I Like Soup

So in late February I ante'd up and bought the VR550 package from VRP Tuning. I received my pretty red pulley from Victor and had to only make the 398 mile trek from my house to VRP Costa Mesa. Of course, I wanted to get my first cooling upgrades (Code 3 HE and CM30 Johnson pump) installed first so that took priority. I got that taken care of in mid-March. I had to time the trip so I could visit customers in the LA area whilst having my rental car and hotels paid for by work. I showed brilliant patience having that pulley sitting in my garage staring at me everyday until this past week!

I dropped the car off on last Tuesday evening and picked it up Friday early afternoon. I had the before and after dyno done, pulley install, ECU tune, my PTE thermostat installed (Patrick, I'll be sending my stock one to you this week), and the -10C mod in Star. Vadim hands me the keys and tells me to run it around the block and let him know what I thought...

WOW. The only thing holding me back was the possibility of a bunch of kids running out in to the street to see who the giggling madman was driving up and down the street! Impressive difference and that wasn't even getting in to the higher end, where I'm told you really feel it. I felt it on the drive back to Phoenix, however.

On the way to LA, I average 78mph, got 20.6 mpg, and my dash temperature gauge was hovering around 90C. I probably only broke 100mph a couple of times. On the way back to Phoenix, I went 128 miles in the first three hours. Luckily, the next three hours I drove 270 miles. At the end of the trip, I averaged 66mph, got 19.6 mpg, and my dash temperature rarely went above 85C (only time was in stop and go traffic in *** LA!). I did, however, go above 100mph repeatedly. The acceleration in third gear is intoxicating. Mashing the throttle at around 70mph is just a tour de force. The car pulls like a freight train and I was often surprised at how quickly, it got to 100mph (and how much over).

The dyno...I pulled a 414.71 HP before, and a 458.28 after. But, there is more, I guess the guys noticed how filthy my filters were (it is quite dusty here in Phoenix), so they replaced them with that other brand not K&N (I guess it is now part of the VR550?). That bumped me to 468.91 HP. A solid increase for my first mod, the VR550 (considering an 18% drivetrain loss, I guess VR572!) The graph given to me doesn't have the air/fuel ratio, which I am interested in seeing. Vadim will provide that to me sometime this week when he is at the dyno shop.

One other thing, I chose VRP because...I've read quite a bit in our forum. I use the search function liberally, and what kept coming up was Victor/Vadim's desire to excel at what they do. They reminded me of the engineers I deal with on a daily basis in the semiconductor industry (that is a good thing, **** and not leaving any stone unturned). Their work with Powerchip and breaking the load limiting function in Mercedes software sealed the deal for me. All at a relative bargain price to the big guys. It was difficult for me not to just stop by and visit the shop and talk cars and planes with George, and I would've liked to have taken Vadim to the bar and gotten some more face time. But...these guys are busy for a reason and I didn't want to be that annoying customer poking my head in to things and asking a bunch of questions (well, I did, but y'all would have heard about it!). Victor, thanks for helping me with the $#%^*&@! customs thing getting the pulley and answering my many questions!

Oh, how I love the louder supercharger whine. I had to leave VRP quickly else the 80mm throttle body and headers were sounding sweeter and sweeter! I highly recommend at least getting the pulley and ECU tune with some cooling upgrades to make the beast really come alive! Thanks VRP!

supre55

Glad you had fun! I had a similiar experience, those guys are awesome. Only real difference besides me doing the trip in a one day turn around was that I was "that guy" asking all the dumb questions and poking my head in the entire time. Hey, if you don't ask, how will you ever know, right?

We need to go run the cars once it cools off again...

obsidian05e55

Awesome!! I wanna do this, but im in NJ, theres no one local to do the ECU tune.. ITs not a generic tune right?

Vadim @ FD

Thank you Gentlemen!

It was a pleasure to meet you both and work on your 55s.

Enjoy!!

MJ50

no pics?

I Like Soup

From what I understand, it is not a generic tune. Maybe Victor or Vadim can chime in...

Supre...I'm down for going out to the track as I know chiro is as well. I guess the runs may have to wait until it cools off though...

obsidian05e55

Hmm, gotta find out how i can get this done... Vadim, Victor??

vader

Vic/ Vadim..do you need the car to do the ECU ? I have RT pulley and ECU no cooling mods.

machz990

How about in the midwest? I would be interested in the VR550 package but is there anyone here that can do the job to the same high standards?

vrus

Hey Karl!!!

I can't believe you had the patience to wait this long... Kudos!

I am so happy that you are enjoying the new power. Thanks for your support and kind words, and I hope you enjoy the car. When you get bored with the power, we've got something waiting for you..

vrus

If you are ready to do it, send me an email: victor@vrptuning.com

Let me know what mods are on your car.

I'll send you a paypal invoice and a Reference #.. You can ship the ECU to California shop with the Reference # stuck on the ECU.. When they get it they will flash it and ship it back out next day air.

Total downtime will be 2 days.


The tune is not a generic tune.. All of our tunes are custom and are just for VRP use. For customers who transport their cars to us, we go one step further and do real custom tuning on the dyno and on the road.