[Red-key]

I have a couple of local shops around me that specialize in the mopar platform (Gear Head Fabrications and American Muscle Performance) in South Florida. Both are great shops from what I’ve heard and have good reviews. I’m looking to do a tune/TCM tune, 2.85 upper pulley, upgraded injectors, “basic setup”.

While I’m sure all these shops are very much capable of installing the pulley, upgraded injectors, etc. My biggest concern is the tuning process. I know I’ve heard a lot of good things about Tim Barth especially on this forum, however I’m in South Florida and he’s in Georgia, (approximately 10 hours from me).

If I were to go with Barth, I’d have to travel all that way and stay at a hotel/resort for the week or 2 that they will need my car to be worked on. So a bit of inconvenience there. From what I’ve heard on this forum, he’s one of the best in the country for our cars. Those who have had their cars worked on/tuned by him….is he definitely worth going way out of my way to get my Hellcat worked on by him or would these local mopar shops around me be just as good and sufficient?

 

[NoScat]

Be ready for about a 1000 responses. Is it worth the travel? I’d say so.

 

[DuvShack]

Look at remote tuning with ZH Tunes. I'm really happy with him and his responsiveness.

 

[White Trash]

Gear Head is Excellent your in good hands.

 

[TNCHARGER]

Never had any hands on experience with Barth but he gets great reviews on all the Mopar forums. I personally know Scott at AMP and he is top notch also.

 

[Red-key]

Gear Head is Excellent your in good hands.

Ahh so you know about Gear Heads? Cool. Have you work done by them before?

 

[Red-key]

Never had any hands on experience with Barth but he gets great reviews on all the Mopar forums. I personally know Scott at AMP and he is top notch also.

Good to know and yes have heard Scott was very good. Have you had work done by him?

 

[Red-key]

I wonder how AMP and Gearheads compares to Barth tuning...or if Barth Tuning is really that much superior 🤔

 

[TNCHARGER]

Good to know and yes have heard Scott was very good. Have you had work done by him?

Yes he has done work for me in the past.

 

[Red-key]

Yes he has done work for me in the past.

You know I was quoted $3,600 by AMP for the same build Barth Tuning quoted me at $4,300.


The difference is $700 I'd save by simply going to AMP instead but I really wonder if Barth is worth the extra $700 to work on my car and for reliability/longevity with the best tune.


I'm assuming you had no problem having your car tuned by AMP and it was good?

 

[TNCHARGER]

Very happy with Scott's work. Can't say Barth is better. Both get good reviews.

 

[Linda's Hell Cat]

I wonder how AMP and Gearheads compares to Barth tuning...or if Barth Tuning is really that much superior 🤔

Tim Barth is a personal friend of mine. I know Mario and Scott too. In the @Hemirace.com the MSHS race series there are many raceshops/Tuners and part suppliers that are part of the series.



There are many Good Top Tuners and your decision of who you use has to fit your need for speed.
Do you want to use Diablo or HPT, (the faster race cars are changing to Holley now.)
do you want to go really fast and not mind blowing up things along the way and replace parts.

Or do you want to figure out an ET that you would like to get use to and add more later.
Tuners and shops have their Forte's

You can call and interview the shops and or Tuners. Also you will need to see where on the schedule you will be.

Once you know what ET or a package or a Stage 1, 2 , 3 ,4 whatever the shop has to offer than you should plan on gathering the preferred part combination that the Tuner is use to.

The supply chain still has set-backs. You want to have all your parts gathered and installed, whether you or a shop is doing the install.
It will be possible for you to have a remote tune, but that is up to the Tuner.

Do Not drop your Hellcat off at any shop before all the parts are together.
How fast do you need to start your project, there will be upcoming sales. ( hopefully)

Linda

 

[Red-key]

Tim Barth is a personal friend of mine. I know Mario and Scott too. In the @Hemirace.com the MSHS race series there are many raceshops/Tuners and part suppliers that are part of the series.



There are many Good Top Tuners and your decision of who you use has to fit your need for speed.
Do you want to use Diablo or HPT, (the faster race cars are changing to Holley now.)
do you want to go really fast and not mind blowing up things along the way and replace parts.

Or do you want to figure out an ET that you would like to get use to and add more later.
Tuners and shops have their Forte's

You can call and interview the shops and or Tuners. Also you will need to see where on the schedule you will be.

Once you know what ET or a package or a Stage 1, 2 , 3 ,4 whatever the shop has to offer than you should plan on gathering the preferred part combination that the Tuner is use to.

The supply chain still has set-backs. You want to have all your parts gathered and installed, whether you or a shop is doing the install.
It will be possible for you to have a remote tune, but that is up to the Tuner.

Do Not drop your Hellcat off at any shop before all the parts are together.
How fast do you need to start your project, there will be upcoming sales. ( hopefully)

Linda

Thank you for sharing. Seems like you know all three of these guys and can’t go wrong with any of them.

Honestly Linda yes I do want to go fast but I don’t want to jeopardize the cars reliability and blow stuff up to keep throwing money at the car to fix it. That’s why I figure the 2.85 pulley build is just right for me and the way to go and stick with that. I’m not quite sure about using either Diablo or HPT. I’m a simple person and just want this build done right and be a one and done thing. Don’t want to have to keep going back to the shop. I have to sit down and really weigh my options for these three guys.

I’ve been through a LOT with figuring out these mods on my own. I duno maybe I gotta flip a quarter, roll some dice around, put names into a hat, mix it up, and see which of these guys would I pick to choose which will take my car in their hands. Any of them can install the pulley and stuff but I gotta figure who will give me the best tune for the car. If it’s Barth by a mile compared to the other two shops then I’ll go way out of my way for him if he is the exception. If the other guys are just as good then it’s way more convenient for me since they are local and I wouldn't have to fork over more money for staying at hotels/ resorts till Barth is done with my car.

I already have an idea on what build to do on the car, I’ve done tons of research and on average with this 2.85 build it seems like a low 10’s car which is fine since Orlando’s drag strip in Florida requires you get a roll cage if you hit under 10 secs flat, so I have no reason to build the car any more to be faster than that.

And yes I’ve called, interviewed, driven hours out of my way to come see these shops to get the vibe. I’ve definitely done my homework on this and it came with a LOT of frustration and aggravation. Part of me feels like I should just maybe stay stock and forget about this whole thing. I don’t think it’s worth stressing whose gunna work on the car and who could have been the one to best work on it and so forth. Sorry for the rant, maybe it’s just not all worth it.

 

[NoScat]

Gear Head is Excellent your in good hands.

Is that not ford only?

 

[Linda's Hell Cat]

@Red-key I understand, Do you think you've gotten the most out of your Hellcat at the track without modifying?

I like to race the 10.0 classes and my car does go faster to be competitive. I also like to Daily Drive too. My Hellcat these days is set- up to be completely street legal. So That a huge plus for me since I am living in Pa. and have to deal with emission inspections. Before it was either I kept the mileage per year under 5,000.00 or I would have to have the Cats installed back on.

During 2015 when I was out for the R&D + TT of parts and Tuning it was just the beginning. I had cat delete because I was using race gas Q16. Now I use a fuel like MS109

Today there is so much more knowledge with Tuning. When Trans Tuning came along that really was a game changer!

It doesn't take as many parts to get to the 10.0's but there are safer ways to do it.

What you want done is the first stage, that should not be a stressful decision for who can do it. If you see a package and all the places have similar packages and they have experience then you want to ask who does the Tuning. It's like I said you have to know what all supporting parts go with what you want to do and have it ready.

I also know other very good shops and Tuners. My personal selection is Tim and he I think he would be the best, but it would be best for you to find out his schedule.




Linda

 

[Doublewide]

If the build was more extensive, I'd say go to barth. Since it's so basic, I'd stay local and go with AMP as they have a great reputation too. Not to mention, it's petty hard to screw up what you want done. You're so stressed out already, being that far away from home is only going to make it worse. If you were to go to barth, why not just ship the car? Would probably be cheaper than gas, food and hotel expenses for however long.

 

[Red-key]

Is that not ford only?

I think they work on Ford vehicles as well as other brands but they definitely do work on Mopar as well.

 

[Red-key]

@Red-key I understand, Do you think you've gotten the most out of your Hellcat at the track without modifying?

I like to race the 10.0 classes and my car does go faster to be competitive. I also like to Daily Drive too. My Hellcat these days is set- up to be completely street legal. So That a huge plus for me since I am living in Pa. and have to deal with emission inspections. Before it was either I kept the mileage per year under 5,000.00 or I would have to have the Cats installed back on.

During 2015 when I was out for the R&D + TT of parts and Tuning it was just the beginning. I had cat delete because I was using race gas Q16. Now I use a fuel like MS109

Today there is so much more knowledge with Tuning. When Trans Tuning came along that really was a game changer!

It doesn't take as many parts to get to the 10.0's but there are safer ways to do it.

What you want done is the first stage, that should not be a stressful decision for who can do it. If you see a package and all the places have similar packages and they have experience then you want to ask who does the Tuning. It's like I said you have to know what all supporting parts go with what you want to do and have it ready.

I also know other very good shops and Tuners. My personal selection is Tim and he I think he would be the best, but it would be best for you to find out his schedule.




Linda

Oh yes, I have definitely extracted as much performance out of the car as much as I can as I’m a believer in doing that first. The car is stone stock and I have raced it at the drag strip every consecutive week on 17” MT street R’s with several dozens of passes. In good DA I have consistently gotten 1.5 60 fts and 10.8 E.T’s with a best of a 10.76 with a 1.54 60 foot.

I know what the car responds to best as far as launching and everything with all the practice I’ve had with it. I’ve had the car for over 2 years so yea I definitely worked everything out of it and in South Florida DA it’s as good as it gets. I’m so use to the power of my Hellcat that it feels like a scat pak lol. So I definitely payed my dues for sure.

Your right about asking who does the tuning, with everyone having similar stage 1 packages, I think I’ll see who exactly tunes the vehicle. I know obviously Barth does it at his shop but I’m not quite sure if Mario or Scott personally does the tuning on their cars or have another guy do it.

 

[Red-key]

If the build was more extensive, I'd say go to barth. Since it's so basic, I'd stay local and go with AMP as they have a great reputation too. Not to mention, it's petty hard to screw up what you want done. You're so stressed out already, being that far away from home is only going to make it worse. If you were to go to barth, why not just ship the car? Would probably be cheaper than gas, food and hotel expenses for however long.

You make a good point and thanks for sharing as it helped put my mind at ease some, bless your soul for that. I thought of shipping the car but it does also get costly and not to mention reviews I’ve seen about them. Not sure I’d trust it being shipped with damages and scratches on the car.

Since AMP is local and they have good reviews, I might stick with them. One thing that concerned me when I visited Barth’s shop the other day and spoke with one of their guys, they mentioned they had cars from I believe both AMP and Gear heads that customers complained about and brought it to Barth to fix it. I’m not sure if I believe that’s true or not as maybe it was used as a marketing thing to do the work with Barth instead for their business.

With all the shops I’ve been too with this stage 1 package they all said it’s 100 whp over stock and pretty much a low tens car, like a 10.3..maybe 10.2 depending on DA. So it’s all the same it seems. Now for example if AMP were to tune the car and at best I’d get the car at a 10.3 or 10.2 at the track…while Barth could possibly get it to a 10.0 flat then that kinda might catch my attention since I like to be competitive but maybe it’s all the same who knows…..

With this simple build I could choose either Gear Heads or AMP since their both at the same price for the same stage 1 package and local. One thing I like about Gear Heads is that they would install new spark plugs (NGK 2309) and feel it’s necessary while AMP seems to feel it’s not necessary and the OEM plugs are fine. I’ve researched and called around shops and it’s either they say you need the spark plugs or the OEM ones are fine. So with that IDK and it’s still for debate. AMP unlocks PCM's in house while Gear Heads has to ship it out to get it unlocked, same with Barth.

Have you had your car worked on with AMP?

 

[shademaker]

You know I was quoted $3,600 by AMP for the same build Barth Tuning quoted me at $4,300.


The difference is $700 I'd save by simply going to AMP instead but I really wonder if Barth is worth the extra $700 to work on my car and for reliability/longevity with the best tune.


I'm assuming you had no problem having your car tuned by AMP and it was good?

Tim Barth is going to be worth the money.