Are they reliable? Does it void the warranty? Seems almost 2 grand cheaper than Walkinshaw which is great.
Dear Maester, I though I'd address your question here; I hope you don't mind.
G'day Prof. I read your posts about the Walkinshaw packages and I respect your analysis.
I'm soon-to-be a new MSE owner. I haven't owned a V8 before. I like the idea of being able to do performance upgrades for the MSE, just to distinguish it from . However, I'm not sure which direction to go if I do want to upgrade. From what I know, people go for Walkinshaw for the name and the warranty (Holden warranty is intact or something like that), but it may not be good value for the KW per dollar perspective. Others (such as C & A) are cheaper but I'm unsure about quality/warranty etc.
If you don't mind sharing your thoughts, I'd appreciate some guidance as to what I can consider for performance upgrades that in your books are worth the money. Thanks very much in advance!
I'm not sure I'm the best person for advice here as I don't know the actual details and costs of the various tuners' packages. However, it would seem to me, based on a 35 year "career" street racing and tinkering, that most of the power claims are rather generous. Moreover, when their packages are actually put to the test on the dragstrip, as opposed to their own in-house dyno, I have yet to see one claim that stacks up. Of course, none of this helps you, so based on my experience and the published real-world performance of these packages, I can give you some rough guidelines.
CAIs/OTRs are probably similar re performance from one tuner to another; I suspect they vary by less than 10kW. Of course, a decent CAI/OTR is worth about a 7% power increase over a stock, under hood source. This 7% number was typical for the old carby engines of the 60s. On a stock LS3, this could mean up to 20kW, but bear in mind that the stock LS3 doesn't source pure under hood air - it seems to be a partial CAI already. Hence, the gain from an aftermarket CAI is probably less than 20kW.
Similarly with aftermarket exhaust systems, the actual performance differences amongst themselves are probably small, 10kW at most. They are undoubtedly better than the stock set-up, but again, the gain wouldn't be huge for a stock engine (that is, stock cam, heads, and displacement) - something like 20kW would be the best one could hope for.
Next, the ECU "tune". This magical entity is the modern equivalent of changing the carb jetting and the ignition timing curve. If either the exhaust or CAI is changed appreciably from stock, such a tune makes sense if the stock system is unable to change these things (air/fuel mixture, ignition timing) by itself. My understanding was that the stock units aren't stupid; that is, they CAN adjust for changes in intake air temperature (as caused by a good CAI), and ignition timing. However, the factory has to set these up so as to meet emissions requirements and to maximise fuel economy at the expense of power output. Hence, the aftermarket tunes, if they are to improve performance at all, must be prepared to worsen emissions and fuel economy - something which most of us here probably won't be too fussed about. Typically, on a stock engine, changing the ignition curve and total advance could be expected to gain 5-10hp (=3-7kW) over the WHOLE rpm range. If one is prepared to run 98 RON in their LS3, changing the ignition curve alone could be expected to yield as much as 7kW. Enriching the mixture through the entire rpm to yield the best air/fuel ratio for power output could pick up another 25hp (=18kW). But of course, engines work as integrated systems, and these modifications add synergistically. So changing both A/F mixture AND ignition timing could gain 30kW on a stocker.
Now, add all three modifications together (Exhaust, CAI, ECU tune), and one could expect something like a 60kW at best. However, all the road tests I've seen on similarly modified tuner packages suggest 40-50kW is more likely. This probably reflects the fact that the stock engines are pretty darn good already. After all, a stock LS3 pushes a 1850kg VF 2 (with driver) to flat 13s at almost 112mph - that's flying!
As I mentioned, I don't know enough about the various tuners' actual systems and costs, but one could assume fairly reliably that by doing the CAI/Exhaust/Tune combo, you'll gain 40-50kW. Now that's about 55-65hp in the old language. You'll feel that, seat-of-the-pants, no worries, and in a VF 2, should be able to pull a 12.5 quarter if conditions are right, and you hook up. I reckon anyone, bar Mr Di Natale of the Greens, would be pretty pleased with that.
Now, the Walkinshaw fellas go one step further and change the bumpstick, and although this doesn't get you up to 407kW, it DOES get another 10-20kW over and above the CAI/Exhaust/Tune combo in principle. Plus you get the lumpy idle, and who doesn't love that? Mr Di Natale, I guess. I will point out though, that the road test of the W407 package didn't even look like it was 40kW over stock, so I don't know what's going on there, but I think you could be confident that most of the time, by changing the cam as well as the basic CAI/Exhaust/Tune combo, a genuine 50-70kW could be gained. And that would make for a lot of fun, good, clean, apple pie fun.
Want more? The next place to look would be the heads, and next, heads AND displacement. Now things are becoming serious; I'd keep a change of underwear in the glovebox.
I know this hasn't addressed the detailed reply you sought, but I hope it helps you see the whole thing in perspective. All the best, and let us all know what you eventually do, and how it goes.
