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turbo upgrade

3K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  lorennerol 
#1 ·
i live in louisiana.. where can i get a turbo upgrade installed on my solstice ??
 
#3 ·
just about any mechanic will be able to install a reputable kit for you. You are going to have to go through the process of tuning the ECM with the company that sells the kit. If the company you are getting the kit from does not mention them tuning your vehicle then it is not going to be a place you should get a kit from.

The only kit I would recommend for the 2.4 is from RPM Motorsports or from Performance Auto Werks. The Werks kits are more expensive but they include a BorgWarner EFR6758 Turbo which is a much larger turbo then the BorgWarner K04 turbo that RPM uses in their kit. The K04 turbo is the stock turbo that is used on the GXP's and Redline's
 
#4 ·
I mean no disrespect to any company, but I have not seen a lot of people who are great at tuning the LNF. I know some decent tuners that people have applauded who have spoke to me about their tunes. No I will not name those people. Though they may not do the absolute greatest job, they are still good and the tune will be safe. I don’t know who does the tunes for these companies.

This is assuming you have the LNF. If it’s the 2.4, I don’t know any of the tuners as I’ve never messed with that platform.

I’m always cautious on company tunes as I have seen some of them (the tune) and they were not good. No I will not name those companies. For multiple reasons, but also because I haven’t been in the tuning arena (only tune mine now) for a bit now and they may have rectified those issues. I don’t know though, but I also don’t care to know.
 
#14 ·
I mean no disrespect to any company, but I have not seen a lot of people who are great at tuning the LNF. I know some decent tuners that people have applauded who have spoke to me about their tunes. No I will not name those people. Though they may not do the absolute greatest job, they are still good and the tune will be safe. I don’t know who does the tunes for these companies.
We recommend companies that have been there since the beginning and supported us. Companies that have great service, and we haven't had any issues with for our tunes. There is 1 company that I refuse to recommend in any of my postings and that's because they mistreated many people here early on and their name is MUD in the Camaro 2.0L world. They've blown up many 2.0L Camaros and I was instantly crucified and corrected when I even mentioned them in a post in the Camaro world. But now that I know it's not just here, I will never recommend them in any of my postings. Their many bad reviews outnumber their satisfied customers, and it's just not worth it to me to chance my car or someone else's lively-hood.

There is 1 other company that I will take or leave because of the issues I had with them over charge pipes....but would recommend if it came down to them or the other company. And then there is one that I praise all the time. I've seen posts Facebook about them, but not real sure if I believe just 1 person. Every single dealing I've had with them has been tremendous and above and beyond what I would consider a great company. The other that I recommend has a great name for dyno tuning in the Camaro world as I've found out over the last few days.
 
#9 ·
@Carl G.

The Bosch ECM that was used for the LNF motor is a complete mystery to most tuners. There is also no tuning software like HPTuners that shows all of the tables. Had GM used that ECM for more years then they did and perhaps in a vehicle that was bought by huge numbers of people something more complete would exist. To my knowledge there is currently nothing available software wise that allows access to the entire set of tables in this ECM. I have read of the number of tables being as high as 600, I don't believe everything I read on the internet so it could be just someone flapping at the gums.

I called a shop that specializes in doing GM tunes that is local to me. They wouldn't do the tune on my car, said they don't have enough information about how the thing works to be able to safely tune it.

I do wish there was a company that made an OBDII and EPA compliant standalone management system. Now that time will never come with all of the crap the EPA is doing. They would never certify it. I really don't understand what the EPA's issue is. If the crap coming out the tail pipe is clean then why do they care if a vehicle has a different ECM or if an engine swap has been done.

The whole CARB compliant catalyst which is now adopted into a lot more states in the US causes higher greenhouse gas emissions then an EPA compliant one. This whole thing is about reducing greenhouse gas emissions is why are they forcing these types of things. My question is why are they forcing things that make the problem worse??

A catalytic converter features a substrate with a chemical coating containing precious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium. These precious metals serve as catalysts that process regulated raw exhaust gases and convert them into the less harmful gases of water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
carbon dioxide aka CO2 is the #1 greenhouse gas emission.


All that matters is what comes out the pipe not what is installed into the vehicle!
 
#11 ·
If the crap coming out the tail pipe is clean then why do they care if a vehicle has a different ECM or if an engine swap has been done.
I have no specific knowledge, but I believe the Volkswagen emissions cheating was a wakeup call that a tuner can setup a car that passes emissions tests, and then goes out and belches pollutants during normal driving.

So as usual, I think we have bad actors to blame for rules that impact everyone.
 
#10 ·
I’ve also seen companies not affiliated with the vehicles blindly claim they can tune these cars. Their assumption is tuning is tuning is tuning. I’ve even seen some of those guys jump on the tuning forum and ask for help tuning a vehicle for their customer because they aren’t familiar with it. That’s not the person you want tuning it.
 
#13 ·
Yeah you are right. It's still f'in annoying! I have my Solstice performance built and it passes emissions. I do not understand why there is such a want to bypass emissions on a vehicle.
 
#15 ·
Probably your closest Kappa person would be DDM Works in the Carolina's. Dave is a great guy and he's been around with us for a long time. Since the beginning. I'd check with him. Performance Auto Werks would be your next closest in Chicago...
 
#17 ·
Your initial post made it sound like you were telling us that all of our vendors are trash. Not something to be taken lightly when we have only 4 or 5 that have supported us over the years and are still supporting us.
 
#18 ·
I thought I clarified in my post that I haven’t seen any of their tunes or talked to them about tuning, and can’t speak on them. I guess I should have clarified a bit better. They could be amazing and they could be trash. I don’t know. I don’t need to use them, so I’m biased on not needing to know. However, I caution everyone when it comes to tuning regardless of who is tuning. Maybe I’m just paranoid haha. I know the main Kappa companies are always posting and on top of taking care of the community. Even if they aren’t the best tuners, I don’t imagine they are doing a bad job by any means since they all seem to take pride in what they do. With that said, pride doesn’t mean it’s good, but again I’m paranoid with tunes since I’ve seen so much bad.
 
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