Hey all,
So this will be much in the same way of my previous flash tune review for Stratified, minus the cross-comparisons to other tuners; primarily because I have not logged such data in any way recently. Instead I am going to focus on comparing my experiences between my Stratified 93 Octane Flash tune and my new e30 Stratified Flash tune. There's a good amount to talk about here, especially since the new tune is on a full version revision, as well.
So my initial experience with this tune was a tad underwhelming by my own hand. I had inadvertently under-mixed my ethanol percentages, which resulted in some performance disappointments. I later fixed it and found that both the tune and car improved drastically as a result. So let that be a cautionary tale. Investing in an e85 calculator is probably worth the $1.00 on your respective smartphone platform of choice.
Once I'd fixed the mixture, the car began pulling hard through the entire rev range and felt overall much quicker. Coming over from the v1 revisions, the Stratified team has also somehow managed to make the tune even smoother on the new v2 tune than it was before. It's incredible, really. Rev hang has been reduced even further and the car overall drives a lot like butter sliding along the surface of a hot pan. That might be an exaggeration, but it's VERY smooth and drivable to say the least.
The e30 has given it that little extra oomph in basically any gear across any portion of the powerband (unless you're lugging it). The ease with which I can slip through traffic on the highway now with reduced effort is definitely something I have taken notice of. Point it in a direction, squeeze the pedal, and it goes. No hesitation, no turbo "surge", and it doesn't fall flat on its face at any point. It just goes and goes and goes. It's very nice and I can definitely notice the changes in drivability over the first version 93 tune I came off of, even though I did have several revisions done to that programming. Even with those changes, this is better. Much better.
Gas mileage has obviously gone down during daily stop and go driving, though I can still manage 33 mpg on the highway when cruising in 6th gear with the occasional downshift and passing maneuver.
So what about data? That's what we are all here for, right?
I compared my e30 tune to my 93 tune in attempt to give a nice comparison between the two.
First, the variables:
Two logs taken in April with a temperature of about 60* F
Two logs taken today here in May with a temperature of about 68* F
So, we have somewhat close temperatures to look at here.
- - - - -
Driver weight: 140lbs
Modifications: Cobb RMM, MTC FMIC (Same unit as Depo and performing like an absolute champ), and a Green Filter Panel filter.
Tires: Michelin Pilot Super Sport (205/45/r17)
- - - - - -
First up, third gear comparison...
What can we observe from this?
We can see an increase of about 6 horsepower and 29 ft/lbs of torque across the entire power band. That's a decent margin. You can also see boost peaking at around 25.3lbs in the e30 tune vs the 24 lbs in the 93 tune with a VERY healthy AFR to accompany it. The boost also gets there quicker and holds that pressure for longer before tapering down in a similar way to the previous tune. Both logs taken on the same roads and both were exceptionally smooth.
I also made a comparison between 4th gear logs. This gear is important as its closest to the actual 1:1 ratio needed to accurately judging power ouput, even in spite of the longer gearing caused by my larger than stock diameter PSS. I theorize I'll see better numbers when I inevitably reduce wheel size by an inch and get myself back to a tire size that is closer to stock. I love my PSS, but they're definitely a drain on my power outputs.
Anyways, here is the log.
Even more substantial increases here. We gain 9 horsepower and an even 20 torque. Same roads as the third gear pull. Same temperatures. Same boost and AFR scenarios as third gear, as well.
Datalogs can be found here for the 93 Octane April set and here for the e30 logs from today.
Conclusion: The benefits of e30 are obvious, especially with a tune through someone like Stratified. You get a nice meaty increase in power across the entire rev range. Stratified has once again knocked it out of the park with the quality of their tune. It's extremely derivable, extremely smooth, and above-all; safe. I'm extremely happy with my Stratified e30 flash tune and I honestly can't think of anything else it needs. You really can't do any better for $75. Yes, $75! Madness.
One of the other thing I want to point out here is that this is about as good as it gets when it comes to advancing timing and boost on the engine with regards to the stock turbo. The tune you see here is at MBT That stands for Mean Based Torque and it rides the MBT table values through the entire pull. The car literally cannot add any more timing as doing so is working against the efficiency of the engine and putting it in danger of catastrophic failure. The turbo is also at its limit. Any more than this is probably not very effective for producing power without reducing the lifespan of the turbocharger.
Next steps from here would be a bigger turbo in my opinion. I don't see any more effective ways to add performance beyond that. It's definitely something I want to explore going forward, especially after getting the opportunity to drive an EFR 6758 powered Focus ST. Wow doesn't even begin to describe that experience. Nearly the same spool as my current car (Or at least so minimal in difference I didn't notice it) and an insanely large power band. It saddens me we do not have access to those kits on the Fiesta as I really do believe an EFR 6258 would work very well for the car.
Hopefully people find this review helpful. I'm sure Alex and the team would be nothing less than happy to answer any questions.
So this will be much in the same way of my previous flash tune review for Stratified, minus the cross-comparisons to other tuners; primarily because I have not logged such data in any way recently. Instead I am going to focus on comparing my experiences between my Stratified 93 Octane Flash tune and my new e30 Stratified Flash tune. There's a good amount to talk about here, especially since the new tune is on a full version revision, as well.
So my initial experience with this tune was a tad underwhelming by my own hand. I had inadvertently under-mixed my ethanol percentages, which resulted in some performance disappointments. I later fixed it and found that both the tune and car improved drastically as a result. So let that be a cautionary tale. Investing in an e85 calculator is probably worth the $1.00 on your respective smartphone platform of choice.
Once I'd fixed the mixture, the car began pulling hard through the entire rev range and felt overall much quicker. Coming over from the v1 revisions, the Stratified team has also somehow managed to make the tune even smoother on the new v2 tune than it was before. It's incredible, really. Rev hang has been reduced even further and the car overall drives a lot like butter sliding along the surface of a hot pan. That might be an exaggeration, but it's VERY smooth and drivable to say the least.
The e30 has given it that little extra oomph in basically any gear across any portion of the powerband (unless you're lugging it). The ease with which I can slip through traffic on the highway now with reduced effort is definitely something I have taken notice of. Point it in a direction, squeeze the pedal, and it goes. No hesitation, no turbo "surge", and it doesn't fall flat on its face at any point. It just goes and goes and goes. It's very nice and I can definitely notice the changes in drivability over the first version 93 tune I came off of, even though I did have several revisions done to that programming. Even with those changes, this is better. Much better.
Gas mileage has obviously gone down during daily stop and go driving, though I can still manage 33 mpg on the highway when cruising in 6th gear with the occasional downshift and passing maneuver.
So what about data? That's what we are all here for, right?
I compared my e30 tune to my 93 tune in attempt to give a nice comparison between the two.
First, the variables:
Two logs taken in April with a temperature of about 60* F
Two logs taken today here in May with a temperature of about 68* F
So, we have somewhat close temperatures to look at here.
- - - - -
Driver weight: 140lbs
Modifications: Cobb RMM, MTC FMIC (Same unit as Depo and performing like an absolute champ), and a Green Filter Panel filter.
Tires: Michelin Pilot Super Sport (205/45/r17)
- - - - - -
First up, third gear comparison...
What can we observe from this?
We can see an increase of about 6 horsepower and 29 ft/lbs of torque across the entire power band. That's a decent margin. You can also see boost peaking at around 25.3lbs in the e30 tune vs the 24 lbs in the 93 tune with a VERY healthy AFR to accompany it. The boost also gets there quicker and holds that pressure for longer before tapering down in a similar way to the previous tune. Both logs taken on the same roads and both were exceptionally smooth.
I also made a comparison between 4th gear logs. This gear is important as its closest to the actual 1:1 ratio needed to accurately judging power ouput, even in spite of the longer gearing caused by my larger than stock diameter PSS. I theorize I'll see better numbers when I inevitably reduce wheel size by an inch and get myself back to a tire size that is closer to stock. I love my PSS, but they're definitely a drain on my power outputs.
Anyways, here is the log.
Even more substantial increases here. We gain 9 horsepower and an even 20 torque. Same roads as the third gear pull. Same temperatures. Same boost and AFR scenarios as third gear, as well.
Datalogs can be found here for the 93 Octane April set and here for the e30 logs from today.
Conclusion: The benefits of e30 are obvious, especially with a tune through someone like Stratified. You get a nice meaty increase in power across the entire rev range. Stratified has once again knocked it out of the park with the quality of their tune. It's extremely derivable, extremely smooth, and above-all; safe. I'm extremely happy with my Stratified e30 flash tune and I honestly can't think of anything else it needs. You really can't do any better for $75. Yes, $75! Madness.
One of the other thing I want to point out here is that this is about as good as it gets when it comes to advancing timing and boost on the engine with regards to the stock turbo. The tune you see here is at MBT That stands for Mean Based Torque and it rides the MBT table values through the entire pull. The car literally cannot add any more timing as doing so is working against the efficiency of the engine and putting it in danger of catastrophic failure. The turbo is also at its limit. Any more than this is probably not very effective for producing power without reducing the lifespan of the turbocharger.
Next steps from here would be a bigger turbo in my opinion. I don't see any more effective ways to add performance beyond that. It's definitely something I want to explore going forward, especially after getting the opportunity to drive an EFR 6758 powered Focus ST. Wow doesn't even begin to describe that experience. Nearly the same spool as my current car (Or at least so minimal in difference I didn't notice it) and an insanely large power band. It saddens me we do not have access to those kits on the Fiesta as I really do believe an EFR 6258 would work very well for the car.
Hopefully people find this review helpful. I'm sure Alex and the team would be nothing less than happy to answer any questions.