Originally Posted by
Rick
This is the biggest misinformation there is. The standard ME9 ECU is far more powerful and sophisticated than Syvecs. Syvecs is a great ECU, but it will not improve the power and driveabiity of the car. The issue is people don't know how to calibrate them properly. I see daft things like not increasing the MAF housing diameter because "the ecu doesn't like it"...
Also, 300bhp on a standard ST turbo and pump fuel is pretty much a pipe dream, never mind 330. I did some development a couple of years ago, and the most power I could get was 294bhp using the standard turbo. You would be right to question whether it was my skills in mapping that I only got 294. I asked myself the same question. So I dyno'd a CP340 car, that had just been freshly converted. It made 284bhp. A Revo car made very similar.
So where are these 300+ power figures coming from? The answer is roller climb. The car being FWD, fairly light and making a lot of torque results in the car climbing up the front roller and leaving the rear one. This means there is less intertia to spin and results in inflated figures. The car needs to be strapped down properly, and virtually nobody does this. You need straps over the front suspension arms to stop if climbing out. I've tested it many times - don't strap it down properly and suddenly you make an extra 35bhp....
The biggest con is this: You go into the Dyno for a map. The car is run up and makes standard ish power. Because the standard torque is low, it does not climb up the roller. Then a map is put on. The car is run again, only this time it had much more torque and so climbs up the roller. The result is that you gain 30 odd bhp from the climb, plus whatever the map gives you. Very happy customer and the tuner looks like a hero. And you can't argue with it - the car was run before and after the map without being moved so everything is spot on? Not so I'm afraid...
Rick
Sorry, but don't agree/know you're wrong from personal experience on a few of those bits.
First of all, having driven big power Mk2 Focus ST and RS examples, the Syvecs improves the drivability through the more advanced traction control more than anything else. As I'm sure you know, it's torque biasing and eliminates wheelspin altogether, making the car more usable. Also, have you ever driven a 500+bhp Focus RS on a standard ECU? It's certainly not happy about it, to say the least.
I've seen 20+ cars on Revo Stage 2 make 330bhp. Perhaps the rollers were out and/or, as you state, climbing up onto the front roller makes a bigger difference than I was aware - I was always told it does affect figures, of course, by around 10bhp tops on a big power car, but certainly not 35bhp on a 300bhp car and it's strapped this way not to manipulate figures but to ultimately help traction. I've then seen, first hand, a Focus RS measured on the same dyno in this way, and then back-to-back on a hub dyno, and make virtually identical figures. That's enough proof for me - and anyone else it would seem.
The CPXXX cars are well known for exaggerated figures and most people/even tuners don't seem to realise Revo is a programme, not a file, that needs adjustment. I've seen, again first hand, a car make 300bhp on Revo Stage 2 and after adjustment on the programme make nearly 30bhp more. Going by your logic, if you're suggesting that a 300bhp/300lb ft car can't climb up onto the front rollers but a 335bhp/330lb ft car can, then again, I'd have to side with the info I was told before. The extra power came from somewhere.
I've also seen several Mk2 Focus ST models on Revo Stage 4+/RS software conversion making 400-415bhp...on a standard ST fuel pumps. I know this because I owned one of them and a friend owned another. Again, call the dyno/strapping wrong - but by 115bhp?
There's a lot of bullshitters in the ST/RS scene, I know this better than most people. But the good guys who know their stuff inside out with these cars genuinely know the score, what is and isn't possible and can prove it time and time again - hence their reputations.