Topic: A Morning with Lyndon

[Sly Nic]

On May 8th I drove my 2007 N/A Sly out to Tilley, Alberta to be tuned by Lyndon Wester himself.

I had called and spoken to Lyndon to arrange the tune and dyno and asked if I could actively watch and video the process. Lyndon is a friendly guy so he said that I could but I am not too sure that he prepared himself for the 3 million questions (OK - I exaggerate - 3 thousand) that I asked him. He handled it well though and I walked away with not only a custom tuned car but also a much better understanding of the process. 

I arrived at 10 AM as requested after spending a couple of hours on the road getting there. No trip to Wester's would be complete without mentioning the friendly and efficient Eileen who tends the administrative aspect of Wester's. Lyndon's associates Tim and Cal washed and dried my rubber so as not to leave a mess on the dyno and began to set up the car. It was very interesting to watch the guys painstakingly line up the car on the dyno - alignment on a dyno is critical.

STRAPPED IN


Once the car was aligned, it was "strapped in " and a variety of gauges where added to the exhaust and under the hood. My Sly has a GMPP Cold Air Intake, Solo header, high flow cat and an SQ 2 Solo exhaust system. All of these modifications have been to optimize performance and horse power.

Lyndon steered me straight in my thinking - I had done just about everything to the car that I possibly could (outside of a turbo charge or supercharge) that would increase HP and that the tune was not going to add much more. He told me that the most important thing that the tune would do would be to smooth everything out and optimize the modifications as they existed. I am okay with that because I am not into the numbers - I will never have as much power as a turbo or SC solstice I realize but I want to make sure that the modifications that I do have are being utilized to the fullest extent.

So, the first run began - well actually first and second. Each reading was done twice and the second reading was the one we took.

FIRST RUN


Lyndon went to work on his computer - I could possible tell you what it was he was doing as it was a bunch of computer codes on the screen. He explained a little bit to me as I am totally new to tuning and codes and all that stuff. I must say that it was fascinating watching him work. It was sort of a cycle of getting in the car.... doing two runs while watching the information pillar outside the door .... walking over and looking at the graphs .... walking to the other side of the pit and fiddling with codes.... walking back to the car .... two more runs .... back to the graphs ....back to the tuner computer.

Tim and Lyndon detected an exhaust leak after the first two runs. Time hooked up a smoke machine to determine where the leak was  and to see if affected performance at all. Well, the leak turned out to be at the rear clamp on the muffler and I admit that as the installer of the system, it was my fault for not getting the clamp "just right". Although the leak would not affect the dyno or tuning in any way (due to the position in the system where it was located), Tim took a socket wrench to the clamp and made history of the leak. I can't tell you how much I appreciated this added measure of service - it saved me from climbing under the car later.

So now, leak gone we got back to tuning.....two runs, graphs, tuning computer, two runs....... Two hours and I think about 16 or so runs later, Lyndon said the tune was complete. The whole time, Tim and Lyndon explained (simply, thank goodness) what they were trying to do to the graph.

FINAL RUN


Lyndon again explained about the numbers but more importantly to me, he explained about the performance. He said that there would not be much more HP than I had already attained but that I would notice it in the seat of my pants. Being a heavy equipment operator, I knew exactly what he meant.

Here is a comparison of the start graph and the final graph:


As you can see, the increases were there but not huge - what really strikes me is the smoothness of the tune. It would not do any harm to say that every vehicle tune and results would be different but these are the results for my Solstice and I am very happy with them. It really smoothed out any bumps or inconsistencies. The million dollar question is, however, how does this translate on the road?

I thanked Lyndon and shook his hand after putting up with all my questions. He gave me a really cool hoodie, tshirt and lots of stickers. You have to like vendors that dress you too! 



The drive home was about 2 hours of really straight prairie road - I only noticed small differences in fourth or fifth gear as most of the trip is made at about 125 KPH (that is 78 MPH for those of you south of the 49th). However, once I got closer to the city and lower speeds, I did truly feel the difference in the seat of my pants. The lower range on the gears are incredibly more responsive and faster causing instantaneous perma-grin and a feeling of immortality! That was three days ago and the awe and grin are still happening. 

I feel like a real winner here - firstly, the tune was worth every cent, secondly I am fortunate enough to be able to take my car in for a tune in person to a man who has perfected his tune on the car and lastly, I was able to meet and talk to a really nice guy. I learned a lot in a few hours.

Thank you so much Lyndon - there is a reason you are considered the top in your field.

(PS - I am in the process of making a movie of the experience for Lyndon - stay tuned)

[snaponbob]

Lyndon's associates Tim and Cal washed and dried my rubber so as not to leave a mess.   

Let the one liners begin !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

[KWhale]

Great post Nic!  Can't wait to see the movie   Once again you got your mod done right before me, we are going to be there on the 21st.  I WAS going to post a video too, but since our cars are so similar, there wouldn't be much difference.  I'll post the dyno results for a GXP that only has a Solo cat and Mach exhaust for performance mods to give others an idea of what to expect.

So what's next on your mod list....once the summer of driving enjoyment is over that is?  Maybe I can get 1 mod done before you do 

[lil goat]

I am so glad to see posts like this, I have never met Lyndon face to face, but we talk a couple of times a week. He is a very nice man and a true giant in his field. You can comment to how small this big operation is, he try's to make everyone feel like they are his only customer, and I think he succeeds. I am very proud to call Lyndon my friend.

[Critterman]

SB - nope not going to do it, you know the Canadians are like Brits, same words mean different things.

To a Brit a rubber, is what you use to erase (or rub) a mistake off of paper that you put there with a pencil. 

[KWhale]

..... you know the Canadians are like Brits.......

Ouch!  Now that one hurt  

[Sly Nic]

So what's next on your mod list....once the summer of driving enjoyment is over that is?  Maybe I can get 1 mod done before you do 

I am finished...really....I mean really..... for now!

Well, truth be told, I am thinking of the backbone brace.....

But really - I am finished...... really! 

[Sol Asylum]

you know the Canadians are like Brits

Except some Canadians speak French.

[Pumpkinhead]

  SA - "Except some Canadians speak French"

  ...and their bacon tastes funny

[KWhale]

PH, you need to bar-b-q the Canadian bacon if you want it to taste right.  I can't comment on the french speaking people, my wife is french!  But if I could comment, I have a ton of French jokes that are cracking me up right now!!

[Sol Asylum]

KWhale PM me the jokes I will post them for you and all will be good.

PH the bacon taste odd because its gone bad do to taking so long to get to the end of the driveway

[baconbits]

Wow you just described me .. odd tasting,french heritage with a long driveway..are you guys clairvoyant

[Sol Asylum]

Wow you just described me .. odd tasting,french heritage with a long driveway..are you guys clairvoyant

Clairvoyant...that sounds French, I'm more of German heritage.

[Uranium-238]

French-Canadian heritage here. Ancestors came over in the mid 17th century. Supposedly there's a memorial to them somewhere on the island portion of Quebec.

[KWhale]

U415, no er, U132 that's not it er, Uboat (close enough), what was their last name?  If you can remember, we can have an Internet search contest to find a pick of the memorial!  The winner would get $1M of PoorBoys products.  I may need to check with them, but I'm pretty sure it'll be OK with em.

[lil goat]

I once accused Lyndon of being French, he was deeply offended and told me in no uncertain terms he was not French they had run them off and that he was a red neck.

[GXPinKC]

I take that as a compliment.  My dad was a redneck, and I have always been one as well.  Lyndon, be proud that you are a redneck.  Thanks for posting this thread Sly Nic. 

[Sly Nic]

This is undeniably the most flagrant example of a thread hijack I have ever seen! 

How come there is no emoticon for thread hi-jack here on this forum...I mean - maybe a toaster at gunpoint with a pirate flag or something? 

[Sol Asylum]

I once accused Lyndon of being French, he was deeply offended and told me in no uncertain terms he was not French they had run them off and that he was a red neck.

I think Lyndon might be less offended if you were to say start selling his tune and claiming it was your own mysterious discovery.

This is undeniably the most flagrant example of a thread hijack I have ever seen! 

How come there is no emoticon for thread hi-jack here on this forum...I mean - maybe a toaster at gunpoint with a pirate flag or something? 

I vote for the toaster at gunpoint just so long as it doesn't make French toast.