs ago with them so things may have changed.

The last 8yrs Tecmotion - Matthew - has tuned all of cars (mostly LSs) and done a fantastic job, I'd highly recommend him. The only downside is his is a mustang dyno so it rapes you on the power readout. But I'm more concerned about the tune being spot on than what a piece of paper says I make.

[never]

It’s manual yes. I was just planning for one tune, I don’t drive the car much.

I didn’t mean multiple tunes for the current setup, I meant get a tune now and get another tune later when you do heads/etc. For the price of two local tunes, you could have your own stuff, remote tune (which gets tweaked with logs so you get something really dialed), and have money in your pocket.

[never]

The only downside is his is a mustang dyno so it rapes you on the power readout. But I'm more concerned about the tune being spot on than what a piece of paper says I make.

Yeah, people get too worried about power numbers. Relative change is all that matters when tuning the car after mods. And if you want to know what it really makes, just make some passes at the track and see what it MPHs. Have seen some “high” HP cars run some pretty weak MPH.

[04Terminator]

I'm surprised it is driveable with that cam and no tune. Davenport could obviously do it, but even a main order tune would be much better than nothing. I had a Frost tune on my old WS6 that was great (no cam, just bolt ons). https://www.efi-performance.com/product-p/mot_2.htm

There is also Matthew at Tecmotion. He could easily take care of the tune with your mods. Not sure how much he costs.

You see my signature, but notice my handle. That's how I started. No one has destroyed more terminator engines than that guy. It was a running joke.

If I had an LS, I would buy HPtuners and tune it myself. Davenport doesn't tune. They load a mail order map, make 3 pulls, charge you $750 or 900 in your case. They built my Magnusan supercharged Denali about 10 years ago, and told me they "tuned" 8 vehicles per day.

A manual LS will be easy for you. This book is at Mopac and will guide you through it. https://www.amazon.ca/High-Perf-Fuel-Injection-Systems-Banish/ I had to retune the Denail, this book takes you through step by step.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

You see my signature, but notice my handle. That's how I started. No one has destroyed more terminator engines than that guy. It was a running joke.

If I had an LS, I would buy HPtuners and tune it myself. Davenport doesn't tune. They load a mail order map, make 3 pulls, charge you $750 or 900 in your case. They built my Magnusan supercharged Denali about 10 years ago, and told me they "tuned" 8 vehicles per day.

A manual LS will be easy for you. This book is at Mopac and will guide you through it. https://www.amazon.ca/High-Perf-Fuel-Injection-Systems-Banish/ I had to retune the Denail, this book takes you through step by step.

I was originally going to take a stab at it myself with HPTuners but people kept talking me out of it because I don’t have a wideband, just OEM narrowband sensors. I’ve never actually tuned a car personally but I know much of the basics, and have done lots of data logging and driving my dads car around while he road tunes it.

By the time I buy HPTuners, a computer and a wideband that’s about $2000. I could still go that route.

[HiTempguy1]

Hptuners will run on a potato. Grab a $100 laptop off kijiji.

Widebands are $200.

The new communicator is $300usd and I think it comes with some prepaid credits.

A single unlock for a vehicle is $150cad.

So no, its not $2k. And it gives you the ability to fix the stupid bullshit GM does with all of its vehicles.

I have a 6.0L gas 2500hd right now, with 4.10's I'm knocking down 13L/100km on the highway at 110km/h.

Hptuners rewards you for using it. Its also very useful as a diagnostic tool. Your corvette, even with future mods, is about as childs-play for tuning as they come, and the perfect area to start.

My biggest complaint is I'm lazy and don't have time to go for an hour long drive when most vehicles I'm just trying to improve mpg. So I cut the cats off, turn lean burn on above 65mph, and remove all the tq management.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Wow that’s about the same mileage as my unloaded Duramax at that speed.

Looks like I can get a wideband for $266 on Amazon, and it’s $400USD for the basic HPTuners with 2 unlock credits, I was looking at the pro version originally.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I’m just gonna get HP Tuners and DIY. Just trying to see if anyone locally sells it before I order from then directly.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

It's been a long time since my days of wrenching on C5's but I recall getting decent gains from an air intake, headers and a tune. With the addition of gears, like you've done, they were an absolute riot to drive. Regarding the cam, I've been out of the game for too long to know if it's worth it to tune it and what you'd pick up. 30rwhp? Most importantly, I don't think you'll hurt anything without one. I'm sure there are other guys on here that can contribute more on the topic then me.

I will say, this brings back a lot of memories of ripping around in Eisenberg's old C5 Z06 with 675rwhp. This was back in 2004 ish.

Speaking of Steve’s old car, saw this pop up today.

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/lloydminster-ab/2002-chevrolet-corvette-z06/1431776665?utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_ios&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ios_social

[90_Shelby]

Speaking of Steve’s old car, saw this pop up today.

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/lloydminster-ab/2002-chevrolet-corvette-z06/1431776665?utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_ios&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ios_social

Too funny! That’s the car. I know the original engine that I built for it was pulled and sold. I can’t recall the specs of the engine that was put in the car afterwards but it definitely made less power and didn’t have all of the lightweight rotating assembly, valve train etc.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I found a friend with a Laptop and HPTuners who will let me buy the credits and use his. He tuned his own LS2 Corvette with good success, so I will take him up on that soon.

In the meantime I was poking around the car looking for issues as my friend felt I had something causing it to run richer than it should even without a tune and found three potential issues. The first clamp after the MAF was dead loose, one plug wire on the coil pack was only like 7/8 on and I had a leak from one EGR gasket. All potential issues I suppose.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Still working on this turd, my cats are breaking up in my exhaust and rattling around so it’s time to punch those suckers out completely (aftermarket mini cats). Cleaned the air filter yesterday and was surprised to find it was actually quite plugged on the bottom where it draws in most of the air. Also solved a exhaust leak at the H pipe in front of the rear 02 sensors hopefully.

The car seemed noticeably smoother after that, and the sesl even cleared itself which I found odd (P0300 that sets when idling for a while):

[04Terminator]

Still working on this turd, my cats are breaking up in my exhaust and rattling around so it’s time to punch those suckers out completely (aftermarket mini cats). Cleaned the air filter yesterday and was surprised to find it was actually quite plugged on the bottom where it draws in most of the air. Also solved a exhaust leak at the H pipe in front of the rear 02 sensors hopefully.

The car seemed noticeably smoother after that, and the sesl even cleared itself which I found odd (P0300 that sets when idling for a while):

Atta boy!

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I ended up dropping the car this morning for tuning at Davenport. Namala has always been friendly and given me good service and advice despite me not being the wealthiest customer out there. I also removed the cats completely before hand.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Car made 393/378 at Davenport. Driveability is way better below 4000rpm.

[brucebanner]

Car made 393/378 at Davenport. Driveability is way better below 4000rpm.

Fun street car power for sure.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Fun street car power for sure.

Any more and I’m gonna get myself in trouble with the law pretty quick, surprised I haven’t yet.

[Sentry]

Wanna run my mustang?

[90_Shelby]

Car made 393/378 at Davenport. Driveability is way better below 4000rpm.

:clap:

[brucebanner]

Wanna run my mustang?

Both of you come to Castrol Friday, then no one can get into any trouble :angel:

Annnnnnd we can all run, since I'm pretty sure I'm going.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Both of you come to Castrol Friday, then no one can get into any trouble :angel:

Annnnnnd we can all run, since I'm pretty sure I'm going.

Actually might be able to if the weather is nice.

[brucebanner]

As of now, the weather is supposed to hold. I have 0 faith in the forecast though, so who knows what will change between now and then.