Never mind reading about VEMS, scan down to read about a stupid fuckhead that has no idea what he is talking about.
Case study......
* Escort XR3i - 1990.
* Customer had fitted a Fiesta Turbo engine and Fiesta OFAC management and had converted it to run an Escort RST T3 Turbo.
* We then rebuilt the engine, using Forged pistons, standard spec head, rebuilt Stage 2 T3, Piper 285T cam etc. He only wanted around 170-180bhp and this spec should have breezed this power figure.
* The software was written using a chip (which we cannot do) using the 'best guess' method, which we then fitted and checked on our rolling road. This was done as a simple solution in the hope that his desired power figure would be easily achieved.
The car made a measly 135bhp. Yes, that's right a whole 3bhp above standard.
After months of pissing around with running problems, missfires and poor power, we finally took Piper out of the equation and concluded that as far as CVH cams go, they really need to go back to cam-school. This was after trying at least 3 of their cams, 2 of which were so-called custom spec to overcome the problems. Nothing was right. It seemed that everything was just a guess for them and finally we did the right thing and fitted a Newman cam with Solid lifters. Overkill really for this spec, but it eliminates any possibility of further problems.
We also decided that the OFAC management was not giving the car it's maximum potential, due to the fact that we know what we can do on the Dyno, but sadly cannot tweak the manangement to take full advantage of it. So, we made the decision to take the opportunity, with the customers approval to try a new system we have encountered from VEMS.
So, we test-fitted it to the car, so that we could try it but still back-track if it didn't work out and once on the dyno, we were astonished by the results, when you take into account the cost.
Once we had carried out the early configuration, it became clear that the car was much much happier, it started on the key, without any throttle interaction, warmed up from cold, idled nicely and made good power once we had optimised the fuelling and ignition maps. It also has the ability to run closed-loop, for fuel economy and has a very good data-logging add-on too.
Anyway, cutting to the chase, the car made 215bhp and just over 230lb/ft and feels awesome. I want you to understand that this is a true 215bhp, as our Dyno is very accurate and the car is extremely lively. I suspect that it would make considerably more than this on other Dyno's. The boost is a little unstable, but there are other reasons for this. The car peaks at 20psi and holds 16psi!
The conversion would cost around £1000, fitted and mapped.
I have to say though, that whilst we can now offer this as a conversion, we are being strict about what we take on. We will only carry this conversion out on a car that has been fully converted to EFi, we will not undertake any of the alteration's to Inlet manifolds etc. For the money, we are carrying out the wiring changes, fitting the ECU/MAP sensor etc and mapping it. Also, there may be additional charges for added features like closed-loop. We reserve the right not take on any job that we don’t feel is up to the required standard. Sorry we have to be so strict, but we don’t want just any old unfinished projects turning up and with us expected to wave a magic-wand over it.