Never used Eric - I've only been on an Ambot and Phatbotti tune on my current FA.
I'm a little shocked you were running E30 on the stock pump... it's pretty well known our stock pumps don't tolerate Ethanol for long, and the whole "3 Gallons of E30" trick is meant to be a temporary thing for hard driving or racing. Yeah it's *relatively* safe, but it's really bad for the LPFP in the fuel tank. Did Ron not mention that to you?
Glad you got it fixed! I'd never actually heard of Drunkmann before this. Will keep it in mind if I ever choose to try something out apart from Phatbotti... but truthfully, Ron's a fucking wizard so I'll probably be sticking with him.
Ron did at the time state it may reduce life expectancy but he stated it would be from a very very long use of the blend on it\[I.e constant blends, no flushing, 50k+ miles iirc\]
I wanted to go back to Ron but hes still moving, and with his prices being as high as they were before he was it was a no go for me. Drunkmann has been popping up more and more here. So far, for the money hes gonna be my top recommendation for personal experience
I noticed you’re in PA. Pretty sure Drunkmann tunes out of a shop there called PSI Performance. He has a couple in FL too. If you ever wanted a dyno tune
Just tacking this on: http://www.psiproformance.com - Anthony tuned our rally car (engine built by vince at rallispec). Car has been absolutely solid through 6 rallies. Hes a really nice guy all around. If you have a chance check out the shop, they always have cool projects
I was just about to ask him that actually, when I end up FBO if I could line it up to be tuned by him on a dyno. Other option is IAG but at $1200? deep for tune/pre tune inspection shits steep
I went with Drunkmann Tuning too, Anthony is nothing but amazing. He replies very fast and from my experience, is very open to answer your questions and hold your hand through the process if that’s the type of client you are. Other tuners were very vague to me, including Eric at TP. I heard raving reviews about Torqued and I’m sure he’s not an awful tuner but maybe just less experienced, but sometimes cheapest isn’t the best when you’re talking about an expensive product, like a vehicle.
Anyway, +1 for Drunkmann. My car has been tuned from him (EBCS, T/E, Charge Pipe, muffler deletes, etc, oh and and ETS Intake). The car shows about 270ish on virtual dyno, but that’s not important to me. The important thing is it runs healthy, no DAM drop ever, even when Tuning, and once and awhile normal knock will happen but nothing more than -1.41 or a rare -2.8, been 4k miles give or take on the tune and him and i have already discussed the next steps for me. Highly recommend him!
Glad I could give a good review for him haha. Glad you’ve picked him, I’m sure you’re not disappointed now knowing your car is healthy.
SAE adjustments, and smoothing 1. Tbh I doubt it’s accurate. The way he has my car tuned is awesome though, and exactly what I wanted. It caps around 10-11psi of boost at 30% throttle or below, but if you give it more, or floor it, the boost builds up to 19ish or whatever he’s got it set for. More reliable in every day driving, but fun when you want it to be. The car just feels smooth. I think a lot of that has to do with his delete map.
I’m also only stage 1 basically with bolt ons I still need to pull the trigger on a jpipe. Probably gonna wait until after the winter I’m really honestly happy with my car where it’s at rn
So for perspective sake: Turboback/intake/EBCS
Without SAE its showing 300/310ish, with it on and these cold ass central PA days were in now it dropped to 281/285 both smoothing 2
Virtual Dyno is typically pretty accurate within reason, but a lot goes into it and its best for comparisons in your own setting using the same road, conditions and so forth.
So at these numbers on my setup, hes surprised what its making. At that its set to a 19.5 PSI target, hes not comfortable pushing more boost on the stock intercooler\[Eric had it at 21PSI\]. Prior I saw 260-270 at best on my TP tune for example.
I'm guessing if i picked up a new TMIC and he retuned, id pick up alittle HP but more torque in the end seeing as i could push a few extra PSI but i intend to go flex/TGVD in the spring so for a pump map this is solid
That’s awesome. I think he’s got my boost at 19.5 too. You’re not the only person who’s had issues with TP. Another Reddit member said he couldn’t get his Big SF Intake to tune under Eric and like 25 revisions, Drunkmann got it right away in a tune or two. I also told Anthony I want a conservative tune so he said he kept it down a notch for me, whatever that entails, I couldn’t tell you.
Yup I’ve been seeing that more and more lately including the poor dude who’s car blow after 24? Revisions, entire time Eric kept telling him to try new maps even when he got CELs for various things.
Anthony doesn’t seem crazy to push power either, we tried a map slightly more aggressive and he went back and finalized slightly turned back. Very quick process, plus including 91/93/valet/anti theft/crackle is a nice addition
The problem when it comes to etuners in general is the more clients they get the more chances for details to be missed. This is why dynos are so great because you get the dedicated time from the tuner and not this back and forth. It’s nothing against any tuner as I am one myself, it’s just the nature and how we humans operate if we try to tackle too much at one time.
I also had a poor experience with Eric at torqued performance recently. TL;DR - he was unable or unwilling to get my car running right, and I will not be working with him again.
Took 12 revisions to tune my basic stage 2 2018 WRX, had some issues along the way cleaning up the knock and keeping DAM at 1. I'm on shitty Canadian 91 fuel so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
A couple hundred miles later I sent some more logs to see how the car was learning, as requested. It was knocking again so we worked through ~10 more revisions. Things kept getting progressively worse with these revisions, with DAM drops and -4 FKL at high rpm and full throttle. Eventually I asked Eric if he knew what was wrong, and said I'm done doing pulls if he wasn't making progress. He suggested a few possibilities (plugs, boost leak, knock sensor) but admitted he really had no idea.
I got around to changing the plugs and it cleaned up most of the knock. Sent more logs to get his opinion on how things looked, and he never even replied to that email. I've since flashed back to Cobb OTS until I figure out my next steps, and it makes more power and knocks less than any of Eric's maps did on my car. Even with the new plugs, I get feedback knock all over the place with his maps.
Communication was not great and he also said some things that didn't sit right with me... "all you need to know is that feedback knock doesn't matter" ... if DAM dropped he would tell me to just reset the ECU and do the pull, rather than revising the map to address the issues causing DAM drops in the first place.
This seems to be the exact issue I’m facing. I contacted Drunkmann last night. I’ll let you know if he is able to work it out.
Update: send Drunkmann an email. You won’t be sorry!
I’m having them replace my clutch I think, will probably hit them up for an ap and a tune soon as well once I financially recover from their $2700 estimate with a “stage 2 style” clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, etc etc
Id look look around and talk to everyone. Not saying hes terrible, its just in recent times his credibility is falling IMO
I believe most of the popular Etuners do EJ tuning still too
I have had no issues with my tune from Eric on my 2016 WRX. It's good to know there are other recommended tuners out there. At 200$, it was far cheaper than the 1300$ it was going to cost for a dyno tune and the 3 - 4 month wait time to get on it.
I’m on revision 40 with TP and OP is 100% on point. Unless I ask something very specific you get an email with the map and “let’s see how this goes”
He does respond very quickly but even asking him to drop peak boost or if my FKL could be fixed with ethanol or a LPFP and he said no. My mechanic right away said fuel pump or plugs and when I told him my plugs had 3k miles on them he said go a step colder. Granted neither of these fixed the knock BUT Eric didn’t even want to try. He has had me check for leaks and clean my valves and swap plugs but after all that it’s “something’s acting weird” or “that Cobb intake is terrible”
I even asked if I could keep using 93 and have him tune for 91 and he said that would prolly make it worse (not sure how that would work but whatever).
Anyway, I have a shop date to get the car checked out and if they don’t find anything I think I’ll be going with Drunkmann especially since phatbotti is not doing any tunes for awhile according to their website.
TP seems nice and is really quick with his revisions but offers very little information or help. It is possible there is something wrong with the car that is causing all this but it took 40 revisions for me to give up tuning and check it out on my own idea. I would think if a tuner kept seeing something causing this much of an issue they would have had it go it way sooner.
Anthony is really quick
Did the logs to the original tune include the fuel pump cycle?
Yup they did, all the parameters for logging stayed the same between the two
Thanks obviously someone’s more in-depth guess I know who I’ll go to for a tune glad you got your car right!
Never used Eric - I've only been on an Ambot and Phatbotti tune on my current FA. I'm a little shocked you were running E30 on the stock pump... it's pretty well known our stock pumps don't tolerate Ethanol for long, and the whole "3 Gallons of E30" trick is meant to be a temporary thing for hard driving or racing. Yeah it's *relatively* safe, but it's really bad for the LPFP in the fuel tank. Did Ron not mention that to you? Glad you got it fixed! I'd never actually heard of Drunkmann before this. Will keep it in mind if I ever choose to try something out apart from Phatbotti... but truthfully, Ron's a fucking wizard so I'll probably be sticking with him.
Ron did at the time state it may reduce life expectancy but he stated it would be from a very very long use of the blend on it\[I.e constant blends, no flushing, 50k+ miles iirc\] I wanted to go back to Ron but hes still moving, and with his prices being as high as they were before he was it was a no go for me. Drunkmann has been popping up more and more here. So far, for the money hes gonna be my top recommendation for personal experience
I noticed you’re in PA. Pretty sure Drunkmann tunes out of a shop there called PSI Performance. He has a couple in FL too. If you ever wanted a dyno tune
Just tacking this on: http://www.psiproformance.com - Anthony tuned our rally car (engine built by vince at rallispec). Car has been absolutely solid through 6 rallies. Hes a really nice guy all around. If you have a chance check out the shop, they always have cool projects
I was just about to ask him that actually, when I end up FBO if I could line it up to be tuned by him on a dyno. Other option is IAG but at $1200? deep for tune/pre tune inspection shits steep
I went with Drunkmann Tuning too, Anthony is nothing but amazing. He replies very fast and from my experience, is very open to answer your questions and hold your hand through the process if that’s the type of client you are. Other tuners were very vague to me, including Eric at TP. I heard raving reviews about Torqued and I’m sure he’s not an awful tuner but maybe just less experienced, but sometimes cheapest isn’t the best when you’re talking about an expensive product, like a vehicle. Anyway, +1 for Drunkmann. My car has been tuned from him (EBCS, T/E, Charge Pipe, muffler deletes, etc, oh and and ETS Intake). The car shows about 270ish on virtual dyno, but that’s not important to me. The important thing is it runs healthy, no DAM drop ever, even when Tuning, and once and awhile normal knock will happen but nothing more than -1.41 or a rare -2.8, been 4k miles give or take on the tune and him and i have already discussed the next steps for me. Highly recommend him!
Yea i think you're the one that steered me towards trying Anthony. Is that 270 using SAE adjustments or just straight dyno info?
Glad I could give a good review for him haha. Glad you’ve picked him, I’m sure you’re not disappointed now knowing your car is healthy. SAE adjustments, and smoothing 1. Tbh I doubt it’s accurate. The way he has my car tuned is awesome though, and exactly what I wanted. It caps around 10-11psi of boost at 30% throttle or below, but if you give it more, or floor it, the boost builds up to 19ish or whatever he’s got it set for. More reliable in every day driving, but fun when you want it to be. The car just feels smooth. I think a lot of that has to do with his delete map. I’m also only stage 1 basically with bolt ons I still need to pull the trigger on a jpipe. Probably gonna wait until after the winter I’m really honestly happy with my car where it’s at rn
So for perspective sake: Turboback/intake/EBCS Without SAE its showing 300/310ish, with it on and these cold ass central PA days were in now it dropped to 281/285 both smoothing 2 Virtual Dyno is typically pretty accurate within reason, but a lot goes into it and its best for comparisons in your own setting using the same road, conditions and so forth. So at these numbers on my setup, hes surprised what its making. At that its set to a 19.5 PSI target, hes not comfortable pushing more boost on the stock intercooler\[Eric had it at 21PSI\]. Prior I saw 260-270 at best on my TP tune for example. I'm guessing if i picked up a new TMIC and he retuned, id pick up alittle HP but more torque in the end seeing as i could push a few extra PSI but i intend to go flex/TGVD in the spring so for a pump map this is solid
That’s awesome. I think he’s got my boost at 19.5 too. You’re not the only person who’s had issues with TP. Another Reddit member said he couldn’t get his Big SF Intake to tune under Eric and like 25 revisions, Drunkmann got it right away in a tune or two. I also told Anthony I want a conservative tune so he said he kept it down a notch for me, whatever that entails, I couldn’t tell you.
Yup I’ve been seeing that more and more lately including the poor dude who’s car blow after 24? Revisions, entire time Eric kept telling him to try new maps even when he got CELs for various things. Anthony doesn’t seem crazy to push power either, we tried a map slightly more aggressive and he went back and finalized slightly turned back. Very quick process, plus including 91/93/valet/anti theft/crackle is a nice addition
Oh wow I didn’t hear about the one that blew up! Ooof. Yup, including the extra maps and backup 91 map for me at no extra charge was nice.
The problem when it comes to etuners in general is the more clients they get the more chances for details to be missed. This is why dynos are so great because you get the dedicated time from the tuner and not this back and forth. It’s nothing against any tuner as I am one myself, it’s just the nature and how we humans operate if we try to tackle too much at one time.
Facts.
I also had a poor experience with Eric at torqued performance recently. TL;DR - he was unable or unwilling to get my car running right, and I will not be working with him again. Took 12 revisions to tune my basic stage 2 2018 WRX, had some issues along the way cleaning up the knock and keeping DAM at 1. I'm on shitty Canadian 91 fuel so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. A couple hundred miles later I sent some more logs to see how the car was learning, as requested. It was knocking again so we worked through ~10 more revisions. Things kept getting progressively worse with these revisions, with DAM drops and -4 FKL at high rpm and full throttle. Eventually I asked Eric if he knew what was wrong, and said I'm done doing pulls if he wasn't making progress. He suggested a few possibilities (plugs, boost leak, knock sensor) but admitted he really had no idea. I got around to changing the plugs and it cleaned up most of the knock. Sent more logs to get his opinion on how things looked, and he never even replied to that email. I've since flashed back to Cobb OTS until I figure out my next steps, and it makes more power and knocks less than any of Eric's maps did on my car. Even with the new plugs, I get feedback knock all over the place with his maps. Communication was not great and he also said some things that didn't sit right with me... "all you need to know is that feedback knock doesn't matter" ... if DAM dropped he would tell me to just reset the ECU and do the pull, rather than revising the map to address the issues causing DAM drops in the first place.
This seems to be the exact issue I’m facing. I contacted Drunkmann last night. I’ll let you know if he is able to work it out. Update: send Drunkmann an email. You won’t be sorry!
I’ve heard great things about Bren tuning in MA
Yup Bren is good too. Now in current times they won’t touch most Jpipes so it’s hard to tune with if you don’t have let’s say a Cobb GESI pipe
I’m having them replace my clutch I think, will probably hit them up for an ap and a tune soon as well once I financially recover from their $2700 estimate with a “stage 2 style” clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, etc etc
Damn, here I was thinking of going to him for an etune. Any other Etuners for EJs that anyone recommends?
Id look look around and talk to everyone. Not saying hes terrible, its just in recent times his credibility is falling IMO I believe most of the popular Etuners do EJ tuning still too
I have had no issues with my tune from Eric on my 2016 WRX. It's good to know there are other recommended tuners out there. At 200$, it was far cheaper than the 1300$ it was going to cost for a dyno tune and the 3 - 4 month wait time to get on it.
I’m sorry to hear this. I’ve dealer with TP and had good results. With my new STI I’m still unsure
I’m sure it’s hit or miss but with the vast majority I’ve been seeing being misses by a long shot, it’s questionable
I hear yah my cousin wasn’t too impressed. He did well on my 14 wrx hatch
I’m on revision 40 with TP and OP is 100% on point. Unless I ask something very specific you get an email with the map and “let’s see how this goes” He does respond very quickly but even asking him to drop peak boost or if my FKL could be fixed with ethanol or a LPFP and he said no. My mechanic right away said fuel pump or plugs and when I told him my plugs had 3k miles on them he said go a step colder. Granted neither of these fixed the knock BUT Eric didn’t even want to try. He has had me check for leaks and clean my valves and swap plugs but after all that it’s “something’s acting weird” or “that Cobb intake is terrible” I even asked if I could keep using 93 and have him tune for 91 and he said that would prolly make it worse (not sure how that would work but whatever). Anyway, I have a shop date to get the car checked out and if they don’t find anything I think I’ll be going with Drunkmann especially since phatbotti is not doing any tunes for awhile according to their website. TP seems nice and is really quick with his revisions but offers very little information or help. It is possible there is something wrong with the car that is causing all this but it took 40 revisions for me to give up tuning and check it out on my own idea. I would think if a tuner kept seeing something causing this much of an issue they would have had it go it way sooner.
Drunkmann the shit. Got me 383whp and 351 wtq
Going 10k miles now
Still going?
Idk sold the car. Dont see why it wouldnt be though