Seeking Feedback for Melbourne Tuner/Workshop for S15 Build

[Lucky Phil]

Greetings SAU’ers

I've been out of the highly rewarding yet never-ending battle of modded Japanese fang mobiles since circa 2008 when my very nice S15 was loaded onto a flat bed truck, in pieces, never to return. It’s been about ten years now and the pain has finally subsided so time to throw the hat back into the ring.

I have recently picked up a very nice S15 albiet embarrassingly stock. But perfect for a from scratch, no cut corners proper build. Being 10 years richer than the time when S15 #1 bit the dust, I am in a position where I can drop the car at a workshop and tell them to go for it. Sooooooo….

I’m hoping for feedback on tuners in Melbourne. And before someone says “newbie di*khead – do a search….” I have done a search however it is unclear which tuners will do work on the car and tune it i.e. someone like Dr Drift or Revzone, and tuners which will only do dyno tuning i.e. Chequered I read somewhere they only tune…. Which is a shame as they are raved about (in a good way).

So, has anyone had any recent good / bad / excellent experiences with a Melbourne tuning shop, taking into account that I am going to entrust them to do a satisfactory job with good workmanship and parts I might or might not supply…. I don't want to be just bled dry of cash and recommend whatever parts combo suits them/easiest for them and/or they make the most cash off. I really like the idea of Nistune I have been down the Power FC route before…. I think they are troublesome. I see Dr Drift does nistune and also Chasers and RevZone, anyone been to these places recently? I think I remember RevZone being the upmarket option, doing A1 work but expensive?

The build will be bolt ons only, not touching internals, but when I say bolt ons it will be the full arsenal.

Feedback most appreciated! Would love some recommendations but even just as handy please advise where to stay away from, it’s a jungle out there and I don’t wanna get lost in it. No need to slag off any shops on here but PLEASE PM me if you have advice that is not quite “constructive criticism” - i'd be most grateful.

Thank you all and thank you for going easy on the newbie, I look forward to sharing more about the build once it kicks off.

[admS15]

Sabbadin automotive. SR20 specialist, will do all work, fabrication and inhouse dyno tuning. Excellent one stop shop. Can supply new oem and aftermarket parts at reasonable prices. Also has his own S15 racecar that has gone through many years of development.

 

Forced motorworx, also highly versed in sr20 builds, will carry out all work and fab, usually outsources tuning to chequered.

 

And yes, chequered is pretty much tuning only. You can imagine that someone who tunes all day everyday is pretty damn good at it and up there with the best. (Can be frustrating if your car has minor issues and tune can't be finished.)

 

I have heard good things about revzone but have no experience with them.

 

Racepace is also one to consider as a one shop solution.

 

Springy motors is another one that can build and tune a good sr20 and carry out all other work.

 

Plenty of options, do a bit of research on the above shops and take your pick.

 

 

Personally i generally do preparation and mechanical work myself on my car. I've had no issues using chequered tuning for multiple cars. Tunes have always been great.

[SIMON DALZIEL]

 I have an S15 last year I did the big plunge and built SR 2.2 stroker very very quick car racepace motosport in Bayswater did the complete build custom turbo and tuned I can highly recommend them

[Lucky Phil]

Many thanks gents, I think all my questions have been answered! And yes a few people have said Forced Motorworx a good option.

And yeah heard lots of good things about Chequered, might end up there one day once everything is up and running

[Komdotkom]

I've just started using RevZone and have been pretty happy with the work. I like to understand exactly what happened on the dyno and review the logs, issues and solutions with the tuner which Justin and his team are happy to do. My car has a fair bit of Motec gear in it and a pretty custom setup, so it took some mucking around to get it right. When I got the car back, the cold start wasn't awesome (not terrible either, just some hunting around 20c) so I sent Justin a quick email to see if they could give me some pointers as to the cause because there's a few comp tables running concurrently at that time in my setup. Rather than just give me the answer or tell me to bring it back, he offered to send his tuner to my house to fix the problem free of charge. Pretty good service I reckon.

I've had cars tuned at many other shops in the past and have been less than impressed. Good power tunes but shit attention to detail and poor drive-ability.