SPi, Dasilva, or A2B?

[General Lee]

Where would you take your car and who can you trust?
Seems like Dasilva and A2B are fighting over turf, and Spi is laying low here.
I am looking for customers advise, not the vendors please.
Or is there somewhere else you would go?

[rebelx]

Spi all the way!

[1meanls3]

Dasilva does great work i got him to lower my car and im very happy with it check them out

[crusher]

I've never dealt with spirit and A2b is brand new, haven't dealt with them either. I have dealt with DaSilva a couple times. first was long tube headers,cold air and dyno tune, work done was first quality and was treated very well. This year I had them install 3.91 gears, auxiliary clutch reservoir and paint buffed. Also had a set of zl1 wheels n tires installed. Again I was very pleased, no issues. Planning on a cam install in the spring n mgw shifter. Manny and the boys will be doing this as well. This has been my experience.

[jcar]

I too am curious and looking for honest feedback. From the little research I did, SPI have been around the longest, Dasilva seem to be doing a lot of business from what I can tell and feedback looks generally good, A2B is an odd one as they seem to be a sort of middeman (no shop, no staff and the 2 chaps seem to have full time jobs elsewhere so not really a business by the looks of it).

Not in a position to recommend anyone at this stage but listening in carefully.

Carry on.

[butch2000]

Every shop started out small or as a side business , I would not count out the little guy based on that , for me it all boils down to who will talk to you right , answer all your questions with out making you feel stupid , I have even asked questions I already know the answer to just to see if they BS me or not , honesty to me is huge .
I guess it is about what you are trying to achieve with your car as well , if you are wanting to drag race you don't take it to a circle track shop . talk is talk , and who is actually walking the walk , and who is pretending ?

[rebelx]

Well the only thing I can say! I had a lot of cars and also work on them myself,had to learn the hard way when it was time to get tuned! Took it to spi and was very happy, great guys will answer all you questions and help you anyway they can ,don't get me wrong,not saying this cause I bring my car there, let's face it ,anyone can make your car fast! How long will it last!! My advice to you would be, just look at the cars that come out of the shop,I am amazed at the work that they do ! That's what does it to me !

[WildBill373]

I had my 2010 SS done by the guys from A2B, i was originally going to use Dasilva but heard some things that turned me away.. Arun Ahuja at A2B is the former tuner from Dasilva, they had a falling out in august and he is Tuning for A2B now and i wouldn"t trust anyone else. he is a master of the LS engines with 20+ years experience drag racing. He helped me tremendously with my Car, through cam choice header choice and all, i have a 2010 SS withe Aruns cam an ECS supercharger kit and headers and we were able to get 650rwhp and 560lbs with stock heads and no meth, not to bash but there was a recent car from dasilva with ported heads and similar set up that didnt make the same power.. in the end it is you call, but dont count out the small guy till you talk with them, yes A2B is new but there is alot of experience and knowledge there and arun wont steer you wrong on what you need and what you dont.

[3rdgen3]

I'm going to make my reply in the order of shops listed..

SPi
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I've had both a good and a bad experience with these guys. They were great before the moved out to Dundas, ON IMHO. Back in 2012, I bought a complete drop-out from Camaro5 user Allanksi's stock rear Diff and driver/passenger axle. Alan told me to come to SPi to pick the parts up and when I showed up there I was very impressed with not only Alan's professionalism but the amount of awesome inside that shop was impressive. Lots of LSx powered cars laying around and he explained a lot on how they do things. Seemed like a nice guy, I purchased the parts and went on my way...I had a good laugh at the amount of burnout marks on the street just outside the shop, but an awesome smile on my face lol.

Fast forward to May of this year, I cammed my 2012 SS, stock heads and bottom end, just a bolt-ons + cam and the supporting valvetrain (BTR .660 spring kit, ported & shimmed oil pump, LS2 damper, etc... all the needed shit). I called up SPi to get a quote on tuning my car not knowing they've moved locations..the number i had saved in my phone said it was not in service when I called so I ended up googling it and was in for a shock to see they've moved from Oakville/Burlington to Dundas, ON. After speaking to a woman on the phone she couldnt give me a price or quote for tuning my car and said Id need to speak to someone else there, she put that person on the phone and I cant remember who it was for the life of me (it couldve even been Alan) but we spoke for a bit, I explained the setup on my car with all the mods and the guy told me it would take a solid 5-6 hours and that it was "pretty much a full days job on the dyno". I explained to this person that in about 2 weeks time I need to be able to take my car for a 6-7 hour trip up north, so in terms of timeline he said he could do it and it would be $750 +HST but that he needs to get everything sorted on his end and that they would call me back, he took my name and number down. I never received a call back. I called again a few days later to follow up, nobody picked up this time. I than decided to give up on SPi for a tune. I was willing to spend the money but if I'm not worth a call back my money will go elsewhere and it did.

DaSilva
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I'm sure everyone's heard of DaSilva by now if you're a car enthusiast. You're most likely thinking about DaSilva Racing in Pickering, they mostly do Fords but a little of everything. I can't say anything bad about them personally, but this is not to be confused with DaSilva Motorsports in Breslau, ON. I can't say to much on these guys aside from what Ive seen posted on this forum to be honest, Ive never bumped into anyone with "street cred" that told me "I had my car built and tuned by Dasilva Motors in Breslau!" but I have seen quite a few posts from members on here saying they've had work done. Whoever runs there account on here seem's to answer questions fairly often which is nice though. On the other side of the fence I've heard some nasty rumors about this place and for fear of spreading false info or getting in the middle of something that's none of my business I will not divulge these comments.

A2B Motorsport
-----------------
You want to know what kind of people run A2B Motorsport? These are the kind of people who would sacrifice a little money on a sale to make the customer happy and if something's not right, they will make sure it gets right and that you're happy.

To leave all "personal" shit aside and to keep things neutral here, I had not ever heard of A2B Motorsport up until early this year, but what I've personally seen and experienced in such a short period of time is a couple of eager, selfless guys who want to prove there combination's work, both out at the track and on the street (if you're sensitive, we'll call it Mexico).

The first time I met Ajdin was to purchase a catback exhaust for my 2012 SS. After talking to him for a bit at his shop you know what he told me? "Im gonna give you the exhaust for $100 less than what we agreed to already because I want to see your car perform and contribute to make those numbers!", Surprised? I was, but that's the caliber of professionalism you're dealing with.

Fast forward to camming my SS this year I needed my car tuned. After speaking to about 5 different shops and their respective tuners within the GTA, I ended up going with Arun and I can't say enough good things about the guy. After spending quite a few hours tuning my car and giving me pointers/tips on things to change to help reduce IAT's and make more power (and more importantly, no timing pull!) he tosses me the keys to his than 740+rwhp 1LE (now 814rwhp) and asked me to take it for a leisurely stroll. That to me says a lot about a man...he also GAVE me some little things and always maintained a professional, cool & polite attitude at all times. He even helped me further dial the tune in after reviewing logs and sending me updates to test...and even after that I still wasnt happy with how the car was running and so he was willing to put even more time into it to dial it in further...and let me tell you it worked good! How good? Just ask the 430rwhp cammed C5 Z06 that my big heavy tank gave it too 5 times in a row by a couple buss lengths the day after my tune, at the track of course.

Just keep an open mind, everyone starts somewhere. Not everyone is born with a silver spoon and/or rides the coat tails of others success. Oh, and the whole reason I went with these guys anyways was because of that "Street cred". I saw a 730rwhp C6 ls3 vert that was built & tuned by Arun a few years ago now that I literally never saw loose a race when it counted and trapped over 150mph in the 1/4-mile on stock heads & bottom end. That car was a weapon! Little did I know he has the record for the fastest street driven C5 with an IRS!!

[Noviking]

Hi guys, the wealth and knowledge that Arun has is brutal, he fools around with cars for fun...and to make a fiew bucks...not soak anybody. Anyone that crosses his path should consider themselves lucky. To me, and many others, he has been a valuable asset to the corvette/Camaro community. I am sure the other guys are good, but if you can deal with the best, go see Arun.

10.16 @150.4 mph 1.89 short

[bob2010ss]

I can only speak about SPi, even though there location is a pain in the ass for me, their work and overall treatment of my car and me makes me keep going back!

[butch2000]

3rdgen3 ! Fantastic Post , very well said !

[General Lee]

Thanks for all the information guys, going to make a decision soon.

[Allanski]

I have been to Dasilva, Champion, and back to Spi - I have to say for your bucks Spi.
You may want to do your research on your mods because most guys end up going more more and bigger bigger. What they built me is the baddest C5 you will ever see.