I received a call from Wayne the other day that the DINAN decals and some other little bits for the car were ready for the car. I had already installed the Cold Air Intake system DINAN provided on the car. That was a task by itself - not terribly bad though. This was all quite exciting. I was actually buidling a legitimate DINAN M5 - Whoo Hoo!''
When I got there, Wayne was out helping a customer. I met with Chris. The plan today was to load the DINAN Stage III Software on the car. By now the car had the Cold Air Intake and ther Hi-Flow MAFs as well. The appropriate software would be a stage IV upgrade. You can check DINAN's website to see all the different levels and how they apply.
As I went to get some coffee, I looked through the double glass doors and saw Steve inside. It was the man himself. He was working with one of the techs on a Porsche. If you have never been to the Mountain View location, you should. The work shop area is kept super clean. It is almost like an operating theater for cars.
Steve stepped out for a moment and I of course accosted him :-). He was rather gracious and tolerant of my uBer fan moment with him. LOL! We had a brief chat about the new Steve Dinan Autotech venture that was just in it's first five weeks. They are a full service facility now and also offering sales. AWESOME! Good news to existing customer like myself and good news for anyone looking for a new high end shop to take their cars. These guys know these cars inside out.
I got a chance to pick Chris' brains while waiting for Wayne. We discussed various things like the software upgrades, the suspension modifications and alignment settings. I always love how they treat you here - you always felt welcome and like one of the crew. Whether you were spending $1 - $1,000,000 - there was a welcome air and genuine appreciation for your business. Steve managed to step away from work for a moment to snap a picture with me. In your faces people! Yeah..... that's me standing with Da Man! Eat your hearts out!
Wayne arrived soon and before you could say DINAN ROCKS - he was taking my car round the back inside the 'Operating Theater'. Shortly after, the car was loaded up with Level III DINAN Software. Wayne installed my CARB badges, and I awarded my DINAN badge for the car. WHOO! Officially a DINAN 5 M5 people!
I noticed the car was much smoother on the driver home. Also, the idle RPM was raised a bit to assist with smoother off throttle response. There seemed to still be a little glitch somewhere so I will be consulting with Wayne on this. I later tried the "Sport" buttong in the car - OMG!!!!! The car comes alive like you wouldn't believe. It was black magic I tell you.
I felt like I was releasing the ponies of Mt. Olympus when I pressed that button. Yes - I aware that in stock form, this button does things like tighten up the steering, open up the butterflies in the throttle bodies and makes the throttle response lighting fast. With the DINAN software, it's like pressing an after burner button. Saying the car comes alive is almost an understatement. It COMES ALIVE WITH POWAH!!!!!!
So, now I get to go back and finish preparing this car. Next thing from DINAN will be the free flow exhaust system. I will report back when I get it. Right now, the car is running a crappy custom hack job which I am sure is choking the car. Hopefully the DINAN exhaust will fix things and make this beast even smoother. More to come.....