Brn N Rubr
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2015
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 63
- Location
- Burleon, TX
- Vehicle(s)
- 2015 CO GT PP
- Thread starter
- #1
I don't see a whole lot posted on this forum about the "little 2.3 that could," so I feel compelled to write a little story about my interactions with VMP Performance.
To start off, I'm a turbo guy. Most would call me the ultimate turbo nutswinger. For ultimate power and speed they're hard to beat...and oh that sound! My personal toy many years ago was a 1967 Mustang coupe with an EFI 347/76mm turbo/Viper-spec T-56 combo. Long story on that car, but man was it fun (should have never sold it).
I formed an opinion of VMP even before I purchased my first Coyote. This was right around when the original Gen II was released. Boy was I impressed. Gobs of power and a ton of low-end torque. They seemed to have a loyal following, especially with the GT500 crowd. Their internet persona impressed me and I always said that if I ever bought a Coyote, and I were to boost it, I would put a VMP Gen II on it. I considered it the ultimate daily driver setup. Low-end torque with a factory like install and drivability. What could be better!? I even sent VMP a PM titled “A Hopeful Future Purchase” and made it very clear that I was years away from making a purchase, but BJ took the time to write me a VERY detailed and thorough PM answering all of my questions and quelling some of my concerns.
Plans change. Jobs (or at least locations) change. Kids....we all know how life happens. I wasn't in a position to even consider such an expenditure. My first Coyote, a 2013 Sterling Grey Brembo beauty, only received minor mods; cold-air and tune, lowering springs, exhaust, etc. Nothing crazy. And that's when I happened upon my current car: a 2015 Comp Orange GT PP 401A with Recaros. DELICIOUS! I purchased it off the showroom floor the day before Thanksgiving of 2014. I promised the wife I was going to keep it stock, at least for a while, and made the conscience effort to do so short of putting exhaust on it (which turned out to be a nightmare). Stock suited me fine for a while. But, as we all do, I got the itch again. I felt like I had spent enough on other things and it was time to give my car some love.
I originally planned a full NA build: the now typical GT350 IM, long tubes, cams, etc. I figured that would net around 450rwhp and be pretty entertaining. But then I had flash backs of my old 3V with Comp Mutha Thumprs, cat-less long tubes and all the wonderfully terrible drivability problems that came with it. Also, after crunching the numbers, it was going to cost almost half of a forced induction setup. I had most of the cash at the time burning a hole in my pocket for the NA build but I decided to wait. I was going to finally get some boost.
So, the saving and researching started. Was VMP still the best option? There was definitely some stiff competition now: the Whipple 2.9, all of the Beefcake Specials and the latest turbo offerings. The biggest question was, “What are my goals?”
First and foremost is the fact that my wife drives the car almost as much as I do. The car is one of our two daily drivers and we transport our two girls in it every day (they have matching Recaro children seats in the back). Drivability, unperceivable from stock, was of utmost importance. Second was reliability and third was power. Another deciding factor was that I’m unwilling to remove the catalytic converters. I currently live in Florida, and I could get away with it, but I don’t want my ladies smelling like fuel every time they get out of the car. I again contacted VMP and had a lengthy discussion on the phone with BJ (mind you this is the first work day back after Hurricane Matthew). We discussed my options and he mentioned that I should wait to see what they had in store for SEMA. Enter the Gen II-R. The saving continued. And continued. And nine months from when it all started, I called BJ and made the purchase: a brand new Stage II kit that now included the latest Gen II-R. Oh goodie!
So, I said at the beginning that I had formed an opinion of VMP and had expectations of what my purchase/install/ownership experience would be like. Those expectations included customer service second to none, factory appearing install, excellent drivability and 600rwhp/500rwtq. It’s easy to hope that’s what you’ll get, but in reality it doesn’t always happen that way. Too many stories are written on the internet about all the problems people have with companies all over, not just in the Mustang community. Rarer are the stories where people are genuinely happy with their overall experience and I feel it is only right to take the time to do so.
I made the initial purchase on 1/25/17. I drove down from Jacksonville and picked up 95% of the kit the same day. I even my BJ at the new shop afterwards and we spent a while talking and showing me the new shop. They assured me I would have everything else by the end of the following week so I could install it that weekend. I was taking leave and my dad was even flying in to lend a hand (still good to have father/son projects). Unfortunately vendor delays didn’t allow them to get my package out Thursday afternoon for next day delivery. So, after picking up dad from the airport on Friday, we drove down and they had everything ready to go. A slight inconvenience, yes, but worth it to keep the project on schedule. They would have gladly shipped it to me. It was my decision to drive down.
Saturday morning we got work! The install went pretty well. To be honest, it was kind of hassle going back and forth between three different set of instructions (one from VMP and two from Roush), but I got a system going and we knocked it out. I also installed OPG and CG at the same time. We would have been ready to fire the car up that night had we not ran into a major issue. After we bolted the lower manifold down it was time to change the plastic IAT sensor for the included brass piece. I don’t know what Roush used when they installed the plastic sensor but it might as well have been JB Weld. It was incredibly tight coming out and eventually broke. After removing the lower intake and vacuuming out plastic bits from the behind the intake valves, we got to work on removing the base of the sensor from the intake. We ended up having to drill it, disassemble the intake to clean it out and then tap the threads. Wouldn’t you know it, between my two tap and die sets, I didn’t have a 3/8NPT tap. By this time it was too late to get one so the final install would have to wait for the next day.
A quick run to Harbor Freight and we were back in business. The tap worked like a charm and the new sensor threaded right in. We finished up the install, poured some coolant in and uploaded the start-up tune: it was vroom time. Well, we thought it was anyway. Be sure to read the VMP instructions VERY carefully when installing the two wire harness extensions. You can install them incorrectly. Start attempt #2….SUCCESS! Well, sorta. The car started and idled great. However, it would not rev. Mind you, this is now Sunday afternoon. We went over the entire install again, checked wires, read wires, re-uploaded the tune, checked for vacuum leaks and couldn’t find anything wrong. Well, crap. Did I mention this is my daily driver and it was about time to use it again as such? I was a little nervous. There was nothing we could do except wait for VMP to open on Monday.
0901 I hit the call button. VMP answers and I ask to be transferred to Alex. He was busy at the time tuning a car and I was asked to email him. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I understand that I’m not their only customer. I email him and patiently wait for a response. To my surprise, less than 10 minutes go by and I get a response. We exchange a few emails to go over a few things and confirm there aren’t other issues and within an hour I have a new tune file to try. Bingo! Works like a champ. I proceed to send off initial idle and slow-rev logs and have a second revision that afternoon. What could be better!? This is starting off great. Over the next couple days I datalogged and received a tune update. For the most part, the car seems to be running okay. It was still new so I was either babying it or going WOT. You know how it is, you don’t start to feel the nuances of things until you get used to it a little. One thing I started to notice was that mild acceleration resulted in some weird drivability issues. The car would kind of “spool up” and then wasn’t smooth at all. I logged that and then took it to the local dyno to get some good WOT datalogs. I was very optimistic and had dreams of glory, but the disappointment meter did is job: 557rwhp and 480rwtq. Well, that seems low. You could see in the logs that it was pulling quite a bit of timing so it wasn’t all that unexpected I guess. I reached out to Alex on the phone. We spent a while on the phone talking about what was going on. We talked about what kind of fuel I was running and found that to be part of the problem. Secondly, we discussed the drivability issue. He said another customer of his was having a similar problem and they had the car in their possession to try to get the kinks out. He asked for a few days to do so and he’d get back with me. I was getting ready to leave town on a trip for work anyway so it worked out perfectly. When I got back, I contacted him to see what progress he’d made.
His next email included an entire new base map that we would start working with. I uploaded the new file and you could immediately tell it was better. A quick drive around town confirmed that the part throttle issues were fixed. We started with new idle and slow-rev logs and eventually more WOT logs. Everything was on track and looking good. The car felt better on the street and I felt it was time to take it back to the dyno. Well, I was absolutely shocked with the results……540rwhp and 490rwtq. Wowsers! Even less than last time. Again, the car was pulling timing and obviously not happy even after solely running good gas (BP) in the car.
I was pretty discouraged at this point. I felt like I had wasted money going to the dyno and wasn’t terribly happy. Who would be!? I had honestly considered letting someone else tune the car. I did my best to remain patient and understanding. They had taken care of me to this point and they deserved the chance to make things right. I sent Alex an email with the dyno sheet and the logs and in VERY short order, I received a phone call from him.
He could tell I was frustrated, and he was too. The car shouldn’t be that low on power. I will do my best to quote Alex here. He said, “Here’s what I want to do. I’m going to send you a new tune file. The only change I’m going to make is the change from global KR to individual cylinder KR. After I get back from TX 2K17, I want to offer you the chance to bring the car to VMP, we’ll put it on the dyno and if it needs any adjustments I’ll do it right then and there: FREE OF CHARGE. The car should make right at 600rwhp and you are owed that.” He made that offer on his own with zero probing from me. How can you argue with that!? Within 15 minutes I was uploading the new file and went for a test drive. Night and day difference. So this past Sunday I sent out another email to Alex and we agreed to meet first thing Tuesday morning.
I pull up to the shop first thing yesterday morning and am immediately greeted by Alex. He pulls it straight on the dyno and gets it strapped down and the car made 607rwhp and 529rwtq and backed it up with a 605/522 pull. Keep in mind that’s after a two hour drive and not touching the tune, all on a base Stage II kit with twin 60mm throttle body, airbox lid ON, 82mm pulley and 56# injectors. What more can you ask for? The car feels awesome on the street. My wife literally says it takes her breath away. Traction is an issue. I need to get that worked out. The stock Pirellis aren’t happy, even in third gear.
[ame]
In conclusion, am I happy? Absolutely. Did all of my preconceived ideas about VMP hold true? I’d like to say I got exactly what I expected when it comes to customer service, but that would be doing VMP a disservice. They went far and beyond what I would consider excellent customer service. Exceptional only starts to scratch what they provided. The installation looks remarkable. I’m happy to have the enclosed air box to help keep the IATs down and have a cleaner appearance. There was a little massaging needed to install the heat exchanger, but nothing overly out of line. Drivability is as close to stock as anyone could hope to achieve. Seriously, as others have said in the past, you don’t know it’s there until you squeeze on the fun pedal. There is nothing objectionable that I can find there. I consider myself pretty picky when it comes to those sorts of things not only because of my high standards, but also because of who else drives the car. As far as power goes, I’m very pleased. It made the numbers it should (as ridiculous as chasing dyno numbers is) and there is plenty of room to grow. I need to figure out how to make use of the power I have now and then I’ll start turning it up.
If you’ve taken the time to read this entire saga, I appreciate it. VMP truly did a great job and I feel they should be recognized for it. I would recommend them to anyone without a single hesitation. Thank you BJ, Alex, Chris, Christie, Joe and all the other guys and gals who work there. You have one VERY satisfied customer.
If anyone has questions about their own install or just questions in general, please feel free to send me a message. I’ll be more than happy to help in any way possible.
To start off, I'm a turbo guy. Most would call me the ultimate turbo nutswinger. For ultimate power and speed they're hard to beat...and oh that sound! My personal toy many years ago was a 1967 Mustang coupe with an EFI 347/76mm turbo/Viper-spec T-56 combo. Long story on that car, but man was it fun (should have never sold it).
I formed an opinion of VMP even before I purchased my first Coyote. This was right around when the original Gen II was released. Boy was I impressed. Gobs of power and a ton of low-end torque. They seemed to have a loyal following, especially with the GT500 crowd. Their internet persona impressed me and I always said that if I ever bought a Coyote, and I were to boost it, I would put a VMP Gen II on it. I considered it the ultimate daily driver setup. Low-end torque with a factory like install and drivability. What could be better!? I even sent VMP a PM titled “A Hopeful Future Purchase” and made it very clear that I was years away from making a purchase, but BJ took the time to write me a VERY detailed and thorough PM answering all of my questions and quelling some of my concerns.
Plans change. Jobs (or at least locations) change. Kids....we all know how life happens. I wasn't in a position to even consider such an expenditure. My first Coyote, a 2013 Sterling Grey Brembo beauty, only received minor mods; cold-air and tune, lowering springs, exhaust, etc. Nothing crazy. And that's when I happened upon my current car: a 2015 Comp Orange GT PP 401A with Recaros. DELICIOUS! I purchased it off the showroom floor the day before Thanksgiving of 2014. I promised the wife I was going to keep it stock, at least for a while, and made the conscience effort to do so short of putting exhaust on it (which turned out to be a nightmare). Stock suited me fine for a while. But, as we all do, I got the itch again. I felt like I had spent enough on other things and it was time to give my car some love.
I originally planned a full NA build: the now typical GT350 IM, long tubes, cams, etc. I figured that would net around 450rwhp and be pretty entertaining. But then I had flash backs of my old 3V with Comp Mutha Thumprs, cat-less long tubes and all the wonderfully terrible drivability problems that came with it. Also, after crunching the numbers, it was going to cost almost half of a forced induction setup. I had most of the cash at the time burning a hole in my pocket for the NA build but I decided to wait. I was going to finally get some boost.
So, the saving and researching started. Was VMP still the best option? There was definitely some stiff competition now: the Whipple 2.9, all of the Beefcake Specials and the latest turbo offerings. The biggest question was, “What are my goals?”
First and foremost is the fact that my wife drives the car almost as much as I do. The car is one of our two daily drivers and we transport our two girls in it every day (they have matching Recaro children seats in the back). Drivability, unperceivable from stock, was of utmost importance. Second was reliability and third was power. Another deciding factor was that I’m unwilling to remove the catalytic converters. I currently live in Florida, and I could get away with it, but I don’t want my ladies smelling like fuel every time they get out of the car. I again contacted VMP and had a lengthy discussion on the phone with BJ (mind you this is the first work day back after Hurricane Matthew). We discussed my options and he mentioned that I should wait to see what they had in store for SEMA. Enter the Gen II-R. The saving continued. And continued. And nine months from when it all started, I called BJ and made the purchase: a brand new Stage II kit that now included the latest Gen II-R. Oh goodie!
So, I said at the beginning that I had formed an opinion of VMP and had expectations of what my purchase/install/ownership experience would be like. Those expectations included customer service second to none, factory appearing install, excellent drivability and 600rwhp/500rwtq. It’s easy to hope that’s what you’ll get, but in reality it doesn’t always happen that way. Too many stories are written on the internet about all the problems people have with companies all over, not just in the Mustang community. Rarer are the stories where people are genuinely happy with their overall experience and I feel it is only right to take the time to do so.
I made the initial purchase on 1/25/17. I drove down from Jacksonville and picked up 95% of the kit the same day. I even my BJ at the new shop afterwards and we spent a while talking and showing me the new shop. They assured me I would have everything else by the end of the following week so I could install it that weekend. I was taking leave and my dad was even flying in to lend a hand (still good to have father/son projects). Unfortunately vendor delays didn’t allow them to get my package out Thursday afternoon for next day delivery. So, after picking up dad from the airport on Friday, we drove down and they had everything ready to go. A slight inconvenience, yes, but worth it to keep the project on schedule. They would have gladly shipped it to me. It was my decision to drive down.
Saturday morning we got work! The install went pretty well. To be honest, it was kind of hassle going back and forth between three different set of instructions (one from VMP and two from Roush), but I got a system going and we knocked it out. I also installed OPG and CG at the same time. We would have been ready to fire the car up that night had we not ran into a major issue. After we bolted the lower manifold down it was time to change the plastic IAT sensor for the included brass piece. I don’t know what Roush used when they installed the plastic sensor but it might as well have been JB Weld. It was incredibly tight coming out and eventually broke. After removing the lower intake and vacuuming out plastic bits from the behind the intake valves, we got to work on removing the base of the sensor from the intake. We ended up having to drill it, disassemble the intake to clean it out and then tap the threads. Wouldn’t you know it, between my two tap and die sets, I didn’t have a 3/8NPT tap. By this time it was too late to get one so the final install would have to wait for the next day.
A quick run to Harbor Freight and we were back in business. The tap worked like a charm and the new sensor threaded right in. We finished up the install, poured some coolant in and uploaded the start-up tune: it was vroom time. Well, we thought it was anyway. Be sure to read the VMP instructions VERY carefully when installing the two wire harness extensions. You can install them incorrectly. Start attempt #2….SUCCESS! Well, sorta. The car started and idled great. However, it would not rev. Mind you, this is now Sunday afternoon. We went over the entire install again, checked wires, read wires, re-uploaded the tune, checked for vacuum leaks and couldn’t find anything wrong. Well, crap. Did I mention this is my daily driver and it was about time to use it again as such? I was a little nervous. There was nothing we could do except wait for VMP to open on Monday.
0901 I hit the call button. VMP answers and I ask to be transferred to Alex. He was busy at the time tuning a car and I was asked to email him. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I understand that I’m not their only customer. I email him and patiently wait for a response. To my surprise, less than 10 minutes go by and I get a response. We exchange a few emails to go over a few things and confirm there aren’t other issues and within an hour I have a new tune file to try. Bingo! Works like a champ. I proceed to send off initial idle and slow-rev logs and have a second revision that afternoon. What could be better!? This is starting off great. Over the next couple days I datalogged and received a tune update. For the most part, the car seems to be running okay. It was still new so I was either babying it or going WOT. You know how it is, you don’t start to feel the nuances of things until you get used to it a little. One thing I started to notice was that mild acceleration resulted in some weird drivability issues. The car would kind of “spool up” and then wasn’t smooth at all. I logged that and then took it to the local dyno to get some good WOT datalogs. I was very optimistic and had dreams of glory, but the disappointment meter did is job: 557rwhp and 480rwtq. Well, that seems low. You could see in the logs that it was pulling quite a bit of timing so it wasn’t all that unexpected I guess. I reached out to Alex on the phone. We spent a while on the phone talking about what was going on. We talked about what kind of fuel I was running and found that to be part of the problem. Secondly, we discussed the drivability issue. He said another customer of his was having a similar problem and they had the car in their possession to try to get the kinks out. He asked for a few days to do so and he’d get back with me. I was getting ready to leave town on a trip for work anyway so it worked out perfectly. When I got back, I contacted him to see what progress he’d made.
His next email included an entire new base map that we would start working with. I uploaded the new file and you could immediately tell it was better. A quick drive around town confirmed that the part throttle issues were fixed. We started with new idle and slow-rev logs and eventually more WOT logs. Everything was on track and looking good. The car felt better on the street and I felt it was time to take it back to the dyno. Well, I was absolutely shocked with the results……540rwhp and 490rwtq. Wowsers! Even less than last time. Again, the car was pulling timing and obviously not happy even after solely running good gas (BP) in the car.
I was pretty discouraged at this point. I felt like I had wasted money going to the dyno and wasn’t terribly happy. Who would be!? I had honestly considered letting someone else tune the car. I did my best to remain patient and understanding. They had taken care of me to this point and they deserved the chance to make things right. I sent Alex an email with the dyno sheet and the logs and in VERY short order, I received a phone call from him.
He could tell I was frustrated, and he was too. The car shouldn’t be that low on power. I will do my best to quote Alex here. He said, “Here’s what I want to do. I’m going to send you a new tune file. The only change I’m going to make is the change from global KR to individual cylinder KR. After I get back from TX 2K17, I want to offer you the chance to bring the car to VMP, we’ll put it on the dyno and if it needs any adjustments I’ll do it right then and there: FREE OF CHARGE. The car should make right at 600rwhp and you are owed that.” He made that offer on his own with zero probing from me. How can you argue with that!? Within 15 minutes I was uploading the new file and went for a test drive. Night and day difference. So this past Sunday I sent out another email to Alex and we agreed to meet first thing Tuesday morning.
I pull up to the shop first thing yesterday morning and am immediately greeted by Alex. He pulls it straight on the dyno and gets it strapped down and the car made 607rwhp and 529rwtq and backed it up with a 605/522 pull. Keep in mind that’s after a two hour drive and not touching the tune, all on a base Stage II kit with twin 60mm throttle body, airbox lid ON, 82mm pulley and 56# injectors. What more can you ask for? The car feels awesome on the street. My wife literally says it takes her breath away. Traction is an issue. I need to get that worked out. The stock Pirellis aren’t happy, even in third gear.
[ame]
In conclusion, am I happy? Absolutely. Did all of my preconceived ideas about VMP hold true? I’d like to say I got exactly what I expected when it comes to customer service, but that would be doing VMP a disservice. They went far and beyond what I would consider excellent customer service. Exceptional only starts to scratch what they provided. The installation looks remarkable. I’m happy to have the enclosed air box to help keep the IATs down and have a cleaner appearance. There was a little massaging needed to install the heat exchanger, but nothing overly out of line. Drivability is as close to stock as anyone could hope to achieve. Seriously, as others have said in the past, you don’t know it’s there until you squeeze on the fun pedal. There is nothing objectionable that I can find there. I consider myself pretty picky when it comes to those sorts of things not only because of my high standards, but also because of who else drives the car. As far as power goes, I’m very pleased. It made the numbers it should (as ridiculous as chasing dyno numbers is) and there is plenty of room to grow. I need to figure out how to make use of the power I have now and then I’ll start turning it up.
If you’ve taken the time to read this entire saga, I appreciate it. VMP truly did a great job and I feel they should be recognized for it. I would recommend them to anyone without a single hesitation. Thank you BJ, Alex, Chris, Christie, Joe and all the other guys and gals who work there. You have one VERY satisfied customer.
If anyone has questions about their own install or just questions in general, please feel free to send me a message. I’ll be more than happy to help in any way possible.
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