Anyone have their heads ported and polished on their S-Type-R?Supposed to be worth about 70 HP.I've had the secondary cats (resonators) removed and a custom X-pipe installed with a set of Magna Flows.Sounds low and throaty outside,but even under hard acceleration the interior is pretty quite. Also small pulley and the best thing I did was to have my ECU retuned by ECU Tuning Group.I have not taken it to the track or had a dyno check,but I'm estimating about 70 extra HP and probably about the same increase in torque.Trans.shifts are more responsive and I can manually shift at a higher rpm before the rev limiter kicks in.If anyone knows of a reliable shop in New Jersey that can P & P the heads and even a dyno shop I'd appreciate the input.Also I'd like to get a nicer set of wheels,preferably aftermarket,but I'm not sure of where to get them from.I'm a little hesitant to get a set of wheels that don't have the specific S-Type-R bolt pattern.Seems most aftermarket wheels use universal bolt patterns.I'm not to sure of the safety or endurance of those types of wheels.Well if you're in the market for an ECU tune check out ECU Tuning Group.They actually sent their Tech to my house at three in the AM because that was the best time for me.He explained in detail everything and more that I needed to know.They also lent me (without asking me for a deposit)the tool to take out the original pulley and put in the new one and by phone talked us through the entire procedure.They are great guys and full of knowledge and they won't cut you off short when you ask a question.Check them out.Good luck with your projects and may we all run 11s.

 

I can't see P & P adding 70HP but see what others think.

 

OES interesting 2nd portion of post.....

I am with JagV8, we shall see what others think.

 

The only affordable wheels are Forgeline which are custom built for any car but half the price of traditional forged wheels. They are priced similar to cast wheels. I ordered a set and am waiting for them to be built. Check out this thread....

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...le-ones-72908/

 

OESIII, how much did ECU Tuning Group charge for the tune? Was it a bench tune (send ECU to them for flash)? Sure like the idea of a port and polish. What would be the cost for this?

 

I think the OP meant 7 HP, not 70.

 

I guess I am bit confused??

You paid for a tune from a tuning shop that does not even have a dyno? How in the world do they have any idea what they are doing? This is a HUGE red flag. You NEVER tune a FI car (really any car) without using a dyno. Once you go lean under boost the engine is toast. The STR is pig rich under boost from the factory for a reason and that is the safety of the engine. There is power to be had if you can precisely lean this a bit.

Next no one has come up with a proven tuning method for these cars yet. There have been one or two canned tunes for $1000 and more but no proof. As in dyno sheets or 1/4 mile times before and after.

So please do give it a run and see what kind of numbers you post.

The heads are excellent on the AJ-V8. Your money would be better spent on tuning and of course what we are all waiting for an improved TVS blower. That has supposedly been in the works for several years but nothing for sale yet.

Higher RPM is not needed. One of the problems with the early 2003-2004 STR's is short shifting before hitting the factory 6100 RPM limit. The factory red line is plenty high enough for max power. Again take a look at the dyno charts and see where peak power happens.

70HP?? Well run the 1/4 mile and report your times. It will be very obvious what kind of power you are making.

We have a member in the high 12's (12.8X - 12.9X) with bolt on's. So if you got 70HP more you should be quicker than that?

Hope the tuners do have a adjustable tuning software. We have had several "experts" come on the forum telling us that they can tune anything but of course it has all been hot air and they never returned.

Hopefully waiting for some numbers!!
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Sure are good questions!

I hope we get some good answers.

 

ECU Tuning Group charged about $1,300.00 for the ECU tune and small pulley,plus they lent me the pulley puller which they shipped to me at their expense without requesting any deposit and trusted that I would ship it back,which I did.Their tech. spent at least two hours explaining exactly what he was doing while he worked in my garage at my home at 3am because that was the only time I had available.They are based in California and I am in New Jersey.Other companies want you to ship your ECU to them and you have to wait for them to get it,work on it and send it back.Ask any of those places if they'll send a tech to your home at 3 AM so you can have the use of your car right away.I did'nt have the car dynoed,but the tech knew from his computer whether the car was running lean or not and it's not.You don't need a dyno to tell if your vehicle is running better than before the tune or not.You can feel the performance gain when you hit the accelerator. I can't answer all of the technical questions people are asking me here,but if you give ECU Tuning Group a call they can answer any question about Jags you can come up with.I have not had one problem with my car since the tune which was in December 2011 and it runs 100% better than before the tune.I do not have a lean condition at all.It's my fault also that I stated a 70 HP gain.The 70 HP gain is an estimate from the ECU tune,the smaller pulley,elimination of the secondary cats with an X pipe,Magna Flows and elimination of the original induction tubing with the baffles which was replaced with a straight aluminum tube from the throttle body into a cylindrical K & N air filter.Hence estimated 70 HP.Believe me after the ECU tune,There is absolutely no factory hesitation when I step on the accelerator at any RPM as I had befor the tune.My son has a 2000 Z28 and I tore his *** up from a dead stop and from a roll and he has a six speed.Please just give ECU tuning Group a call.You won't be disappointed.You don't have to buy anything and they're glad to talk to you.I have nothing to gain by saying this.I'm not on their payroll.I'm just a very happy customer.They go out of their way to assist you.
Also someone stated that you would only get 7 HP from P & P the heads and not 70 HP.I don't know.I believe it was Euro Toys or Paramounts website that stated that you would see a 70 HP gain from P & P the heads,but I'm not certain which site it was.I'll check to see if I can find the ad.So you see it was a combination of alterations which caused me to come up with a 70 HP gain.Sorry for the confusion.

 

This thread is worthless without a dyno. Why spend all that money and not see your results? If you have 1.3K to blow on a tune that feels good, then go to a dyno and see how it feels there. Otherwise, this sounds like an odd way to advertise for that tuning company.

I am also confused on how you structure your responses, they seem a bit all over the place without a solid main idea.

You want to port and polish your heads? Your son should do that on his car, but not yours. $5K later I would be interested to see if your car would be able to run at all. Go buy an E55AMG instead.

Sorry for the negativity but this seems fishy.

 

hey guys, I'm a little opinionated and spend way too much time on these boards, but this seems like an account setup to pitch ecu tunes from that group. The poster had what 2 posts prior to pitching this tuning group. This thread has tons of fluff like all the other stupid posts that the firm does. If you're tuning cars or getting your car tuned and spending $1300, I"m damn well expect to get it on the dyno before and after to baseline and see where things are at when the tune is done. The lack of dyno sheets leads me to call bullsh__!!!!!!

Anyhow, in regards to heads, porting them probably wouldn't add any power. I would imagine that there is more power to be had with custom cams. The heads are already excellent as previously mentioned. I would also imagine that isolating the blower intercooler tract would also have a big effect on power as well; in my opinion more so that porting the heads. Both of those probably are cheaper as well.

 

Sounds like

 

I am very happy that you are overjoyed with the results of the ECU Tuning Group. Thank you for sharing your story.


I am a bit surprised that since the company had bent over backwards for you that they wouldn't have asked for atleast an after dyno. The reason being that there are alot of guys here that would jump in on the tune if there was 1 actual tune posted with what they say their tune will do.

 

rasputin, qwiketz, et all, earlier on I sensed something fishy with the OP's opening post. For $1300 ECU Tuning Group did not and will not fly out from CA. nor get off an exit on the NJT to tune your STR, especially in the wee hours of the morning.... What we would respect is ECU Tuning Group or any tuning outfit, provide gratis dyno tunes for three or more STR's in various stages of modification, so STR owners may select from either three or four stages of tunes.

 

You people really are negative.I really don't a give a crap if you believe what I say or not.I was just trying to put some info out there.I don't like anyone suggesting that I am a friggin liar.I have absolutely nothing at all to do with ECU Tuning Group! Nothing!I can feel the difference in the responsiveness of the car after the tune.I'm not a mechanic and I don't have all of the technical expertise that all of you seem to have.ECU Tuning Group is also a sponser of this forum.If you have questions call them and see if they're full of it or not .Since you guys are all so damn smart you will know right away if they know what they're talking about or not.As far as the heads go,I'm not the company that stated there would be a 70 HP gain.Their website stated it.I don't have a clue if it would be worth it or not,I just stated what they stated on their site.I thought I might get some useful input from you people,but instead you accuse me of being a f___ing liar.All I wanted was better performance and I think that's what I got from the work done so far.Some day when I have the time maybe I'll have it dynoed,but for now I could care less .Also,ECU Tuning Group did not send a tech from California to my house in New Jersey.He was in New York at a conference and he came from New York to my house in New Jersey at 3am because that was the only time I could have it done.I stated that their company was based in California.If you think this is fishy and that I made it all up and that I work for their company you're all wrong
,but I don't give two craps what you think.I thought this forum was a way to exchange info and help each other,but you guys really are bad news.And as far as I only posted two threads in the past,so what?I don't sit at my computer and get off posting new threads everyday.I have a life aside from my car.You should get a life too!Thanks for all of your positive advice.I'll remember to post a new thread in a few years.

 

I will paypal you $50 on Sunday if you:

1) schedule and follow through with a dyno in one week (even at 3AM)
2) provide 13 pics of your car
3) take a pic of your secondary cat removal
4) find the enter button on your keyboard

cheers

 

lol... "find the enter button". lol..

 

OES if you copy and paste in Advance Search " *ECU Tuning Group " here on the forum, you will see why everyone is so skeptcal. Please have a read.

There are many, many posts about ECU Tuning Group and unfortunately they have left alot of unanswered questions with not only the S Type members but all models here with the 4.2 supercharged members.

Again please take sometime and do some searching and reading.

 

OESIII, relax. As Rick conveyed, we've become skeptical following offers to tune without dyno charts. Talk to us some more so we can shake off some more of our skepticism. You mentioned removing secondary cats. The STR has two cats but no secondary cats. How she running?

 

First of all the last time I worked on my own cars I owned a 1968 Mustang GT,a 1969 Firebird, A 1971 383 Challenger and a 1973 boat tail Riviera.That's about as pre ECU as it gets.So I don't know a whole lot about ECUs or tuning them.I contacted several Dyno garages near me and I was told that they could not retune the ECU in my STR because they did not have the software to do so.So I checked into Paramount Performance and Eurotoys.I needed to ship my ECU to them.Then I contacted Jags Gill from ECU Tuning Group and he stated that his tech Ninja Singh was in New York and he would be able to do the retune at my home in New Jersey.I was on the phone with him for about an hour asking questions concerning the performance of my STR.He advised me not to port and polish the heads and also not to port and polish the supercharger.He also advised me not to exchange the primary CATs with aftermarket CATs.He gave me what seemed to be good advice.I also advised him that the early morning hours were really the only time I had available for the retune and he told me that Ninja would be able to accommodate me with those hours.So the man showed up at my house at three AM and stayed until about 5 AM.I asked him a bunch of questions which he answered in elaboration.Other than that I never did before or do not now have anything to do with their company.They seemed honest,sincere and took as much time as it took to explain anything I asked without rushing to get rid of me and that was even after they did the job and I had paid them.That's why I posted a good review on this forum.I thought other people out there would want to know.Instead of verbally attacking me maybe someone should have taken the time to explain themselves and why they were skeptical in the first place.I appreciate bfsgross taking the time to do that.I made an appointment for next Tuesday to have the car dynoed to see where it's at right now.The place is about an hour or so away from where I live.If anyone has had their stock 400HP,413lb.ft.torque STR dynoed maybe you can let me know what your stock dyno figures were so I'll have an idea of the difference.I'd appreciate it.I'll also take some pictures of the car and I don't know why the guy that goes by the name cheers wants to see a picture of my X pipe,but I'll take a picture of that too.Engine compartment also of course.
Again thanks bfsgross for not being rude or disrespectful.I do appreciate your manners.
OESIII