But you've thrown 1-2k in parts at it. So in reality you could have just dropped it off to Sal or Jim or JJ months ago.

I understand the being miles away part, I've taken my truck to Sals 3 times and I live 5 hours away. The first time taking it there it had a hole in the block. So I had to trailer. The next time I got a ride up and drove it back, the next was a dynotune, the next, another dynotune after some more miles. I've made the trip to NY SEVERAL times, so if you are unhappy driving 5 miles there to drop it off, or even to NJ, or MD I can understand that, but I'm telling you, it'll be worth it once it's fixed.

 

First Rob says this..........

Then Rob says that........

I really think even Rob doesn't know what he's doing

 

Well well well, if it isnt me ole drunken Buddy finding quotes from all over the world and twisting them all up to be even more confusing than me

Lets see,

HELLO yes I do just want the fking truck running right, period end of story.
And I am doing what it takes to do that

and hellz ya I would like nothing better than to drop it off at Sal, Jim or JLP.
but I can only do what I can afford, I didnt re-mortgage the Farm like you did
tuff guy

now read between the lines on your next quote, I said
Ok Gator maybe you do make a good point here
maybe being the key word

Now eww eww can I play too

 

 

Ok, I'd like to make a few comments here, because honestly I think Rob has been doing me more harm lately than good. I am not blaming him, and I definitely don't feel he does it on purpose, but him posting about every little thing makes me look worse and worse whether it has to do with me or not.

First of all, Rob's HP level. Rob is currently making about 450rwhp. Let's look at his "power adding" mods. Throttle body, air kit, upper plenum, ported Eaton or Magnum (he's run both), 9 lb lower, 2.7 upper, long tubes, exhaust. I think that's about it for power making mods. No e-fan, no water pump, no head work, no cams, no heat exchanger, etc etc. As far as I see it, I feel that Rob is making hp that goes with his given mods. Switching from the ported eaton to the magnum moves the powerband around, but still nets the same peak numbers.

Second of all, the tuning. We have spent a lot of time with Rob's truck on the dyno. But each session was with something different on the truck, so we haven't spent 30 dynos trying to get the SAME combo sorted out. Rob had some initial issues with the plasma booster which we eventually got fixed. He also had issues with uneven burning plugs, which we also got fixed going to the 60s. The truck now needs to be retuned properly with the 60s on the dyno. We did it once when Rob first installed them, but I did screw up a little on that session, forgetting Rob had the MAF-X on there. The WOT was tuned fine, but he had some drivability issues. That is what he's been struggling with lately. He's been stopping by here and there, for me to make adjustments, but they are just some quick guess changes. The truck needs to be put on the dyno, and done right, monitoring A/F for not only the WOT stuff, but also the part throttle stuff.

Rob, you need to leave the truck with me for a few days to be done properly. We are obviously getting nowhere with these little guess tweaks. I know you are not happy, but with the path you chose to take with the truck at this time, these are the things that BOTH you and I have to deal with.

 

Sal you are DEF right about me NOT doing ANYTHING that would ever make you look bad, I WOULD NEVER DO THAT. I've said it a million times, You have been nothing but great to me, you have always worked with me and my lack of funds, you've save me money so many times I cant count, and I continue to say you are one of the best engine builders and tuners out there, thats why I picked you

AS for my HP, I have excepted the fact thats all we're getting out of it,
and I'm almost ok with it, the nearly 600 ft lbs of TQ I have more than makes up for it, and the 150 HP of n20 will put me right where I wanted to be anyway, @ 600 HP on race day. Am I little rattled now that we know it's the springs, ya I am. I guess with the largest Race Engine Builder we have in our area doing your machine work, and the fact my heads were taken apart, cleaned up, all new valve guides installed, one would assume if they were weak he would have reported that to you, but he didnt so it's water under the bridge and something you or I did NOT have controll over.

Yes we have made a ton of Dyno pulls, and up to now it actually always ran great, but we were melted plugs left and right, I couldnt even stay WOT for more than a few sec's, there was clearly a problem. The new injectors do seem to have changed that, but we have already cracked 2 plugs on the Dyno with that set up too, so I'm not 100% sure yet, (although the characteristics of the plugs do now look better than ever before)
I mean ya we've made some changes, but not too many, The Mag and Wasp are identicle in peak power, (as you said just moved to a diff spot on the RPM scale), and the tuning for the two are pretty much identicle, so the only real change we made was the injectors.

You know I have an issue of leaving my truck ANYWHERE, you are the only person in this world to have ever touched my truck other than me, and your shop is the only place it's EVER been left without me. Why ?
BECAUSE I TRUST YOU, I have been trying to work these issues out with you since I picked up my truck up back in March or April, I would love nothing more than to leave it, but your always extremly hard to get in touch with,
you always got a ton of work in the shop, and anytime I've asked to leave it, you told me you dont have the room or time. What am I suppose to do ???

My trucks been throwing codes since last Monday and I e-mailed you immediately about it, (you know I never just show up unless you say it's ok)
I never heard back from you, I waited all the way to this Friday, and then I went and spoke to SCT and decided on buying the XCal2, I checked around and found out who has the best pricing, who has them unlocked (so I can at least look and try to start understanding more about tuning) and then all of sudden I here from you yesterday saying you can Dyno it today (meaning yesterday), I wrote you back, I was 100% honest with you, I told you I already ordered it, yet I was still willing to cancel my order so I asked if you can sell me an unlocked XCal2, I told you I could come to your shop late afternoon, and I never heard back from you ???
So late yesterday afternoon, I reinstated my orig order for the XCal2, and here we are

 

Rob

1), its WHALE not WALE
2) I don't go @#$%^& or Woooo-Hoooooo

when I post, but good try!

and lastly, I didn't get quotes from all over the world, just right here in your own thread.

Sal

From an outsider looking in, here's my opinion (Yeah, I know about opinions)
Iam willing to bet that Rob isn't trying to make you look bad. But I think anybody, including yourself, would be so frustrated if it was their truck with all these problems.
I know Rob is a cheap bastard allways trying to do things the cheapest and easiest way. So Iam sure you have gone out of your way to help him.

I know he wanted more hp than he was willing to pay for, Hell, even I probably fall into that category. I haven't talked to Rob lately, but he probably knows by now, that's all the hp (450) he bought for his truck. The rest of the money was for durability.
I just don't understand how you let his truck leave your shop w/ those problems. But listening (Notice I say listening, NOT talking) to him at the track, I can understand why you would want him out of your shop

I only wish you and Rob the best in getting his truck up to speed and the problems worked out.
With all those dyno pulls you have made for him, you mean he's trying new stuff (read......cheaper) every time his truck goes on the dyno?

Once again, best of luck Sal

**EDIT**
I see Rob has posted, I was going to remove my post, but decided to leave it anyway. Still hoping you and Rob get things worked out

 

Well, you are just jumping ahead of yourself again. If you didn't hear back from me right away, you should have called, or just stopped by. It's not like I ever turn you away when you stop by. I would have taken your chip in on trade for an Xcal2 and you would have already had it. I asked you if you could come down yesterday afternoon for a retune, because I had the time available. Obviously it was last minute, and I didn't expect you to drop everything and come down. I just figured I could get you fixed up if you had the time, since I had the time to do it. I try to help you out best I can, but you have to work with me too.

 

Sal is an excellent tuner. I know a friend of mine wanted him to do a Racer Pro tune for him, but Sal has decided not to. Problem for Sal would be you could then see his tune. He doesn't appear to want to share what's taken him years to learn, and I can't say I blame him. There are tuners out there who'd love to see what he's doing to improve their own.

I share what little help I can give, but I do not make my living doing this. It is obviously Sal's decision and I won't answer for him, but my guess is he isn't going to want to do an un-locked tune for anyone, for fear of that getting out to the masses.

Jody

 

Rob....take peoples advice bro. I think you are getting too wrapped up in this. Cut your losses and either park it until you can afford "the little things" (like SPRINGS) or until you feel comfortable dropping it off with Sal, and let him relax and take his time with it. I understand what people are saying about trying someone new, and I really want to tell you to bring it to JDM, as he has never steered me wrong. But the fact is, Sal knows what he is doing. He has bent over backwards for you to help you out with the truck and wallet. I think that would be a slap in the face to him. I too try to squeeze nickels at JDM's, and he knows I don't have unlimited funds, and he hooks me up when he can. In return, I don't hesitate to buy stuff from him (like air filters, shocks, that sort of stuff) that I know I could get cheaper if I shopped around. When I have problems with my truck I drop it off and say work your magic, call me when your done, and it has always come back perfect. Hand your keys to Sal, and tell him to call you later!

 

SAL'S THE MAN

 

I hate to say this BUT I have to agree with Gator when you pay someone to do the work to your truck(Built Motor,Magnum SC ect.) and it started giving you problems not long after delivery then the shop SHOULD drop everything and make it right or at least see if it is their fault or not. Just to be fair to Sal it could not be his fault and I hope it's not and understand he's working his butt off if I had my products and tune on a customers Truck and it was burning plugs something is serious off even the best shop has some come backs it's what they do it fix the problem that makes them a GREAT shop or not. All this comes from 12 years dealing with shops in the selling of High performance Parts. And I feel Sal is legit and will fix the problem this is not a bash fest on Sal just an outside observation.
jeff