hqp921
10-26-2009, 12:49 AM
I first met Bren (BG @ BrenTuning (http://www.newenglandsubarus.com/forums/member.php?u=1153) on these boards), a few years ago. I was looking at a used car he was selling. (I never did end up buying the car...)
These were the days before I had a vehicle that would even require any tuning - I was driving around in my Outback Sport with AT. Actually, it might have been before the times I even knew Bren did tuning.
During four years of Subaru ownership, I learned a lot from various boards and knew what I wanted for my next vehicle: a WRX wagon... and it would be really nice if it happen to come with leather and a sunroof.... and if they did something about the aesthetics of the front end. Not soon after, I learned about the WRX's bastard cousin, the Saab 92x which seemed to fit the bill nicely without the added expense the WRX Premium/Limited had. I spent a year quietly looking and the right deal came up. In May of 2009, I purchased a Saab 92x that was at Stage 2 with a gutted STI up-pipe, custom exhaust leading to a Magnaflow muffler, a Perrin filter, and a Cobb AP.
Excited with my purchase and ready to take the steps to make it "mine," I did all the paperwork. All that was left was the inspection. Easy cheesy, right?
Wrong.
The tester mentioned "That exhaust is a little loud." But that didn't seem to be the main part of his concern. It was the 3 "not ready" codes I was getting that failed me.
I spent a few days on various websites, trying to figure out what I could do. Go back to stock? Unmarry the Cobb? What?! I drove the car trying to go through the proper drive cycles. Nothing helped. Those three stupid codes were still there.
Then, I had an idea.
I contacted Bren, asking if he could help me out. I just needed the codes to be "forced" ready. He said he could, but it'd be better to just let him do an OpenSource tune - it'd be better than the off-the-shelf Cobb map I was running and it wasn't prohibitively expensive.
I thought about it, unsure of what to do, as I couldn't just jump in and trust someone I didn't know... right? (Hence, a little long-winded review so others know that Bren is the man!). But I wanted to pass inspection without having to go back to stock parts, stock tune, etc. I made the jump, all the while Bren assuring me that I'd make out on the deal: I could get tuned, and sell the Cobb on the forum and net some cash. Sounded good to me.
I wanted a 'conservative' tune, matching what was on the car already -- I didn't want to push too much and risk reliability. This was my daily driver! Bren does a very good job of explaining things and answering your questions (no matter how dumb they may seem - the dumb one is the unasked question!). When I brought my car to him, he unmarried the Cobb and while we waited we chatted about my car, he showed me some basic under-hood maintenance stuff. He tuned up the car, showed me how all the specs were in line, and told me to drive around and come back to see what I thought. Great stuff - and mind you, I was only looking for some forced ready codes!
True to his suggestion, I sold the Cobb on the boards the following day for twice what it cost me for a "BrenTune." Sweet. The car was inspected shortly thereafter and passed without an issue.
Less than a month after my initial tune, I asked Bren about what else I could do to pull more performance out of my 'stock' set up. He recommended a manual boost controller to get the boost up a bit, as my stock EBCS was, at that time, a limiting factor. He was able to source me a Forge MBC for a great price. I again, drove out to see him. He installed the MBC for me, and tuned the car up again (at a reduced rate, since he was just tweaking the previous map.) The car's been running like a champ since then (July 2009).
Bren is a professional, and is always eager to help me... he treats my "What if..." questions with good answers and tips. e.g.: What happens if I get a different air filter? Or get ride of the stock box and just get an air filter? What if I want more power? What should I change?
I've met a few people who've had their cars tuned by Bren, and everyone always has positive things to say. I recommend his services to everyone I know with a Subaru that isn't tuned yet -- it's custom to your car, and more affordable than even a used Cobb.
I would recommend talking to Bren and getting your car tuned. He's also a good person to bounce ideas off of, because he'll give you a straight answer. Extremely helpful to me when considering mods, i.e. is this mod actually useful or just cosmetic? On top of it all, he's a good guy all around.
Kudos to Bren, aka BG @ BrenTuning (http://www.newenglandsubarus.com/forums/member.php?u=1153). (Did you see what I did there?)
So now that my car is at a "stage II" via BrenTune, what's next? I've already asked him about what a VF39 could do for me... Future plans may be your "standard" VF39 with Pinks set up, and a STI TMIC. Stay tuned.
- HP
P.S. The trip out to Bren's place is nice...and you'll be treated to a viewing of one of the nicest looking M3's I've seen and a small collection of RC51's.... hell, you might even see a FXT.
These were the days before I had a vehicle that would even require any tuning - I was driving around in my Outback Sport with AT. Actually, it might have been before the times I even knew Bren did tuning.
During four years of Subaru ownership, I learned a lot from various boards and knew what I wanted for my next vehicle: a WRX wagon... and it would be really nice if it happen to come with leather and a sunroof.... and if they did something about the aesthetics of the front end. Not soon after, I learned about the WRX's bastard cousin, the Saab 92x which seemed to fit the bill nicely without the added expense the WRX Premium/Limited had. I spent a year quietly looking and the right deal came up. In May of 2009, I purchased a Saab 92x that was at Stage 2 with a gutted STI up-pipe, custom exhaust leading to a Magnaflow muffler, a Perrin filter, and a Cobb AP.
Excited with my purchase and ready to take the steps to make it "mine," I did all the paperwork. All that was left was the inspection. Easy cheesy, right?
Wrong.
The tester mentioned "That exhaust is a little loud." But that didn't seem to be the main part of his concern. It was the 3 "not ready" codes I was getting that failed me.
I spent a few days on various websites, trying to figure out what I could do. Go back to stock? Unmarry the Cobb? What?! I drove the car trying to go through the proper drive cycles. Nothing helped. Those three stupid codes were still there.
Then, I had an idea.
I contacted Bren, asking if he could help me out. I just needed the codes to be "forced" ready. He said he could, but it'd be better to just let him do an OpenSource tune - it'd be better than the off-the-shelf Cobb map I was running and it wasn't prohibitively expensive.
I thought about it, unsure of what to do, as I couldn't just jump in and trust someone I didn't know... right? (Hence, a little long-winded review so others know that Bren is the man!). But I wanted to pass inspection without having to go back to stock parts, stock tune, etc. I made the jump, all the while Bren assuring me that I'd make out on the deal: I could get tuned, and sell the Cobb on the forum and net some cash. Sounded good to me.
I wanted a 'conservative' tune, matching what was on the car already -- I didn't want to push too much and risk reliability. This was my daily driver! Bren does a very good job of explaining things and answering your questions (no matter how dumb they may seem - the dumb one is the unasked question!). When I brought my car to him, he unmarried the Cobb and while we waited we chatted about my car, he showed me some basic under-hood maintenance stuff. He tuned up the car, showed me how all the specs were in line, and told me to drive around and come back to see what I thought. Great stuff - and mind you, I was only looking for some forced ready codes!
True to his suggestion, I sold the Cobb on the boards the following day for twice what it cost me for a "BrenTune." Sweet. The car was inspected shortly thereafter and passed without an issue.
Less than a month after my initial tune, I asked Bren about what else I could do to pull more performance out of my 'stock' set up. He recommended a manual boost controller to get the boost up a bit, as my stock EBCS was, at that time, a limiting factor. He was able to source me a Forge MBC for a great price. I again, drove out to see him. He installed the MBC for me, and tuned the car up again (at a reduced rate, since he was just tweaking the previous map.) The car's been running like a champ since then (July 2009).
Bren is a professional, and is always eager to help me... he treats my "What if..." questions with good answers and tips. e.g.: What happens if I get a different air filter? Or get ride of the stock box and just get an air filter? What if I want more power? What should I change?
I've met a few people who've had their cars tuned by Bren, and everyone always has positive things to say. I recommend his services to everyone I know with a Subaru that isn't tuned yet -- it's custom to your car, and more affordable than even a used Cobb.
I would recommend talking to Bren and getting your car tuned. He's also a good person to bounce ideas off of, because he'll give you a straight answer. Extremely helpful to me when considering mods, i.e. is this mod actually useful or just cosmetic? On top of it all, he's a good guy all around.
Kudos to Bren, aka BG @ BrenTuning (http://www.newenglandsubarus.com/forums/member.php?u=1153). (Did you see what I did there?)
So now that my car is at a "stage II" via BrenTune, what's next? I've already asked him about what a VF39 could do for me... Future plans may be your "standard" VF39 with Pinks set up, and a STI TMIC. Stay tuned.
- HP
P.S. The trip out to Bren's place is nice...and you'll be treated to a viewing of one of the nicest looking M3's I've seen and a small collection of RC51's.... hell, you might even see a FXT.