TUNING THE VAUXHALL Z20LET (Astra)

Having had my track car off the road for almost a year following a bodge job from a so-called motorsport specialist, Steve came to my rescue. Steve suggested I arrange a visit to Motorworx in Marlow and let him get to work with the car on the dyno. After just two sessions, and some further fettling, the car is now running as it should. And interestingly running more BHP than the earlier ''specialists'' had been able to eek out of the engine. Thanks Steve. My hero...', ''),

Another very happy irish customer here. Even with a fooked actuator and manifold carcked to shit he still managed to get 366bhp from my s14. Will happily show you every single thing he does and the effect his changes are having, even though i had''t a clue but it just shows he has nothing to hide! Looking forward to my remap with new actuator and manifold, very impressed with his attitude towards tuning

My astra has just been mapped by steve...and if im not mistaken it was his first vauxhall. The head went a while ago running 2bar on stock 1 piece vaux turbo so with no previous mechanical or electrical knowledge I started to strip and rebuild my engine. I added an s14 tubular "ram" exhaust manifold, cutting and welding to a vauxhall head flange. I then mated this up with a GT28RS turbo and with custom intake pipes and exhaust the car was ready to be tuned. I took it to a well known company and the figures seemed really good. 360 bhp and 373ft/lb. I have a good friendship with Bobby B (uncle Bob) and had the car booked in at Hayes Engineering (Erith) before I had even had my map just to make sure everything was safe. Turned out the fuelling was terrible!!!!!! Anyway...I asked steve what I would need and after attempting to run haltech interceptor decided with Omex 600. Once again...attempted this and I got it all running (and I still don't know how to use a multimeter properly!! haha) I trailered the car to Hayes Engineering as although it would start and idle, the Cosworth 3 bar bap sensor and other components I had to change were not working together. (Had to do away with electric FBW throttle for cable one, OE map sensor went, and standard coil was replaced for wasted spark setup (EDIS setup) with magnecor leads. Steve plugged into the omex sat morning (6th march) and instantly got the car to idle properly. Drove it onto DynoTech rollers and started the tune. 1.5 hours later (after a boost pipe popping off twice the fuelling map, and ignition map were set up. We then started upping the boost and found out that the actuator...

I brought my Toyota Mr2 to Hypertech in Scotland for Steve's 12th mapping session in this part of the country. I hadn't heard of Steve before speaking to Duncan,the owner of Hypertech,but he could not recommend him enough. I decided to put my name down for the full mapping session and had a look into FC Tuning and the feedback Steve had received and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. When it came to the day of the session I was a little apprehensive as I had built the engine myself and never had it on the dyno before. By the end of the session my worry had turned to delight as my near standard mr2 (apart from breathing mods) came out of the dyno with approximately 285bhp and 300ft/lb of torque. My opinion is that you will struggle to find someone with so much knowledge of different tuning systems, different cars and engines, and have the patience to spend time speaking and explaining things to you. I honestly cannot recommend Steve enough and I for one will certainly be getting him to tune whatever I have in the future. Steve, you are a legend mate. See you soon I hope! :)

Many thanks to Steve for mapping my S15. He explains why and what he is doing during the mapping, and gives you a good insight into how it all comes together. I had to do a 500 miles round trip to see Steve but it was well worth the travelling. His after care is also second to none, even now I can email him any questions I have about the car and he is more than happy to help. Top bloke, top service!

Steve mapped my R33 GTR nearly a month ago, (560bhp) and I've done a few miles since. The power is smooth, and strong all the way through. Knock levels are minimal no-matter how I drive which gives me a lot of confidence to "squeeze" it! I've spoke to him since with general questions, and he has come back to me promptly with a friendly response. I'd highly recommend Steve to anybody, in fact I already have, and my friend is going to use him once his GTR is built. SPOT-ON Steve. Thanks

I've known mr sadler for over 10 years now and i blame him for the my bug in jap cars...lol. he is always there to help and a phone call away. Super results on all my cars. Thanks  again snake for all your help.

I've had a car map by alot of people before and never really been 100% happy with the car until i come to Steve fctuning via my friend and mechanic Raymond. Since then, to be honest I've never looked back on any other ecu mapper at all. Many thx steve for your effort & gd job mate. I'm loving the power.

JUST LIKE TO SAY THANKS TO STEVE. HE'S A LIFE SAVER. MY TURBO BLEW UP AND SO I DECIDED TO UPGRADE FROM THE STANDARD T28 TO A GT3071R .86 WITH 850CC SARD INJECTORS AND A Z32 AFM.I WAS GIVEN STEVES NUMBER BY A FRIEND AND GAVE HIM A CALL A WEEK OR SO LATER. I SENT HIM MY ECU AND SPECS AND HE FITTED A NISTUNE BOARD AND PUT A BASE MAP ON IT FOR ME WHICH WORKED A TREAT. NEXT WAS DOWN TO HAYES ENGINNERING WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS. STEVE HAD A PLAY AND WORKED HIS MAGIC AND MANAGED TO PRODUCE 400HP AND 400FTLB TORQUE SO CANT COMPLAIN. THANKS AGAIN STEVE AND ALSO ALL AT HAYES ENGINNERING

Steve has tuned both my cars, EK9 and Evo 8. Very pleased with both of them couldn't ask for anymore. Steve travels from the UK to Jersey and is definitely worth the wait for him to come over. He's a very skilled guy but is always ready to share his knowledge and advise whenever needed. Basically top service by a top guy!!!

Steve has been to Jersey for the last couple of years to tune both my own cars and those of my customers. During each mapping session, all my customers have been extremely happy with his work and each time he come back he just keeps on impressing! During this last mapping session, he once again proved how good he is at what he does by tuning a stock bottom end RB26DET to 673BHP only at 1.4 Bar boost peak!!!! We cannot thank him enough for all the hard work and time that he has and always puts into every car. I am sure that session number 5 will be even more interesting and full of surprises!!!!

Where do i start. First thing I need to say is Steve is the nuts. I gave my car to him so he can remap it the car was so slow when I first gave the car to him he knew the problem straight away about 1 hour later he was finished with my car and he said take it for a drive so i did and i really felt the difference. There are a lot of people out there think they know what there doing with 200sx but Steve know everything about these cars and has a genuine passion for all things Nissan. I'm so happy with the job he has done and he helps you with anything e.g hes gone out of his way to get me a hks actuator so he can get me more bhp. Steve is very friendly, communicative, understanding, patient and very good at his job I will definitely recommend him to anyone Many thanks again Steve.

I wanted to thank you all , Steve , Raymond, Dave and Pieter. You guys are the best, it was a real pleasure having my car tuned by you all. Steve , the tune is really awesome , I have a whole new car to enjoy , finally the car drives like it should , nice and aggressive but still smooth like a sports car should drive. Pieter and Dave thanks a lot for all the help getting the car fixed for the tune. Dieter, thanks for helping me to be able to join this session , it was a great experience. I'll be seeing you guys at least once more this year, and i'll try to get some more guys to tune their cars by you. I've uploaded some pics and 2 vids. look forward to seeing the other vids on the street. Regards, Vish

From the first e-mail sent to the last print out at the map itself, I cannot say enough about the professionalism & energy Steve put into my tune. He clearly loves his work. He has been 100% committed to what I needed. All my fuelling problems have been corrected & power delivery is smooth with absolutely minimal knock. Its changed the way I look at car tuning & definitely raised my standards. 380 bhp, 367lbs of torque & a sound tune with a little to spare from my rb25. Cheers Steve, keep up the good work !

It was great meeting Steve and the DP guys. My car had some minor issues. Steve figured them out right away. And the guys at DP had everything in house to fix them. The Car made 273whp which was more than I expected. It's amazingly fast compared to the old setup, and as smooth as butter on the road. Top setup up

Nissan Primera ECU Tuning Being one of the few guys driving a Nissan SR20VE N/A engine on the street it's hard to get someone to tune the car who knows his stuff. Steve has proven to be friendly, communicative, understanding, patiently and very skilled in what he does. Also willing to go that extra mile to get things sorted. I've met with him 3 times now, and it's always like you know him for years. With the Greddy E-manage he was able to make the engine very responsive, smooth and much more torquier at every RPM, accompanied by the Greddy MSS for cam-switching. Today we tried to get Nistune running on a VE, which unfortunately didn't work out. Some people would say ''too bad, byebye''. Steve on the other hand will contact Nistune to find out WHY this isn't working on a VE. I can't do anything else than to recommend him for any tuning. I guess he could even get a lawnmower to run better. 'http://www.nissanclub.nl'

I was initially emailing another tuner down south and only getting back 5 word replies with a link and that was it... No hello, no background nothing. Then I heard about Steve through the Driftworks website. After emailing him and getting actual tailored replies, seeing his website and the results he can achieve I was sold! Our only stumbling block was the sparkplugs we had brought.... heat range 6's... We needed 8's! Luckily Bobby at Hayes engineering came to our rescue and supplied us with a set (for a very good rate!) All in all it was a good day out and we went home with a safe 370bhp! Just a pointer for anyone who is thinking of using FC Tuning... Message Steve with your spec, keep him updated with work you have done and do as he says he knows best when it comes to engines! By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail! Thanks again Steve! Kev

Had both my S13's done by Steve. All i can say is this man is the only person i will ever turn to when in need of mapping. He delivers something which is very rare; friendly, good and detailed advice, honesty, listens to the customers wishes and his aim is for you to have a good and reliable car. No wonder this man travels the globe to tune engines. Even qualified people here in Europe say they cannot do what he does in the same amount of time. http://www.ddv-graphics.com

I just took delivery of my R33 GTR and all I can say is you are the DOGS BOLLUCXS. You created a 673bhp monster.....See you soon for more 40mph fun

My first mapping experience. Was great fun and the S14 is running better than it ever has! Looking forward to my next step, larger turbo set up. See you then!

My Nissan Skyline R32 GTR has been worked on and mapped by Steve many times and each time I wasn't disappointed. When I brought the car (tuned by MINES) it was running 507bhp @ 1.7bar but with Steve's knowledge and for very little money it now has over 560bhp @ 1.4bar. The car now feels amazing and has been totally transformed. Seeing what Steve can do has encouraged me to continue modifying my GTR and take it to the next level. Many thanks Steve, I will see you shortly with 1000cc injectors and hopefully 600bhp. Dan

I got my IS200 with 1jz-gte vvti wap tuned by Steve at one his DP-engineering tuning sessions. He did a great job in tuning and also the communication in the build up to the session was really superb! If I had any questions he would answer it with no problem. Results: 315 Whp 510 Nm 363 Eng Hp

I can't thank steve enough for the job he has done on my s14a, took it to him on a base map and a few hours on the dyno is now running perfect. Highly recommended and a friendly and approachable person. Thanks again Steve.

Great to finally meet you too mate, thank you very much for your advice and guidance, i assure you it is greatly appreciated. Definitely worth the wait, the evo is running like a dream and I am actually happier than i thought lol. It's parked away now and waiting to go into Geoff's for clutch bleeding, emptying catch can and oil change, even once its out of there it will probably be stored away and waiting for those scorching hot summer days to come out again lol. You have been an example of a prudent business man and i thank you for that. Looking forward to meeting with you again on future projects, all the best. Kind Regards Adnan

Here's yet another sample, 1 of 100s, who was running a chip on his S13 Time Attack CA18DET.... he thought that the mota had been running fine and simply decided to bite the bullet and go with a custom tuning solution. response 1 From: Albert Klok <alberxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: RE: FC NEWS : Session Date: 31 August 2xxxx 10:53:10 GMT+01:00 To: steve nistune <steve@fctuning.com> Steve ! Last weekend i was at the Nurburgring, I have done a tire test, new geometrie on the suspension, and the first track experiance whit the Nistune ! A MASSIVE improvement !!!! 24 seconds faster per Lap !!! Thats an improvement of +- 7% !! Amazing. We had to stop early at sunday because i had a BROKEN BRAKE DISK at the front. Tomorrow i have a test in Holland, TT citcuit Assen, i expect a great improvement there to. (hope on 2.5 %) Greatings and talk to eech other soon, Albert     Client response.... From: Albert Klok <albexxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: RE: FC TUNING NEWS : European Update !!! Date: 6 September 2xxx 20:46:58 GMT+01:00 To: steve nistune <steve@fctuning.com> Congratulations Steve, You have tuned the winning car of the Duch Time Attack. 3 seconds faster than Nr 2 !!!!!!!!! Greatings albert, I will send you a more detailled reaction soon

Steve is a Top guy and Top Tuner He mapped my R33 GTR Skyline and I achieved very impressive results from it when i first bought it, we ain't finished yet so far after changing turbos we achieved 552bhp & 450ft lbs of torque at 1.6bar.  This is on standard RB26DETT engine internals, obviously fuelling mods were done. Next step tomei cams then we hope to see 600bhp.I don't think there is anyone out there that gives such a friendly and personal service as steve does especially out of hours service that suits everyone. I live very local to Steve and whilst tuning I have been to 2 separate places for dyno tuning very pleased both times and i highly recommend FC Tuning for any of your tuning needs. He is very reasonable with his prices too.

Cant stress enough how impressed i was with the service i got from Steve on mapping my RB26 R34. Took loads of time setting up on the rollers and then came with me to pod and back for a road tweeking sessions that really transformed the power delivery and the fuel economy. Always at the end of the phone for friendly honest advice. He really is a mapping Ninja. Lex

Yup, we was road mapping mine to the dyno, at the dyno, and then back after doing a load of other cars. I think we finished tweaking it at about 3am! It was mapped previously by a \\"well recommended\\" mapper, but it was like a new car after the remap! 3 of my mates have been to him too, and all been very impressed with the dyno results and service!  

Another very satisfied customer here, transformed the car when the S13 with the waaaayyy to big Ebay super T70 on the RB25DET came on boost on the M25 and then proceeded to spin up the wheels in 4th gear @ 4500 rpm I was WELL impressed ! Next mapping will DEFINATELY be with Steve again (Even if I live 600 miles away in another country)

Been in touch with Steve for over a year now, and have had nothing but a positive experience....cant praise him enough for his hard work and knowledge. Would recommend him to anyone who wants there car tuned! Cant wait to bring the Silvia back with a few no goodies and see if we can get even more out of it.

Yep steve done my 33 ... real impressed the man got 380 bhp@ 0.8-1.0 on standard injectors , with the owens turbo unit .....she spins up real well ! Basically the man's a hero ! Soon to be tweeking my 32 !!!! watch this space !', ''),

Awesome job on my car. Almost stock SR20DET. 300 torques. Just right for drifting.

FC Tuning and Steve Sadler have been mapping my cars since early 2005. When i first bought my S14 Silvia, I took it to \\"another\\" tuning shop in the East Midlands to get it setup. Initially i was quite happy with the service but after having some long standing technical issues with the car I was recommended Steve by a very good friend of mine. He came down to Buckinghamshire from London, diagnosed the problem and suggested a fix there and then (nobody else could get their head around it!) and when he was finally able to access the map written by \\"another\\" tuning company on the ECU he showed me what they had actually done to the car. (which was little more than a base map AND had charged me almost £400) Since then i have had Steve map pretty much ever car I have ever owned. That S14 went on to become the Marangoni S14.5 competition drift car that entered and drifted in competitions right across Europe. I put its reliability squarely down to Steve's exceptional tuning abilities. Steve is one of the most transparent, easy going and knowledgeable engine tuners in the market today and I look forward to working with him again.

Steve's customer service is second to none. Any questions you want answers to before, during and after tuning he's more than happy to help with. I can't stress enough how happy I am with the service Steve provides, especially after making my car so responsive and easy to drift. The results he gets speak for themselves.

Steve did a sterling job when mapping the apexi power fc ecu on my R32 GTR and I'll be getting him to map a Nistune board on my 180sx when I finish it.

Steve has done work on a few of my mate cars and can not fault his work he is a tuning god. He will be doing my car in the next few months and I cant wait.

My feedback from witnessing group mappings by Steve and having my own car mapped. He never rushes a car and will go to extreme lengths to diagnose any issues and is very thorough.\r\nHe is also very attentive when mapping so as to not damage the engine. He is very knowledgeable, experienced and very down to earth. He is also very good at communicating technical information to lay people. Will always take the time to answer queries long after payment for his services. On top of this I felt I received very good value for money with extensive time on the rollers and some fine tuning on the road. I'm very happy with the way my car performs. Because he knows my car and I've dealt with him before I will definitely use him again for my mapping needs. I'm glad I went down the custom tune route using a Nistune instead of the more expensive FC or generic chip. Thoroughly recommended! Edit: Achtung Smokers! He will demolish any cigarettes you own. Pull out a 20 deck in front of him at your own peril!

I was very satisfied with everything Steve did for me, the car runs sweet loads of power from what he had to work with, drives well! He explains everything if you ask, takes his time and does his upmost to explain no matter how technical it seems. All mapped on the factory ecu, Great Service! I hope to go back later this year for a remap with bigger turbo.

Fantastic to see DW embracing Steve's talents! Steve has been mapping my S13 for years now. Like others i had used a well known tuner to set up my power FC and thought it was great at the time until i wanted a remap for some extra boost but wasn''t prepared to pay the 400 odd quid for a complete new map. Steve downloaded the map off my car which turned out to be little more than a base map then remapped the PFC without even needing to touch the boost, the difference was night and day. Steve always makes sure you know what he's doing and why. He listens to what you want and then goes out of his way to make sure you get it. My car now runs a rebuilt RB25DET and initial tuning from Steve saw it make 444bhp @ 1.2bar. I look forward to further tuning in the near future. Jez

Another happy customer here! My S14 tuned by him from a previous \\''custom map\\'' running at 310bhp and low tens for AFR, setup & corrected to right mixture and then made 377bhp with a FCTuningNistune ECU. I was very Happy with the result and service.

Hi Just to let you know had my datsun with an SR20DET tuned by steve he came to my workshop on a saturday at 3.30pm I was actually still fitting my fuel pressure regulator at the time, but he told me not to rush, take your time. After that we went to the rolling road he tuned the car on the way to the rollers and then he done his magic touch at the rollers the car came out with 380 bhp The car felt completely different even though it was tuned by a well known tuner a few months before hand. Steve is a star definitely recommend him to tune your cars. Thanks

Had my EP91 Glanza mapped a while ago by Steve and he has transformed the car. We first drove on normal roads through different driving styles then off to the rollers to tweak the fuelling, resulting in an impressive 207.3bhp and 207.1 lbft @ 1 Bar! I used the Glanza in the Toyota sprint series and the car is awesome to drive on track and on the way to the events. I would highly recommend Steve to anyone and his after sales service is awesome, he is always on the other end of the phone or an email. My car shall be going back to him after christmas when engine has been rebuilt!  

Just had my S14 nistuned up and Im really a happy guy now - 290hp with 320lb ft on a GT28r and stock SR20DET engine and it pulls like a train So much fun to drive and almost zero lag. He is a proper tuner and loves to educate, this is great for me as i love to learn I'm going back for my second dyno session. I hope he can do some magic with my new GT2860RS 0.86 You and Your and car are in safe hands with Steve.

Thanks to Steve from FC Tuning for the mapping and the guys from Hayes Dynotech for the dyno. I can only recommend these guys to you.

Hi, yet another VERY happy customer. Mr Sadler mapped my Evo 9 FQ340 only mods are a Greddy boost controller & an uprated fuel pump, it still has std air box, ex & cat. When it comes to mapping I can't recommend him enough. He spends a lot of time with the customer making sure the car is prepped properly, so that the time on the dyno is kept to a minimum. He is a guru at this mapping lark & as long as the car is in good health then does his upmost to get the max out of the car safely. He spends a lot of time steady state tuning on the dyno to make sure that he gets the max out of the car & to get the best fuel economy. His whole attitude to mapping is second to none & I personally wouldn't let anyone else tune my car. My car made 401.4bhp & 380 Ft lb of Torque @ 1.75 bar boost. It drives soooo much better & fuel economy is spot on. graphs up soon. Thanks Mate. See you soon no doubt.

Steve's an absolute legend! I had 2 Greddy T517z Turbos fitted, HKS manifolds and Turbo elbows and a Greddy Profec 2 Boost Controller. Steve installed an FCTuning Nistune ECU and after tuning engine power went from 330bhp to 550bhp at the end of the dyno session. Steve even took me for a spin after and I shit myself, so he restricted the boost to a less scary level. I cant stress enough how happy i was with his level of service top guy!!!

Had my car mapped by steve and I cant stress enough how much better the car drives. My S15 gained 70 horses just from getting it ecu properly mapped with basic bolt ons. Everything is so much smoother too. Completely transformed the car Also his customer service is second to none.I won't be going else where for mapping. cheers mate.

'I arrived at MOTORWORX (Marlow) at around 6pm last nite and was met by steve. He started by plugging in the replacement ecu and checked it before going on the rollers... so far so good. Once on the rollers steve done a few runs to check out the current settings and it made 235hp. He then worked his magic for approx 90 mins with every run making very good gains. I certainly learnt quite a bit as steve was explaining what he was doing and why whilst he was making adjustments. The final result was a very respectable 294.9hp & 249.0 ft lb torque @ the wheels. I am very satisfied with the results and i highly recommend steve and his custom mapping . And i certainly left motorworx with a big grin from ear to ear. The drive home was pretty fun too. Thanks for all your help Steve.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Wander and i drive a R32 GTS t. I bought the car as a wreck and fixed it up in about 2 years. Bodywork, and a total engine rebuild. (big problems with parts here in Holland, and alot of unreliable ''tuners/shops'') But what a great car it is now. Get some parts here from the shop, nice quick and reliable. But you all think what does he what to say with his story....So here it goes. Steve was in Holland the 7th of November and did a tune up. The car was running but that was all it did. Low power, bad fuel economics, the fuel was so bad that sometimes the engine stop running. Because i rebuild the engine myself i want to be sure that everything was ok. I contacted Steve a year before about a power fc with water damage. So I had his email, and send him about the tune up. I was thinking to drive up to England, but he wrote me that he was going to visit Holland!! Great. So we emailed with some other dutch guys. And he did the tune up at DP engineering. It's indescribable what he did with the car, also it is great to see your car on the dyno, and see Steve do his job. Sometimes i kept my fingers crossed haha (at high revs). But everything went fine, car runs great, idles normally, and was also more fuel economical. When we started the car had 220hp and at the end about 280 and a torq around 380!!! If i have some spares I go for the GT2871r, I heard that the engine can handle it and gets you some more hp. I can say is when you want a good...

Steve came upto HyperTech in Scotland for one of his tuning sessions. He first tuned my s14a with mild mods, and got a safe 272bhp out it. Got all my new toys fitted and looking fwd to the next sesh. l put up full details asap.

'What a thrilling day... First of all: thanks to the guys from dp, to steve and of course McLarenboy !!! It was really impressive seeing steve doing his magic. Thanks to my shitty clutch i'll have to come back, but still got a lot of work done on my car and finally got to know you guys. Just a few days ago I was just reading all the miracle-stories about steve's international mapping session and now, after being part of one I can just say yes, it's all true, if anybody ever needs her/his car mapped, steve is the man for the job.