Dyno Plots & Feedback on VF Engineering’s Stage 1 & Stage 2 Tune

[Travis1807]

Vehicle: 2013 X5M

Dyno: Mustang

Gas: 91 Octane

Performance Modifications (Pictures of each will be attached)
1. Axel back custom exhaust w/ OEM Resonators and 2 Vibrant Ultra Quiet Resonators used to replace OEM muffler setup.
2. Ultimate Racing downpipes w/ ceramic coating
3. Custom intake
4. VF Engineering Stage 2 Tune

I feel a preface is necessary to understand my reasoning behind going with the VF Engineering Stage 2 over a few others. I feel like most people on this forum go with Velos tunes and having exchanged messages w/ Omar I would agree that they deserve their reputation for having excellent customer service. I appreciate great customer service but would trade it any day of the week for a competent Sales Representative/Tuner who has a proven track record for making power and doing it safely. If you’re familiar with VF Engineering you know they have been making tunes for exotic and luxury vehicles for over a decade. I also found out first hand that they take customer service very serious and I continue to be pleasantly surprised by their effort to make sure that I’m completely satisfied with my purchase.

I looked into Velos, VF Engineering and PP-Performance for tunes. I was ultimately unhappy with having to deal with a secondary shop that sold the PP-Performance tune instead of actually dealing with PP-Performance directly. I just wasn’t comfortable with putting a tune in my vehicle from someone who couldn’t answer basic questions about the tune without taking at least a day to contact someone else for the answer. So given that information PP-Performance was a no go for me.

Based on the numbers displayed on the respective companies websites I calculated VF Engineering making slightly more power then Velos. Now I know everyone is going to say you can’t make that judgment with out a head to head comparison or back to back dyno pulls, so please spare me the lecture. I also realize the numbers where taken off 2 different dynos. I’m just explaining my thought process and understand that it might not make sense to everyone. After researching each company’s reputation I printed out each companies dyno plot for our X5M and examined them side by side. I concluded that VF engineering was making more power and ultimately a faster X5M.

I initially took the journey up to VF Engineering about a week ago hoping to get their stage 2 tune installed and with it some time on their Mustang dyno. Unfortunately when I got on the dyno it was apparent I had a boost leak. Deciding to pack it in for the day and head home with the stock tune in place was the only reasonable decision. I diagnosed the problem (CCV leak) and got the vent pipes that I needed as well as the air duct w/ PCV valve on the 1-4 side that was needed. This fixed my boost leak and I was ready to install the stage 1 tune to test the waters.

The stage 1 tune was a definitive improvement in all areas and actually had me thinking that I mistakenly uploaded the stage 2 tune. I have a background in boosted SUV’s with my previous vehicle being a Jeep SRT8 that was stroked and boosted. So I’m familiar with what slight and significant horsepower gains feel like in a 5,000 lb vehicle. The VF Engineering website claims the following gains for their respective tunes:
Stage 1 (gain approx 75hp/100tq) USD $1695.
Stage 2 (gain approx 120hp/170tq) USD $2295.

I reconfirmed with VF Engineering that they did in fact send me the stage 1 tune file. I was assured that I had the stage 1 tune so I decided to put my X5M through a variety of different driving situations to see how it performed. For the next few days I kept the stage 1 tune in to make sure I caught the boost leak and that I wasn’t throwing anymore dummy lights.
All in all I was extremely happy with the stage 1 tune but since I paid for a custom intake, exhaust and downpipes I clearly needed the stage 2.

This past Monday I uploaded the stage 2 and headed back up to VF Engineering for some dyno time. I went easy at first trying to let the truck adjust to the new software. It was mostly highway driving up to VF Engineering so that wasn’t to exciting all though I could feel the difference in power. It felt like whatever kind of power increase I got from the stage 1 tune the stage 2 tune was easily doubling it.

I'm posting 2 dyno plots the first reflects my stage 2 tune in red and the stock tune in blue.

The second dyno plot is the one shown on the VF Engineering website that shows the stock tune in red, stage 1 tune in green and stage 2 tune in blue.

To my excitement instead of producing the advertised gains of 120hp and 170tq over stock I actually produced 156hp and 220tq. So I squeezed an extra 36hp and 50tq over what I originally had thought I was going to make. It also looks like I'm holding peak power a bit longer then the other stage 2 tune thats shown on the dyno plot.

So far I have been beyond impressed with every aspect of my tune and the customer service I have received from VF Engineering. I was really impressed that they took the time to walk me through the installation of my tune over the phone at 8:30pm on a weeknight but more importantly had an answer to every question I shot at them about the details of their tunes. Like I said before great customer service is always nice but there are other deciding factors that are more important to me. I really feel like I won big with this tune and the above and beyond customer service didn’t hurt either.

Lastly, I will update this post with any feedback that I have that’s pertinent to this thread.

[e36bmer]

Very nice. Right at 4000 rpm, you're going from about 275hp to 400hp, and hitting up to 550wtq a little earlier, pretty serious increase. It seems a little odd how the HP comes down then seems to go back up again, but I'm sure it feels completely different now.

Now for some Pure Turbos!
http://www.pureturbos.com/store/bmw-...de-turbos.html

[m5 guy]

Awesome results!

You made the right call tune wise as well for an additional reason not mentioned imo. You can actually go to the tuners dyno. If I had a choice between getting a canned tune or going to the tuner's actual work and dyno the decision would be an easy one for me. Do you know if they made any additional tweaks over their standard canned stage 2? I would like to think they did since they were able to get your car on their dyno.

Also your thoughts on the intake please. Do you think it helped more than people thought it would power wise? The M5 guys with their MSR intakes wax lyrical about the surprising amount of power they picked up with the intake. Is your shop planning on selling these intakes?

[Travis1807]

Originally Posted by m5 guy

Awesome results!

You made the right call tune wise as well for an additional reason not mentioned imo. You can actually go to the tuners dyno. If I had a choice between getting a canned tune or going to the tuner's actual work and dyno the decision would be an easy one for me. Do you know if they made any additional tweaks over their standard canned stage 2? I would like to think they did since they were able to get your car on their dyno.

Also your thoughts on the intake please. Do you think it helped more than people thought it would power wise? The M5 guys with their MSR intakes wax lyrical about the surprising amount of power they picked up with the intake. Is your shop planning on selling these intakes?

Not sure about the additional tweaks to the tune I would have to ask.

I got the intake and downpipes installed at the same time and on my drive home from the shop I got a boost leak. So it would be really hard to say how much additional power the intake alone provided. I didn't have it done for more power I did it for aesthetics and so you can hear the turbos spool. I can tell you its night and day as far as the sound coming from under my hood now. I had a precision turbo that was 88mm on my Jeep SRT8 and had a vented carbon fiber hood. That sounded like a tornado coming down the street. Currently i wouldn't say its quite as loud as my Jeep but its not that much quieter. Either way its a huge improvement over stock and that what I was looking for.

I also have red BMC filters special ordered from BMC that are currently getting shipped from Italy. I will be replacing my current set up which are the 2 K&N filters that came with the intake. I am deciding to go with the
BMC filters for a few reasons. The red color will match my Brembos which is a positive and I think the red will look great behind my grille. The other is I just like BMC as a company and believe in the superior quality of all their air filters. I also really like the design of any twin conical filter but don't know if it will provide that much extra benefit in this particular case.

The cost is a $1,000 for the intakes and that would include 2 K&N filters and 2 pre filters in your choice of colors. I myself don't think the K&N filters where big enough for our engine and decided to go with the BMC's b/c I believe they are each rated to 700hp. If you provided your own filters I would imagine it would save you around a $100. I know the price isn't cheap but its way more economical then the MSR intakes that you had previously mentioned. My friend who made mine asked if I could help with orders so if anyone was interested just message me. I would just need to take my truck in for the day to have a jig made but thats fine I don't mind helping at all.

Hope that answers your questions. I will also talk to the guys at VF Engineering to ask about the tune. They are providing me with an additional tune that will keep my car either out of boost or put a rev limiter on it. I know that sounds weird but I might be going away for an extended period of time and don't want to tempt my friend who will be garaging my vehicle with the reality of a good time.

[Travis1807]

Originally Posted by e36bmer

Very nice. Right at 4000 rpm, you're going from about 275hp to 400hp, and hitting up to 550wtq a little earlier, pretty serious increase. It seems a little odd how the HP comes down then seems to go back up again, but I'm sure it feels completely different now.

Now for some Pure Turbos!
http://www.pureturbos.com/store/bmw-...de-turbos.html

I agree with you on how odd it is to see the dip in HP only to have it come back up again. I wish they would have pushed it a little higher on the RPM's as well but I can always wait until next time.

Ahhh... yes the pure turbos. I am considering redoing the intake to mount the air filters in the upper wheel well next to the head lights. I would need to first find a way to funnel air from the two smaller grilles on either side of the bumper up into that compartment but there is a good deal of space there. I would then use the space where the filters currently are to mount a huge air to air intercooler and do away with the stock intercoolers.

From previous experience the intercooler switch alone I believe will net some very nice hp and tq gains. I would actually venture to guess more then any other single mod I have done with the exception of the tune. After the intercooler it will be time for the turbos. I have spent a grip of $$$$ lately on my truck so I think future upgrades will be a few months off but I'm always planning my next move

[Creamo3]

Gains look good, I would be curious to see how it translates on the track. Depending on the shop, some setup their Mustangs to read closer to a Dynojet and some leave them with heart-breaker settings (stock). Either way the only purpose is to see before/after which looks good. 91 octane?

[Travis1807]

Originally Posted by Creamo3

Gains look good, I would be curious to see how it translates on the track. Depending on the shop, some setup their Mustangs to read closer to a Dynojet and some leave them with heart-breaker settings (stock). Either way the only purpose is to see before/after which looks good. 91 octane?

From talking to the owner at VF Engineering he said that Mustang's tech's came out and set up the dyno after they purchased it. He told me how important it was for him to make sure the settings didn't get changed from stock to make sure his reading where accurate.
VF Engineering actually just got a Dynojet as well in an effort to stay competitive. I was told that so many places use the Dynojet and rather then try to validate the Mustang's #'s comparatively they just got a Dynojet.

Yes 91 Octane

You are making some nice power at the wheels. How much power over stock are you at? Anything else other then the mods you have listed that might contribute to your better then average #'s?

[Creamo3]

For my truck I took it to my buddies shop to get dyno'd only after getting everything done, so I really have no baseline. His is a Dynojet which typically read higher than Mustangs from what I've seen and experienced. My previous car was trapping 138mph with ~615whp on a Mustang and 145mph around 720whp. My truck runs consistent 12.2 @112 at the current power levels. The only mods I have are what's in the signature and really don't see any benefit going beyond that on this platform. I've had fast cars/motorcycles and the fact that a 5300lb truck is able to move this well is good enough for me

Originally Posted by Travis1807

From talking to the owner at VF Engineering he said that Mustang's tech's came out and set up the dyno after they purchased it. He told me how important it was for him to make sure the settings didn't get changed from stock to make sure his reading where accurate.
VF Engineering actually just got a Dynojet as well in an effort to stay competitive. I was told that so many places use the Dynojet and rather then try to validate the Mustang's #'s comparatively they just got a Dynojet.

Yes 91 Octane

You are making some nice power at the wheels. How much power over stock are you at? Anything else other then the mods you have listed that might contribute to your better then average #'s?

[Travis1807]

Originally Posted by Creamo3

For my truck I took it to my buddies shop to get dyno'd only after getting everything done, so I really have no baseline. His is a Dynojet which typically read higher than Mustangs from what I've seen and experienced. My previous car was trapping 138mph with ~615whp on a Mustang and 145mph around 720whp. My truck runs consistent 12.2 @112 at the current power levels. The only mods I have are what's in the signature and really don't see any benefit going beyond that on this platform. I've had fast cars/motorcycles and the fact that a 5300lb truck is able to move this well is good enough for me

Agreed!