Quick Shout Out For VF Engineering

[SouthShoreM3]

I apologize if this may be in the wrong section. Doing this off my BIMMERPOST APP.

So I have had my VF540 on my 2010 E90 M3 since December 2012. I have about 700-900 miles on the car wit the S/C. The performance and quality has been everything that I had hoped for when making this conversion.

I am really surprised how docile and stock feeling it is around town. I can definitely tell that the HP AND TQ lines have increased from where it was originally at (FBO w Dinan x pipe and AA exhaust and Dinan/ESS tune).

I had a post a few weeks back about my vehicle not been able to adapt to the driving cycles to get my inspection sticker. This has been a rare issue I guess and not one has had this experience.

My shout out is to VF for taking the time to help me out. They have been dedicated and spending alot of hours to get this resolved.

They have been informing me of the tests and options that they have been performing to try and replicate the driving cycle issues.

The car runs completely perfect. That is not the issue. The DME seems to be having issues adapting.

Jeff and Nik have been fantastic.
I have been extremely happy with their service and response. Even wen I was freaking out at the beginning and they handled my "period moment" that I had.

I do hope we get a resolution soon so my car can be legal and have no rejection sticker.

Nevertheless, the service and quality of the product has been top notch. I am happy with my choice and once this is resolved VF650 will be on the car

[jrse92m3]

Same here VAC Motorsports install a 620 kit on my e92 m3 back in january and now that the weather here in NY is getting warm its been nothing but fun times!!!

[VF-Engineering]

Thanks for the kind words! Glad we are able to help.

[happos2]

Glad you are loving it!!!

[Chriskm3]

I had the 540 kit for about 5 months now and 620 kit just got installed. Vf really found a great way to upgrade their kits easily as they share many parts -unlike the competition. Thank Jeff and Robert.

[Orange fever]

welcome to the vf fam///

[whats77inaname]

Originally Posted by Chriskm3

Vf really found a great way to upgrade their kits easily as they share many parts -unlike the competition. Thank Jeff and Robert.

Which competition, specifically?

[Chriskm3]

Originally Posted by whats77inaname

Which competition, specifically?

All. Vf uses a common manifold for all kits. To upgrade from 540 to 620 kit all is required is a smaller pulley belt intercooller and heat exchanger( plus software) The fuel injections are same in both kits so the upgrade price from one to the next is way cheaper then competition.

[Roman@ESS]

Originally Posted by Chriskm3

All. Vf uses a common manifold for all kits. To upgrade from 540 to 620 kit all is required is a smaller pulley belt intercooller and heat exchanger( plus software) The fuel injections are same in both kits so the upgrade price from one to the next is way cheaper then competition.

I cannot comment on upgrade hardware and pricing from one vendor to the next because I do not know the specifics but I can comment on upgrading our VT1 to a VT2 in terms of hardware and price. Customers upgrading from a VT1 to VT2 pay the retail price difference between the two kits at the time of the upgrade. The current VT1-550 kit uses the same injector as the current VT2-585 and VT2-625 kits. We had an injector change awhile back on the older VT1-535 kits so some older VT1 kits might still require an injector change but this only applies to some of the older generation VT1 kits not all of them. Any current VT1-550 owner can upgrade up to the VT2-625 without changing injectors.

As far as the manifold we chose to have a sealed manifold design VS an open design that had moving parts for several reasons. First anytime you have an open design it is very dependent on a large rubber seal to keep from being exposed to leaks. In our opinion reducing the chance of weak points on a pressurized system is always a good idea. Second having additional material added to the manifold for such a system required the weight of the manifold to increase and also reduced our ability to direct air inside of the manifold. Compare our kits total weight using a thin casted aluminum manifold and you will see there is a difference. We did take into mind and continue to consider total added weight when we design supercharger systems. Finally to make a slide in cooler work for us we found that we had to reduce the size of the cooler slightly which we did not want to do. We wanted to fit the largest cooler we could in our manifold design without compromise.

For us the disadvantages outweighed the advantages for the manifold design we had in mind. Performance on our kits always has priority over convenience. Not to say that it cannot work for others or that other designs do not work but we just felt it was not the best route to go for our product and we stand behind our decision to this day as the performance of our products has proven that our original design concepts were correct and work very well.

Congrats to the OP and your new power. I did not want to hijack your thread but I felt the post above needed to be addressed so that people could understand why not all Tuners have the same philosophy when it comes to design and that is not necessarily a bad thing as the poster makes it out to be.

[Chriskm3]

Originally Posted by whats77inaname

Which competition, specifically?

Look it up . And I
Think roman just have you the answer aswell

[SouthShoreM3]

Originally Posted by Chriskm3

Look it up . And I
Think roman just have you the answer aswell

Well I may have jumped the gun on response. It's been 20+ days and counting and over a week with the response to my problems with the software and car not cycling over as every other SC owner seems to be able to do without issue.

I am taking the car for a long drive from Boston, MA to Columbia, SC this week.

I will do a write up on my thoughts of how it holds up. Got the P3 gauge so I will be doing some monitoring of the temps going from different climates. Just did the oil swap as well on the blower so everything is all set and ready.

Looking forward to the drive even though my family and GF think I'm insane for doing this.

Jeff and Nik, if your out there please let me know what solutions you have as I need an inspection sticker within the next 20 days. Time is ticking and I cannot afford anymore cost out of pocket in case this has to go through an actual inspector (then I may have to rip everything off or sell the car).

[lenzm3edan]

Originally Posted by Roman@ESS

I cannot comment on upgrade hardware and pricing from one vendor to the next because I do not know the specifics but I can comment on upgrading our VT1 to a VT2 in terms of hardware and price. Customers upgrading from a VT1 to VT2 pay the retail price difference between the two kits at the time of the upgrade. The current VT1-550 kit uses the same injector as the current VT2-585 and VT2-625 kits. We had an injector change awhile back on the older VT1-535 kits so some older VT1 kits might still require an injector change but this only applies to some of the older generation VT1 kits not all of them. Any current VT1-550 owner can upgrade up to the VT2-625 without changing injectors.

As far as the manifold we chose to have a sealed manifold design VS an open design that had moving parts for several reasons. First anytime you have an open design it is very dependent on a large rubber seal to keep from being exposed to leaks. In our opinion reducing the chance of weak points on a pressurized system is always a good idea. Second having additional material added to the manifold for such a system required the weight of the manifold to increase and also reduced our ability to direct air inside of the manifold. Compare our kits total weight using a thin casted aluminum manifold and you will see there is a difference. We did take into mind and continue to consider total added weight when we design supercharger systems. Finally to make a slide in cooler work for us we found that we had to reduce the size of the cooler slightly which we did not want to do. We wanted to fit the largest cooler we could in our manifold design without compromise.

For us the disadvantages outweighed the advantages for the manifold design we had in mind. Performance on our kits always has priority over convenience. Not to say that it cannot work for others or that other designs do not work but we just felt it was not the best route to go for our product and we stand behind our decision to this day as the performance of our products has proven that our original design concepts were correct and work very well.

Congrats to the OP and your new power. I did not want to hijack your thread but I felt the post above needed to be addressed so that people could understand why not all Tuners have the same philosophy when it comes to design and that is not necessarily a bad thing as the poster makes it out to be.