twonb1

I must start off by saying this is my friends review, but i was there to watch everthing unfold.

Let me just say that the owner of the shop seemed like he wanted to fix this but the tuner was not. As well as I wasnt happy at all with this tune (not using it anymore). I would never use this company again and I hope that nobody else has an experience like mine. PICS BELOW

Brief run down on car
06 wrx sti drivetrain
Aem em/custom wiring harness from mptuning
35r/built motor

Ok so my normal tuner doug has been slammed so I decided to try a tuner closer to my location in fl and found Japtrix. So I called them after researching them online on 10-29-10 and talk someone there who says he tunes his own car using an aem and he will be my tuner. So I set up a date for 11-1-10 (last monday).

Well we get there monday and get on the dyno and the guys at japtrix sync the timing on the aem with car and look at my current map (pics below) and they tell me my tune (i used a baseline tune to create mine) is all over the place. Ok so at this point I am happy to know they seem to know whats going on.

Well the first hard pull they make on their dyno is 405 whp at wg boost which is 17.4 ish psi. Well, the tuner works for hours to smooth out the fuel map and add timing and power never goes up from there. He then adds boost with my bc and tries to make another pull and the car loses power and he tells me I am out of fuel pump at 18 psi (walbro 255). Well the last tune I was at 24 psi with the same fp and without the aeromotive fpr I currently use. So long story short I stay at 18 psi and they tell me I am out of fuel pump.

So, i figure ok this dyno reads crazy low possibly, and rule it out. Then while the tuner puts a few more touches on the drivability tuning he has the car in the upper gears making slow long pulls id say between 2000-4500 rshared_pm I assume to smooth out the mapping. Well the car is in a non well ventilated area and its hot out obviously and there is three fans on it but obviously they cant keep up and after him working on the mapping for upwards of an hour I decide to ask him how is going and take a look in the car to see my defi WATER TEMP gauge pegged out at 230 degrees and my stock temp gauge one line from the top. I peak at the aem at its showing 220 and I mention the car getting hot and he says he is keeping an eye on it! WOW.

Well so the car comes off the dyno and instead of asking me to ride along on the first ride he takes off and when he arrives he goes into the office and gets the owner of the shop who is also a tuner (seems very knowledgable) and they are going to go for a ride but I jump i and say hey I want to go as well. On the ride they tell me my wideband is reading off and at wot mine is seeing 13.3 afr's while they say their dyno reads correctly. It is very possible mine could be off being I use it daily but I can say the car doesnt seem happy to me when the wideband says lean!

Well on the way home the car knocks at steady throttle in 6 gear on the highway and after 20 miles I pull over and put my map back on it! The car would barely idle as well and definitely left with less power than it arrived with and my tune knocked way less! I would never use them again as well as I paid 515 for the tune and now im using my tune again!

SO
-tune knocked on the way home
-barely idled if say turning and clutch is pushed in (load from power steering)
-tried to get them to make it right (half reimbursement/store credit)
-went back to my stock tune and wideband reads correctly/no knock at steady throttle
-then today the tuner tells me IF I POST HE WILL SUE ME FOR SLANDER LOL-
car ran at 220+ degrees water temp on their dyno for at least 30 minutes that I know of (could possibly need head gaskets but seems ok so far)
-they tell me at 18 psi my fuel pump is running lean up top and is out of fuel
-my tune def made more power and knocked less
-the car runs like a healthy stage 2 sti! feels slooooow with their tune!

Pics of the maps can be viewed here Visit to JAPTRIX/Bad BAD! - NASIOC

I have had a few months of messing with this aem so I thought for sure his tune would blow mine away but it definitely does not as well as mine is def way stronger and seem safer knock wise than his.

ANyway lesson learned and hope nobody else has such a bad experience. As well as I would like to say the owner of the shop and the person that seems to do all the tunes is respectful and probably very knowledgable but the person who tuned my car but works there and is not the owner def should not be tuning cars. I will def be using doug even if it means a 5 month wait!