Huge Thanks to Sam @bydesignauto for a California Legal Tune - 6SpeedOnline

Jul 2, 2024 | 07:25 AM

rangerdick

Thread Starter

Registered User

Joined: Nov 2011

Posts: 174

From: BURLINGAME

Rep Power: 23

Huge Thanks to Sam @bydesignauto for a California Legal Tune

Ran into a quandary getting my car ready for its California Biennial smog test . The state has begun to query the ECU on cars and compare the data to verify its not modified. Unfortunately, my car had a tune of unknown origin since I purchased it in 2012. In a search to avoid the anxiety of not knowing it would pass or not, I reached out to Sam at By Design Auto (Sambo). He is a Cobb tuning dealer and they have a California Air Resources Board - CARB waiver for the Accessport tuner. This allows their tunes to be legally installed on 996TT's.

Sam was super honest and helpful. We discussed the options on available tunes, both stock ones and custom tunes that he develops and adds to the Cobb. One of the big concerns I had with my car was the unknown tune, as Cobb specifically states that installing over non factory tune has the potential to brick the ECU. Sam reassured me that it would not be an issue and that he had options available in the remote chance it didn't work. So I took the plunge and ordered the Cobb with the custom tune by Sam.

First, I installed the included state 1 tune and did a few runs to datalog the engine operating parameters. Sent them to Sam and he saw there was probably a vacuum leak and out of spec Fuel Pressure Regulator values. I did a thorough inspection of the car and found the oil tank vent hose had a crack in it from years of high vacuum and a quick peek with the bore scope showed the FPR line was off at the elbow. Got those items fixed and did new data logs. All good.

This is where I was especially impressed with Sam. Instead of just selling me the tune and taking my $$$$, Sam took the time to point me in the proper direction to fix the two issues that were showing anomalies in my data. That is what I consider to be great customer service. Hes super responsive and at most, he replied in minutes to my questions.

Once corrected, Sam sent me a custom tune for the car, which I then installed. Wow! What an improvement. Probably a 20-25% improvement in HP over stock. Power delivery is much smoother and linear. It pulls very hard! And the Car has passed smog and has the Executive Order - EO number so it will continue to pass smog.

So, if any of you are having this issue with you California car, I consider this a very easy and cost effective solution. Plus, I don't believe I will need to reflash each time I smog again.

Thanks Sam!