I just got my chip from Alvin this weekend. I was VERY pleased with the service. I needed this on short notice (yeah, stupid me) and he was able to come through. He had a problem with one of the parts and called me at home. I returned his call and he promptly answered the phone, was aware of who I was and what my order was and took care of me quickly. He said he would put my shipment out the next day. I received my new chip the following day. Everything arrived as expected.

I am VERY pleased with the new chip. My car runs 100% better now and I can REALLY feel the extra power this new tune has given me. I am amazed how much better it is running.

He also programmed out a bunch of exhaust errors codes, my low tire pressure codes (just for the heck of it), the skip shift code, and some other random stuff... and... the BEST part..even better than all the extra performance and smoother running car...

...NO MORE VATS! WOO HOO!!!

The VATS program removal alone was worth every penny.

I can't wait to run it at the track and get it dynoed now to see what a properly tuned car will now do (compared to all the older runs and dyno I had done years ago). I have been running off the stock tune for abut 3-4 years after I rebuilt my motor, so I never got to see any of the performance gains very well since then. Now it is running STRONG.

Thanks again for the new tune and fast service! I am one happy customer and I would recommend him to ANYONE!!!

 

How does he burn custom chips to tune the car without the car? Do you just give him a list of mods?

tks
N

 

Alvin has always responded quickly for me.

 

I wonder if a tune on a stock (except for exhaust) L98 would be worth it...

 

Yup. Since most of our cars are all the same, theres not much variation in them to need the car for. He is an expert at this so he knows these cars.
his order form includes a BUNCH of questions about all the mods, work done to the engine, cam specs, etc, etc...

i can't believe how much more powerful the car feels and how much better it idles and just runs even normally down the road.

There isn't much you can do to fine tune the older cars with the ECM chips though... The guys with the programmable computers are another story. I think you send him your computer so he can read all the information on it to fine tune it from there.

 

 

I would bet so. Nice little kick on my stock (Corsa/cut lid) LT1. Just don't expect miracles.

 

Sounds good.

 

Very good, plan on doing the same in the near future.

 

Cut the air / lid on that puppy first

They can turn your fans on sooner, etc

 

PCMFORLESS = GOD when it comes to tuning these cars. Alvin is the man, not much more we can say

 

Well Mikey, All I can say is
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES!

Alvin has my "stock" 86E running perfect! 1/4 14.0@98.5mph (street trim)
Thats a 20yr 130K mile motor getting 23MPG Avg at 70+mph

 

It was all these types of comments that made me not even question my decision.

Thanks everyone for making my decision easy

 

no vats, now your car will be stolen, and the wonderful tune will be gone with it.
I can't figure why people eliminate vats, then they brag about these stupid annoying alarms that go off all night long.

I repaired my vats to full working order.

 

About time joe! Glad to hear its running good.. Told ya it needed a tune!

 

He tuned my car and it ran alot better, I still have to get it on the dyno so he can tweek it a bit, if it is needed. I will have a comparison of before and after his tune when I get them I will post them so you can see the difference.

 

VATS will NOT keep anyone from steeling your car. It might have been nice back in the day when people just jacked your car, but today, do you think they really drive off with it if they know it has anti theft stuff? They just haul it up on a trailer and take it, vats and all.

If you have an older car with very high miles on it, and every single day, you have to wait for VATS to stop messing around, or (quite a few times) just leave the car overnight and pick it up in the morning... you would disable it too. it is a horrible stupid design from GM. It has one of the highest amount of complaints and fixes you can search for on a single GM car issue. My dad's 89 Camaro was plagued with the same problems over and over again, all VATS related. He was left stranded more times than I can count.

184 results turned up for VATS when I did a search on CF. I doubt any of them were praising the awesome ability of vats keeping their car from getting stolen.

Here is another reason why it sucks. it doesn't do anything. At least with an alarm with shock sensors, it will make a racket if someone tries to break into it. I had my car broken into several years ago, the thiefs broke the passenger window out, unlocked the door, but didn't open it. They managed to steal about $2K worth of stereo equipment and $1000 in personal items out of my car.... and they did this RIGHT UNDER MY ROOMMATES WINDOW!.... so... how did VATS do anything for anyone? It got the theifs some NICE stuff. The cops showed up later to look at it, and I finally opened the door at that point and then VATS decided to start honking. TOTALLY USELESS!!!

If my car gets stolen, who cares, it's covered by insurance. I can get another one.

 

i said it before many times. vats is outmoded and isn't worth fixing. if you're an ncrs type or fixated on perfection, go ahead and spend the time and money. be my guest. but IMO, bypass it or program it out of your chip and be done with it. nobody wants to steal a c4 anyway, those days are long past.

as for alvin and pcmforless, he gets my complete loyalty. he deserves it

 

90% of VATS problems are the lock cylinder wires. The 2 little wires that attach to the lock cylinder become brittle or broken, and the connection becomes intermittent.

I replaced my lock cylinder, and it works fine. VATs will stop any punk kid joy rider from stealing my car.

If you find it too difficult to replace the lock cylinder, and cut new keys, then by all means get a tune.

 

you're missing the point. #1, i'll bet you dollars to donuts right now, no punk kid is going to steal your car. punk kids these days hate corvettes, they love imports. #2, getting a tune just to remove vats isn't cost effective. repairing your lock cylinder and cutting new keys isn't cost effective. bypassing vats altogether is. and in a case like mine, i was getting a chip tune anyway, so vats removal was the perfect "while you're at it" mod to preclude future headaches; so this was cost effective as well.