In my ongoing quest to find a tuner for my MCS driving distance from home, (Vermont) I found the name of a shop while searching the list of authorized installers on the Helix Mini Cooper site. RDZ Motorsports in Danbury CT. While their site showed that they specialized in Nissans they did have a neat picture of a mini, so I shot them an e-mail asking if they knew of any mini tuners in the New England area. I quickly got a reply saying," Yes we can tune your mini. What year and mods have you done?" I sent back a list of the mods, 17% pulley, alta air, catback and that I would most likely install larger injectors if I got the car tuned and asked what I would gain from getting a "good' tune. Rich once again quickly replied, "So, what does tuning do for you? In a nut shell, the tune is EVERYTHING. Think of it this way, if you have an entertainment system with great speakers, a great amp, etc., but the source of the signal from the DVD, etc. is mediocre then the rest of the parts will not perform to their potential. Without reprogramming the ECU or "Tuning it", the ECU will only control the engine according to the stock setup with no real regard for mods you have made. It just doesn't know...so we teach it.
We have a saying "NO Tune, NO Life". How we differ from most tuners. Many "Tuners" don't really tune. They put the car on the Dyno and do a Wide Open Throttle (WOT) pull, make some adjustments for power on the top end and call it a day.
We start by running the car at lower speeds to reprogram driveability and then slowly increase the speed over several passes until max RPM is reached. This insures an even tune across the board. Then and only then is the car tuned for WOT to achieve maximum horsepower. I am sure you will be excited about the result once completed. Tuning takes the better part of a day to do correctly by the time we get together, look the car over, strap it to the dyno, run it, etc. and this is assuming it is mechanically running correctly. It CAN NOT be tuned if there are mechanical issues. Sometimes we find the issues on the Dyno, which is good and bad. Feel free to call to schedule an appointment (at least 2 weeks notice, please)and tuning is based on the time it takes, $165 per hour.
We look forward to help you achieve the next level." I was very excited about this, however I was concerned about the cost, so I e-mailed Rich to give me a ballpark cost for the tuning. He wrote back the tuning will probably take around 3-5 hours or $495. and up. Ouch! So anyway I'm still thinking about it, however I thought other members would be interested hearing about another tuning option. Motor on!




.

 

I have been using RDZ for a couple of months now and I must say they are awesome.

 

Thanks for the info. They are walking distance from my work, so if I ever get around to doing a head and cam on my R50, it will be hassle free :-) Drop it off, walk to work, pick it up at the end of the day.

I also only thought they were a Nissan shop based on all the newer Z cars I see parked out there.

 

Oh, and be sure to check out Gotham Auto works, right down the road (9 South St.), for detailing work. Ask for Adam.

 

Tell Rich at RDZ Don sent you, he will take care of you.