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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Is It Me or Every man and his Dog a tuner now?


Guest Usmann A

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WOW guys, I took Usmans coments at face value as he has not posted for some three months. So guess quite alot has changed in that time. Since October there certainly are more people calling themselves tuners. That is just a simple observation of fact. This is not making any judgements about the abilities of any of the more recent tuners as I know nothing about them, and am not likely learn anything about them either.

 

Personally I consider a tuner to be who is someone with a significant background in the motor industry, perhaps some race / ralley engineering experience. Most importantly, with a proven track record of successful research and tuning of a range of cars, but with a possible specilism in on area or one type of car but also with expertise with many.

 

A fitter is a totally different occupation.

 

Chill guys life is too bloody short. Lets try and keep it helpful. I thought that is why most of us are here.

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Guest Usmann A

Thank you Termi, it was just a simple observation of alot of people opening up shop after theyd fitted a kit or two and calling themselves tuners, thats all. Not painting everyone with the same brush here.

 

I had no hidden motive, just some jumped on me, afaic, I have done nothing to them, i think they were looking for an excuse to snap at me. Well i cannot help it if i am so popular with them. LOL

 

This place has changed. :taped:

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Is there a definition of 'tuner' (and more importantly, does it matter)?

I would say a tuner is someone who designs and creates his own parts to improve a car - example: Arnout created his own manifold and crank. Box shifting and bolting-on parts from other manufacturers makes you little more than a mechanic...

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Imo - I would say a "tuner" is a person that has a skill that someone uses to improve a car over stock. Of course, just like everything in life - some tuners know what they're talking about - some don't.

 

Not by things like a decat or something. But ECU mapping, single turbo upgrades & fitting.

 

Eg:

 

- IanC is a tuner. Because of his self-learned and proven expertise on the E-Manage mapping.

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Good subject discussion!

Being a good mechanic in my books dosnt warrant being a tuner. There are so many places around call themselves "tuners" but basically sell bolt on parts and specialise in one particular car. anyone can fit a single turbo kit, its the setting it up thats the real work. Ive known places over here that have got themselves a Dyno and became Tuners. Charge you for a dyno run, but cant actually analyse any of the data during the run. They invested in a Dyno, went to Germany on a 2 week course to use it - and all of a sudden they are tuners? it takes a long time to learn how to ananlyse engine data collected on a dyno.

a member on here recently took his t78 mkiv to a so called tuner to see how its running - the tuner sticks it on the dyno and does a straight power run - without using a wideband! gives him the dyno sheet and thats that. ...and the whole idea of him going there was to see if he needed to pull fuel or not! FFS even i can do a better job than that using an lm-1 and an open road.

 

So it dosnt matter how flash they are, how much money they have invested, a REAL tuner is someone that has been recommended to you, especially in the jap performance world, were many owners can be found on the tinternet - and thats were reputations will be made and lost. Real tuners will know exactly what your taking about if your one of the real smart techie owners, and they will be able to explain and advise you if your one of the not so techie owners. Also, a Real tuner shouldnt be somebody who advertises as a "Supra specialist" -

in my eyes a real tuner is someone that has worked on Mantas, mk2 escorts, Cosworths, right up to the modern day Jap machinery of all kinds. They can port, polish, cam time, carb tune, exhaust tune, as well as general engine/fuel/tubro based work. Being able to fit a piggy back ecu, or boost controller and set it up dosnt warrant been a tuner either. BUT being able to Fits, GEMS, MOTEC, or any other full ECM and build fuel/ignition/load/boost maps from scratch for any car is a tuner.

 

sorry for the ramble...day of work and bored lol flame away!

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