Stock 'R' Numbers on a V6? Who wants to eat someone's lunch!!!! We can now deliver 553 BHP & 494ft/lbs on the 3.0L cars.

'Stage 4' files are available for the V6 engines, to run on E85. This calibration is available only to those who are already VAP Stage 3 (upper & lower pulleys) or you can purchase it when buying the upper & lower pulleys & tuning at the same time.

No Fuel system upgrades required - there are fuel pump & pressure alterations required but all handled electronically. In airport runway testing we saw over 1 second 1/4 mile gains compared to pump fuel. Bear in mind, the dragy data was generated at 2500ft DA, on a dirty runway with no prep and on OEM Pirellis, so that 11.8 is a real world achieveable time, not a perfect drag strip time on Cup 2's. And on the dyno, we made more BHP & Torque than a stock V12 Vantage on the same dyno. Graphs show stock XE (340BHP Calibration) and Stage 4, as well as an overlay of the V12V.

Yes, we are working on something similar for the 5.0L, however it's going to require some hardware upgrades and not ready for release.

 

Interesting!
Another possibly silly question from me Stuart.
Once you install this tune what would happen if you couldn't access E85 for a while and were forced to use for example E5 or E10 with a much lower AKI or RON rating than E85, such as "normal" PULP here in Oz with a RON rating of 98 (93 AKI in the US I believe)?
Gigantic power loss?
Engine damage?
Or just relatively poor performance?

 

Could you do this tune with stock pulleys.........

 

Similar question from me: Since (presumably) F-Types don't have ethanol sensors, how is the mixture ratio sensed?

 

This tune is only available for cars that already have our Stage 3 (dual pulley) setup.

 

This is only available for full E85. If you use E85 and it turns out to have degraded to say... E75 it'll be fine. But it's not for blending to something like E30 or E40.

We are working on setting up a bluetooth kit for measurement however.

 

Those are some great numbers. Looking forward to the v8 set up for this. Do you think it will be developed and tested before the end of this year? And Thank you for all your hard work and expertise developing products for the Ftype. I know for many of us on here you have really enhanced the driving experience of owning this amazing automobile.

 

Neat...watching this development closely.

 

Anyone take this leap yet?

 

We've sold just over 20 files so someone should be along soon!

 

I'm in the process of doing mine now. Having to replace those pesky coolant pipes and some other essentials while I have the SC off. Should have it done within a few days time. I'll report back with pics and vids. Totally excited to see what happens.

 

Complete! Took me an extra couple of weeks because I screwed up the supercharger portion of the upgrade (snapped a bolt in the inlet and didn't heat the pulley hub hot enough, getting it stuck on partially). I was very fortunate because after talking w/ VAP, who gave me instructions on how to recover (the hub install instructions are surprisingly tough to come by), I reached out to ZPE GripTech who makes the pulley and hub assembly. They took very good care of my mistake! I guess they covered it under warranty, shipping it from Texas to Superchargers Online. Those guys basically remanned the inlet (new seals and everything), installed the new hub&pulley, and shipped it back. Everyone in the supply chain was a real pleasure to work with and I totally felt supported by everyone.

I got the supercharger installed last night and got the car on the road this morning. I did the stage 3 tune to run any 93 octane down, then filled w/ e85 and performed the stage 4 tuning files. There is a noticeable difference in how the car performs. We are supposed to achieve 553 or so hp, but I'm sure results may vary. I have not yet had the chance to dyno the car and it looks like we are finally getting rain for the next week. So I can't really romp on it too much at the moment. In terms of performance, it's a totally different car from stock - clear as day. I did also install the Mina lower intake and combined w/ the tune, the car is a bit mean and I like that. I test drove the SVR when I was car shopping and this feels similarly fast, but not quite the same. Those 2 extra cylinders do make it feel a bit beefier. But this tune puts it on a similar performance level. As hyperbole, this car feels quick getting up to 100mph stock. This tune gives you that same feeling at 150 mph (or so I heard...). Definitely got more crackles and burps, the auto-start stop is disabled, and the start-up seems more managed/gentler somehow. The car is noticeably louder when you get on it (if that's your thing - it's mine). Filling up on e85 has a nice price and a short line, but it does seem to use more fuel (as expected).

I'm still working out some fine kinks in the car. Sometimes it's more responsive in the lower range than others, but mostly more of its power is in the higher range. Stock operates the same way in my experience. It is extremely different between stock and stage 4. The car has a different personality (may get the transmission tune later). If you throw the gear down 1 and then get on it, you're going to be kicked back in your seat. The car has way more torque and a lot more skrrt. Being a rear-wheel drive car, I was slightly concerned about the drivability under instant load, but the car handles it very nicely. One thing that I am working on is it sounds like a slight bit of pre-detonation is happening at RPM north of 5000. I am working w/ the tuning support folks at VAP on this at the moment. I just got it on the road and to be honest, I did expect a little more fine-tuning and just testing might need to be done. Each one of these cars seems to be a little bit different in its build, between trim levels and years. Working with them as of right now it seems like I need to let it run through the fuel a bit more. What I'm experiencing very well may be a non-issue after more testing and running. I'll do a write-up after I've had some time to test out the car and see how it drives as a daily. Right now I'm just triple checking to make sure I didn't screw anything up myself.

Overall I think the tune was totally worth it. My rationale - there aren't any "new" cars out there right now that I feel like I really want. Porsche has some nice stuff and I've done BMW as my last car. This tune was well worth the money (so far) because the car feels new again. If you think on the budget side, you have a similarly powered SVR alternative for a significantly lower cost. The tune, coolant pipe repair (POS plastic - WHY!? TELL ME WHY!) routine maintenance (oil change, coolant flush, new spark plugs, water pump, thermostat, etc), and the Stage 4 kit from VAP cost around $3800 (tune kit is $2800 or so with stage 4 files around $1k for all of the repair parts from the dealer and some special tools). My quotes for reputable shops in the greater Austin area were 7k-10k for everything (including dyno). Because I did the work myself I saved a few bones (they do know me by name at the auto parts stores now). The benefit to those professional shops is they would not have made the several goofs I made or taken nearly as long. I just enjoy tuning these things myself. In terms of some of the intangibles, the added performance does add a layer of prestige to the car over stock. I bought the car based on its uniqueness and now the guys at Sewell (very reputable dealership here) have all been loosely following my journey. It's a nice talking point with them because they used to service it when it was under warranty. And who doesn't like the thumbs up you get when people hear/see it?

 

Thanks for the update. Sorry, if this was in an earlier post, but what version of engine did you modify? Stock 340, 380, 400 HP? Previous mods like a stage 2? Keep us updated on what your experiences.

 

It was the stock (340HP) V6 3.0L SC. The only thing done to the car was some maintenance (spark plugs, oil change, etc.), the coolant pipe repair, and the stage 3-4 upgrade. I also did the Mina intake - lowers only. I read that there might be some HP loss due to heat for the upper. The full kit does look sweet though - might do that for looks later. I performed a temporary stage 3 upgrade to run the existing fuel down (had 12 miles of range in the tank) and then performed stage 4, which is the e85 tune. The stage 3 upgrade was the crank pulley, sc pulley, + 93 octane tune. The tune seems to be the difference between stages 2 and 3 from what I gather. I don't think stage 3 is an actual thing (not sure about that). I think VAP was just helping me out in my specific scenario - which may be why it was responding the way it did. Stage 4 was just a tune to get the car to run on e85. I have yet to verify numbers on a dyno. Will probably do that in the next month or so. I should also update things and say that there is no pre-detonation happening anymore. I believe that VAP correctly diagnosed it as remaining 93 octane in the lines. I also think that was happening on the stage 3 tune and not stage 4. I am on my 2nd tank of e85 and its runs without any issue. I'm still listening and monitoring how the car performs across the full power band and want to get through some miles before throwing it through a dyno, potentially causing an issue down the line if something is not quite right. So far I am quite confident in the upgrade kit.

 

Total n00b question here for @Stuart@VelocityAP , would this tune mess up the car if I were to put 91 Octane in? Or would it just pull back the power until I could refuel with E85? Asking because I have E85 available nearby, but this is also my daily driver which I use for long roadtrips.

Thank you, Steve
PS: Love my current non-E85 tune, thank you!

 

You cannot run the E85 tuning file with any petrol, you would be required to flash back to a 91aki petrol file, from the E85 file.

 

Hey @Stuart@VelocityAP is this tune available for the 380HP and 400hp version? would this need to be the AWD or RWD? Or does this tune apply to all the XE trim levels with the 3.0 SC? I'm interested in an XE and definitely want this tune if I were to get the XE (only reason I'm even interested in the XE)

 

This tune is available for every 3.0 Supercharged V6 JLR platform from 2013-on. Doesn't matter which OEM calibration it has - 340, 380 or 400, and doesn't matter which drive type.

 

Good, sir - any updates on the V8 application? I’m itching over here.

 

My WAG is that some serious mechanical mods would be required on the V8.
Just a simple extrapolation to the V8 (553 x 5/3) gives 923 hp, that's right 923!
That's probably not realistic, maybe 850 hp would be possible (and 850 ft/lb torque).
But can the internals and particularly the gearbox handle that much power and torque?
VAP have recently released a custom set of pistons and rods for the V8 and my guess is they are aimed at this sort of E85 mod. Then there is the open deck block, head bolts, head gaskets etc.
But my big worry would still be the gearbox, the stock ZF 8HP70 is only rated for 700 Nm of torque (516 ft/lb) although the 8HP90 and 8HP95 which may or may not be a direct bolt up are rated for 1000 Nm or 740 ft/lb. That may be enough, maybe not, and it could be a real bear to get one to work with the F-Type let alone the cost!
My second WAG is that the V8 version would require a special TCU tune as well as the ECU/PCM tune, one that limits the torque under a range of parameters.
But if anyone can work all this out and make a monster but still reliable and driveable E85 AJ123SC it's the blokes at VAP.