I'm still on the road, returning to Atlanta.

I drove up to Glenwood, MD, to see if John at Lucky Dog could do anything with my stock ECU.

I've had modifications and service done by a variety of shops over the past twenty years. One private rule I have is to be especially wary if the shop is unkempt and (all too often), outright slovenly.

So although I didn't mention it to John and Brian, I was pleased to find a nice waiting area and a large shop (no hole in the wall). I didn't pay much attention to the overall size, but I'd say it's north of 5000 sq.ft.

They have four or more lifts, and tons of local clients, who have been repeat customers for years (all kinds of cars).

Shop size and number of lifts can mean nothing, of course...

Anyway the shop is head and shoulders above most I've ever seen, and especially when you factor in that he customs tunes your ECU on his exceptionally stingy (but unfortunately accurate) dyno. Imagine having Mr. GIAC (or his imaginary equivalent) working on your car personally, for several hours, to extract all that's possible from your current set-up.

My car, which has a number of mods, produced less HP than it has on two separate Dynojets, and one Land & Sea dyno.

That part was disappointing, considering all I've spent. But that wasn't why I was there. John managed to take my car, and after several hours of tuning, he moved the torque curve to the left, and broadened it as well.

Also, as a minor note, because I am sometimes likely to hit the rev limiter at a given auto-x, he moved the rev limiter up a bit to where I wanted it. This wasn't to make more hp, as indeed it didn't with my car, but just for that specific auto-x app.

So if you live on the East Coast (or if you're up for a trip that'll be more fun on the return leg), and you'd like to work with someone who is not into sales, but instead is focused on genuine performance, I'd suggest you give him a call and set up a time to have him tune your car.

This sounds like one of those shill posts, but it really isn't. He has no idea I would post this. I didn't either (especially since my car won't win the "mine is bigger than yours" bragfest), but I realized the story needs to be told, if anyone would like to get past the hype and down to the real deal.

And John @ Lucky Dog is the real deal. Even if my car didn't post the HP I was used to seeing elsewhere.

Oh, how is the car running? The best it ever has, in all aspects.

 

Very cool, Jim and congrats on the tune. I gotta get down there. Thanks for posting.

 

Indeed, John & Brian are awesome... DCMM is very fortunate to have these guys on our home turf.

 

Good stuff, Jim. Let us know how your mpg fares - he mentioned that another customer picked up as much as 3 mpg after the tune. The news about your torque curve sounds especially enticing! Congrats!

 

how much do they charge for labor per hour ?....can anyone from luckys reading this quote on a crank and reduction pulley and ecu remapping mod?...i love how they customize your ecu ....i thought i was limited with giac and the mods they work with ...im glad to hear luckys will remapp to whatever mods you have

 

alllsoooo an alta CAI and M7 IC with/air diverter( not sure if the IC needs to be a part of the remapping )

 

LDG is a sponsor on this board.

I suggest speaking to John directly.

He's direct and approachable.