My Shawn Church Story
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 6,449
Likes: 1
From: IE
My Shawn Church Story
Phil,Church(Shawn) is a very nice guy and has a very nice shop. He is a very good tuner for stand alone systems, I have seen his .cal files for EMS and they are good(in my opinion).
My story is very simple. I, simple minded at the time, went to a suggested professional to tune my application(ap1-greddy-63mm exh-EMU). Prior to my tune, i had called to question his experience with EMU. He stated that he had tuned various s2k applications with the EMU and it runs well. I thought I made the right choice; completing 2 tuning sessions and $$ spent, I had a very "crappy" tune. I say "crappy" because it knocked consistently in boost. He stated that "certain" stock parts in my vehicle caused KNOCK and made it difficult to tune.
Frustrated by its outcome I decided to educate myself in "tuning" before I would go back to another tuner. So that I could understand what the tuner was doing and why. I then decided to enroll myself in EF101 to get an understanding in "tuning"
After completing my course, i met very helpful people who shared great tuning advice and direction. One person particularly, Mark(mugenrios2k
) who has been very patient with me and has shared very much with me. By providing a simple timing base map(under the concept 1 degree retard per psi of boost - EF101 basics) and an adjusted fuel map that I designed, the S drove 10x better than Church's paid tune. With the assistance of Mark and many hours street tuning(timing+fuel corrections) my car, the S has been knock free. Not perfect, but the drive ability has increased 10 fold.I went to Church with the intentions of having a "reliable" tune and paying him for his services. I would not take my car back to Shawn Church because I can see the errors he created in his EMU map(I will not share this...). I would not wish to take my car to a tuner who I believe does not have enough experience in the EMU piggy back system. I am very sure his an excellent tuner for the EMS system, but IMO not the EMU.
This is not to bash or put down Shawn in anyway. I am not mad at him or hold any grudges or expect to be paid back for the $$ spent. I only wish that other fellow owners do not have the same experience or waste time+money like I did.
-Jari8378
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 11,949
Likes: 472
From: MAHT-O-MEDI
I had a similar experience with a guy who was highly recommended locally but did not know beans about EMU. I took the base map from Mark, and went to the dyno to get a chart and pay for any custom tweaking the map might need for my car.
The tuner, who was supposedly a whiz with EMS, made my car so rich it would hardly run. It nearly died three times within a mile of the shop. I pulled over and switched back to Mark's base map.
I never had any sort of problems with the base map, it always ran great, just was always given the impression that getting custom tweaks from a tuner with access to a dyno would give you a better running car. But if the tuner says "Um, yeah I tune lots of cars but primarily use product X" and you have product Y, go somewhere else.
The tuner, who was supposedly a whiz with EMS, made my car so rich it would hardly run. It nearly died three times within a mile of the shop. I pulled over and switched back to Mark's base map.
I never had any sort of problems with the base map, it always ran great, just was always given the impression that getting custom tweaks from a tuner with access to a dyno would give you a better running car. But if the tuner says "Um, yeah I tune lots of cars but primarily use product X" and you have product Y, go somewhere else.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,829
Likes: 0
From: Canada
Originally Posted by jari8378,Feb 2 2010, 02:40 PM
This thread was started because Phil asked my story. I dont want this to become a bashing thread.
