Possible Haltech Group Buy
A few of us in the Dallas area are going to try and set up some TeamSR relations with a performance shop in the area, Alamo Autosports. We want to start off by offering them a chance to do a group buy with us on some Haltech chips. These can be pretty spendy items...the E6K was quoted from this shop at $1K, not including dyno time to tune. I'd really like to find a way to make this number go down. wink.gif
We haven't approached Alamo yet regarding this, so I have no idea if they do these kinds of things or not. But, before we do go to them, I'd like to get a feel for how many units they'd be selling, to have a starting point to offer them.
So who would be interested? Obviously tuning and dyno time from Alamo would only be available to people in the area or willing to come down and have them do the install. If you're in the area, or would be willing to come down, make note of it.
Again, this is only a PRELMINARY head-count. There is no guarantee that this will happen, and I'm not even going to bother to make an estimate of the discount we'd receive. I'm just trying to get a feel on numbers. People that posted in the thread in the regional forum, please post here as well. Also, Bradley, if you have any suggestions as to how we should go about approaching Alamo, please let us know.
We haven't approached Alamo yet regarding this, so I have no idea if they do these kinds of things or not. But, before we do go to them, I'd like to get a feel for how many units they'd be selling, to have a starting point to offer them.
So who would be interested? Obviously tuning and dyno time from Alamo would only be available to people in the area or willing to come down and have them do the install. If you're in the area, or would be willing to come down, make note of it.
Again, this is only a PRELMINARY head-count. There is no guarantee that this will happen, and I'm not even going to bother to make an estimate of the discount we'd receive. I'm just trying to get a feel on numbers. People that posted in the thread in the regional forum, please post here as well. Also, Bradley, if you have any suggestions as to how we should go about approaching Alamo, please let us know.
I'm of course interested, as the motor will be finished in another two weeks (or so) and I'll need a Haltech by sometime in early December.
Remember that aside from the E6K unit itself, you'll also need a MAP sensor and a flying lead harness. If Alamo is charging $1000 for JUST the E6K unit, you're probably looking at $1400 for everything -- which is a supreme ripoff.
You can get these a WHOLE lot cheaper from Australia. Even WITH shipping FedEx, the above-mentioned components can be found for just a bit over $1000 USD right now without any sort of group purchase.
Alamo better give us a really good deal, or else I'm going to Oz for mine smile.gif
-Red-
Remember that aside from the E6K unit itself, you'll also need a MAP sensor and a flying lead harness. If Alamo is charging $1000 for JUST the E6K unit, you're probably looking at $1400 for everything -- which is a supreme ripoff.
You can get these a WHOLE lot cheaper from Australia. Even WITH shipping FedEx, the above-mentioned components can be found for just a bit over $1000 USD right now without any sort of group purchase.
Alamo better give us a really good deal, or else I'm going to Oz for mine smile.gif
-Red-
Absolutely not. The only way a Haltech works is with some sort of MAP sensor, you can use a stocker but they suggest buying one of theirs (I think it's a standard GM sensor but I'm not sure)
Gotta have the sensor, and you gotta have the wiring harness.
-Red-
Gotta have the sensor, and you gotta have the wiring harness.
-Red-
I'm definately going to want mine before spring -- more like sometime around the beginning of December if the motor break-in goes well.
Either way, people need to understand what they're up against with a Haltech. If you are
A: Broke
or
B: Not going "radical" on your motor
or
C: Living in California
or
D: Thinking $1000 is all there is to spend
... then you do NOT want this. First is the wiring -- about 50% of the wiring loom from the engine bay to the cockpit gets replaced. This isn't a simple plug-n-play ordeal. This is a picture of you (or someone you're paying) getting dirty under the car, running wires thru the firewall, and some soldering and fiddling with wire colors and power leads.
If you're broke, you REALLY don't want this. $1000 is only the parts, you still have to install it and tune it. If you are uncomfortable with ripping out half the stock wiring in your car, you get to pay someone else to do it. Expect no less than 8 hours @ whatever their hourly rate is -- $35/hr is probably a BARE minimum, maybe more like $60/hr.
After the $500+ install fee, you'll then spend at LEAST 4 hours on the dyno (likely more) to get it tuned for the most part... You'll probably spend another hour or two actually on the road fine tuning it. Figuring you spendd $80 an hour BARE minimum for the dyno time, there's another $350 (gotta include the dyno setup fee) that you've burnt just on tuning - not including if they charge you extra time for road tuning. (They may not charge you, but you need to do it)
I'm planning on spending probably 6 hours on the dyno, and probably another full week on the road getting it all perfect. This is likely a $2500 project for someone who doesn't want to do the work themselves (for whatever reason).
And finally, if you live in Cali, you can forget about slapping one of these on your car. It's very far from emissions legal, probably in ANY state in the union. If your city/county/state has emissions regulations, you may want to read up on exactly what they look for (visual inspection) before you decide to buy one. I know New Mexico looks for two O2 sensors, a catalyst, a gas cap and no visible smoke from my style of car -- meaning I can "fake it" past the visual inspection just fine. They only test the car unloaded, so I only need to make sure my idle and 2500 RPM no-load settings are good and I'll pass with flying colors. Your experience / state may be considerably differet, some states slap your car on a dyno while testing so it's under load -- I wish you luck sad.gif
I doubt you'll find too many people willing to spend the $2500 needed, here or anywhere else, for their Tib/Elantra. We just don't have enough people who go to these extremes in their car.
You still want to find out what they're charging for the flying lead harness and that MAP sensor, because $1K just for the E6K brain itself is still a bad deal. sad.gif
-Red-
Either way, people need to understand what they're up against with a Haltech. If you are
A: Broke
or
B: Not going "radical" on your motor
or
C: Living in California
or
D: Thinking $1000 is all there is to spend
... then you do NOT want this. First is the wiring -- about 50% of the wiring loom from the engine bay to the cockpit gets replaced. This isn't a simple plug-n-play ordeal. This is a picture of you (or someone you're paying) getting dirty under the car, running wires thru the firewall, and some soldering and fiddling with wire colors and power leads.
If you're broke, you REALLY don't want this. $1000 is only the parts, you still have to install it and tune it. If you are uncomfortable with ripping out half the stock wiring in your car, you get to pay someone else to do it. Expect no less than 8 hours @ whatever their hourly rate is -- $35/hr is probably a BARE minimum, maybe more like $60/hr.
After the $500+ install fee, you'll then spend at LEAST 4 hours on the dyno (likely more) to get it tuned for the most part... You'll probably spend another hour or two actually on the road fine tuning it. Figuring you spendd $80 an hour BARE minimum for the dyno time, there's another $350 (gotta include the dyno setup fee) that you've burnt just on tuning - not including if they charge you extra time for road tuning. (They may not charge you, but you need to do it)
I'm planning on spending probably 6 hours on the dyno, and probably another full week on the road getting it all perfect. This is likely a $2500 project for someone who doesn't want to do the work themselves (for whatever reason).
And finally, if you live in Cali, you can forget about slapping one of these on your car. It's very far from emissions legal, probably in ANY state in the union. If your city/county/state has emissions regulations, you may want to read up on exactly what they look for (visual inspection) before you decide to buy one. I know New Mexico looks for two O2 sensors, a catalyst, a gas cap and no visible smoke from my style of car -- meaning I can "fake it" past the visual inspection just fine. They only test the car unloaded, so I only need to make sure my idle and 2500 RPM no-load settings are good and I'll pass with flying colors. Your experience / state may be considerably differet, some states slap your car on a dyno while testing so it's under load -- I wish you luck sad.gif
I doubt you'll find too many people willing to spend the $2500 needed, here or anywhere else, for their Tib/Elantra. We just don't have enough people who go to these extremes in their car.
You still want to find out what they're charging for the flying lead harness and that MAP sensor, because $1K just for the E6K brain itself is still a bad deal. sad.gif
-Red-



