Hello fellow Jag enthusiasts!

I have been a proud owner of a low mileage 2016 F Type R since August 2021 and have taken several epic road trips since to thrash her on roads worthy of thrashing on.

As the maintenance schedule warrants a supercharger belt replacement as OEM belt is over 5 years old I figured why not replace both pulleys and other stuff while that part of the car is being worked on?

So in a week my mechanic will be installing:

• VAP Jag 5.0 Supercharged ECU tune package
• VAP crank pulley
• VAP supercharger pulley
• MINA Gallery Upper and lower intake
• waterpump and Tstat (just because)

I would appreciate some advice and guidance on several related issues and could not find the info from my forum searches.

I remember reading about possible hesitation from other forum members reporting that there was hesitation at around 130 mph and that the solution was to change out the oem spark plugs to a cooler firing NGK iridium plug which seems reasonable to do despite me also reading that some oem sparks are already “cooler” and will not need to be replaced.

QUESTION: Which NGK sparks are recommended to best serve my pending performance upgrade?

NOTE - For perspective the stock car is fine all the way up to 187 mph (hypothetically speaking - this is not to imply that I or anyone would drive their vehicle at that speed)

QUESTION/OPINIONS: VAP strongly feels that the pop and burble tune that I fell in love with should not persist and be tuned out as they will not be responsible for possible catalytic converter damage requesting that the purchaser basically sign a waiver releasing them of liability if pop and burble tune is NOT removed

- Will the new performance tune neuter the soul of the car if I choose a normal exhaust note?

- Will the performance be affected if I choose to retain the pops and burbles understanding that cats may need to be replaced due to enhanced performance and stress to exhaust?

- Should the cats be replaced anyway because the oem cats are now restricting new performance gains?

QUESTION: Is it still considered a stage 2 if both the upper and lower pulleys are replaced?

Thanks in advance for your wisdom!

Also: apologies in advance for typos and questionable grammar as I am typing on my phone with crappy service right now

 

A lot of questions, but here are a few answers worth every penny you paid me for them:
1. This is the first time I’ve heard VAP recommending the loss of the fireworks. Apparently someone gigged them for a converter that met an early demise. I actually had them add a few pops and gurgles. No cat damage yet after a 5 or 6 years.
2. No spaying or neutering with the tune ( unless you decide not to sign that goofy waiver).
3. Feeding that extra bit of fuel through the exhaust valves will negatively affect your fuel economy, but certainly not the performance.
4. The OEM cats are just fine. You might be missing a few meager horses, but you’ll never feel the improvement from a 200 cell cat and the nasty raspy sound will disappoint.
5. Per DJS, the tune and both pulleys is stage 3.
6. You are over-thinking this. If you have the V8 , you are looking at about a hundred horse gain. The question you should be asking is: “Do I attend a high performance driving school”.

 

It seems I owe you some coin then.

regarding the fireworks from the back, the active exhaust is one of the things that I drew me to purchase this car but can be a bit much. Still, I would like the option to be obnoxious when I choose so looks like I am signing the waiver. I am not a fan of what I hear from the YouTube vids of the 200 cell anyway. You are right - too raspy.

I am also not going to worry about losing a few ponies through oem exhaust. I like what jag did and think it shouldn’t change one bit. This car has soul.

I do have the v8 and was disappointed by my 4.2 second 0-60 runs per my Dragy but I did have a lot of weight. The extra ponies on tap are just that…to use occasionally just to be a hooligan now and then.

I would still like to know your thoughts on the spark plugs though. I have taken her north of 130 and don’t want the detonation if I can avoid it. Not sure where I read it but several veteran members mentioned NGK and then a model. Wish I saved that info.

I’ll try calling Velocity to see what they have to say.

Thanks a bunch!

 

If you still have the dragy you may want to do a few more tests just to make sure everything is right with your cat before you add parts and a tune.
I have a 2016, and weigh as much as a small bear and 4.2 seems a bit on the slow side.
Most of my runs have been in the 3's with a best of 3.58 (no roll out), and only 2-3 in the 4s.
I haven't tried runs at heat or at altitude. So if your runs were in either or both that may explain it.

 

Yes, density altitude can make a fair difference in acceleration (a combination of air temperature, air pressure, and humidity), and on a hot day, can really slow things down, especially forced induction cars).

 

Thanks guys for perspective on Dragy. I’m actually puzzled and doubt I’ll have the same opportunity to test here in NY area due to highly congested roads and the safety concerns of an idiot (me) doing a 0-60 run somewhere without law enforcement intervening.

I made several runs out in Nevada, Utah region where the temp was in the 70s and the road was reasonably close to sea level (not in mountains). I had around 100 lbs of luggage/gear a mostly full tank of gas and about 230 lbs of me. I realize that it was a small sample size but was expecting under 4 performance. I had traction control off and made runs in dynamic mode and just planted the accelerator, didn’t brake rev or anything fancy. Maybe if I had more time to home my technique.

Slightly off topic but addressing initial comments about Velocity cats and raspy exhaust, I was sent a private message from somebody from Supersprint exhaust - who hand make exhausts in Italy. I am impressed by their Jag exhaust but cant find pricing. It’s probably expensive. Custom usually is. Here is a link to the YouTube vid!

 

I have the V6, so can’t comment on the optimal V8 plug to use on a tuned car.
If you turned off the traction control and mashed the pedal, I’m surprised your dragy run did as well as it did. A lot of power was being wasted painting the pavement with rubber.

 

Some additional thoughts and comments based on your questions. The pops and bangs tune, while at first is kind of cool, is more annoying than anything. Literally the car will not stop until you accelerate or get below (can't remember the threshold, like 2k RPM) doing it. I have had both and much prefer the standard tune file VAP provides over the extra pops and bangs. The car still sounds amazing, better than stock without the annoying never-ending overruns. As for the 200 cel cats sounded raspy, I have to completely disagree. I have the VAP Stage 2 (you would be a Stage 3 with both pulleys) and their 200 cel cats with the stock exhaust back. For me, this sounds perfect. Opinions will vary and while you will not feel any sort of performance difference with just the cats themselves, the sum of all the parts (Tune, Cats, Pulley, etc) do make a difference.

The Mina Gallery intake will bring you lots of SC whine, but keep in mind, could very well bring you less HP and performance. If you simply wanted the sound, without the loss of performance, some generic intake tubing can be fitted to remove the SC silencers in the lower portion of the intake and remove and seal the upper sound chambers too. I have left the stock air intake on, as for me, the performance is more important than the sound.

Dragy is another topic. I have had two of them and sold both. While in theory a cheap way to gauge 0-60 times and quarter mile times, there are so many factors like discussed. DA being one of the biggest. I live in a hot humid environment. I will never be able to compete on times against those with much better DA, less humidity and heat soak. Just a fact of where you live. For me, the Dragy was off about .1-.3 against an actual scoring timing at the local drag strip. 0-60 times equally off when compared to other solutions out there. It is a great, cheap tool to give you 95-98% accuracy, but again, not exact. For me, I finally decided, who cares. When I really want to know, I will take it to the strip during a test and tune day/night.

As for the recommendations from VAP. I have not seen them ask to sign a waiver, but I purchased all my gear from them BEFORE the whole outfall from COBB's decision to neuter tunes and new regulations in the US (in some states) going into effect. Companies always want to limit their liability. Perhaps that is why. Just ask Stuart or Chris, they are generally very forthcoming with information.

You will enjoy this setup for sure!

 

I have the VAP Valvetronic exhaust and am tickled pink with it.
A nice increase in volume w/o being completely obnoxious, and I think the exhaust tips look nicer as well.

 

don't forget the coolant pipes as the 2016's still had the old style pipes. could even get the euro-amp metal version.

 

I have the full supersprint exhaust
zero rasp
Zero drone
And imho the best sounding exhaust avail for the v8 f type
The videos don't do it justice it really is head and shoulders in front

 

Skizot - this is amazing insight. Thank you very much! And thanks to all others contributing their 2 cents to this thread!

I can "tolerate" the pops and bangs if it remains basically the same as stock after the VAP Stage 3 (!) tune. I'll opt NOT to neuter the car.

I was not aware the the Mina Gallery intake upgrade would rob me of a few ponies but I am reluctant to take the DIY path you took. I guess I'm happy with the small tradeoff if I am gaining more supercharger whine with a nice and clean installation with all plumbing intact.

I also think I will deal with the stock cats till they become a problem meanwhile saving my pennies for the Supersprint exhaust setup which I think sounds amazing, not better than the VAP as some may agree or disagree with - but certainly different in tamber and just better in my opinion.

The Dragy for me is just something that I will use to put numbers to what my butt feels and quantify what the car is doing differently rather than just "feeling" like it is faster or slower. Accuracy is close enough for my needs.

All in all, I am excited about this process and will have this installed this weekend. Problem is VAP tunes are not available for a few weeks due to their internal vacation schedule so I will probably be looking at end of July before all tweaks are done and I can report back here that it has transformed my already amazing car into a real beast - but we all knew that already.

My one remaining point is about the cooler NGK spark plugs that apparently addresses the hesitation some have reported above 130. Anybody know about this? I'll keep digging!

 

The VAP guys discussed colder plugs in one of the many VAP tuning threads here. You could ask them.