Thinking of attending Tuner School, what do you guys think?

**DIDZ** · 11-01-2011, 03:31 PM

Hey guys,

I havent posted on here for a while. I am planning on starting my own business next year (Performance parts and garage) and i was thinking of attending John Hennessey's Tuner school just to brush up on tuning. I plan on taking it soon but i was just wondering what you guys think. I do have a mechanical background as i used to work for a company out here that builds Westfield race cars and i spent 6 out of my 8 hours a day in the workshop.

I was also wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction on how to find a decent apartment in Katy Texas. All of my online searching leads me towards fancy places, or are most of the apartments out in Texas like that? Plus how much money (food and spending) would i have to bring out with me? I will be there for 3.5 to 4 months. I was thinking $3000 a month would be ok, what do you think?

**0rion** · 11-03-2011, 03:45 PM

first question I have.....where the hell are you from? What location is that?
Second question.....why Hennessey?
Last question.....have you looked at apartment guides and newspapers for that area? A local contact or a trip to visit would be pretty beneficial.

**pajeff02** · 11-03-2011, 04:58 PM

I attended Greg Banish's Calibrated Success program last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Here's the thread: http://www.ls1.com/forums/f9/attende...aining-145347/ Not familiar with Hennessey so can't compare the two. Banish has a couple of very informative tuning books out and really does a great job -- I highly recommend his classes.

**DIDZ** · 11-07-2011, 05:44 AM

Hey,

Orion, i wish i could visit but i am on the other side of the globe. I am from Bahrain in Persian Gulf.

pajeff02, what did they teach you guys out there and how long was the course?

The one i am attending is this Tuner School, LLC. | Automotive High Performance Tuning School

**pajeff02** · 11-07-2011, 09:00 AM

It was a 2 day course that covered all sorts of stuff -- the thread I posted a link to gives a good overview and has a bunch of pics too.

**Spikito** · 11-07-2011, 09:45 AM

I live near Katy, and 3k a month should def do you.

I'm north of them a little ways, in a bigger town, and around here, decent apartments run 500-700 a month for a 1 or 2 bedroom. then utilities will put you close to 1k a month.

you could also look at other Houston suburbs, Pasadena, Spring, etc

**DIDZ** · 11-07-2011, 10:58 PM

Thanks for your help Spikito, I am actually looking for a 2 bedroom apartment in case any of my buddys decide to come and visit. I will look into other areas as well. If i can sell my car out here in time i would love to buy a WS6 out there and then ship it back here when i am done, i figure 4 months in Texas without a car will get really boring! Especially since classes will only be from 8 to 12:30, plus i need to get there everyday.

**tep98ws6** · 11-09-2011, 08:25 PM

Personally, I think if you're planning to go just to brush up, it'd be a waste of $, esp if you have to move. I did a year long, intensive high performance racing class and the part where we learned tuning was stupid. It was only worth it for machining, building and operating the dyno. They handed us a ton of print outs of tuning software guides and said "study." I think anyone can learn to tune if that's the case. I think I learned more lurking HP Tuners than I did paying $15k to go to school.

/.2

**DIDZ** · 11-15-2011, 02:50 AM

Originally Posted by tep98ws6

Personally, I think if you're planning to go just to brush up, it'd be a waste of $, esp if you have to move. I did a year long, intensive high performance racing class and the part where we learned tuning was stupid. It was only worth it for machining, building and operating the dyno. They handed us a ton of print outs of tuning software guides and said "study." I think anyone can learn to tune if that's the case. I think I learned more lurking HP Tuners than I did paying $15k to go to school.

/.2

I agree with you somehow but the problem is out here there isnt any place i can go to learn the things i need to. Everyone with a wrench here calls himself a mechanic but only a handful have studied the basics of mechanics. There is one garage here that is definitely the best but he charges about 600$ for one half an hour dyno session with a tune!! Plus there are alot of things that i still need to learn which i cant do out here. Plus i have always wanted to go to Texas anyway so its kind of a win/win situation for me.

**310stanger** · 11-17-2011, 07:01 AM

NOT everybody can tune a car. I dont know what gave anyone that idea. However, in order to be able to tune... You first have to know everything about what air fuel ratios are, what spark timing is and what it does, and how fuel trims work. Theres no "brush up" and you sure as shit arent gonna pick it up in a 2 day class either. The best way to learn how to tune a car imo would be to first take a regular fuel injection class. Then find some guy that knows how to tune a car that will take you under his wing and learn by doing. Perhaps this tuner school will actually let you learn by doing? If they will actually put you behidn the lap top and do the tunes yourself then it could be worht it. But like I said if you dont know what you are actually changing and how it works theres no point. The factory spends hours upon hours for the tunes in cars, the tuner spends more hours off of that base tune adjusting stuff. To be honest, this stuff probably takes more like YEARS to be good enough at it where you can actually charge people.

**pajeff02** · 11-17-2011, 04:09 PM

^^ Well said. I learned a ton in Banish's class and still highly recommend it to anyone interest in F.I. and tuning. I also quickly recognized that there is so much more to tuning than what can be picked up in a weekend. What I don't know about tuning far outweighs what I do know.