elitist

I know CFT is in the Orlando area but alot of people still go there. Anyways here is my story. So I decided to go up there just to get a fuel pressure guage I needed. I'm talking to the guy and he seems to know his stuff so he convenses me to let them tune it. I am on AEM EMS and they have their little AEM certified stuff hanging on the walls. So we pull the car on the dyno and Omar, one of the tuners hops in the car and starts working on it. Well it was late in the day and Omar did what he could on a short time frame and got the car at least running better. So he tells me to come back a couple days later and HE will take care of things. So we set up an appointment for that Saturday. Anyways I show up Saturday ON TIME and haveto wait around 2 HOURS for them to get to me. Omar was sitting in an Evo working on it so I walk up to him and start talking to him, he then procedes to tell me that he cant do it that day because he has other things he has to do (REMEMBER I MADE AN APPOINTMENT). I live about half an hour from CFT and its not a fun drive in a half tuned car. So anyways then another one of their tuners who I actually never caught his name (some big fat ass) says he is gonna tune it. So me not knowing either of them that great just assuming he knows what he i doing lets him. He works on it a little bit, manifold and turbo turn cherry red on the dyno and the dip stick keeps blowing out. So I take him to the side and tell him this is my DD, I'm not looking for crazy power just want it to be tuned conservatively, yet still be fun. He hops in the car again and works some more, then he would take a break and be gone for half an hour, work for 20 minutes, gone for half an hour. This continues for a while then he tells me that he is don, yet the car was still making shitty power, etc etc etc. So some guy pulls up with a Miata and he tells me we have to take my car off the dyno because the Miata has to go on. So I'm like whoaaaa I paid for a full tune, this is a half ass tune. He BSes his way through stuff so I'm pissed at this point and so I figure I'll drive the car and see how it drives. Everytime I came to a stop the car stalls, it didnt wanna stay running at idle, had NO power down low (Im only running a T28 I should have all the power in the world down low). So at this point I go back and they just BS me so I leave pissed off and will never go back. I actually had to take the shit dyno tune they did, erase it, pull my 880's out and throw my stock 370's back in and tune it myself. I know nothing about tuning and the car runs better on my tune and has a better A/F ratio than their "professional" tune. Yea so CFT is a no no for tuning.

95dc2teg

i wouldnt deal with them again either. They charged about 250 to install my injectors and walbro pump a while ago. I would have done it myself if i knew it was going to be that much. They then proceeded to tune my car and the numbers came out to 270whp and 210tq i told them i wanted a little over 300whp. they BS'ed me saying that since its a mustang dyno they would multiply my 270 by 1.16 or some shit to come out to 313. Anyways right after my car was tuned my gf's gsr with skunk2 stage two cams was next. Her car was definately not running right and smoking like crazy! i should have known then that it shouldnt have even been put on the dyno, but i was stupid back then and let them "tune" it. it made a measly 158whp whcih they also said to multiply by 1.16 to come to 183whp. Her car was definately not making that and was smoking like mad, burning oil. They should not have "tuned" and charged her 400 dollars for a car with a motor that was hurt. Either way i would never go back there again. Live and learn i guess. John Vega at phearable.net ftw!

k20tek

I made an appointment for a semi build d16 :
pistons rods bearings head gasket valves springs retainers cam cam gear skunk intake manifold 50 trim turbo kit s300 3 bar 660cc walbro 255

we drove 3 hours to get there and they said rolo wasnt there and they said this other guy can tune it. omar so we said ok because we werent going to drive back 3 hours untuned.

the car was on the dyno for 6 hours, they ran into a few minor problem such has boost leaks but it shouldnt have taken 6 hours. they would do 1 pull and then take a break. in the end they made 240 whp @ 18 psi which is crap.

cft ftl

XNoLuV4DeMhoEZzX

I would like to add some opinions on my experience with CFT.

I often shop around for quality shops around town (ORLANDO). I drive a Lexus GS and have big plans for the car.

I decided that i would do a minor upgrade to my fuel pump and test out what CFT has to offer. I went in with my complete fuel pump assembly inhand out of my lexus. I asked for a WALBRO fuel pump for my car and they said that they do have one for $115. Which i thought wasnt that good of a deal but decent ( ALL VERSION MOTORING has them for $80). I asked them that if the pump fails on me apon install, can i bring it back for another one. I have experienced aftermarket parts that are fualty out of the box. They told me that i would have to mail it to Walbro becuase they will not take it back. It bothered me a little that they said that but i decided that i try to build a friendly relationship with the staff and went ahead with the purchase. I often as questions when im out at a shop to see what they know and how much they are willing to help.

The first flaw i encountered... i asked if they can test my CURRENT BOSCH fuel pump to see if it is still working. There was two guys in the office at the moment, the owner and they BIG guy that RB240MIKE spoke about that half-assly tuned his car. Well, they replied to my question: There is no way for us to test a fuel pump without dropping it into the car and see if it pumps fuel. I right away thought to myself... they guys dont know what they are talking about, you can test to see if the pump is running by simply giving it power ( - & + ). but i also thought, they problably only work in the office and dont know much about cars. sooo i'll let it slide......

And then i asked them can they install the NEW Walbro pump into the assemply becuase i didnt want to damage any sensors on the assembly. The BIGGG guy took the assembly without any hessitation to the back outside of the shop. To me that means they will install the pump to help complete a sale. I was fine with it becuase it gives me another chance to meet the technicians that actually does the work. I follow the BIG dude and watched.... To my surprise, the BIG guy started to dis-assemble my unit. i was going to suggest that a technician do it, but i didnt want to insult nor be rude, so i left him continue. Here is where the 2nd FLAW happened... they owner came to me and told me that they dont have the Walbro pump instock, so they will have one delivered soon. i wanted to pick my stuff up and leave at this point but my assembly is in peices ... so i decided to wait the 10minutes that they promised for delivery. however, after 30minutes the pump finally arrives... i watched them do a complete tune session to a Silver MIATA while i waited. thats to show how long i waited just for a pump. i know they lied about it so i can stay to complete the purchase.

When the pump arrived, the BIG guy installed it and handed it off to the owner. I went in and tried to politely bargin with them considering i waited for soo long and was patient the whole time. They luaghed in my face and insisted that I will be charged for the "LABOR" which the BIG dude did for me. I thought they were kidding... so i gave a faint luagh in attempt to a "Cool" customer. It turns out they were SERIOUS... i was told a $30 Labor Fee is being added to my total sale. This is when i became upset but yet still kept my coool. I replied with, "Oh come on guys... i waited all this time for the pump and it only took about 5 mins for him to install it." They didnt care and decided that i owe $20 instead just to get me out of the shop. So i was like ... FINE ring me up! My blood was boiling at this point....

i can NOT beleive that they are charging me a FEE that they NEVER informed me of until it was DONE! $20 for a 5minute job. Its really not about the money, its really about the concept of charging someone without informing them before hand. Me and my buddy, who was with me, couldnt believe this was happening. So i just paid and left with an un-happy look on my face!

This is when things got worst for me... when i got back home to install the pump assembly, the car wouldnt run. I began to do all sort of diagnosis to find the issue but after 2days had no luck what so ever. I NEVER thought that the actual pump was the ISSUE becuase a SO-CALLED professional (BIG DUDE) installed it. Anyone would expect that a simple fuel pump would be correctly installed, especailly by a professional shop.

I had no choice but to tow my car to a trusted shop across town to find the problem. I paid $90 for the tow and $75 for a diagnosistic. They found out that the FUEL PUMP wasnt correctly installed into the assembly. The power/harness plug that goes into the pump doesnt fit. So basically the pump wasnt compatible with my harness. they took it out and showed it to me. I thought to myself.. dang, even a kid would know that this doesnt plug in!

I was soo upset at this point that i wanted to remove the pump and put back my old one and return the WALBRO and get my money back. But i didnt want to deal with CFT's BULLLSH*T anymore so i stuck with it and accepted that the fact that i got played.

Sorry if my review on CFT was sooo long... BUT i feel its worth my time to tell others about the shop so they can stay away, as i will. They screwed up on a simple install and can you imagine the chance of them screwing up on you after a full engine rebuild??? Luckly i only spent a SMALL about ($290) to learn that CFT is full of SH*T! lesson learned.......

I will take any FLAME for this post. I know that what i stated above is 110% correct. Face it.... THE TRUTH is THE TRUTH.... IT IS WAT IT IS!

elitist

Yep you nailed CFT right on.

IDK if I added this or not (don't feel like reading through my intire post again)

but a month after CFT tuned my semi built motor on only 14lbs of boost because they couldnt figure out how to work my avcr the motor blew. Coincidence? I think not.

Racer_Jim

FWIW, this was back in 2005 (oh my time's flying by).
Brought my one of a kind AWD turbo Storm there to CFT to be tuned, since I was told Rolo was awesome with a haltech, and came recommended by a few isuzu people.
So I get there and he starts tuning away for a couple hours. Mind you I asked him to be conservative, I live in Sarasota. After about 5 pulls he finished tuning and the highest HP pull we get on my t3/4 turbo at 20psi is 220 hp... Piss poor I thought, but the fun hadn't even started yet. So Rolo decided he's going to go take my car out on the street to make sure its running ok. BOOM! Blows the engine up. Tells me he thinks the timing belt blew. It's not, its his tuning mistakes that were only present under street load.
Now I take some of the blame, the exhaust side of the turbo and the downpipe were both way too small and likely elevated EGT's. But I have gauges for that which I thought he would be watching as he tuned. So I tow the car back to a friends house and have to get my dad to rent a trailer to bring it back to Sarasota. Plus Rolo still charged me ($150 I believe).
End result was one huge broken ring land on #4 piston, bent valves, broken spark plugs embedded in the head and 3 out of 4 pistons, and a car that's been down nearly forever.
I'll stick to tuning myself.

mobeious

i actually lost power in my GTI when i went there for a tune .. i was runnin on APR then they talked me into Micro... ended up loosing 30whp said that they were not specialized in VW.... why didnt they tell me that in the first place