Just a little update.
I am a pretty handy guy, I can pretty much tear apart, inspect, repair, and attach any part from any car. I have worked on plenty of cars and throughout the years I have gained an eye for detail, and even more so an eye for ****ty work. Throughout the years I have built up a trust issue with anyone touching my car. I think we all have had experiences with people that should not be wrenching.
The thing that led me to STM was simply curiosity and the fact that I had just changed out a set of crappy BC 272 cams and needed a re-tune.
Goals
- Check it out and take a tour of the shop
- Have my car retuned so I can beat it everyday
- Get a baseline for the next set of modifications I do
- Possibly building a relationship with someone whom I trust to do the work on my car
STM is located about an hour an a half away from me. A small price to pay I thought, for a potential new home for my tuning needs.
Upon arrival, I immediately noticed how large the shop was. There is a pretty good amount of floor space for their temporary location. The shop is very clean and organized which is a sign of a shop who is anal about details. The staff was friendly and asked me whats going on and we talked a bit. Then Emery walked out of his office.
My first impressions of Emery were not all that great. We talked about cars for a bit and he was open enough to take me around the shop and do some talking. But when it came to talking about modifications he became a bit rough around the edges. He did not like the path I wanted to take the car and was pretty blunt about it. After the tour we all hit the road to grab some lunch. We shot the **** a bit more and I decided my opinion on STM was kind of a “meh” one. Not too bad, but not too good either. They weren’t out of my head just yet.
Some time passed then I ended up getting ready to do a cam swap. I was going to wait until spring to do my cams but cabin fever was already setting in so one night I just decided I wanted to get it done and over with. I wanted to see what my car would dyno after the cam swap so the most local place to get a tune and dyno was STM.
The second adventure to STM was another mixed experience. To keep a long story short, my car was having a few issues I had not anticipated. Something was wrong with the car that was causing it to cut out hardcore. (Nothing Emery did. It happened on 3 different tunes, including the stock rom). What was significant about this visit was the complete 180 of my opinion on STM. Me and Emery spent 8 hours on the dyno, playing with things in order to fix the problem. I actually understood how Emery worked. I could almost imagine how many punk ass kids who try and take a dumb route to making power. Although Emery was blunt with me at first, I realize now that his principles of making cars go fast were completely different than mine. Emery has a few qualities I feel are absolutely a must to note:
- Keep it simple. Emery’s theory is that the less there is on the car, the easier it will be to fix if it breaks.
- Do it right the first time. Rather than dick around with a potential problem, fix it immediately and do it CORRECTLY.
- Attention for detail makes for a great outcome. Emery would NOT give up on my car on the dyno although it was eating up his time. We worked AFTER hours to fix the car, and fix it the correct way.
- No bull ****. Emery has no need to filter what he says. Yeah, he came off blunt to me the first time we met. But now that I’ve spent time with him inside the car and talking, i realize it’s better that he tells things how they are and not make things up or leave detail out.
We ended up getting a few good dyno pulls out on this night. Whether or not it was a complete success did not matter to me. I was just happy enough to have Emery give it his best trying to make my car run like it should. After talking a bunch emery began feeding me more detail about my car and his thoughts. We also talked about racing and some other good stuff which not only kept me interested but taught me some cool things I did not know.
It was extremely clear to me that Emery really really really knew his evo’s Any problem I had he pretty much pointed out right away and was correct with his diagnosis.
At the end of the day I decided to take the car into another direction as I learned more about the AEM EMS. Emery could very well tune my stock ecu, he was fluent with it although he was frustrated with how much work it took to get the desired outcome he wanted.
That night I bought a used AEM for cheap. We hit the town for some dinner and split ways with an appointment for a week later.
The third time I visited STM was very good. I got there, we shot the **** for a little bit, then got to work. We immediately ripped the stock ecu out and had his staff wiring up and welding the rest of the necessary components. 2 hours later we were on the dyno ready to tune. Emery whipped a basemap lightning quick, and we were ready to make some power. The car on the dyno immediately felt better to me than it did the last time I was there. We made 12 pulls and the tune was almost done.
Lastly came the important part to me. We unloaded the car from the dyno and hit the streets. Not exactly common practice, Emery wanted to make sure my car was exactly how it should be. He honed in the driveability and fuel mapping. In probably 15 minutes Emery was satisfied with the car and it’s condition.
But Emery wasn’t the only one. I was pretty much 100% satisfied with the car and how it ran. The AEM was very smooth, no low speed bucking and it was pretty crispy on the highway too. The car really made some good torque down low and felt faster and smoother than ever. I love it.
When it came time to pay I was pleasantly surprised by the bill. It was exactly what I felt deserved to be paid to STM and their staff. They did an excellent job.
The next couple days I ended up having an issue with my car. It just kinda puttered out which I knew could be one of 3 things. Sensor A, Sensor B, or the EMS. I rigged the stock ecu back in and headed back to STM and it ended up being a MAP sensor which emery had in stock. We tossed it in and made some minor touch ups to the tune that I wanted done and I was on my way. I was happy that Emery fit me in during such an emergency situation.
As for the car on the AEM… There is really no comparison to driving the car on AEM compared to the stock ecu. The stock ecu makes the car feel ragged, like an evo is. But on the AEM I honestly feel like I’m cruising in a benz with a retarded spring rate. The boost comes on so much smoother as well as just driving around is much less choppy. I like the safety nets build into the AEM it’s a nice peace of mind deal. Another thing is I can’t believe how many parameters are accessible in the AEM, it really makes the stock ecu look like a relic.
Yeah, on paper you can tune a stock ecu and a AEM pretty similarly. But the real difference comes in the things you can’t even describe until you own one. You end up changing your thoughts on how an evo drives, it’s no longer one of those “Oh it’s an evo thing” as you’re bucking on the highway because of wastegate flutter or just bucking through low end gears in traffic.
