A Day With Matt Spry

[Col-GTSX]

As some of you know I had my new pfc tuned on Thursday morning before the dyno night at PITS (Matt Spry’s workshop). Anyways I had a few issues with my car and I burnt myself fairly bad. So the story goes a little like this…

Last week sometime I find out that the D-Jetro pfc is no good for my application and I need a regular pfc. So I swap my D-jetro for a regular run of the mill pfc. Its all god the other guy picked up a bargin and I got what I needed. As the transaction included a Z32 AFM, which I was happy with.

Midnight Wednesday Night.

I go to bed remembering I need to install the AFM before Spry gets it on the dyno. So I live on the northside of Brisbane and I was due to start on the dyno at 9am. So I wake up extra early (about 5 hours sleep). I took my tools and various parts to the Gold Coast with me. I get to PITS and Matt is on the dyno with a wicked supra and so I thought ill get stuck into installing this Z32 afm. Anyways I rip the standard series 2 afm out and begin to splice wires and get them prepped for solder and heat shrink.

I then refer to a cheat sheet I downloaded and found that series 1 R33’s use 4 wires on their afm’s. I remembered this right at the stage I looked at the series 2 plug and saw 3 wires… (SH1T)… So out with the multimeter, check time 15 minutes till 9am. I find the wiring (being an ex-autoelec) that I need and write down some notes for future reference. So I begin soldering the wires and my gas powered iron runs out of gas. So I decided to fill the torch while it was still going, as its hard to light and I was despirate for time.

This was a big mistake, a small amount of butane leaked as I was filling and I ended up with a massive flame ball up my arm and in my face. I smell burnt hair and think nothing of it. I continue to solder and tin the wires and heat shrink them.

At this stage Matt walks out and says hi. I explain what im doing in his carpark, he laughed and continued to finished the supra.

Anyways we got the skyline on the dyno, I left Matt to begin tuning and I heard he was having a little trouble with the revs breaking down at high rpm (Chaos knows what im talking about, as it did this same thing at Mt cootha one night on a cruise). Anyways Matt is sure its either a coil pack or a plug. So we ripped the valley cover off the engine and look at a couple of plugs and check the gap to 0.8mm…

He is convinced it’s a faulty pack. He then goes and turns the lights out and jumps in the car and turned the dyno resistance up and revs the car to rev breaking point… FLASH FLASH sparks leap all of the cylinder head… Number 3 is faulty… Matt looks round his shop for a few minutes and finds 2 packs with question marks on em… We replace number 3 with one of his and try again. But again it breaks down in revs. After testing with the light off again it was number 5 this time.

As you all know number 5 is right under your bov. So Matt hands me a socket and I continued to replace the coil pack. Its at this stage I was really happy with Matt he is not only the best pfc tuner I know but he is all for hands on with his customers. He does not know my background in the industry and yet he lets you have a go (then again maby he does). Anyway, he continued the tune hassle free after this point.

At the end of the tune he had achieved a fat torque band which holds like no other car I have ever seen. With good power output at the treads and with fuel economy at cruising speeds. Matt spent about a half an hour just tuning 60-80-100 kph with the right AFR’s. End results were 198rwkw@194kph with 13 pounds of boost. Plus 500+ nm of torque @ only 104kph. Which is mighty low for 4th gear compaired with other cars at the dyno night. I am now getting rb30 bottom end styled toruqe from my humble rb25.

Once we were finished he said just get a new set of coil packs and return mine please. As he didn’t want to sell them and I really didn’t want to buy them. So all in all I think he is a top bloke and will use him again anytime and will suggest his service to anyone.

Ok time is now about 1pm and I need to get back to Brisbane and put my interia back together before the dyno night. Its at this stage i make mistake number 2. I decide that i can eat and drive at the same time up the higway back to Brisbane. So i get a pie (you know me) and i am eating it when the car in the lane to the left of me decided to jump out to overtake a truck. I have one hand on the wheel and am busy eating so i swerve to the very right hand lane.

To my suprise there is a car in this lane and i miss it by inch's. The chick driving the excell i almost took off the road was not there 2 seconds before and was hooking it up the right lane. Anyway i get out of her way and wave to say sorry. So she hooks off at a million miles an hour. 10 minutes later she is on the side of the road with a cop who is writing her a ticket (for speeding im guessing). So it never pays to speed and she was probablly gonna speed anyways even if i didnt get her goat....

Anyway I get home and I do the drivers door and start on the passangers door but run out of time. Its needs to be cleaned so I wash the car and shammy dry. Ok time it 5:15 time to go to the dyno event and get it all happening. So as you can see guys my day was full on. With very little sleep and 300km’s on the clock at the end of the day I was buggered.

I did get 4 things out of the day.

1. Matt Spry is awesome

2. Dont speed on the M1 if someone cuts you off and they make you angry.

3. Do not refil gas products while they are still going

4. I was able to create a DIY Thread on fitting Z32 AFM’s to R33’s http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...howtopic=116520

[chaos]

Good read Col, So that noise on the cruise that night was the coil Pack giving off a light show.

[Col-GTSX]

Yeah... Now i need to find 2 coil packs to borrow while my splitfires turn up in 2 weeks...

Cause Matt needs his ones back...

[chaos]

You can borrow mine if you want, there just sitting there doin nothing.

[NismoGirl]

He's a champ Matty.. Many times we've done running repairs on the VL while he's visited Matty.

At first I thought he was quite rude, but once you get to know him, he's a funny bugger.

We have to disguise the VL if we take it too him now. One of the mechanics rang one day and said "I've got a turbo VL for you to tune" (being very aware not to say buttercup). When the mechanic turned up in Buttercup Matty swore are him and said "you didn't f**ken tell me it was buttercup!".. Funny as. Matty gets annoyed with buttercup because he can hear the engine making the power, but the gearbox is limiting all of the power getting through to the treads.

Top bloke, never had a problem. Bought him lunch quite a few times while we've sat around there most of the day tuning cars.

[dangerous_daveo]

  NismoGirl said:

He's a champ Matty.. Many times we've done running repairs on the VL while he's visited Matty.

At first I thought he was quite rude, but once you get to know him, he's a funny bugger.

We have to disguise the VL if we take it too him now. One of the mechanics rang one day and said "I've got a turbo VL for you to tune" (being very aware not to say buttercup). When the mechanic turned up in Buttercup Matty swore are him and said "you didn't f**ken tell me it was buttercup!".. Funny as. Matty gets annoyed with buttercup because he can hear the engine making the power, but the gearbox is limiting all of the power getting through to the treads.

Top bloke, never had a problem. Bought him lunch quite a few times while we've sat around there most of the day tuning cars.

That and it broke his dyno LOL!

But yeah, he is a top guy alright. The size of his head just shows you his smartness is just osing out!

Also, I would like to say, I feel we should have a story from a member each week such as this! Keep things interesting.

[DOU33]

Last week sometime I find out that the D-Jetro pfc is no good for my application and I need a regular pfc. So I swap my D-jetro for a regular run of the mill pfc. Its all god the other guy picked up a bargin and I got what I needed. As the transaction included a Z32 AFM, which I was happy with.

why was the d-jetro pfc no good for your application? are they not the more expensive, better power fc's?

[sidoo]

Nice read dude i might just give matty go at my car and see what magic he can work

[R33S2]

  Quote

To my suprise there is a car in this lane and i miss it by inch's.

I know the feeling, people sit in that blind spot and it really takes you by surprise.

[ZOR]

awesome diy col. will be fitting a z32 afm 2 my car soon.

very helpfull.

[Col-GTSX]

  chaos said:

You can borrow mine if you want, there just sitting there doin nothing.

Thanks Ben but isnt your head a Series 1 (I mean to say with an ignightor, i need series 2 coils with the ignightor built in.)

  DOU33 said:

why was the d-jetro pfc no good for your application? are they not the more expensive, better power fc's?

D-Jetro is the same as run of the mill, it just uses a MAP sensor instead of a AFM. I was planning on doing a stupid sized turbo in the near future (T78 or GT35) and didnt want the hassle of a afm. However after looking at what i really wanted to use the car for Matt convinced me we can bleed 350rwkw+ from a Z32 Afm and it would be a better tune as Map sensors have a more narrow output to tune off...

So i listerned to Matt as he in my eyes is a tuning god and should be working for Mines or HKS...

  sidoo said:

Nice read dude i might just give matty go at my car and see what magic he can work

You will not be disapointed... Do a search on any forum... Not a bad word spoken ever...

Other than what Erin said. He may seem rude at forst but he is really good as he gets to know you.

  zorma3nz said:

awesome diy col. will be fitting a z32 afm 2 my car soon.

very helpfull.

Thanks Dale... If you get stuck or need a hand i dont mind helping... (30 minute job including burnt hair)

Good excuse to drink beer and talk crap at the same time also...

[DOU33]

hmm, tuning god aye.

thats going a bit far isn't it.

what about other great tuners such as Gavin Wood and Nick from brisbane turbo and tuning.

its not like pfc is the hardest computer to tune either compared to a motec or something similar.

[Col-GTSX]

Fact is that Matt can tune them all so well...

No other tunes i know of that can do it all...

Erin would agree that Matt is the best in the local area...

[DOU33]

do u reckon he could push more power out of my car than those other fellows yes?

[Col-GTSX]

I reckon he'd push just as much power as the other with less knock... Hed also be doing it leaner and using less fuel...

My afr never drop below 11.93 and are no higher than 12.07 under load and boost from 3300rpm right to 7300rpm

My AFR's are flatter than a mill pond.... I have perfect 14.7 at idle...

[booosted33]

Excellent read Col. I'll be going with Matt myself once I get my pfc.

[The Dan]

The map sensor setup is just as accurate as an air flow meter. The map sensor is just a bit harder to tune. Plus you eliminate the AFM which is well known to become un-reliable. If you have a 2 bar map sensor (which is usually the case in most of the up-to-date stuff), you will have no problems tuning your car to that level whereas an AFM has it's limits for accuracy.

You also have the overfueling issue of an AFM as you throttle off. All the air that has been drawn in by the turbocharger has been measured by the AFM and once the throttle has closed the system is expecting all of that air which is not being delivered. A 20-30rwkw gain is not uncommon when swapping the two systems over from Normal to D-Jetro.

That is also why all of the top name brand aftermarket ECU's use a MAP sensor setup. I have nothing against Matt Spry and think he is nothing short of tuning genius but....in this case...he is just being lazy because the D-Jetro is a far better setup.

[Col-GTSX]

Matt Spry

Performance Injection Tuning Services (PITS)

10/ 42 Export Drv Molendinar 4214

Mobile Service 0411 340 033

You will need at least 2 weeks notice to fit you in... He is a busy boy, so book it 2 weeks out and youll be fine...

Very easy to get to also... Just off the highway...

[Col-GTSX]

I understand what your saying Dan but your info is not quite complete.

The output from a average Bosch MAP sensor is not wider bandwidth than a Z32 afm...

If you spent enough on a Map sensor you can get those results, however we dont have the budget of GTR700...

If you have an extra $1400 in the budget then go a d-jetro. Cause u will need an extra 500 more for the unit and an extra 500 to tune it due to the extra time taken... Plus the Map sensor itself...

I would not call Matt lazy he will do as much as your money asks...

[The Dan]

  Col-GTSX said:

I understand what your saying Dan but your info is not quite complete.

The output from a average Bosch MAP sensor is not wider bandwidth than a Z32 afm...

If you spent enough on a Map sensor you can get those results, however we dont have the budget of GTR700...

If you have an extra $1400 in the budget then go a d-jetro. Cause u will need an extra 500 more for the unit and an extra 500 to tune it due to the extra time taken... Plus the Map sensor itself...

I would not call Matt lazy he will do as much as your money asks...

You are correct. The bandwidth is less but the Z32 has it's limit....and that limit is lower than the MAP sensor. There are many advantages in using the D-Jetro but like you said...does cost more to tune.

I retract my lazy statement as I was not there for the conversation. It would have been nice to see the D-Jetro in action as many tuners turn away from them. I have no doubt that Matt can do it but it would have been nice to see the overall result. One thing I can guarantee is that you would have had a much sharper throttle response and would have made more power on the D-Jetro.