Minnesota Focus Owners Club

About a year ago there was a discussion about tuning my SVTF w/JRSC+BBK. Someone suggested contacting Casey, stating that "Casey is the main tuner at Hitech". Well, guess what? I'm slow, and Casey is no longer at Hitech.
Anyone know Casey's whereabouts?

my sons name is casey. yeah dont know , i talked to the guy a hand full of times , real cool guy , hope he got a better gig.

Just found out Casey works at Apple Valley Ford now.

FORDSVTPARTS wrote:Just found out Casey works at Apple Valley Ford now.

Does that mean I should take my car to Apple Valley Ford for a tune?

oldoutboardjim wrote:

FORDSVTPARTS wrote:Just found out Casey works at Apple Valley Ford now.

Does that mean I should take my car to Apple Valley Ford for a tune?

Basically yes, they do a fair bit of in house stuff there geared towards performance.

Something I can't seem to get them interested in doing here so far.

Call them and see what they say, I'd be curious what they charge for a tune.

If nothing else, there is dan a DB I believe.

I was very happy with dealing with Casey at Hiteck. But Burt on the other hand I can deal without..

Patalrob wrote:But Burt on the other hand I can deal without..

Are you referring to 'Bart'? If so, he is the owner.

FORDSVTPARTS wrote:

oldoutboardjim wrote:

FORDSVTPARTS wrote:Just found out Casey works at Apple Valley Ford now.

Does that mean I should take my car to Apple Valley Ford for a tune?:lol:

Basically yes, they do a fair bit of in house stuff there geared towards performance.

Something I can't seem to get them interested in doing here so far.

Call them and see what they say, I'd be curious what they charge for a tune.

I called Apple Valley Ford, and they said that, yes, they do custom tuning. Actually, the cars are sent to a shop (in Chaska, I think). And Casey (Whitmer?) does work there. In fact, he is the person that does the tuning. He is off today, but I’ll call back and talk with him.
It would be really great if the tuning could be done at Ford, in which case it might not be necessary to buy one of those Diablo or Xcal hand-held devices. When the ECU was originally reflashed by Ford Racing, I’m sure they didn’t use a hand-held device.
Anyway, I’ll post more information when I get it.

You will need the hand held, I gaurantee it.

Casey was the one that originally dynoed my car and he was going to try tweaking it a bit while it was on the dyno but the SVT doesn't work that way.

The tune has to be tweaked using a computer program, then loaded to the hand held and then uploaded to the car. That's one of the reasons dynotuning them is a bit expensive, it's simply time consuming.

I think the shop they do the tuning at is APS autoworks.

oldoutboardjim wrote:

Patalrob wrote:But Burt on the other hand I can deal without..

Are you referring to 'Bart'? If so, he is the owner.

Yeah that guy. I do know he is the owner.

Patalrob wrote:

oldoutboardjim wrote:

Patalrob wrote:But Burt on the other hand I can deal without..

Are you referring to 'Bart'? If so, he is the owner

Yeah that guy. I do know he is the owner.

Why for don't you like him? Did he pee in your corn flakes, or something?

FYI: I talked with Casey (Wittmer) today. He said that Apple Valley Ford and APS Autoworks collaborate on tuning: AV Ford does any installs, as required, and APS does the tune. They use the Diablo hand-held, and the total cost for a tune (with the hand-held) is $700.

Nota bad price. I paid 450 for just the tune on my car at DB. I had my own chip already...

So I think 700 is about spot on, those hand helds are about 300 anyways.....

oldoutboardjim wrote:FYI: I talked with Casey (Wittmer) today. He said that Apple Valley Ford and APS Autoworks collaborate on tuning: AV Ford does any installs, as required, and APS does the tune. They use the Diablo hand-held, and the total cost for a tune (with the hand-held) is $700.

Ouch, so I take it you're not tuning it?

FORDSVTPARTS wrote:

oldoutboardjim wrote:FYI: I talked with Casey (Wittmer) today. He said that Apple Valley Ford and APS Autoworks collaborate on tuning: AV Ford does any installs, as required, and APS does the tune. They use the Diablo hand-held, and the total cost for a tune (with the hand-held) is $700.

Ouch, so I take it you're not tuning it?

Don't know. On one hand, that's a lotta jack (unless I had your money ). However, if I was able to improve my mileage by 2mpg, it would pay for itself in less than 4 years. The big questions:
1) Do I want to keep this car for anuder 4 years?
2) Will I get better mileage with a tune?
Can anyone speak to question #2? What's your experience?