HPP Racing tunes

So I want to get a true dyno tune at a reputable speed shop. I’m on the board in a couple months for HPP Racing in Denton, TX. Manny they say is the man and I’m willing to try it. All I’ve done to the car (15 GT auto convertible) is a Whipple stage 2, OPG’s and crank sprocket, magnaflox street exhaust. Happy with the Whipple tune but I know there’s more on the table and potential better drive ability with a true dyno tune.

My question - has anyone used HPP here (especially for Whipple tunes but any experience is appreciated)? Let me hear what you think!

Ive heard good things.

Bump for some feedback hopefully

So I went to HPP Racing for a tune today. I was scheduled for the 14th but they called me and said they're going to be down near Mexico filming more of the Outlaw TV show and wouldn't be available and offered to tune me on Tuesday the 5th. It was nuts there because they're trying to get their wrecked car back together in time - so everyone was pretty focused on that and one of the owners told me to bear with them as best I could because things are hectic.

They put it on the rollers and I asked for a baseline run on the Whipple calibration first for comparison. I was FLOORED it made such good numbers - 660 rwhp and 521 torque - in an automatic car. But it has always felt impressive on power to me - that's 4th gear with the 3.625" pulley and no other power mods / stock manifolds and cats.

Here's the video of the car on the baseline pull.
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Then I flashed it back to stock with the Whipple flare tool and handed over my SCT X4 for Manny to get to work. He was back and forth but when he loaded his base tune and first fired it up it idled really rough for a while and cut off. He looked at me after a while and then asked me what injectors I had and I told him the 72# injectors from the stage 2 kit. I told him drive-ability was most important because it's my daily driver and he commented that Whipple had a lot more time with the oval throttle body to dial it in. I thought that seemed strange since that's the most common throttle body for power for these cars but shrugged it off. He made a revision and got it to fire up and made a total of 3 more pulls over the next couple hours while he was working on his race car getting it back together mostly. At the end of the third pull he said was satisfied with the tune and took it for a drive to check drive-ability. I asked him how it was when he got back and if there was anything I needed to know and he said no it's great and feels like it should.

Here's the dyno pull with the HPP finalized tune.
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Here's the dyno sheet comparing the two runs.


They make about the exact same power with a different tuning profile, almost line over line. The baseline pull was only to 7200, the HPP tune was to 7800, so I think if the baseline had gone higher in RPM they might be almost identical.

Then I drove off and before I hit the end of the block I could feel something not quite right in the drive-ability and it felt like it was constantly surging at cruise. The fuel economy gauge said I was pulling down like 28mpg and the vacuum cruising and idling was about 3-5 inches higher than im used to seeing with the Whipple calibration. The shifts were so harsh that if I went from WOT to letting off it would upshift and cause the blower belt to squeal for a second. I called the shop concerned and he said come on back.

I showed up and was met outside by Brad who said Manny was welding up stuff for their race car but that Manny asked him to find out exactly what was going on. I described the surging and he walked back inside for a minute and when he came back said not to take it wrong but if I was going to be picky about the drive-ability I'd need to bring it back another day and just leave the car with them to sort it out. He said Manny could feel what I was talking about when he test drove it earlier but that was totally normal. Brad assured me the AFR was fine and it was safe. It felt like crap driving it so I emailed Manny and at least asked for some shift revisions to soften it up so I wasn't abusing my belt. He sent me a couple that softened up the shifts some but it’s still harsh enough coming out of WOT it causes the blower belt to slip.

I just put it back to Whipple's tune tonight and bumped the rpm limit to 7800 until they have time to get my drive-ability acceptable. It feels more powerful but the shifts are so much more abrupt with the HPP - and the transmission seemed to make a whining noise under that tune - I just wasn't comfortable with it even if they were since they weren’t willing to test drive it to confirm / experience my concern. It shouldn't be hunting / surging like it is, I 'm afraid something bad will happen to the drive line because of it.

So until they've got time to sort it out... in January maybe - I'm withholding my vote on the overall experience. I wish they would have driven the car when I came back to at least see first hand what I meant. I also wish they had not fit me in if they didn't have time to actually get it right because of other more pressing priorities. I get it - but I'm part of their success too - and I just paid $575 to drive off with an incomplete tune. Full disclosure, I had to call and show up 10 minutes past my appointment time that day and I did feel bad because I hate being late and wasting peoples time.

I'll update when I have more to say - but that's where it is - since there's really no testimonials on HPP Racing tuning on this site that's been my experience thus far. I think they are well intentioned and hopefully they will get it sorted, so hopefully they prove me right and can finish what they started. Everyone that knows Manny say he’s the man for ford tuning in the area, so I’ve got my fingers crossed...

That's some shitty customer service. It's cool they're working on their car and all but you are a paying customer and deserve better than that. Hope it all gets sorted out buddy.

So I hadn’t heard anything from Manny or Brad since my email on the 8th telling them I took the tune off my car. They reopened after being closed a couple weeks on Monday so I called up and Brad said they were buried having just opened two minutes earlier and that he’d look into if my headers had arrived from my order on November 30.

After lunch I called back to check and (I think) Ozzy answered and he said they should have their bulk shipments in by 3 or 4 and they should know if they arrived. I didn’t hear back but I know things can be hectic. The next afternoon I popped in and talked to Brad in person about my tune and headers. Skipping ahead he said the headers should be here in the next week or two and he’d get me scheduled in as a shop car and Manny would look at the tune for me.

I think they intend to make good long term and that they put themselves in a jam with no time to address the issues that came up before. I will update so there’s some feedback out there on HPP. I had Lund tune it while they were closed and that was simple and clean. Hoping the dyno tune doesn’t end up being a $600 mistake but I’ll weigh in at the end of the journey!

I had the same experience with Dallas Mustand when I took my 96 to get tuned when mike Wilson was there and my car made it down the road after bucking real hard it died. I called and told him about my car and he said there was nothing he could do. So I had to get my car towed two hours back home.

OrangCrush said:

I had the same experience with Dallas Mustand when I took my 96 to get tuned when mike Wilson was there and my car made it down the road after bucking real hard it died. I called and told him about my car and he said there was nothing he could do. So I had to get my car towed two hours back home.

Click to expand...

That sucks. I learned my lesson with Dallas Mustang when they did a clutch in my last 2015 GT PP and I could barely get the car into First and third. I believe they tried to drop the trans with the shifter still in and damaged it - which was bush league for sure. It gave me a reason to buy a $500 MGW shifter which was amazing but damn, ya know? I took it back to them and they were like “I don’t know what you want us to do about the damaged shifter.” They took a pry bar under the car and had me shift gears on the lift while they cranked on it and then tightened the bolts down ... in hindsight that was probably not. A great idea.

I bought a car with a HPP tune in july 2017 is was a horrible tune. The car would not go wide open throttle. This was a finished product tune as well

Yeah I went back and they seem like they’re willing to try to fix the driveability of it if I left it there for them to work it in between other cars. I switched to E85 with a full return system and had Lund tune it. They asked me if I wanted to have Manny tune the car after the header install was done and they would just charge me $135/he for dyno time since I had already paid the $575 for the first revision I talked about above which is their “lifetime tune.” Because I paid so much for the first tune I seriously considered it, because it did make great WOT power, but told him to just do a validation pull for now. Validation pulls are 3 for $89 but he said he’d charge me $135 for an hour of dyno time in case anything needed tweaking by Manny. I was wrangling my 7 year old and it was closing time and I had somewhere to be soon so I paid my invoice with the $135 fee on it while they got it strapped down. A tech strapped it down and made two quick pulls in a row in 4th and said it looked good and pulled it back outside. I just said thanks to Brad and left.

I smelled burning smells on the way home which I figured happens with any new exhaust. Then I got home to check things over real quick and saw why.

They had left the Whipple sound tube laying on the driver header and it melted to the brand new header. I zip tied it out of the way thinking, hey shit happens and it was something I’d installed and not something most people have on their cars so maybe he just missed it getting the car back together. Then I realized one of the three plastic screws holding down the battery cover was missing too. And that one of my black Allen head screws was missing that bold the lid on the Whipple air box cover and in its place was a silver Allen cap bolt screwed in its place. Now I don’t know I they just added one extra bolt or if it was to replace one that was lost - I really am not sure - but if they’d have done a QC check before handing it back or told me I’d have been happier. It makes me wonder what else, you know? But the headers seem fine and that’s he end of my wrenching around on the car for a while, until the engine or trans goes probably. I went back to pick up my stock manifolds a few days later when I did t have the kiddos in the car and ran into Manny and Brad, they were eating some lunch in the office and had a tech set my parts in the roll up bay to grab. Manny came up and shook my hand and asked how things were going - like I said they’re friendly people - I just didn’t feel like bringing up the little things after all of this because I keep second guessing if the stuff that I’m worried about is not a big deal and what others would think. I’m neutral on it all mostly I guess. If I needed a motor pulled or trans pulled, I’d still go back. And I actually am curious what power Manny could make on a big fuel system and E85 as it sits - everyone around here swears by the man and I know he’s tuned tons of cars from taking to people. But Lund is about as revered as they come and has been stellar to work with again on pump gas and E85 and the trans shifts great and drives like stock with better mileage than factory lol... hell i averaged 17.5 mpg to LMR yesterday - a 120 mile drive - on E85.

Anyhow that’s the update - I think it might be easier to just order the bolt and screws and just call it a day. But I may call them and ask Monday if they can rectify it and they might. I just don’t want to burn the bridge if I need major work because they do have a lot of experience on this platform.