Jim Johnson

with Chuck started back in 2007, right after I bought my new C6-A6.
From the factory, I was not happy with the way the transmission shifted, the shift delays, the torque management GM supplied or a host of the other GM installed safety nets. Thru the mail, Chuck provided a dramatic improvement in the transmission personality, greatly reducing the shift delays, as well as reducing the torque management. Fuel economy went up a tad as well.

But, as is always the case, that was not enough. I thought enough of Chuck's work to drive to New York, (from Kentucky) and had him install a set of 3.42 gears as well as a set of headers and to re-tune the car. The gear change dropped mileage from 28+ on the way to New York, to 26+ on the way home, following the same route.

The gears were the best thing that you can ever do to the C6/A6. It makes it a whole new car, and while remote tuning can provide a world of difference, nothing takes the place of live, hands on tuning. The Autocal is a close second in today's world of instant gratification, but only because of the delay between logging, analysis and re-installation.

Now as to those who are afraid of tuning and warranty, I have some advice. Don't do it if you have any concerns at all; you'll never be happy and you'll never sleep at night. Wait until your car is out of warranty, or buy one of those used C6's that have been modified, beat to heck and then de-modded and sold as stock.

I suspect that a majority of the c6's with tunes are very happy, have had no problems and you'll never hear from them. They are part of the silent majority.

I have a real issue with folks making tuning/performance modifications and then trying to hide it from the dealer when something breaks. As we say locally, "it just ain't right". I did have some warranty work done following tunes, but I was up front and honest with my service team about the tune and subsequent modifications and there were no problems. Claims were honored and repairs were made. But when I broke my motor, (not tune related), I replaced it out of pocket. Well breaking the motor was kinda tune related. It was because I didn't tune for a tire size change and subsequently put the car on the limiter pretty hard, bending pushrods, breaking a piston and bending a rod.

Just like marriage, just like at work, just like in the rest of the real world, honesty is always the best policy.

DISCLAIMER: Chuck is not doing my tunes any more, but it's simply because of the supercharger and new motor that were installed locally. The shop will only warranty their work with their tune, but they did work with Chuck on setting up the transmission parameters.

patrickfrommd

I had to sell my vetts as my family grew. I have the 2010 Camaro now with an “Auto” (again, a concession for the family).
I drove it up to Chucks to have it tuned.

While there, I purchased EFI live, and have sense used it to send logs to Chuck, and me emails me tweaks to the tune.
There was one instance where Chuck had discovered some additional parameters for the trans and contacted me to offer an update to the tune.
That set of changes took the trans to a whole new level, downshifting w/rev matching as it slowed. (making the automatic significantly more fun to drive)

After hearing my experience, my Cousin (2006 C6 & 2008 ZO6) wanted purchase a tune from Chuck but he lives on the west coast (I live on the East Coast in the DC metro area).
Solution,… I shipped my EFI live to my cousin, my cousin pulled the Engine and Trans programming off his car, and emailed them to Chuck.
Chuck re-did his tune and emailed it back. My cousin drove it a while and sent some logs back to chuck. Chuck tweaked the tune and sent it back (my cousin road races his vette with an automatic, so trans tuning is key)

Anyway, I’m glad to see the AutoCalc finally being released. I can attest that Chuck sticks to his word and updates tunes as needed. If you do any major upgrades requiring significant reworks to the tune, I’m sure he will work with you. (so far I have not had to invest any more for the tweaks we have done over the past year).

All is good

hydbyj

in "09" i traded in my 04 Z06 for a C6/A6, the Z06 was rated at 405hp and the C6 was rated at 430hp. i soon realized that my Z06 seriously outperformed the C6, even though it was rated with more hp. i went back to the dealer, whom i have a good relationship with, and he recommended i do research on the forums and get info about what people were doing. it seems the factory tune is designed to protect the engine, not performance, and various emission standards, plus a need to evade the gas guzzler tax. my dealer's opinion was GM left about 50hp on the table! i called around, and the only tuner i felt confident with was Chuck. you wouldn't believe the various tales i encountered doing this research! About the first of the year i set a date of May 1st to get my car tuned, 3.42 gears, a cam, long tube headers, NPP mufflers with the mild to wild switch and a mild stall converter. i drove from Ft. Lauderdale, Fl to Ossining, NY, about 1400 miles. My car became a rocket ship, downright scary. i had to upgrade my tires, because the factory tires would spin badly through the first 4 gears...if you want an expert to tune your car you need to see chuck, he's dedicated to what he does, works till 3 AM untill things are just right, and has always been there for me.

jerry

PS: he did my work in May, in three days as an emergency developed in Fl as i was leaving!!!!

chris12.8

ahh i just bought an intake and don't have money for this right now damn.

0RAAMaudio

I have posted this before but feel I should again here.

In order to save a few bucks, $200 versus Chuck's price, I already had EFI live for my truck, I went with another vendors mail order tune. later I found out they charge for retunes if you do any more mods, send in a log to fine tune what you got, etc........

My A6 barely got better, in some scary ways much worse, banging hard into 3rd at light throttle driving, would not shift in auto mode, very delayed in manual mode, bouncing off the rev limiter instead until I removed all throttle input and waited for a shift. 2 months of waiting for them to fix the tune, finally sent a file when I asked for a refund, what they sent was better but not by much and it felt like the trans was damaged.

Fuel mileage dropped 8 MPG or more on the engine tune and it smelled like unburned fuel, badly, all the time. I already had headers, intake, etc installed and was supposed to be part of the tune, I thought part of the smell was running without cats so I installed some high flow cats, it did not help at all. I never got a response about the engine tune but by then had given up on the tuner.


------------------------------------

2 months was more than long enough to go without being afraid to drive the car so I called Chuck, he sent a tune that raised fuel mileage 4MPH immediately(I have to log and send the files to fine tune for my altitude, etc......)

AND, the trans shifting issues were not only gone, the improvements are night and day, (I did, under his recommendation, get an 08 trans flash at the dealer first and they only charged me $50) We had one time where it did not shift, hit the rev limiter so Chuck worked with me on adjusting the tire diameter(specs from the manf were not correct) and it fixed it once and for all, never and issue again.

I have an RPM built 3:15 diff and the car is light years faster and more fun to drive than ever. Between Chucks great engine and trans tune and the built diff this is a beast compared to stock, not even sure I will do the planned cam swap or not now. I can hardly wait to get it on the track with all my suspension, brake, cooling, seat, etc mods and take on some "fast" cars in my LS2 A6 vert, once the roll bar is done I expect to shock a few of their owners as just how quick this car is

-----------

Thanks Chuck, very very much!

Rick

0Chuck CoW

So simple that plenty of guys mess it up!

Honestly, the guys with the LEAST mechanical abilities have the least problems cause they FOLLOW MY DIRECTIONS EXACTLY!

Call me if you need... I'll help you any way I can.
Chuck CoW

kthomas

so is the price 299 for the unit and 399 for the tune?

Eritosthenes

Chuck,

Is this the "gizmo" you tried to describe to me when you gave my '07 VR vert an A6 tune at Tracy's in Tampa in Feb 2008?

Didn't you download and save my original stock tune during that session? I vaguely recall you having to retrieve the VIN and possibly some other ID info from that stock image. If I buy an AutoCal, could I get copies of that and my current tune (Chicago, late 2008?)?

--Doc

0Chuck CoW

Yes, call me for all the details...

Chuck CoW

0Chuck CoW

Yes Sir!

That's how we designed it to work.... An existing customer just needs the box...My RE-TUNES are FREE.

I have EVERY tune from EVERY customer....Stock and Modified going back almost 10 years!

Chuck CoW

QUAKEJAKE

Regarding the drive to your shop I am 250 miles away and would make the drive to get your widely famous tune to my Z. My question and concern is getting it back to stock if I had to, and with that circumstance, the car would probably not be drivable.So for someone with those concerns would I be better off with your mail tune? Is the results of your mail tune 80%,90% as successful as making the trip to you? Thanks

patrickfrommd

I went up to Chucks and he did my tune. I bought the EFI live while there (you can probably just do the AutoCalc) so I could push back the stock tune any time I wanted.
It’s not hard, I’ve done it a couple times before going to the dealer (just to be on the safe side).
My dealer is actually very cool. So long as you don’t put them in the position of having to explain to GM why they fixed something under warrantee that is likely attributed to a modification, they don’t mess with you.

Hell, I’ve pushed different tunes into the car while in line in the staging lanes waiting for my turn to run down the 1/4 mile (and I logged each run to boot!)
I drove up from Washington DC to chucks one night after work, stayed at a motel, and Chuck was ready and waiting for me early the next morning (he works some crazy hours).

I’d say drive up for the tune ,and buy a autocalc from chuck to bring back. He’s a wealth of information, and spending some time with him in person is well worth the drive.
P.S. If the Autocalc allows you to review the logs on your computer, that’s a great resource too, cuz you can watch every parameter from the car (what RPM you shifted at, the time it took to shift, the fuel and ignition at all points along the run.)

0Chuck CoW

Good explanation!

Here's another.....

NO, you should NEVER run at 160 deg with a 160 stat.... IF you do, it means the stat is stuck open or not positioned correctly and temps will be in the neighborhood of 153 on a cool day or night and slightly higher on a warmer day... This is wrong and should set a code....If the code was not turned off.

Remember, your car came from the factory with a 187 deg stat and NOBODY'S VETTE ever runs close to 187. Usually, over 200 is average.

When you install a stat that's 27 deg cooler and adjust the fans accordingly, then the car should run about 27 deg cooler than stock....That's all.

Chuck CoW

tloon

See you Thursday Chuck.

Rayzzz

Chuck did a great job tuning my 2005 C6 A4 automatic when it was stock. The tune was definitely way better. Later on I wanted more so Chuck said install a 2800 Pro Torque stall converter and 3.90 ratio rear end and your car will really come to life. Well he was right. I ordered the parts from Chuck and installed them myself. He programed the computers and car is awesome to drive. I even told him that I would like to raise the firmness of shift, RPM and speed that it would shift in to second gear, after the first tune and he said no problem. He said if thats what you like we can do it. He sent a new tune and WOW the car is even more fun to drive again. I also have the EFILive V2 AND LC-1 ( purchased from Chuck ) and he has been a great help with it as well.
Thanks Chuck for your help.
I really like how you made my car go from
slow to GO FAST THANKS RAYZZZ MY CORVETTE LIKES MY MONEY

kmerrill

I have an '06 A6 LS2 that Chuck tuned for me approx. 3 months ago. I could not be happier. I live near Vancouver, WA so working with Chuck we did the tunes by e-mail. I installed the 160 degree thermostat which was very easy to do. I then made backup copies of my original engine and A6 transmission program and then e-mailed both to Chuck. Received them back in a couple of days, reinstalled, took a recording test drive and sent results back. Chuck did some minor adjustments and I reloaded the final tunes.
I really could not believe the increased performance of both the engine and trans. No more lag time when I put the pedal to the floor. From day 1 I also was never impressed with the A6 trans. At around 35-40 mph it would always "hunt" for the correct gear to be in. It would surge up one gear then instantly drop to the lower gear resulting in a lurching ride. After the COW tunes this problem was completely eliminated and the shifts now feel definite and forceful. The car literally seems to jump forward at shift point and can hear the tires chirp the asphalt in the low gear shifts.
What else is there to say. The car now responds as I had expected it to when purchased. GM really under-tunes our engines and trans. Let Chuck do his magic and unleash the potential your power train is presently lacking. Why did I wait so long?
Last word - Chuck is just a great guy to work with. During the process I had several questions on how to proceed. Called him up and he talked me through it. Outstanding customer service. DO IT!!

0Chuck CoW

Thanks Kenny!

And thank you EVERYONE for the overwhelming response!

We've sold a bunch of them and I expect to sell a ton more this week!

REMEMBER: This is a SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE and when the first batch is gone, the price goes UP^!

Stay TUNED!
Chuck CoW

kygakman

2008 A6 Vert, Magnetic Ride, 2.73 performance rear, Z51 Sways. Installed the Snake Charmer CAI, 160 degree stat, and Chuck's engine and trans tune using the EFI Live a few months ago at 25K miles. Have 26.5K now and the car is a different car. Shifts are fast, forceful and direct. The car sucks air in unimpeded and does not feel like it is limited by the intake. I am replacing the orginal Goodyears with Michelins as they are getting dangerous with the increased power. I was getting a little bored with the car but the fun is back!

0Chuck CoW

And just so you know.....

After you get bored the next time.....

I'll ship you a 3.42 A6 ATTACK PACKAGE REAR END!!!

Best part is.... You install the rear and I just e-mail you the new tune.... Sames goes for My AutoCal customers.

Most guys thought you could not get the rear end without coming here...

WRONG.... Now you can buy my rear end and I can just e-mail you the tunes for the engine and trans!

Right ON!
Chuck CoW

Nd4spd2

I can attest for Chucks 3.42 A6 attack package, it certainly made my 08 a blast to drive. Haven't gotten bored with it yet nut I'm sure if I do, Chuck will have an idea or two...