Spec-Ops Motorsports long-term review + results
Aug 26, 2012, 02:52 PM
#1
Spec-Ops Motorsports long-term review + results
I had an engine, and actually a thorough, complete build done with Spec-Ops Motorsports. It was for a 2.4L Long Rod built by them, plus all the supporting mods.
The planning and parts accumulation started late last year, with me getting the complete car in early Spring if I remember correctly. I could have gotten on here right away and did a review on how awesome their service is, and how much I love my new build with 500 miles one it, or whatever, but I decided to wait. I felt it would be a much better review to those looking for information on a shop, if I were to wait and beat the hell out of my car for a while, and even get some results from it to back up my butt dyno that claims "holy crap, it pulls like a freight train..."
So, I spent quite a few late nights, very late nights, at the shop with owner Matt Franks. We planned every part of the build together. He took my input, gave me recomendations, told me results he's seen first hand, and also, most important to me, was willing to let me make decisions and go a certain route even if he thought there was a better option. He would say his peace, but not force anything on me. I like that Spec-Ops Motorsports is a dealer for many different companies and brands. They will NOT pimp out a certain company's parts just because they make a bigger profit off it, or look better to that manufacturer. They are up front, and no BS. So, end of story, the 1 on 1 sit downs were very important to me in planning my cars build, and it was an easy process.
Fast forward, I return from a short deployment, and the car is almost complete. This was a little disappointing, as we expected it to be complete when I returned. Nonetheless, it was done shortly thereafter.
When I got the car back, it ran great. Always 0 knock, smooth running, easy starting, etc... absolutely amazing drive-ability. It was a great street car. However, it was making less power than everyone at the shop and I expected. At this point, I learned to appreciate that Matt (also the tuner) refuses to push a car past where he feels comfortable if he does not think the car wants it. Just because a build in theory should be making XXX hp, he doesn't force it. So, we went back to the drawing board. I will stay away from a million details, but essentially, we tried changing a few various parts of the build, and then compared the effect on the car. In the end, I believe they learned some new info specific to making power on 2.4L builds specifically (my engine was their first in house 2.4L), and I got to optimize my setup. This obviously wasn't the cheapest thing in the world, and they were helpful in that regard when it came to swapping parts and retuning.
Eventually we got the combo perfect for what I wanted from the car. I put a few thousand DD miles on the car at this point, on 93octane. After this, I started taking the car to the dragstrip when the shop took their car. I was new to drag racing (still am...), and their support at the track was very helpful in developing as a driver in an accelerated fashion.
Now on to the interesting stuff.
_____________________RESULTS BELOW IN RED_____________________
My third, or maybe 4th, trip to the dragstrip was with the shop to a Regional competition in North Carolina. At this point I was running in the mid 11's as my personal best, and also consistently. I took third place in the event in the street tire class, knocked out by a shop employee's evo, who went on to win 1st place. Sadly, this night a fuel injector got stuck open and washed out a cylinder. And the car also blew out the intake manifold gasket. sonuvabich....
That was a couple weeks before the Buschur Shootout. So, Sean, the lead technician/mechanic at the shop, diagnosed the problem, parts were ordered, and when they arrived- Sean took apart my motor, honed, re-ringed, bearings, and reassembled in a day. They broke it in, touched up the tune, and we went back to the dragstrip the week before the shootout to get some passes on our cars in prep, and make sure my motor was fine to be beaten on. All looked good.
Next week, Buschur Shootout. I ran in the Max Effort class. The shop was my pit crew, and supported and motivated me through the entire day's events- it DEFINITELY is the reason I could perform like I did that day. I cannot describe how hard I was on the car in the autox portion. My combo of 2.4L +FP Black+4.11 gears had me at a weird place in this specific course. 2nd was too tall to get out of a lot of turns, but 1st was maybe a little short for the straight sections. Staying in first more increased my times, so I did, bouncing off the rev limiter throughout the course. The car had zero issues with this. For the drag racing portion I felt a little more prepared than autoX (since I had been getting some track time), and my build though an amazing all-rounder, probably leans towards drag more than autox (if nothing else, at least due to the 4.11 FD). I took 2nd place in the drag racing portion (ran a 10.9), losing only to David Buschur and his dang Automatic transmission; and I lost to him by a lot. End of the day, my times netted me 2nd Place for final score in the Max Effort class at the Buschur Shootout. How could I ask for more? 9 months ago I had a practically stock, 295HP car. It was the car, much more than me, that achieved those results, as I need seat time.
1 week later, to the day, (last night actually), we decided to go to our local track for some drag passes since they were having some sort of event. A company who films racing and makes DVDs was having a "grudge wars" type of thing. Well, apparently they also had a real heads up race planned that night, we found out when we got there. So I entered. Long story short, beat out the Dodge Viper, many Cobras, etc., and in the final race for the win, I bogged off the line and lost the race by 12 hundredths. This was my 6th trip to the track, and first time using a pro tree and first time using drag radials. The car ran great, and I ran a new personal best of 10.3 @ 135.6mph. (i'll have vids/slips later on for this). Best part was, the winner put his race car onto his trailer, and I drove my street car home
So, the car is performing at a level way above my driving ability and making me look pretty good lately. I can't wait to gain the seat time to really make this car shine. For the awesome service, the awesome support, and the AWESOME results, Spec Ops Motorsports has a customer for life.
The planning and parts accumulation started late last year, with me getting the complete car in early Spring if I remember correctly. I could have gotten on here right away and did a review on how awesome their service is, and how much I love my new build with 500 miles one it, or whatever, but I decided to wait. I felt it would be a much better review to those looking for information on a shop, if I were to wait and beat the hell out of my car for a while, and even get some results from it to back up my butt dyno that claims "holy crap, it pulls like a freight train..."
So, I spent quite a few late nights, very late nights, at the shop with owner Matt Franks. We planned every part of the build together. He took my input, gave me recomendations, told me results he's seen first hand, and also, most important to me, was willing to let me make decisions and go a certain route even if he thought there was a better option. He would say his peace, but not force anything on me. I like that Spec-Ops Motorsports is a dealer for many different companies and brands. They will NOT pimp out a certain company's parts just because they make a bigger profit off it, or look better to that manufacturer. They are up front, and no BS. So, end of story, the 1 on 1 sit downs were very important to me in planning my cars build, and it was an easy process.
Fast forward, I return from a short deployment, and the car is almost complete. This was a little disappointing, as we expected it to be complete when I returned. Nonetheless, it was done shortly thereafter.
When I got the car back, it ran great. Always 0 knock, smooth running, easy starting, etc... absolutely amazing drive-ability. It was a great street car. However, it was making less power than everyone at the shop and I expected. At this point, I learned to appreciate that Matt (also the tuner) refuses to push a car past where he feels comfortable if he does not think the car wants it. Just because a build in theory should be making XXX hp, he doesn't force it. So, we went back to the drawing board. I will stay away from a million details, but essentially, we tried changing a few various parts of the build, and then compared the effect on the car. In the end, I believe they learned some new info specific to making power on 2.4L builds specifically (my engine was their first in house 2.4L), and I got to optimize my setup. This obviously wasn't the cheapest thing in the world, and they were helpful in that regard when it came to swapping parts and retuning.
Eventually we got the combo perfect for what I wanted from the car. I put a few thousand DD miles on the car at this point, on 93octane. After this, I started taking the car to the dragstrip when the shop took their car. I was new to drag racing (still am...), and their support at the track was very helpful in developing as a driver in an accelerated fashion.
Now on to the interesting stuff.
_____________________RESULTS BELOW IN RED_____________________
My third, or maybe 4th, trip to the dragstrip was with the shop to a Regional competition in North Carolina. At this point I was running in the mid 11's as my personal best, and also consistently. I took third place in the event in the street tire class, knocked out by a shop employee's evo, who went on to win 1st place. Sadly, this night a fuel injector got stuck open and washed out a cylinder. And the car also blew out the intake manifold gasket. sonuvabich....
That was a couple weeks before the Buschur Shootout. So, Sean, the lead technician/mechanic at the shop, diagnosed the problem, parts were ordered, and when they arrived- Sean took apart my motor, honed, re-ringed, bearings, and reassembled in a day. They broke it in, touched up the tune, and we went back to the dragstrip the week before the shootout to get some passes on our cars in prep, and make sure my motor was fine to be beaten on. All looked good.
Next week, Buschur Shootout. I ran in the Max Effort class. The shop was my pit crew, and supported and motivated me through the entire day's events- it DEFINITELY is the reason I could perform like I did that day. I cannot describe how hard I was on the car in the autox portion. My combo of 2.4L +FP Black+4.11 gears had me at a weird place in this specific course. 2nd was too tall to get out of a lot of turns, but 1st was maybe a little short for the straight sections. Staying in first more increased my times, so I did, bouncing off the rev limiter throughout the course. The car had zero issues with this. For the drag racing portion I felt a little more prepared than autoX (since I had been getting some track time), and my build though an amazing all-rounder, probably leans towards drag more than autox (if nothing else, at least due to the 4.11 FD). I took 2nd place in the drag racing portion (ran a 10.9), losing only to David Buschur and his dang Automatic transmission; and I lost to him by a lot. End of the day, my times netted me 2nd Place for final score in the Max Effort class at the Buschur Shootout. How could I ask for more? 9 months ago I had a practically stock, 295HP car. It was the car, much more than me, that achieved those results, as I need seat time.
1 week later, to the day, (last night actually), we decided to go to our local track for some drag passes since they were having some sort of event. A company who films racing and makes DVDs was having a "grudge wars" type of thing. Well, apparently they also had a real heads up race planned that night, we found out when we got there. So I entered. Long story short, beat out the Dodge Viper, many Cobras, etc., and in the final race for the win, I bogged off the line and lost the race by 12 hundredths. This was my 6th trip to the track, and first time using a pro tree and first time using drag radials. The car ran great, and I ran a new personal best of 10.3 @ 135.6mph. (i'll have vids/slips later on for this). Best part was, the winner put his race car onto his trailer, and I drove my street car home
So, the car is performing at a level way above my driving ability and making me look pretty good lately. I can't wait to gain the seat time to really make this car shine. For the awesome service, the awesome support, and the AWESOME results, Spec Ops Motorsports has a customer for life.
Aug 27, 2012, 01:09 PM
#2
Tim,
Thanks for the review! We appreciate ya as a customer and also a good friend. Car runs great and we look forward to supporting you next year at the shootout again. Hopefully we can snag a couple 1st in 2 classes next year and really hammer the motor. Car is the ultimate street setup IMO. Also, great job driving the car Tim.
-Matt
Thanks for the review! We appreciate ya as a customer and also a good friend. Car runs great and we look forward to supporting you next year at the shootout again. Hopefully we can snag a couple 1st in 2 classes next year and really hammer the motor. Car is the ultimate street setup IMO. Also, great job driving the car Tim.
-Matt
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