Lol, not stalkerish. I normally get on 385N from 85S, so probably not me. I have black badges now, that night make it easier to know if it's me next time :tup:

Stealing the thunder here, do you think they would put my test pipes in? I never heard about this place, I might call tomorrow.

Possibly, give them a call. Japanese Auto has been in business for quite sometime and Bill is a gear head otherwise. Johnny (female) will likely answer, just ask for Bill if he's not busy.

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Wow man, I had no freaking idea. I'm going to give them a shout today for sure.

EDIT: Called and Johnny told me to email him about it since he is in/out.

Bill said he no longer tunes cars, he just rents the dyno. Bummer again.

Anyone else want to offer any feedback on Motionlab in Charlotte?

Hmmm, news to me. Thanks for the info...dang it.


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Now we just need to get the dude from CIN to take a trip here and use Bill's dyno and we're set, lol.

Motion lab was good to a buddy dan and his boosted 370. Got good feedback from another friend with his sc 370. I've heard some mixed reviews from a few subie guys though

I went ahead and sent Alex @ MotionLab an email, we'll see what he says.

Was the s/c'd 370 a 40th anniversary by chance?

No this was a while back. Bit over a year ago. White 2011.

A buddy of mine used to work there. He said Todd should be able to do a good job tuning your Z. Apparently he gets a little over his head with big turbo builds, etc, but that mild tuning is not anything to worry about.

Good to know. I'd be at Z1 in a heartbeat if it wasn't on the other side of Atlanta.

Hey there, this is actually Todd. Not sure if that was a typo, but I have performed as many turbo and SC tunes as I have NA. I always spend a decent amount of time on every one of them. I'm not sure why it became a bad thing to care about a client's car? There are a bunch of guys that will do three pulls and send you on your way, but I have never done that and never will.

Yea we love Dan! Awesome guy to work with from day 1. To address the "mixed reviews" from Subie guys statement, you would need to understand the number of Subaru cars that come through the shop on a monthly basis as there are so many. Normally it is over someone spending more money than they had or other "me too" shops that popped up and began their propaganda machine. For me, I am more concerned about all of the people that rave about us and doing a good job.

For Z's I would go to Top Speed or Forged in the Atlanta area. For subaru's I would go to Asheville, nc. To each their own.

I sent Alex an email but it's probably better suited for you if you're doing the tuning. I can resend to you if you prefer. Let me know.

I would not go to either of those, plus Brandon already said he doesn't want to go all the way to Atlanta.

I wasn't trying to bash your shop or anything like that at all. I've never had any personal experience with MotionLab. I do know someone that used to work there, so I asked them last night and that's what the reply was. I was simply reporting back to Brandon what was told to me. Brandon is a smart, particular customer when it comes to his Z. He, like me, will gather all the facts and make the best possible judgement on any modification for his 370, same as I do for any my vehicles.

I've heard the same thing from lots of people.

"particular" huh... :eekdance: Makes me sound like one of those picky kids that only eat chicken nuggets and pizza or something. :D For the record, so far it's down to Motion Lab or Z1. I've been the victim of a rough/poor tune in the past on my old WRX and I just want to make sure I make a better decision this time around.

Who do you know that used to work here out of curiosity? I don't understand how they would have come to that conclusion haha. We've made 800WHP on big turbo Evo(@41PSI) and Subaru(@38PSI), and over 600WHP on a stock block on the 370z platform. Also experience with high horsepower GM, including Motion Lab built LS motors, on our dyno via the HP Tuners software. 90% of the tuning we have done over the years has been forced induction.

Unfortunately some of our previous employees just weren't the right fit, and at times we have had to deal with disgruntled attitudes due to differences of opinions. Overall though we have to do what is right for our business and our customers and if their performance isn't up to par we have to make moves and deal with the attitude if it comes down to it.

Not trying to take a defensive stance on this, but just generally confused how Todd became a "mild tuner" versus being recognized for his actual skill level haha.

Thanks,
Alex Goodwin
AlexG@motionlabtuning.com

Phantom370Z,

Thanks for your email. I will definitely follow-up with your shortly!

Thanks,
Alex Goodwin
AlexG@motionlabtuning.com

I do have one complaint about Motion Lab....they're not closer to me!!! I'd be there all the time if they were closer lol. Seriously though, being in the military and having to move every two years or so (I'm retired btw)...I've done business with tuner/car shops from all over the world from Hawaii to Japan to Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. I would honestly rank Todd and Motion Lab as one of the top businesses for their size. They're not as big as Z1 or other shops, but sometimes thats a good thing. Some of the other "top" car shops I've had business with were smaller-scale businesses like in Japan and most recently Custom Import Arts in Belgium.

I've gone through two "builds" with Motion Lab; going from basic bolt-on NA stuff to piecing together a used Stillen supercharger on my 370z and now with the single-turbo setup. My Stillen vortech blower had something go wrong with it and from analyzing all the aspects over the past year or so, I believe that its failure had nothing to do with Motion Lab's work. The install and tune was awesome. After having it put on, I did a cross-country drive from NC to Destin, FL and then to San Angelo, TX. I believe that somewhere along my trip, the oil drain on the blower may have gotten loose, causing all the blower oil to drain and run dry. I was careful to keep a good eye on the level during my trip and even went to a shop in Texas to get more Vortech supercharger fluid, but you know how these things go.

Long story cut short...my 370 was transported to TX to Tampa, FL to VSR Motorsports (aka Vortex / formerly S and R) and had their single-turbo kit installed/tuned. VSR did a good job and I drove it several hours from Tampa back to South Carolina with no problems, just a big grin on my face. I only took my car back to Motion Lab because I consider Todd and EXPERT tuner with his world-wide /multi-platform experience. I was sure he could improve on the tune...not doubting / knocking VSR's tune, but just wanted to be doubly sure...with the amount of $$$ that went into the turbo install, I thought that spending a little more to make sure everything was good, was a good idea...nothing like a good "cross-check".

Todd was able to fine tune Uprev and VVEL parameters which made a good difference and smoothness, powerband and overall power. He was able to extract more power and made the same power as before but with 2psi less boost while still keeping a conservative tune. Just a month or so passed and I wanted to see what could be done with race gas at the same boost levels because I still have stock internals. I went back to Motion Lab for my third time dyno tuning there, but this time with Q16 race gas. You can check my build thread for the dyno graph...pretty sure its in there; 611 rwhp / 517 ft-lbs @10.5 psi. I think the biggest bottle-neck right now is the stock MAFs maxing out voltage but I wouldn't want to go any higher on power anyways with the stock internals.

Its been almost a year to the date now (Oct 3rd 2013) that I did that race gas tune. My Z has been a daily driver with a manual boost controller set to 10psi up until last month when I picked up a used Prius :). Its been driven hard and went through a set of Michelin PSS tires...on 305 Hankook RS3s now...been driven daily and on several long-distance trips going to different events and dyno'd at Z1 at Z Nationals last year, SOHO's East/West Coast event last year, done time at the drag strip....lets just say I don't baby the car, but I do drive safe :) So with a years worth of use/abuse but diligent care by me, the car is still running strong and just wants me to upgrade more (internals, fuel return, MAFs, etc)...and Motion Lab is number 1 on my list to go to when that time comes.

Todd, Alex and their crew are very friendly, knowledgeable, helpful and a pleasure to work with. They make sure things are done and done right. We've spent a few long nights together to make sure dyno tunes were done as good as possible. We've had many conversations (phone/email/in person) discussing each build (NA to SC to Turbo). Their recommendations for parts and options have been spot on for my application and I'm totally happy with my car. I do rock their banner on windshield, but not because I'm sponsored or anything....I just like to promote a good thing when I know it.

Sorry such a long post but I'm on a long lunch break between classes at Bojangles....I'm a full-time student now :)

Click the link in my sig for my build thread w/ pics and other rants of mine lol

Seems like you're a fan, lol.

Geez I did go a little over board didn't I? 3 cups of potent coffee and caffeine high gets me going hard!

Haha, maybe. I haven't had a drink with caffeine in like three years so I'd be bouncing off the walls if I drank 3 cups.

And by facts you are referring to an event or occurence you didnt witness from a person no longer employed there? I would think that to be biased information.

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I never claimed them to be "facts". Brandon was looking for opinions on the shop. My friend did not have a negative opinion of the shop at all. Yes, you could say he has a "biased" opinion of the shop as a former employee but if you knew this person, you would know what he said was how he really felt critically, not emotionally. He just mentioned he would probably choose another shop for a big turbo build on his own car. That information is not really relevant to Brandon.

Mis-understanding , hug it out guys. :cool:

This thread has gone from bad to worst.

Agreed. No offense, but if it's all the same, I would request that vendors stay out of this thread.

Sorry guys. I didn't mean to stir up a fuss. Looks like Brandon is going to be going to MotionLab. I'm sure he'll let us know how his experience goes!

Definitely looks like it will be Motion Lab doing the work. The only other consideration I would have would be Z1, but based on distance I just don't think that's going to happen.

I do realize that tuning a NA car with very little modification is really a very basic thing to do, but ultimately I was looking for someone who could do a great job and was going to spend the time that was really needed to do it right. I feel confident they will accomplish what I'm looking for and their communication has been great so far. Communication, in my opinion, is a immediate indicator of the quality of someone's work and how smooth your experience will be. You will generally notice when people fail to communicate well, that they probably aren't your best choice in terms of the "experience."

In other news...my new door handles are here... :tup: ... now I just need to address these somewhat lacking headlights... :D ....them maybe drive the car or something, who knows

Whatcha doing with the door handles? Headlights? Y DON'T YOU TELL ME THINGS?! :icon17:

I'm assuming black handles and blacked out housings, a great color combo on white 370s imo

The handles are completely disassembled and paint matched(KAD) with the wheels/lip/mirrors /etc... looks amazing. The headlights I'm going to have One Eighty do next year after my bonus.

Beats the hell out of the ugly *** silver handles

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...5cd89a61e7.jpg

^That's what I was hoping you were going to do. Same thing Dustin did on his 350 Nismo.

Did you really think I'd rice it up? :D The 370z is more involved than the 350 but it was worth it.