Church Automotive Testing - Wilmington, California

Gregory gregory

Shawn and the staff are great. Appointment on time. Had to work extra hard to remove rear tire. If you need your car tuned or just put it on the dyno. This is the place for you.

Anthony Fazio

This is the second time I've taken a car I've taken to Sean Church to work his magic.

The first time i met him was about 15 years ago, when I put a turbo on my Honda Civic del Sol VTEC and heard about a piggyback system called Hondata, which would allow you to remap the ECU and tune it for whatever modifications you installed. Hondata's own project cars were getting tuned at a place called Church Automotive Tech, so that's where I went. Sean and his crew were super accommodating and I left with a Hondata s300 installed and a custom tune that was worlds better than the FMU that formerly fed my thirsty OBD1 B16A3.

Many years (and cars) later I wanted something to tinker with, so I picked up an LS1-equipped Trans Am with twice the cylinders (a V8) and a centrifugal charger equipped for breathing duties. Unfortunately, it never ran right, feeling sluggish and laggy and backfiring whenever I punched it. I upgraded the fuel system and the pulley on the supercharger and then called around looking for someone to dyno tune it. Eventually, I decided that Church was the place to go.

I showed up a little early and they took me in right at the time of my appointment. There are several tuners there and I've heard they're all great, but Sean Church himself took care of my ride. Despite having to jump-start my battery that decided to give up right then and there, everything else ran smoothly. Sean showed me the fuel tables and explained why the car felt sluggish and backfired constantly (it was running way too rich and the timing was pulled across the board), and then began adjusting the tune in between dyno pulls. After he was satisfied, he detached everything and then rode with me around the block, monitoring the car and fine-tuning it on the fly. Let me tell you, it felt like a brand new car! The backfiring and hesitation were replaced by a healthy roar, and the car pulled smoothly and quickly to redline.

Sean Church and his crew are friendly and professional and masters of their craft. I have nothing but praise for them, and heartily recommend them whether you like import tuners or American muscle!

Carlos B

Speaking on my experience with getting my WRX tuned, I mostly interacted with Shawn since the other guys were busy as well. Been coming here for years, had my car tuned by Shawn right after breaking in OEM engine rebuild. Car has been running strong ever since stage 1 tune from him. I am at 60k+ miles now pushing much more than I did before and the car doesnt skip a beat! I recommend any to bring your Subie here.

To this day I still hear a lot of negative things from this Shop, I can assure you that your subie will be in good hands.

Update 2022: still coming in to use Shawn’s services. Some new faces but all very skilled in their field. I believe I had someone called Henry tune my car a few times already and he is very good at explaining what is going on with the car. I took his advice after my car ended up leaning out a lot with the new parts I installed, and now my car is running better than ever. My car is just shy of 500whp now and they have been helping every step of the way.

David Noall

Shawn has tuned 2 of my corvettes and has done a phenomenal job. Gurgles and pops available upon request and far better drivability than any tuners I have local. I drive 3 hrs to see him, and 3 hrs back. Well worth it!
Truly a master at his trade!
Both cars he has tuned are priceless. Such amazing character from the custom tunes he has performed

VicZac17

They were super friendly and easy to talk to and was in and out in less then an hour for a crackle tune on my Mustang. Highly recommend this place to everyone especially because the person that helped me has been doing this for 20+ years

Jonathan Titchs

I've taken 2 cars to have them tuned and get some tasty mods done to a gen 8 si I onced owned. What a awesome, and professional experience as well from the owner down to the gentleman who answers the phone. I learned a lot from just talking with guys there that it's made me look at the whole automotive industry in a much more insightful way. Of course like any real passion/hobby you learn what you want through mistakes and modifications to any car will usually cause some type of reaction that will need attention. What I'm saying is you don't just go to this place once and think your done because any person who loves cars like I do will always see a car like a great story. Theirs many chapters to your build and the guys at church will help write you a masterpiece if you understand my metaphor. The biggest thing is that you enjoy the process and by getting a tune done its by far the most important part to modification list. So forget the outcome of the numbers and instead enjoy the labor and love that you put into your car because although you most likely have a car that someone has doesn't mean there are the same by any means and it's up to the owner to separate themselves for pack. That's what I got from taking my car there late and making sure everything is running smoothly and learning the do's and don't of my project.

Peter Gibbons

Daniel here at Church’s saved my Honda CR-Z! Local Honda dealership overwrote my tune when going in for service and Daniel was able to add it back using my Hondata FlashPro. Car feels better than ever. Very fair pricing. There were cars here worth 10x more than my Honda they were working on at the shop. I was referred to them directly from the Hondata rep to go to fix my vehicle. They are the real deal. Thank you!!

Angus mclachlan

Shaun is the man. Fixed a cold start issue and squeezed some more power out of a turbo Miata. 10/10 service.