[Wondaboy]

I’m not sure if this should be in the new automatic MCS section, of if it should be a continuation of the BBR thread, so if it in the wrong place then you have my apologies.

I have an auto MCS arriving in march, and am having the same tuning quandary as many of you have had or are currently experiencing. My original choices were Works and BBR. However, at the beginning of December I raised this question and Spillers suggested GT, so then there were three.

I had not had the greatest response from BBR via email, so I visited them a few weeks ago and put a few questions to them. I met a two people one of whom was Neil, who was introduced to me as the guy who maps all the software.

My main question was that as they had yet to see an auto, would I need to wait for them to develop it for the automatic, or would they have enough advanced data to develop it in advance. When I asked this question on the phone they said that the software for the manual would not need tweaking, but when I went to see them they said that every customers car has individual software maps, that they develop specifically on the day on a individual basis to suit the car. I left with a good degree of comfort and happily recommended them on the basis of my visit to a mini2er on this forum.

I subsequently read every thread posted about BBR, and needless to say felt like a fool. I decided not to add to the bun fight thread about the out of date MTH software, as it had been closed by mutual consent, but I was really unhappy about what they had told me.

I have no problem with tuning companies reusing other people’s work, specifically because if things don’t work out then there is someone that I can talk to. For me, this is well worth the extra money. On reading the previous thread I decided against BBR, however now we have a response I want to keep an open mind. I have yet to speak to GT, but certainly will prior to my decision. My question is, what are the changes required to tune an auto, JC Works have a test car running at the moment, but say that the testing will take a month or two. If I go for a Works kit, then this is fine as my car does not arrive until late march, but is it the case that independent tuners would be able to do as good a job on an auto as they do on established manuals, if they had never seen an auto before I took it to them, and am I deranged to offer myself as the test monkey.

Piers

[Paul]

I've got the BBR 220 kit and it's great, and according to BBR they don't use MTH software (I don't know if you've seen the short tempered reply they made), I prefer it to the Graham Goode and JCW Conversions, and didn't even consider Hartge (who use MTH software, according to MTH) as I know of people who've had problems.

It's a tricky situation with the tuning of the automatic, I assume if they have the gearbox data then they may well be able to tell in advance if their current software and kit will work, but I'm no expert on this subject.

I'd sooner go somewhere that had already tuned an Auto S, but at the moment that's very, very limited, and someone has to be the first!