rabydanimal
11-05-2009, 10:00 AM
I paid a visit to Bren last night with my STi. Before I get to that though, big kudos go to his roommate Tuan for banging off all of my original, rusted to hell heat shield bolts and installing my HKS downpipe. He did the job I couldn't man up to do (one downpipe install in a lifetime is enough for me thank-you very much).
After Tuan got the downpipe on Bren started doing his magic. Before we got started he explained a misfire he was seeing in cylinder 3 which was most likely due to a bad plug. After warming up the issue largely went away but he still recommended I get new, 1 step colder plugs. We did a few pulls, he adjusted the map, did a few more pulls, adjusted the map and again did a few more pulls and adjusted the map one last time (maybe there was a fourth pull in there, I don't remember, I was too busy keeping my face from being peeled off). Each time he put a new map on the differences were noticeable. I have kind of an oddball AEM intake that the P.O. had put on the car but Bren sorted it right out. During the entire process Bren explained what he was doing, the noises we were hearing and attributes he was modifying to perfect the map.
Even with a conservative tune the car pulls hard. More importantly though it is much, MUCH smoother both at WOT and around town. Rev matching gears and smooth shifts are easy as pie now.
Bottom line, Bren is the man. He knows his way around Subarus like the back of his hand. You can tell he does this because he loves it, not because he has a dyno to pay for or a shop to make profitable. He takes his time with your tune, puts up with your stupid questions and delivers results.
Thanks Bren!
After Tuan got the downpipe on Bren started doing his magic. Before we got started he explained a misfire he was seeing in cylinder 3 which was most likely due to a bad plug. After warming up the issue largely went away but he still recommended I get new, 1 step colder plugs. We did a few pulls, he adjusted the map, did a few more pulls, adjusted the map and again did a few more pulls and adjusted the map one last time (maybe there was a fourth pull in there, I don't remember, I was too busy keeping my face from being peeled off). Each time he put a new map on the differences were noticeable. I have kind of an oddball AEM intake that the P.O. had put on the car but Bren sorted it right out. During the entire process Bren explained what he was doing, the noises we were hearing and attributes he was modifying to perfect the map.
Even with a conservative tune the car pulls hard. More importantly though it is much, MUCH smoother both at WOT and around town. Rev matching gears and smooth shifts are easy as pie now.
Bottom line, Bren is the man. He knows his way around Subarus like the back of his hand. You can tell he does this because he loves it, not because he has a dyno to pay for or a shop to make profitable. He takes his time with your tune, puts up with your stupid questions and delivers results.
Thanks Bren!