My Mother knows Dr. Starzl well. They are/were neighbors in the same small condo building for years. I met he and his wife at a party at my mother's. I think he may have moved a few years ago - will have to ask her. You learned from the best.

Congrats on the tune, smart move using a cloned ecu. How about the numbers? :)

Thanks. I hope my extremely positive report doesn't make everyone think I am going to post a 700/700 dyno. LOL. There are a couple of data curves on my car's dyno graph that I would like to clear with GIAC before posting it publicly (patiently waiting :D), so that will have to wait. For those who are curious, it looks similar to the curve below that was posted for 6speeder "clay997tt" in this thread, with less horsepower gain (clay's is 440 mine is 420, my power curve dives earlier and is less at the top end) and more torque gain (clay is 470 mine is around 500 - it is a good flat plateau from around 3300 to 4400). A few more dyno runs under better conditions and maybe the numbers could be better, but that was not my goal. The percentage gains of 8% power, 17% torque are nothing unusual, in line with another Cargraphic Exhaust car that is tuned to Stage 2 by Cargraphic.

I'll discuss this a little later, but as important as absolute numbers are the shapes of, and the areas under the torque and power curves. (There were comments related to this as the crew was tuning my car.) I believe this area around 3000-5000 influences greatly how the car accelerates, drives, & feels in daily driving . After all, this is where we drive a majority of the time. I'll show my dyno eventually but it does have reasonably good curves, with very nice torque band, and GIAC seemed to be pleased.

Numbers aside, I am finding out as I get more of a handle on what's going on, that this thing does feel like a rocket, even in normal mode. In second and third gears the tach needle sweeps towards red line at an utterly alarming rate; as if it's a knife slicing through thin air. The car propels forwards like a Torpedo and cars next to mine on the freeway simply disappear in a tic tac when I punch on the gas. My Turbo baby is kicking ass big time. http://www.rennteam.com/staticimages...lins/floor.gif For the life of me, I can't fathom what it must feel like in those higher power cars like eclou's, etc.

Lastly for those who are new to this: If you research the various tuning companies, you will see that dynos' numbers are all over the place. This is because the dynometers have parameter settings that influence how the numbers come out; vendors could make it read just about anything. GIAC in particular tends to have conservative (low) numbers. A percentage of the change is therefore more meaningful if you would like to have an idea of the gain. A look at the graph, at the areas under the curves, is even better. If you want to look at a tune's gain, a percentage of the change -- that is, before and after dyno's -- is a lot more meaningful than "my car is now at 500 hp." A look at the graph, shapes, and areas under the curves, is even better.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...CTurbodyno.jpg

BTW, Doug, having now a better general concept of how a tune is done, I do think that it's an excellent idea that you replaced your Tubi with the Ruf exhaust. I may be wrong but I think the Ruf exhaust probably matches the parameters of the Ruf tune better.

great write up as usual and really informative. I have have same exhaust with EVOMS ecu and love the way it sounds. Air intake is good option to consider if you would like your turbos to sound louder

Can I completely agree, the Ruf is optimized for the 100 cell cats.

Really? I thought Ruf 550 used 200 cell cats just like CG and others?

Do you know who actually makes the Ruf exhaust, I have always wondered...

You had the work done at GIAC? Seems like they have a really top notch facility. Checked their site but can't figure out where they are located?

Orange County!

Irvine, CA.

The Ruf exhaust is just a modified OEM exhaust with 100 cell cats.

Too far. Willow Grove, PA much easier!

Mike, can you PM me with a price? Car is an 08, 6spd w a Tubi exhaust.

GIAC has a strict policy of no retail sale; my tune was actually handled through GMG, which is of course a world class Porsche shop in Orange County.
If I were in the North-East area, there is no doubt that my first choice would be AWE. The follow-up service is important. If something is not to your liking or if you want to upgrade to a higher level tune later, it's critical to have a knowledgeable shop. AWE is a no-brainer recommendation here. They are always on the forum, always willing to answer questions, always there.

In retrospect, I don't know if GIAC knows how difficult and picky I am, but it's really to their credit that they take a chance and let me "into the house," observe their work, and test their product. I guess this is a sign of their confidence in what they have to offer.

What I found was there is one man/shop in Germany making the exhausts for Ruf one at a time. I assume he only works for Ruf, but information is hard to come by.

Done!

Another thing no CELs and it passed emmissions, no problem. Which is amazing with a 100 cell cats IMO