Okay group this is Mike from LA I just bought the X 351L with all wheel drive couldn’t get the supercharged I was trying to get it but I couldn’t find one that had less miles. My question is how can I make it faster and growl louder? Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions!

 

Clovis, louder and faster are not necessarily compliments to each other. If anything, louder tends to kill faster believe it or not. Louder implies less back pressure on the engine. Back pressure on an engine makes low end grunt which is also called torque. Torque is what makes a car accelerate (not horsepower). Horsepower is what is measured and is factored for being able to maintain a speed. So, a loud car is not necessarily a fast car.

For your car since you have the V6, your best bet is to get the supercharger pulley upgrade and the VCT(?) ECU upgrade (reprograms the engine computer. Between the two of these, you can probably expect an additional 50 hp. From there, you can get rid of one of the resonators (replace with straight pipe) and then I would say you look into replacing the stock mufflers with a 50 series muffler of the same size. This should keep a fair amount of the back pressure to help build that low end torque to launch off the line, but free things up enough that when you get into the 5K+ range in RPM, the exhaust is going to still be able to flow freely. That should keep the car streetable, yet not obnoxious..

 

Thanks spoken with vigor and truth. I like the supercharger pulley update! with the chip 50 hp is awesome! thank you for the advice.

 

I have the VAP ECU tune on mine. According to VAP it raises horsepower from a stock 340 to 416. Of course, this is measured at the crank. I did not want to make the car noisy. I enjoy it being stealthy. One of the factors of making big horsepower with the AWD is how much HP and torque can the front differential and prop shafts take.

 

Was the VAP ecu tune all you have done to the car?, I'm getting more and more leary of changing too many physical parts. Luv your color! I had a 2009 xf same color!

 

VAP ecu tune is all I have done to the car. Did change the wheels to Coventry rotary forged wheels.

 

You are quite a bit out there with the hp gains Thermo, at least with the VAP tunes. And the thing with the VAP tunes and especially the larger crank pulley + tune is the huuuge increase in torque across the rev range and not just at the top end.
As MV Rider has pointed out the VAP tune only takes it from 340 hp to 416 hp so +76 hp with just a tune and no pulley, while the larger crank pulley plus tune takes it to 450 hp and the max torque goes from 332 ft/lb to 440 ft/lb. This is what I have and that bump in useful torque makes a really big difference.
No point in fitting just a smaller SC pulley to the V6 even with a tune as the stock V6 SC pulley is almost as small as you can go anyway and the smaller one is only a little smaller.
VAP now offer a kit/package of larger crank pulley + smaller SC pulley (new no slip GripTech) + drive belt + tune taking it to 475 hp and 470 ft/lb, see here: https://www.velocityap.com/product/3...26-ecu-tuning/

 

So glad I found this link!!

I happen to have the same car as the OP. A 2016 XJL Portfolio V6. 340 HP and 332 lbs torque. Neither are high enough for me. Would specifically like more low end torque. Wouldn't mind some extra "growl" to the sound either.

I am NOT at all mechanically inclined so would need to have some install it for me. What parts would I need to order and about what should I expect my indy mechanic to charge me to install everything?

Also, will this ECU tuning cause any negative issues on the car?

Thanks!!

 

Go to the page I linked to then if you don't want the smaller SC pulley as well go back to the "crank pulley plus tune" page.
So that is crank pulley plus longer SC drive belt plus tune, that is all you need.
The increase in usable torque with this set up really is yuge with most of it "below the curve" and at midrange revs, you will not be disappointed!
This tune also increases the SC whine a fair bit so more "growl".
It's not a big job for a half competent mechanic, maybe 2 hours worth, you can save some money if you remove the undertray(s) at home yourself then refit them later.
Plenty of threads and posts on the F-Type sub-forum with tips for removing the OEM crank pulley and fitting the new one.
You apply the tune yourself in the comfort of your own garage so no labour cost there.
Install the larger crank pulley and belt, drive home and then install the tune, just take it easy on the drive home and don't go over 3,000 rpm otherwise you will throw a code and invoke Restricted Performance (RP) mode as with the stock tune the ECU (PCM) is not expecting to see the extra boost the new pulley is now providing.
You can always spend a bit more and go for the smaller SC pulley as well but it's a significant increase in cost (parts and especially labour), it's not straightforward to remove the OEM SC pulley and fit the new one (very tight tolerances) so there is some risk involved, and the extra power and torque is not a helluva lot over the larger crank pulley plus tune set up.
No negative issues with either tune other than the obvious and unavoidable increased stresses on some components and so far 99% of the feedback on these tunes has been positive with very little negative issues.

 

So I asked around a bit (to long time QUALIFIED car guys....not rookies) regarding tuning my car. The one thing I keep hearing is that mechanics will run away from the car if I bring it in with any mechanical issues after it has been tuned. It is nearly impossible to get a qualified mechanic to look at your car in a timely manner nowadays so I am a bit concerned. This is my daily driver and I can't have it sitting idle because I can't find anybody to fix it should there be a problem.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated !!

 

I reckon you are worrying too much, the VAP tunes with or without pulley(s) have proven to be safe and reliable over many years and thousands of customers now.
VAP have put a lot of R&D into their tunes and their after sales service is top notch.
My car is a daily driver and it is my only car so I cannot do without it, I first applied a VAP tune some five years ago now and I haven't had a single problem.
I suggest you do what I did - try the "tune only" to start with, run with that for a while to see if it's enough for you, then if not enough upgrade to the crank pulley plus tune. With a tune only you can easily flash the stock tune back on if you want, you can do the same with a pulley plus tune but as I said before it won't run right with the larger pulley but stock tune. If/when you buy a tune from VAP you can ask them to load the "with pulley" tune as well onto the flashing device, no extra charge, then you already have that tune ready to load on if/when you decide to upgrade to the with pulley set up.

 

Thanks Oz! Much appreciated.

 

I forgot to mention the one essential modification if you decide to get the VAP tune and especially the pulley and tune - decent grippy tyres.
If you have Pirelli P-Zeros or Dunlop Sport Maxx then dump them immediately for Michelin Pilot Sport 4S or the new Pilot Sport 5, or the new Continental Sport Contact 7, or if you want/need all seasons tyres then Conti Extreme Contact DWS 6+ or Michelin Pilot Sport A/S.

 

I removed my catalysts on my x351 2010 V8 385hps not willingly but i had a problem after a stupid guy on gas station filled the car with diesel fuel. however the fuel pumps died also catalysts but the engin casue i drived that way because i supposed that the problem is in another aspect in service mode env 200-300km and the engin was still healthy.

however after changing pumps and removing catalysts the car is faster and very louder. now it sounds like real v8 it isnt silenced by the catalysts. I live in Bulgaria (Eastern Europe) and here we still have another ways to pass the yearly technical check without catalysts

but in another countries maybe it will be huge problem

regards...