Any recommended speed shops w/ dynos?

[Vybz]

So today kinda marks the transition from daily driver to project car for me. I have a list of about 10 speed shops in the NW area. I have no experience with any of them, and the plan is to try and check out at least 3-4 to see how reputable they are, and check out what they're bringing to the table.

I'm getting the car weighed so I can get a base curb weight, but I can do that locally in my area.

Now for speed shops, what I'm looking for is any highly recommended shop that offers realistic prices for dyno pulls. For now all I'm looking to get is a baseline, so at least 3 pulls, no wideband and less then $125.

These are the shops I have in mind, if there is anything you think I should check out or you don't recommend, just give me a heads up.

Dyno Authority - Redmond, WA
Turbo Technology - Tacoma, WA
Carburetor Connection - Kirkland, WA
Intec Racing - Kent, WA
Blood Enterprises - Auburn, WA
Fastlane Autosports - Tacoma, WA
Marysville speed n' custom - Marysville, WA
Axiom Motorsport - Lakewood, WA
Austin's Pro Max - Tacoma, WA

Thanks

[Vybz]

Checked out 3 places. 2 were duds. Fastlane Autosports and Axiom don't have dyno's anymore, but luckily the 3rd came through. Getting the car dyno'ed tomorrow at Intec Racing in Kent. Price for baseline is $80, and if you're a self tuner and want to rent out the dyno, it's $80 per hour which, is an amazing price.

So far the shop has been pretty helpful, but I'll give my feedback after tomorrow, in case anyone is interested in seeing how much power their car is actually putting down.

[Fen335i]

The BMW CCA club uses the Carb Connection in Kirkland for their annual Dyno Day. They seem like a good shop, but I've never used them for anything but running on their dyno. But they do a lot of work on high performance cars and aftermarket tuning stuff.

[mikeokimster]

Originally Posted by Fen335i

The BMW CCA club uses the Carb Connection in Kirkland for their annual Dyno Day. They seem like a good shop, but I've never used them for anything but running on their dyno. But they do a lot of work on high performance cars and aftermarket tuning stuff.

They are great, but they normally charge $150 for 3 pulls w/ a/f readings

[Vybz]

I would've checked out Carb Conn. too, but was running out of time, and Kirkland was a good distance away. $150 for the 3 pulls with wideband isn't bad, the run I'm doing today is w/o wideband. I'll ask about the price when I go there. I'm recording the pulls, so it can be seen 1st hand.

I'll be sure to attend a session at Carb Conn for comparison.

[Fen335i]

You just missed the CCA Dyno day back in early June at Carb Conn...they were giving all CCA members 3 pulls for 1/2 price ($75). They do it every year..it's a pretty good deal.

[Vybz]

Today was an informative day.

1.) I thought my car would weigh in at around 3700+. Took it on the scale today, and with just over 1/4 of a tank it weighed in at 3520. A gallon of gas weighs around 6lbs, so even with a full tank I wouldn't have broke 3600. Very happy to see that my car wasn't as chubby as some others claim it is.

Error on the scale was +/- 10lbs so pretty accurate regardless.

2.) Visited Intec Racing today to get the M on the dyno and loved the speed shop. The owner ( Lawrence ) is extremely chill, and I could tell just by watching him work he's been in the business for a while. The shop is definitely JDM oriented, but that's not to say they don't show Euro's love. The visit was perfect even though we did have 1 hang up. It took a while for us to find out where to connect the leads to the car for torque readings. During our attempts to find the connections, we tried to remove the intake plenum and found out the hard way that apparently BMW doesn't want it removed. I don't know about your cars, but mine were loctited in, resulting in us breaking both bolts on top of the plenum.

This is kind of the kicker. When the 1st one broke Lawrence immediately came up to me and asked me for my contact info so he could reimburse me for the bolt. I told him it didn't matter since, the intake plenum was going to come off sooner or later, if he didn't break the bolts I would have. So we just ventured on. Of course the 2nd one broke too (not a surprise ), and we laughed at how resilient BMW was when it came to customers working on their own cars. After that, not only did he say he would pay for both bolts, he cut the price in half for the dyno session ( so instead of 80, I paid 40 today for 3 pulls ).

I didn't want him to feel guilty for the bolts, because it's ridiculous that BMW would loctite any bolt/screw for the sole purpose of preventing access. I declined the offer, but he gave me half off on the pulls anyways. Ultimately we got the leads connected and it was time to see what the work horse was putting down.


I got 1 of the pulls on film ( Would've had 2, but I'm an idiot when it comes to cameras). That's Lawrence in the car doing the pull.

And here are the results of my 3 pulls. I was aiming for 340rwhp, so I couldn't have asked for more.

[tha_good_life]

I've dealt with Intec and known Lawrence for a LONG time. He's a great guy and knows a lot about JDM. 349 WHP is bad ass! I have a thread on my recent dyno and i'm barely making 352WHP with ESS tune and Akra EVO. I had Carb Connection do my dyos and I also heard great things about Illtech in Bellevue. Thanks for posting!

Originally Posted by Vybz

Today was an informative day.

1.) I thought my car would weigh in at around 3700+. Took it on the scale today, and with just over 1/4 of a tank it weighed in at 3520. A gallon of gas weighs around 6lbs, so even with a full tank I wouldn't have broke 3600. Very happy to see that my car wasn't as chubby as some others claim it is.

Error on the scale was +/- 10lbs so pretty accurate regardless.

2.) Visited Intec Racing today to get the M on the dyno and loved the speed shop. The owner ( Lawrence ) is extremely chill, and I could tell just by watching him work he's been in the business for a while. The shop is definitely JDM oriented, but that's not to say they don't show Euro's love. The visit was perfect even though we did have 1 hang up. It took a while for us to find out where to connect the leads to the car for torque readings. During our attempts to find the connections, we tried to remove the intake plenum and found out the hard way that apparently BMW doesn't want it removed. I don't know about your cars, but mine were loctited in, resulting in us breaking both bolts on top of the plenum.

This is kind of the kicker. When the 1st one broke Lawrence immediately came up to me and asked me for my contact info so he could reimburse me for the bolt. I told him it didn't matter since, the intake plenum was going to come off sooner or later, if he didn't break the bolts I would have. So we just ventured on. Of course the 2nd one broke too (not a surprise ), and we laughed at how resilient BMW was when it came to customers working on their own cars. After that, not only did he say he would pay for both bolts, he cut the price in half for the dyno session ( so instead of 80, I paid 40 today for 3 pulls ).

I didn't want him to feel guilty for the bolts, because it's ridiculous that BMW would loctite any bolt/screw for the sole purpose of preventing access. I declined the offer, but he gave me half off on the pulls anyways. Ultimately we got the leads connected and it was time to see what the work horse was putting down.


I got 1 of the pulls on film ( Would've had 2, but I'm an idiot when it comes to cameras). That's Lawrence in the car doing the pull.

And here are the results of my 3 pulls. I was aiming for 340rwhp, so I couldn't have asked for more.