I have to share with my fellow Corvette Forum members a great resource and help for all of us.

His name is Josh Benson, and he owns and works at Spartan LSX Performance.

Josh Benson
Spartan LSX Performance
678-524-4548
www.SpartanLSXPerformance.com
Email: spartanlsx1@gmail.com

I found him after spending quite a bit of time and research on the web to find someone to help me.

I have a 2012 Corvette Grand Sport with a K&N CAI, a Borla cat back exhaust, and a tune. The car is a six speed manual with 13k miles on the engine.

I wanted to get an aftermarket camshaft, valve springs, and push rods to get more power, but, I would also like to be able to pass my bi annual California smog test too.

I put this question out there to quite a number of different performance specialists (Big Names) and tuners, to get their opinion on what specifications and products to choose, some responded, and some did not.

Josh was the only person to respond to me that gave me detailed information to my inquires and questions, and he did not try to sell me on his products and services. From the few responses that I did get back from the others, their details were vague and generic, (they would not tell me the specs of the camshaft that they would recommend for my situation) and they wanted me to buy their packages, products and services that they provided.

After looking at all of my options, I decided to go with Josh's recommendations, a Cam Motion camshaft 218/228 .600/.600 118+6, best quality cam cores in the industry, and their cam lobes are very smooth and forgiving to other components of the valve train. PSI 1511's, a light weight quality beehive spring, and Trick Flow hardened pushrods. Josh does not sale any of these parts, he suggested to me how I could find the best prices out there.

Josh also gave me questions to ask perspective performance shops that I was looking at to do the installation work on my car. For example, "Ask them if they check things like spring install height, piston/valve clearance, camshaft centerlines. Those fine details are very important."

I have to tell you that it was very refreshing to have this knowledge, quick response, detailed information, and great customer service that Josh provided.

After getting my camshaft package installed and going to get my new tune on the car so it would run just right. I ended up getting HP Tuners for this part as was suggested by the tune shop that I went to. I found a place near me in Mira Loma, Ca. that was highly recommended by some local shops and on Yelp. After the car was dyno'd and the tune was put in the car, I drove away, and when I tested the car, I was not really impressed with the difference in power from stock. After I got home, I proceeded to download the tune that was installed into HP Tuners and emailed it to Josh. When Josh looked at the tune, he said that the air/fuel ratio was too rich. It was in the 10's. I have a naturally aspirated car, so this was way too rich. Also, he said that there was a lot left to be desired with this tune that was put into my car. Josh compared a stock Grand Sport compare file, he saw that both the MAF & VE fueling tables are still stock, the power enrichment table (the wide open throttle fueling) could use a lot of work, the rev limiter could be raised, and he also saw some areas in the spark tables that could use some massaging too.

Josh said that there is much more left in a better tune.
Josh explained to me that since I have HP Tuners, if I had a wideband air/fuel gauge installed in the car before the catalytic converter by a local shop, that he would help me to tune the car properly through email.

This is exactly what I did. The car has a much quicker response, the low, mid, and top end power feels great.

What a difference a proper complete tune makes and what a blessing Josh Benson is for us amateur motor heads.

I am going back to the original tune shop soon for one pull on their dyno to get the difference in horsepower from the two tunes.

I highly recommend Josh for all of the reasons above.

Craig

 

If MAF and VE were both totally stock after a cam swap then somebody didn't know what they were doing for sure. Sounds like you're better off working on it yourself.

 

That's why it is good that I have someone like Josh to look at what another tuner did, or did not do.

I felt like I got ripped off at this tuner by me that was highly recommended. Go figure.....

 

I see it so often on the HPT forum it's not even funny.. it's depressing how much money people have spent for basically nothing.

Ah well, at least you had the nerve to take it on yourself. Many are so intimidated by it that they act like it's voodoo or something and won't even think about it

 

FWIW, a quality professional tune is worth the money spent. A good tuner is hard to find but when you find one their knowledge is worth it's weight in gold. But yes, many people get ripped off by bad "tooners".

Craig did the driving & gathering data for me, but I did the tuning.

 

Yeah.. it's def worth the money with the right person. There just aren't as many of those out there as most would think

It's not like you hit the "big *** cam" button and the tune is done or something

 

Your first mistake was using yelp to find a tuner

 

I found a tuner here through the forum (using google) and got mine tuned through email. This guy has a great website, talked the talk and I was so relieved that I found him as there is nobody local i`d let touch my car.
Once we thought it was close, made an appointment at a local shop that had a dyno and rented it. Then remotly connected with this person. Did one pull, flashed and pulled again and told me we were done. I was a little shocked by he insisted he didn`t care about numbers and that the car has what it wants.

Well after some runs at the track i just couldn`t understand why my trap spped we`re so low at best 10.86@130.11mph with a 1.48 60ft

I linked up with another guy (too much BS with initial to even care to tell him) He said my tune was all off and terrible. I thought of course it is. Then what really got me is when he looked at my tune and started asking me if I had this symptom or that...like he asked me,
Does it start right away probably not right?......
which I replied it didn`t.
Then when you shut down does it diesel a bit?
Yes it does badly.
Then asked what fuel?
I said 94 from petro canada. He mentions that`s an e10 fuel......you`re not tuned for that WTH.

So at this point I`m like take my $$ lol

Well we made about 3 or 4 passes, flashing in between each on a track that I never been on. Couldn`t get my 60ft where I normally had it but ran a 10.56@136.56 with a 1.61 60ft. thats 6.5mph better and probably 0.50 on ET if I could have stuck a 60ft. Then the drive home is where I was really amazed. My car used to surge hard cruising and was initially told it was the bigger cam and nothing could be done but it was all gone. The car felt so much better. and later ran a 10.35@136.86 same set-up
We`ve tweaked the car a bit from there and run a bit faster but it wouldn`t be entirely fair to compare them now. but same car same build 10.86 vs 10.35 and 130.11mph vs 136.86mph.

Just adding to your story. Having the right guy look after your tune is as important as the mods done to it. I do all of my own work except the tune and really happy I have my guy. Everyone with a laptop and hp tuners can call themselves a tuner. Be carefull who you trust.

Good work Josh, Sounds like you are one of the good ones

 

Cant say enough about a good tuner or a good tune period. I am not an LS tuner as my 2012 GS is the first LS car I have owned. I am coming from the world of turbo charged V6's I also have an '87 Grand National which those cars respond incredibly to some parts and a good tune.Its taken me years to learn how to correctly tune tune so I know what it takes. I see so many cars that have lots of mods and are slow as hell because the tune sucks! Its all in the TUNE!

Same with any car really, I am extremely picky and do all my own work, however I will not even try to tune my Vette. I just bough some ARH headers and installed a Vararam. As soon as I get the headers on I'll be going to see Josh. Fortunately he is about 30 min from my house and a buddy of mine from a long time ago. Josh is no doubt extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

OP, glad you got your car ironed out, its a terrible thing when you spend money on mods and the car doesn't run good. So many shops proclaim to know how to tune and they cant.....I see it all the time!