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MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH XTREMEMOTORWERKS;XTREMERACECARS... ITS NOT GOOD, TO SAY THE LEAST. If anyone has any questions(members, moderators) please feel free to PM me.
Back in the earlier part of this year, I decided to upgrade to the AEM EMS. While doing some searching around I came upon Xtreme Motor Werks(Xtrememotorwerks.com; Xtremeracecars.com) in Paterson, NJ. Carl Jr. (Co-Owner) had given me a good price on Both the Greddy IC kit and EMS system. After a Few lengthy conversations with Carl, I had decided to have him setup and Tune the EMS. Between his pricing, knowledge, he’s local and had an inhouse dyno he outweighed the competition. For a while I was considering a VPC/GCC combo, but I liked the idea of the AEM controlling boost(one less Thing i'd need to buy) Since the AEM EMS setup was costing more than the VPC/GCC, I wanted to have the AEM Boost Control working as it was $500 less I had to spend on a EBC. Carl told me in order to have the AEM boost control working I would need to add a GM boost solenoid to have the EMS control Boost Pressure. In the meantime while waiting for the EMS, and FJO wideband to come in I picked up the Greddy FMIC so I could put it on over the weekend while I waited for the EMS to arrive. The intercooler arrived to Carls shop in about a weeks time. This was the First time I have seen the place since I ordered the parts over the phone. In some of our earlier conversations Carl told me he tune’s the car on his Dyno. Well I was quite surprised because he had no Dyno when I got there. I asked him, he said he sold his old dyno, Because it was only good for 1600hp and the new one he was getting is good for 2100hp (which he needed for his 350z) At this time he told me that he will tune my car on the street, and we can bring it to a Dyno shop around the corner. He was going to setup a pump gas tune, and a race gas tune also. I was still alittle leary of having my car ripped around the neighborhood to have the Computer setup.
A few weeks later Carl called me and told me the AEM came in. So I dropped it off and at the same time he was supposed to be putting in a Greddy Timing belt. But the beginning of the next week Carl told me that they sent the Wrong Belt(they sent one for a Skyline) So he was just going to install the AEM, a few days later he said he had it all setup, and we had an appointment at the Dyno shop. Carl decides now to tell me that sometimes the car will break-up WOT because I need a DLI or CDI. The main reason bringing this to a professional was so it was done right. So I told Carl to go ahead and install the DLI(I just wished he had told me this in the beginning) So I got there and At this time Carl tells me, that it is kinda hard to use the GM boost solenoid on the factory turbos, and once I go single it will work great.... Hmmmm before buying the AEM Carl knew this car was bone stock, except an Exhaust. At this time he said that no matter what he was doing with the Boost map it was just running 16.5psi (before the install he said he was gonna tune it for 20psi) He now says for me to buy a Manual Boost controller for the time being so I can run 20psi. (Further recent examination, shows nothing setup for Boost Control)
So, we take the car for a cruise to the Dyno shop. While on the Highway I was monitoring the Wide-Band and it was reading 10.0 on a WOT run, and cruising at 11.0-12.0. I was conserned that it was alittle rich, Carl told me that you are better safe than sorry. Also the crossover between the 1st and 2nd turbo was quite rough if you were driving normal. But WOT you didn’t notice it as much. He said he called AEM, since he hasn’t tuned many AEM’s on stock Twins, and they said its impossible to get it perfect!! So we get to the Dyno shop of his choice, what a pick!!(rollseyes) He forgot the new plugs he said he was going to swap out before the runs, Greeeatttt… So we put the car on the Dyno and he logs the run… 16.5psi solid and 10.0 A/F.
He was so proud of himself, he said “HOW MUCH MORE PERFECT CAN YOU GET THAN THAT 10.0 SOLID” I was like, “great but I think that’s alittle rich, can we lean it out alittle 11.0-11.3” (ALSO, THE WIDEBAND DOES NOT READ ANY LOWER THAN 10.0)
He said “Sure” He did some adjustments and run the car again. Guess the outcome…..
16.5psi 10.0 A/F… did he even adjust anything… he said that if we lean out the map alittle, we should pick up a lot of power. He trys again same thing.
He said that I should drive around the car alittle and bring it back sometime next week and we can setup a race tune. Why not today??? That was the original plan??? I still don’t know…
So I drive the car around, and the car pulled good. Except the site of the black cloud you would see in the mirror. Less than a week later, the 2nd turbo stopped working, at the same time I noticed the stock clutch started to slip, I talked to Carl and he said the Timing belt is now in also. So he orders me a RPS stage 3 clutch, he had recommended it. So I drop the car off and I told him to check out the Turbos and see if the #2 turbo was blown, because I wasn’t hearing the Known “Deathwine” I picked up another set of stock turbos for him to swap out if they were bad. So he installs the Clutch, and the Greddy Timing belt, Toyota Water pump, and Toyota Tensioner. He talks me out of swapping the Turbos out, and building a single turbo kit. So I decided on a Turbo, and he said that the HKS manifold with the 60mm WG was the best, so I had him order both. I ordered some 4” SS pipe, mandrels, and v-bands, so he could complete a new exhaust. So the Turbo came in, and his secretary asked if I could come up and pay for it, Sure no problem the next day I decied to go up there. On my way there around 3pm… another call from the secretary, making sure I was coming. So I arrive to Xtreme to pay for the Turbo, the manifold wasn’t in yet and it had been about 2 weeks since ordering(est time frame was 4 days when ordered) he said he had tracked it and it would be there on Monday. So I paid for the manifold so that Carl could get started once the manifold came in, and save me a trip back. Over 4 weeks later, and numerous calls to Xtreme, Still NO MANIFOLD. Well now its backordered "blah-blah" I told Carl I was going to pick up the car to break-in the new clutch, and once the manifold was in, id bring the car back.
He said “ OK you want to pick it up tonight…” I said I would pick it up the next morning. I went to pick it up, the DP wasn’t on, nor was one of the IC pipes, Battery dead, armrest had a tear on it from the DP resting on it, Various Scratchs around the body, Power antenna Bent, and it doesn’t go up or down it is stuck half way. This stuff annoyed me. I told him that I might order another manifold if it is going to take to long to get it in. He said he already tried a few places and nobody had it. So when I got back home I contacted Ryan Woon(WOTM) and he had said he had a Manifold ready to go. I called Carl back and told him I might order one from him, he laughed and basically said his welds are terrible and its all around garbage. So I asked him about the Full-Race manifold as I seen it in person earlier that week at a show and it looked very sturdy and nice, he didn’t like that either… If it isn’t HKS he doesn’t want to know about it.
So while on the ride home I noticed quite a bit of noises from under the car, and what sounds to be a bolt that knocked around some shit and shot out the back. So I got the car back, and decided to fix the 2nd turbo myself. I pulled off some of intake plumbing and got to the 2nd turbo and the compressor wheel was perfect no play and spun very smoothly. So I went online and decided to do the TTC mod to see if it was something else. While under the car I feel my back getting wet, turns out Carl Sr. never put the Hose clamp back on the lower hose. Jr’s response… “ He thought we were gonna have to pull out the radiator again to install the New turbo” But in exchange for the my frusteration he was going to HOOK me up with a good price on an Aluminum Radiator as I had iquired about it earlier. He called me up and said... Fluidyne $449 or PWR Radiator $499. MVP sells the Fluidyne for the exact same price, and the PWR for $10 cheaper. What a HOOK-UP. I also decided to check out were some of my noises are coming from… Under the car right before the differential there is a brace that holds both sides of the tunnel together and looks like if the driveshaft was to break, it would lay on this brace, so it doesn’t hit the ground. Well all 6 bolts were loose, NOT hand tight, 2-3 threads of each bolt were holding it on. Well 5 now… the 6th one was the one I probally heard fall off. I tighten all 5 that I have left. So I went out for a cruise and the TTC conversion shows that both Turbos are good, the car runs 100x better now. Now I have 11.0-11.3 A/F WOT and cruising at 12.7-13.5 A/F. Now I am getting closer to 18mpg up from 9mpg!!!!
Back in the earlier part of this year, I decided to upgrade to the AEM EMS. While doing some searching around I came upon Xtreme Motor Werks(Xtrememotorwerks.com; Xtremeracecars.com) in Paterson, NJ. Carl Jr. (Co-Owner) had given me a good price on Both the Greddy IC kit and EMS system. After a Few lengthy conversations with Carl, I had decided to have him setup and Tune the EMS. Between his pricing, knowledge, he’s local and had an inhouse dyno he outweighed the competition. For a while I was considering a VPC/GCC combo, but I liked the idea of the AEM controlling boost(one less Thing i'd need to buy) Since the AEM EMS setup was costing more than the VPC/GCC, I wanted to have the AEM Boost Control working as it was $500 less I had to spend on a EBC. Carl told me in order to have the AEM boost control working I would need to add a GM boost solenoid to have the EMS control Boost Pressure. In the meantime while waiting for the EMS, and FJO wideband to come in I picked up the Greddy FMIC so I could put it on over the weekend while I waited for the EMS to arrive. The intercooler arrived to Carls shop in about a weeks time. This was the First time I have seen the place since I ordered the parts over the phone. In some of our earlier conversations Carl told me he tune’s the car on his Dyno. Well I was quite surprised because he had no Dyno when I got there. I asked him, he said he sold his old dyno, Because it was only good for 1600hp and the new one he was getting is good for 2100hp (which he needed for his 350z) At this time he told me that he will tune my car on the street, and we can bring it to a Dyno shop around the corner. He was going to setup a pump gas tune, and a race gas tune also. I was still alittle leary of having my car ripped around the neighborhood to have the Computer setup.
A few weeks later Carl called me and told me the AEM came in. So I dropped it off and at the same time he was supposed to be putting in a Greddy Timing belt. But the beginning of the next week Carl told me that they sent the Wrong Belt(they sent one for a Skyline) So he was just going to install the AEM, a few days later he said he had it all setup, and we had an appointment at the Dyno shop. Carl decides now to tell me that sometimes the car will break-up WOT because I need a DLI or CDI. The main reason bringing this to a professional was so it was done right. So I told Carl to go ahead and install the DLI(I just wished he had told me this in the beginning) So I got there and At this time Carl tells me, that it is kinda hard to use the GM boost solenoid on the factory turbos, and once I go single it will work great.... Hmmmm before buying the AEM Carl knew this car was bone stock, except an Exhaust. At this time he said that no matter what he was doing with the Boost map it was just running 16.5psi (before the install he said he was gonna tune it for 20psi) He now says for me to buy a Manual Boost controller for the time being so I can run 20psi. (Further recent examination, shows nothing setup for Boost Control)
So, we take the car for a cruise to the Dyno shop. While on the Highway I was monitoring the Wide-Band and it was reading 10.0 on a WOT run, and cruising at 11.0-12.0. I was conserned that it was alittle rich, Carl told me that you are better safe than sorry. Also the crossover between the 1st and 2nd turbo was quite rough if you were driving normal. But WOT you didn’t notice it as much. He said he called AEM, since he hasn’t tuned many AEM’s on stock Twins, and they said its impossible to get it perfect!! So we get to the Dyno shop of his choice, what a pick!!(rollseyes) He forgot the new plugs he said he was going to swap out before the runs, Greeeatttt… So we put the car on the Dyno and he logs the run… 16.5psi solid and 10.0 A/F.
He was so proud of himself, he said “HOW MUCH MORE PERFECT CAN YOU GET THAN THAT 10.0 SOLID” I was like, “great but I think that’s alittle rich, can we lean it out alittle 11.0-11.3” (ALSO, THE WIDEBAND DOES NOT READ ANY LOWER THAN 10.0)
He said “Sure” He did some adjustments and run the car again. Guess the outcome…..
16.5psi 10.0 A/F… did he even adjust anything… he said that if we lean out the map alittle, we should pick up a lot of power. He trys again same thing.
He said that I should drive around the car alittle and bring it back sometime next week and we can setup a race tune. Why not today??? That was the original plan??? I still don’t know…
So I drive the car around, and the car pulled good. Except the site of the black cloud you would see in the mirror. Less than a week later, the 2nd turbo stopped working, at the same time I noticed the stock clutch started to slip, I talked to Carl and he said the Timing belt is now in also. So he orders me a RPS stage 3 clutch, he had recommended it. So I drop the car off and I told him to check out the Turbos and see if the #2 turbo was blown, because I wasn’t hearing the Known “Deathwine” I picked up another set of stock turbos for him to swap out if they were bad. So he installs the Clutch, and the Greddy Timing belt, Toyota Water pump, and Toyota Tensioner. He talks me out of swapping the Turbos out, and building a single turbo kit. So I decided on a Turbo, and he said that the HKS manifold with the 60mm WG was the best, so I had him order both. I ordered some 4” SS pipe, mandrels, and v-bands, so he could complete a new exhaust. So the Turbo came in, and his secretary asked if I could come up and pay for it, Sure no problem the next day I decied to go up there. On my way there around 3pm… another call from the secretary, making sure I was coming. So I arrive to Xtreme to pay for the Turbo, the manifold wasn’t in yet and it had been about 2 weeks since ordering(est time frame was 4 days when ordered) he said he had tracked it and it would be there on Monday. So I paid for the manifold so that Carl could get started once the manifold came in, and save me a trip back. Over 4 weeks later, and numerous calls to Xtreme, Still NO MANIFOLD. Well now its backordered "blah-blah" I told Carl I was going to pick up the car to break-in the new clutch, and once the manifold was in, id bring the car back.
He said “ OK you want to pick it up tonight…” I said I would pick it up the next morning. I went to pick it up, the DP wasn’t on, nor was one of the IC pipes, Battery dead, armrest had a tear on it from the DP resting on it, Various Scratchs around the body, Power antenna Bent, and it doesn’t go up or down it is stuck half way. This stuff annoyed me. I told him that I might order another manifold if it is going to take to long to get it in. He said he already tried a few places and nobody had it. So when I got back home I contacted Ryan Woon(WOTM) and he had said he had a Manifold ready to go. I called Carl back and told him I might order one from him, he laughed and basically said his welds are terrible and its all around garbage. So I asked him about the Full-Race manifold as I seen it in person earlier that week at a show and it looked very sturdy and nice, he didn’t like that either… If it isn’t HKS he doesn’t want to know about it.
So while on the ride home I noticed quite a bit of noises from under the car, and what sounds to be a bolt that knocked around some shit and shot out the back. So I got the car back, and decided to fix the 2nd turbo myself. I pulled off some of intake plumbing and got to the 2nd turbo and the compressor wheel was perfect no play and spun very smoothly. So I went online and decided to do the TTC mod to see if it was something else. While under the car I feel my back getting wet, turns out Carl Sr. never put the Hose clamp back on the lower hose. Jr’s response… “ He thought we were gonna have to pull out the radiator again to install the New turbo” But in exchange for the my frusteration he was going to HOOK me up with a good price on an Aluminum Radiator as I had iquired about it earlier. He called me up and said... Fluidyne $449 or PWR Radiator $499. MVP sells the Fluidyne for the exact same price, and the PWR for $10 cheaper. What a HOOK-UP. I also decided to check out were some of my noises are coming from… Under the car right before the differential there is a brace that holds both sides of the tunnel together and looks like if the driveshaft was to break, it would lay on this brace, so it doesn’t hit the ground. Well all 6 bolts were loose, NOT hand tight, 2-3 threads of each bolt were holding it on. Well 5 now… the 6th one was the one I probally heard fall off. I tighten all 5 that I have left. So I went out for a cruise and the TTC conversion shows that both Turbos are good, the car runs 100x better now. Now I have 11.0-11.3 A/F WOT and cruising at 12.7-13.5 A/F. Now I am getting closer to 18mpg up from 9mpg!!!!
I never ceased to be amazed at what some "pros" turn out for tunes. A/F is NOT hard to tune, ignition and driveability is where the work comes in. If you're starting from a well tuned base mapping the driveability basics are done already and there are a few good maps out there to start from. <shrug> Parts showing up late happens and yeah bolts can back out but wow problem after problem just gets old. Hasn't there been another thread on this shop in the past?
