Paul,
Have you talked to Brian about the cost for existing RDX owners? I'm pleased to see more people chime in and want to get this done because it will lower the cost for everybody, but I'm still contemplating this cost dependent? I can do it this way or wait for Brians next updated RDX (mail tune as others put it) tune that I he'll send out for free? I'm just trying to decide which way to lean on the matter.
Thx
No cost if you are already a Prospeed customer- just pay for dyno time and we split the cost of Brian's plane ticket among everyone. Right now, we are looking at $1,000 for a full 8 hours on the dyno, which works out to $125/hr. We can also get a further discount for two days- $1,800 for 16 hours, or 112.50/hr. That is one of the lowest prices I've seen anywhere. Autosport was $200/hr.
It really depends on the final number of cars and how much time Brian needs on each car. Waiting to hear back on that. If it's 2 hours per car, then we can do up to 4 cars each day and the cost to you would be between $225 and $250. I think the gains you will see on your NSX are worth this cost.
Is he only tuning those with EMS or FIC? Would not make sense for those with a chip. Confused?
Brian only tunes the stock ECU and it must already be modified with a EPROM ZIF socket. Not sure if he can tune the full standalone or FIC. Basically, the benefit of a custom tune is that it maximizes the performance of your specific engine. The problem with tune-by-mail is that the chip you get was tuned on someone else's car in conditions different than yours. All cars vary- whether it's compression across cylinders, injector performance, cam timing, etc. these small differences can eat up lots of hp. We've all seen it on the dyno. A bone stock NSX will dyno 235 whp and then you put another bone stock car on right after it and get 245 whp. By custom tuning your own engine, you are adjusting for all of these differences and are making sure you get the maximum out of the chip/tune. For us here at altitude, this is especially important because the chips we get in the mail were tuned on cars at sea level in California. Brian is convinced there is a ton of power to be tapped- especially in the RDX kits. The only way to do that is to bring him out here and get our cars on the rollers.
With a load-based dyno, Brian can apply a static load to a set rpm and tune each load cell in the fuel/timing maps. Basically, he tunes each cell to a certain ideal AFR (usually somewhere between 13.5 and 14, but that is his secret sauce) and works his way through the entire map so that the entire power curve of the engine is re-calibrated. This is how the OEM's do it, except they tune to a very specific set of emissions and fuel compatibility margins. What Prospeed and other good tuners do instead is tune to max VE at each load state of the engine. This can yield 20 whp or more on the stock injectors and potentially even more on the RDX kit. For a couple hundred bucks, I think it's a heck of a deal. And even if there wasn't a group deal, I would have Brian out here tuning just my NSX.
