My Tuning experience blew my motor and led me to sell my 03 cobra..

[jasil]

That sucks and I'm sorry, but if you knew it was pinging you should have not ever floored the car. I have a hyundai for a daily driver and if I floor it in the heat with 87 it pings, so I don't floor it anymore without 93.

Too much boost and it sounds like you knew something was wrong but kept on driving hard for what it seems like is months and months from you post.

The tuning sucks, but it's like saying my chest hurts, my chest hurts and after 7 months you have a heart attack you knew something was wrong, but chose to ignore it.

 

[Mint Julep]

Not to turn this into a BangFest, but dood you broke your car and it stung you in the wallet.

Although there are no guarantees with survivability of the cobra motors, too many folks are way too eager to start blindly modding with no knowledge - only that they have an idea in their heads of what "numbers" they want their cars to have.

Dyno numbers are only a representation of how the car should behave under "load". Like several members of this board, I've been turning wrenches on cars for 20 years and I too, in my inexperienced days, modded and broke cars more than I'd confess to a mirror in the dark! LOL

Each of us is responsible for what we do to our cars. No one tuner is ever likely to break a car compared with the dangerous ignorant behavior that "mod excitement" generates.

Sorry folks, these cars should not be owned by the mechanically inept or inexperienced. The cobra is a high-strung, high-potential "brick in a big slingshot" car so mods must be carefully planned to work in concert.

And there's no proven recipie for success. Change the pulley and tune and we're all gambling - ultimately our own responsibility.

BangFest over.

Mint

 

[46stang]

If your having pinging issues the last thing you do is add more boost! thats just stupid! 8lb lower and 3.10 upper is way to much pulley/boost for California 91 octane crap gas! jmho. i have had Shawns tune on my 03 cobra since Aug. of 2002! not one problem so far! My car was his first 03 cobra he tuned and it's still running great! 471rwhp 472rwtq! 91 octane and no pinging! He tunes cars not provide miracles!
Leon

 

[VENOM98]

TTT

 

[onerichrunner]

Nice try Aptin..LOL

Originally posted by VENOM98
Its funny how that was left out. So that is why the trade was made? Obviously if the car was running right after the rebuild and Powertrain's tune there was no reason to trade.........HMMMMM.

I'll hit this sickened thread just one time since it appears clear to me Aptins' goal or motivation is to discredit me in some shape, way, or form. I have been tired of hearing your snipes behind my back for some time now and was pleased to watch yourself commit "message board suicide" with this thread. :kaboom:

I learned just 2 days ago from Aptins good friend that his second engine "built by X2C" failed as well. Lets see..:rollseyes whos fault is that one ?? X2C build or Powertrain tune? Since you raved about your super safe tune with Steve it leaves you one place to go. I bet your relatives at X2C are loving you right about now Aptin. I'd highly suggest you put a cap on that can of worms pal before you drag them down with you.

It is nice to see so many rational responses from the other board members here. This one should be cast in stone. :coolman:

Originally posted by Mint Julep
Not to turn this into a BangFest, but dood you broke your car and it stung you in the wallet.

Although there are no guarantees with survivability of the cobra motors, too many folks are way too eager to start blindly modding with no knowledge - only that they have an idea in their heads of what "numbers" they want their cars to have.

Dyno numbers are only a representation of how the car should behave under "load". Like several members of this board, I've been turning wrenches on cars for 20 years and I too, in my inexperienced days, modded and broke cars more than I'd confess to a mirror in the dark! LOL

Each of us is responsible for what we do to our cars. No one tuner is ever likely to break a car compared with the dangerous ignorant behavior that "mod excitement" generates.

Sorry folks, these cars should not be owned by the mechanically inept or inexperienced. The cobra is a high-strung, high-potential "brick in a big slingshot" car so mods must be carefully planned to work in concert.

And there's no proven recipie for success. Change the pulley and tune and we're all gambling - ultimately our own responsibility.

BangFest over.

Mint

We tune between 40-70 cars and trucks every month and have a great customer base. NO vehicles leave in an unsafe tuned condition...EVER. PERIOD. Each customer needs to be a success although I have found we cant be all things for all people and your can lead a horses ass to water but you cant make them drink. Sooner or later you youngsters out there will find out there is more to maintaining a high performance Supercharged car than waving a dyno sheet in the air.

I will not revisit this trolls thread again.

Peace SVT!
Shawn
:coolman:

 

[Quadcammer]

so when you guys pay excessive amounts of money for a tune, and the car pings ON THE WAY HOME, you are happy, its your fault, and you just don't drive it. hmm, if pay 500 for a tune, i don't expect any bit of pinging period. if i **** with it afterwards, then ok, my fault, but if the bitch pings before i do anything, id be pissed.

i would have just never back to the tuner who continually screwed up the tune.

 

[trey193]

U should have left the pulley combo alone at the 507 & 499 mark, 12.3 isnt dangerous I bet that he left all or most of the timing you had when U made your 507 & 499 numbers (upper pulley only i assume) and then U installed the upper lower combo and made crazy boost. I feel bad for ya sounds like something was wrong all along for you to hear that much pinging . Hate to here it!:nonono:

 

[SGL]

Originally posted by quadcammer
so when you guys pay excessive amounts of money for a tune, and the car pings ON THE WAY HOME, you are happy, its your fault, and you just don't drive it. hmm, if pay 500 for a tune, i don't expect any bit of pinging period. if i **** with it afterwards, then ok, my fault, but if the bitch pings before i do anything, id be pissed.

You really don't get it. if it pings go back to the tuner asap! That's as in "immediately" or "in an instant" or "now". Don't drive it around or start "moding" it like a moron. At that power level get a Wideband and a display to monitor the A/F in the car.

That whole story doesn't make any sense.

 

[46stang]

If my car was pinging right after i left a dyno tune i would have turned right back around and had it retuned! A little common sense can go a long way! jmho. Also 12.3 A/F is not dangerous as others have stated!
Leon

 

[cobra101]

I also had a good experience with shaun. I had pinging went I went to him and no pinging when I left. I would of liked a smoother a/f graph like 11.8-12:1 across the board but what ya gonna do. I am still pig rich though up top. Shaun said it was a pain to tune with my Densecharger so we left it rich. here's a link to my a recent dyno.

http://dynoperformance.com/search_details.php?ID=680

I added only a catback since the tune with shaun and it did not change my a/f chart at all. It only gave me 15rwhp/5rwtq but that was compared to a slightly cooler/less humid day. Overall, I am happy but do realize my a/f graph could be better and I could make more power given the mods I have. I may have it retuned one day with shaun or the dyno shop in san diego. I would really like to 11.8-12:1 from 2500-6500rpm.

Bottom line Shaun seems nice enough and knows what he is doing. We all know he could benefit from his own shop with regular hours. And who isn't late here and there ?

 

[Quadcammer]

yes, i would have gone back too, but a good tune doesn't ping in the first place.

if shaun would have done it right it would not have been detonating, period

 

[Lightnin' Larry]

Re: Nice try Aptin..LOL

Originally posted by onerichrunner
I'll hit this sickened thread just one time since it appears clear to me Aptins' goal or motivation is to discredit me in some shape, way, or form. I have been tired of hearing your snipes behind my back for some time now and was pleased to watch yourself commit "message board suicide" with this thread. :kaboom:

I learned just 2 days ago from Aptins good friend that his second engine "built by X2C" failed as well. Lets see..:rollseyes whos fault is that one ?? X2C build or Powertrain tune? Since you raved about your super safe tune with Steve it leaves you one place to go. I bet your relatives at X2C are loving you right about now Aptin. I'd highly suggest you put a cap on that can of worms pal before you drag them down with you.

It is nice to see so many rational responses from the other board members here. This one should be cast in stone. :coolman:


We tune between 40-70 cars and trucks every month and have a great customer base. NO vehicles leave in an unsafe tuned condition...EVER. PERIOD. Each customer needs to be a success although I have found we cant be all things for all people and your can lead a horses ass to water but you cant make them drink. Sooner or later you youngsters out there will find out there is more to maintaining a high performance Supercharged car than waving a dyno sheet in the air.

I will not revisit this trolls thread again.

Peace SVT!
Shawn
:coolman:

I love the tuners way of trying to pass the buck, nice way of trying to discredit the engine builder X2C, I saw his pistons personally along with about 20 other people, last time I checked melted pistons had nothing to do with poor assembly.

 

[LTHL PSI]

Originally posted by quadcammer
yes, i would have gone back too, but a good tune doesn't ping in the first place.

if shaun would have done it right it would not have been detonating, period

A good tuner doesnt let a car that is pinging go...granted a dyno doesnt generate the same load as on the streets..at the same time though everytime after a dyno tune I drive the car around the block or what not to make sure it is fine..then go back and tell the tuner or tooner if everything is well. Also you have to remember some people dont know squat about cars or tunning, so they only go by what the tuner tells them..they trust him, thats the whole point. When something is wrong also, on numerous occasion I have seen Tuners tell customers some mambo jambo technical info that leaves them clueless on what the hell this guy is talking about and just agree with him because they dont know any better, after all they just payed $500 dollars for a tune not $5 for a happy meal.

I am not bashing the Tuner or the Member..because the truth is we dont know what happened..some will automatically jump and defend Shaun Ellis, because he is their tuner and they have a great tune..without realizing they are only 1% of the people he tunes. I have has so many problems with tuners its not even funny, and vendors too. Ordering parts for my new setup has been a nightmare..but we wont even go into that..now I face the dilemma on who is going to tune my car after it is all done..who do you trust...?? I hear horror stories all the time...as a matter of fact I just heard one not long ago from an infamous member:read:

 

[11secCobra]

you said earlier, that the tune was for the 8Lb lower. After it was tuned for the 8lb lower, you then swapped upper pullies to a 3.1, which is good for another 3psi. you cant expect the A/F to be right with 19psi when it was tuned for 15-16. also you have to retard timing with more boost

 

[03miamisnake]

Originally posted by Mint Julep

Sorry folks, these cars should not be owned by the mechanically inept or inexperienced. The cobra is a high-strung, high-potential "brick in a big slingshot" car so mods must be carefully planned to work in concert.

Mint

You mean "should not be WORKED ON by the mechanically inept or inexperienced" right? Otherwise I think Ford might not have sold 25,000 of these $35k Cobras over the last two years if mechanics were the only ones buying them.

 

[Pyro]

Originally posted by LTHL PSI
A good tuner doesnt let a car that is pinging go...granted a dyno doesnt generate the same load as on the streets..at the same time though everytime after a dyno tune I drive the car around the block or what not to make sure it is fine..then go back and tell the tuner or tooner if everything is well. Also you have to remember some people dont know squat about cars or tunning, so they only go by what the tuner tells them..they trust him, thats the whole point. When something is wrong also, on numerous occasion I have seen Tuners tell customers some mambo jambo technical info that leaves them clueless on what the hell this guy is talking about and just agree with him because they dont know any better, after all they just payed $500 dollars for a tune not $5 for a happy meal.

I am not bashing the Tuner or the Member..because the truth is we dont know what happened..some will automatically jump and defend Shaun Ellis, because he is their tuner and they have a great tune..without realizing they are only 1% of the people he tunes. I have has so many problems with tuners its not even funny, and vendors too. Ordering parts for my new setup has been a nightmare..but we wont even go into that..now I face the dilemma on who is going to tune my car after it is all done..who do you trust...?? I hear horror stories all the time...as a matter of fact I just heard one not long ago from an infamous member:read:

I am not "Rushing" to defend Shawn. I'm just sharing my experience. Take it or leave it. The man did nothing but what I asked and paid him to do. I even got a follow up call from him to see how the tune was going. I can't ask for more.

 

[NIELSTTCOBRA]

another vote for shawn... my car has been running super strong and will be going back for the 4th time in 3 months to tune with my new upgrades. he's going to tune in my apten and nos kit with a flip chip instead of my predator.
keep in mind i'm from the s.f. bay area and drive 7 hours to shawn to anaheim. he knows what hes doing.

 

[quick01snake]

Re: Re: Nice try Aptin..LOL

Originally posted by POIZNIS
I love the tuners way of trying to pass the buck, nice way of trying to discredit the engine builder X2C, I saw his pistons personally along with about 20 other people, last time I checked melted pistons had nothing to do with poor assembly.

read a little more carefully...he wasn't bashing X2C, he was being sarcastic saying the owner of the car would blame the engine builder, tuner, etc, everybody but himself....

 

[46stang]

Melted pistons doesn't necessarily mean the tune either! it sounds like this guy had alot of mods. well when your on a dyno it only loads the car for a matter of seconds, but when you get out onto the streets and load the car going threw each gear it can run out of fuel and burn pistons real fast! not saying thats what happened but is a possiblity:??: this would also cause pinging sound as well so?
Leon
P.S. MM&FF just did a rebuild recently on the Fridge (5.4 lightning) because it threw a rod out of the block from running lean down the 1/4 mile! had a faulty sec. fuel relay! just an fyi.

 

[ghostrydyr]

Bottom line

is that you don't get greedy with the Heaton!! Ported or not! Doesn't matter how safe the tune is, the Eaton will heat up fast if over spun.