Tuning in SoCal

[ProchargedSN-95]

Lol @ all these nutswingers saying he isn't that type of guy, yeah I'm remember him saying on fb that loose k member bolts and loose pinch bolt on the steering shaft are OK if the car is towed out. Just like I'm sure he was OK reusing all the original Eaton intercooler gaskets with gobs of silicone too when he was given new ones to install.

Yeah 2 sides to every story but pictures and parts don't lie guys. But please keep on nutswinging grabbing for anything you can make up in your little heads, its very comical too see.

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

You guys posting all these cars with great tunes me and what exactly? mmr has records they have beaten and I'm sure a long line of happy customers with amazing power and engines but that's not why they have a bad rep it's how they handle situations when things go wrong. Now it's true there are 2 sides to every story but u can't just say the man is wrong just because u haven't had a bad experience. I for one can say that carbon Drifter is a cool guy and a stand up business man and I seen his car and some of the pics and I believe him. It's hard to lie with pics

Exactly pictures don't don't lie. But I'm sure they'll make up some BS lol!

 

[Black Stang 97]

Another unhappy RET customer here. Took my car to him for a dyno tune and after he was "done", my car wouldnt rev past 5k rpm. It seemed like it would "hit" the rev limiter right at 5k rpm. He gave me an excuse that it was either bad plugs or wires and suggested I replace them and then call him back so he can finish the tune. After multiple calls and emails, he wouldnt call me back or responding to my emails.

Took my car to another tuner and he had no problem tuning my car.

His crappy tune is still in my handheld tuner. He is welcome to take a look again but I'm not paying him another penny.

 

[99MystiC]

You know its hard to blame RET when the car was towed to another shop and they worked on it before GTR.
Stage 3 was it.

As for the not going past 5K did u end up changing the plugs or wires or anything? Also almost sounds like the rpm limiter was on in the tuner. Could just load his tune back in and find the RPM limiter and see if its on.

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

You know its hard to blame RET when the car was towed to another shop and they worked on it before GTR.
Stage 3 was it.

As for the not going past 5K did u end up changing the plugs or wires or anything? Also almost sounds like the rpm limiter was on in the tuner. Could just load his tune back in and find the RPM limiter and see if its on.

Your post is invalid. Stage 3 never touched his Eaton or his k me member. They fixed the broken cam bolt that retards messed up. Nice try but keep on grabbing for straws buddy.

 

[99cobra09]

Lol @ all these nutswingers saying he isn't that type of guy, yeah I'm remember him saying on fb that loose k member bolts and loose pinch bolt on the steering shaft are OK if the car is towed out. Just like I'm sure he was OK reusing all the original Eaton intercooler gaskets with gobs of silicone too when he was given new ones to install.

Yeah 2 sides to every story but pictures and parts don't lie guys. But please keep on nutswinging grabbing for anything you can make up in your little heads, its very comical too see.

Talking about nutswingers..lol.. you do the same for kurgan. When has GTR ever built a race car, none that I have ever seen. Ret has cars featured in magazines, not saying gtr hasn't,but I never seen a purposely built race car been featured. I personally think gtr is more of generic shop whereas ret is more technically advanced. I have also heard of horror stories or issues that couldnt be fixed by gtr and ret took care of the issues.

 

[lguizar12]

only tuner i go to is greg @ ret. I have been going there since 2008 without an issue EVER. He is a stand up guy and in MY experience with him I have nothing but great things to say about him. I was probably his first e85 cobra he tuned and it ran perfect!

 

[laruei]

Alright let me throw my 2 cents in here....

Seems like a lot of people get really worked up about tuners... and for good reason right? I mean they tune our babies and their work is what keeps our engines alive. It’s an important job and not one to be taken lightly.

Having said that... Everyone has an opinion... My opinion is.. If GAS (galpin auto sales) takes their cars to Greg, that says something. Every time I have been to Greg's he has a parking lot full of cars and cars parked on the inside... The guy is obviously doing SOMETHING right to have all this business.

My own personal experience with him and his shop... he's always done right by me. I started going to him when I swapped to a ported blower. That was like 4 years ago... I have gotten more tunes from his shop then I care to mention from me just changing things. Also he remembered my name after my first visit.. which may sound like a small thing... but I have never spent over $500 at his place at once (way more if you add all my trips up.. but not the point) and I challenge you to go to specialty shops who see hundreds of thousands of car bro's who ask probably the same question over and over and over and see how often they remember your name... I have also personally seen him tune 5 other friends Cobra's to perfection and they have NEVER (literally not a single one that was tune related) had an issue... All from stock eaton, pullied, home ported blower, to KB's to Whipples. He's probably seen whatever you're going to bring him. When and if there is an issue on the dyno he's there to lend a hand with an idea of what to look at. However, I think that over the years he has seen a lot of people screw shit up trying to find a quick fix on their broken cars and he would prefer to not be apart of that for liability reasons. It also seems to me like a lot of these "engine" issues stem from whole builds or rebuilds. He's not an engine builder as stipulated.... If my car shits the bed in any form anywhere... He's not the first guy I'm going to call. He will be the last guy I call when I get it all rebuilt if I need a retune. If it breaks on dyno... well whoever built my engine screwed something up or my engine was just tired. When I drive onto a dyno, I hope not but do understand a break CAN happen. Dyno's are REALLY hard on cars... I’m not sure how many people understand that... Its maximum resistance (within reason) so that when you're on the street under regular too harsh circumstances... The tune can compensate for it...

OP you can literally do what you want. Just make sure when you take your car for a TUNE, that it’s ready for a TUNE. Don't take your tuner a halfcocked, taped and bubblegumed together ride and hope he can or will fix it on the dyno and not charge you or it will "just work".... Cars are a complex thing, make sure your ducks are lined up... Because things that can go wrong, usually will. For that reason every time I take my car somewhere I make sure it’s in the best shape I can get it. And if I can’t get it any better I will make sure my tuner knows what's going on with it before he touches it... You wouldn't go into surgery with your doctor without telling him your other issues would you?

In closing, there is hate on a lot of shops (too much really... to the point for a newcomer it must seem impossible to pick a reputable one to go with. Thus this thread), it’s unfortunate but it happens. I can guarantee whatever food places you eat at.. Someone has had a bad experience.. Yet you chalk it up to a single oops that may have had circumstances beyond their control. I think that's the case here with some of these complaints... I will never take my car anywhere but to Greg for a tune... and not just because I have been there before. I literally could not think of a single thing (besides it being free) that could be better than the service I have received from RET.

And yes, that makes me a nutswinger.. Funny how others nutswing on stuff they like.. But when someone does it to things they don't its negative and called out?

 

[Black Stang 97]

As for the not going past 5K did u end up changing the plugs or wires or anything? Also almost sounds like the rpm limiter was on in the tuner. Could just load his tune back in and find the RPM limiter and see if its on.

Yup, plugs were gapped to 0.32 and replaced as well as new wires. Made no difference. I've gone thru my tuner and his tune is locked from any changes. If it was something that simple, I would hope Greg could have figured it out during the dyno.

 

[rattlesnake3:16]

talking about nutswingers..lol.. You do the same for kurgan. When has gtr ever built a race car, none that i have ever seen. Ret has cars featured in magazines, not saying gtr hasn't,but i never seen a purposely built race car been featured. I personally think gtr is more of generic shop whereas ret is more technically advanced. I have also heard of horror stories or issues that couldnt be fixed by gtr and ret took care of the issues.

nm

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

Talking about nutswingers..lol.. you do the same for kurgan. When has GTR ever built a race car, none that I have ever seen. Ret has cars featured in magazines, not saying gtr hasn't,but I never seen a purposely built race car been featured. I personally think gtr is more of generic shop whereas ret is more technically advanced. I have also heard of horror stories or issues that couldnt be fixed by gtr and ret took care of the issues.

Yeah how is that purposely built race car working out for them by the way? Blown up twice and hasn't even made it to the trailer to go to the track yet huh? Lol! Maybe its karma lol!

They have no need to build a crazy shop race car. Besides the personal cars they have a simple 95 cobra open track car that gets the job done pulling in more than customers from track events. No need to do much more than that since their shop is always full.

Yeah they like simple stuff but will do custom/technical stuff when needed. I on the other hand am the one that gets into the more technical and custom fab, my car and work speak for itself.

 

[laruei]

^Let me ask you a question....

At this point.. what exactly are you trying to prove?

That your opinion is better then anyone else's? Or that the shop is better? Because those are the same things. You're just in here chest pounding when someone doesn't agree with you. Speak your peace and let it ride man... Let people make their decisions, bullying someone into going with GTR doesn't seem like the way I would want business if I were GTR...

 

[Ray Lucca]

Wow, lots of animosity here. I'm on my 3rd SVT Ford and do trust Greg at RET. I've had nothing but good experiences there, including your car Peetie. Having said that Bob Kurgan is also very highly regarded, and if you can get an Appt. when he comes out, it's a terrific option. Steve at Powertrain Dynamics in Hunt. Beach is also very good and knows the particular car. Can't go wrong with any of the 3... A Cold-air, Pulley, Idler, Tuner/ Tune is an easy up-grade on the Terminator, should make around 450 Rwhp. Make sure the Plugs are new and gapped properly, the Fuel Filter is new, and the IC pump is working properly. Good luck...

 

[vrt03cobra]

Thanks Bryan for asking in a reasonable manor. Sure i can honestly answer that.

Its a long story but to summarize: it was an eaton swap with a forged shortblock. I paid for additional parts through ed that i didnt have or needed and when greg had time to get back on it when we had parts work would get done on it. Parts from ed were paid directly to him as thats how they do things there with 2 businesses sharing one shop.

Ed had a guy weld me eatons silencer holes up and said it wouldnt cause any damage but it did. We found out and ed n i worked out a compromise which i felt bad for ed to buy me a new posi ported polished sc. Im not an ass customer n felt bad for ed truely.

After that which took 6 months to work out n get a new non ported sc we got back on track.

He got it running but needed a clutch quadrant so i bought one throught ed. They instslled it n the next morning i get a call from greg that when "pulling it out of the shop he heard a noise". It was the cam bolt broken throught the valve cover. He told me it would be $1,000 in labor n to bring him all new parts or i needed to come pick it up that day or it was going out in the street.

Thats not cool or legal or ethical.

He never said sorry for breaking it and very doubtful that it broke like that. Either he was pushing it having fun test driving it or ???

If he would have said he will meet me half way even it all could have been worked out. Im a reasonable guy but i wont stand for being ripped off n taken advantage of. So now we will be going to court

Robert, you're leaving stuff out. Either way good luck to you in court, we'll just end it there.

Lol @ all these nutswingers saying he isn't that type of guy, yeah I'm remember him saying on fb that loose k member bolts and loose pinch bolt on the steering shaft are OK if the car is towed out. Just like I'm sure he was OK reusing all the original Eaton intercooler gaskets with gobs of silicone too when he was given new ones to install.

Yeah 2 sides to every story but pictures and parts don't lie guys. But please keep on nutswinging grabbing for anything you can make up in your little heads, its very comical too see.

You'd be the one to talk about nutswingers right? Kurgens balls are soar from you swinging from them 24/7. You talk a lot of shit and like to come up with different things to say against RET, go take a picture of a car with a flat on the side of the freeway and blame it on Greg to while you're at it. You're lame bro, sorry to say it but you're really lame.

 

[01yellercobra]

Yeah how is that purposely built race car working out for them by the way? Blown up twice and hasn't even made it to the trailer to go to the track yet huh? Lol! Maybe its karma lol!

They have no need to build a crazy shop race car. Besides the personal cars they have a simple 95 cobra open track car that gets the job done pulling in more than customers from track events. No need to do much more than that since the shop is always full.

Yeah they like simple stuff but will do custom/technical stuff when needed. I on the other hand am the one that gets into the more technical and custom fab, my car and work speak for itself.

Do you still work at GTR?

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

^Let me ask you a question....

At this point.. what exactly are you trying to prove?

That your opinion is better then anyone else's? Or that the shop is better? Because those are the same things. You're just in here chest pounding when someone doesn't agree with you. Speak your peace and let it ride man... Let people make their decisions, bullying someone into going with GTR doesn't seem like the way I would want business if I were GTR...

Hold up before you start making up be like your last post first off I believe he asked me a few questions as to why they have a crazy shop car and where is GTR's did he not? I answered it. By explaining what car(95 cobra) they have and what car I have. That's all so before you start putting words in my mouth please go back and read carefully before you post so bs again please. Thank you.

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

I believe this was all about customer service. Now all you guys crying about it saying he wouldn't do that and he is better than that need to suck it up and accept it for what it is. You do people over wrong word will get out. Like we were saying before its how well a shop handles a bad situation they caused is what defines them as who they are and what they are about. I'm sorry just because you have a few cool cars that make HP doesn't make you the BEST. You wanna be the best take care of your customers and your own mistakes. Sweeping it under the rug won't get rid of the issue for long. Somebody will uncover it eventually.

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

Do you still work at GTR?

Nope I work for the city. But I know the guys at gtr well obviously.

 

[quicksilverdc]

Another happy customer of RET. I've owned my cobra for about 7 years I went to Greg because I wasn't happy with a local SD shop. Best decision I've could have made car has always run strong and is well known down here in SD for power and reliability. Car makes 600 on pump and 670 on e85.

 

[stangfreak03GT]

Thank you sir!!!
To add to this, Im sure most ppl have seen Stangfreak on here. He also has a stock long block GT with a kenne bell. Ask him who tuned him and how longs hes been running it. It runs low 11s and i think 7.00 in 1/8th.

And still running strong on Greg's E85 tune! I have a box full of time slips over the last 6 years, same stock block same GREAT RET tune!!!