Aps Phase 3 Road Test

[aps]

Hi guys,

Autospeed.com has published a test report on the APS PHASE III High Output System.

“APS Phase 3 Teaser

Un-bloody-believable is the only way to describe the soon to be released APS Phase 3 kit for the Ford XR6 Turbo...”

It’s good reading and food for thought.

Peter

APS

[F6 RAPID]

Peter, you should think about purchasing this article and posting it for us to read. Very good advertising and marketing initiative from an unbiased third party reviewer ..................

[OwnaXR6T]

I want one and I want it now.

[bcl]

Running 19.5lb max boost as reported in the APS stage 3 is between 3 to 4 times the stock boost pressure.

You’d want to be pretty confident that the stock internals will last if you go down this path …. Just keep $7k+ up your sleeve for an engine rebuild, unless of course you’re offered a 100k warranty from aps.

So far we know the clutch & transmissions are not coping when trying to handle higher power levels, and standard brakes that don’t cope too well.

It would be a pretty brave person to assume that the motor will hang together for a couple of years, at these boost levels. Just remember, we’re not dealing with Jap spec motors, these are Ford motors built to cope with pressures and tolerances that aren’t very high, and a level of quality built to a price.

Brian

[Guest kelvin01au]

how negative can you be. short engines arn't that expensive when compared to a lot of other cars. eg wrx bmw or even my sons 350 monaro. if you play you pay one way or another. just my two bobs worth. kel

[chief]

Is it just my imagination or is the phase 3 about as quick as the lambo murcielago (straight line of course)? It sounds awesome, but first things first for me, and that's the "puny" stage 1!

Congrats to APS, sounds as though they have done it again!

Cheers

[aps]

Brian,

I can’t understand why anyone would want to change the stock engine internals when the engine is limited to 5,800 RPM. There is a big difference between increased mechanical loads and thermal loads. It is mechanical loads caused through high RPM, which demand higher quality pistons and connecting rods. In addition, there is nothing at all wrong with the stock Ford pistons – in fact, they are a very nice piston for a stock mass produced turbocharged engine. You only need to change the pistons to forged components if you expect to detonate the engine to pieces through inadequate tuning strategies. When the charge air temperature is cool through efficient intercooling, ignition timing and air fuel ratios are perfectly mapped for 98 RON fuel, and boost pressure is precisely controlled, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the mechanical properties of the stock XR6T piston.

This power level (327 kW) is on an automatic vehicle and would be 10 – 15 kW higher measured in a manual vehicle. The engine at peak power has approximately 16.5 psi of turbo boost pressure. It would be interesting to know what your boost pressure is at 341 kW at the wheels. Do you think it is any less? Of course, it may be lower if you have had cylinder head or camshaft modifications. Even with a built engine, were you supplied with a written 3 year / 100,000 km warranty? Yes, Brian, save the $7k you quoted for the engine rebuild and put it towards better brakes, suspension and tyre and wheel package. It will offer far greater value and a more rewarding driving experience in the short and long term.

As the autospeed.com road report said, there was no sign of detonation, the car started and drove like a dream and it was quick. That’s exactly what our customers demand from APS and our products.

There is far greater load on the drive train at 450 kW at the wheels on drag slicks (APS blue ute) compared to 330 kW at the wheels on street rubber. You may not be aware that we have been testing for 9 months at this power level using stock Ford engine internals without a hint of a problem. Just remember you rarely hold high load and speed at this power level for any more than 15 – 20 seconds in normal road conditions unless you have plenty of points to spare – and you’ve already broken well past the 200 kph barrier. How often in reality is the engine exposed to this type of engine load? Remember it is not a V8 Supercar doing lap after lap on a race track.

Quite simply it is our view that changing stock Ford pistons and conrods is a complete waste of time, effort and money if the engine is never going to turn quicker than the 5,800 RPM limit. It has little to do with the power increase but everything to do with the intended engine operating RPM range.

Of course it is an entirely different issue if one is planning to turn the engine at 7,500 RPM. Though very few XR6T owners will ever go this path as it immediately adds a huge amount of money for very little benefit in terms of performance and no improvement in engine longevity in day to day driving.

With minor enhancements to the auto trans, the auto should prove reliable at this power and torque level given that the vehicle is treated with a little respect on normal street rubber. There is a big difference in drive train components between a street car and an all out drag race vehicle – as Nizpro again discovered on Friday evening. 2nd time run and 2nd trashed auto. That said it was at very high torque levels – which is cruel to drive train components in ¼ mile racing. Certainly higher levels than the PHASE III that this discussion is all about.

One must not confuse the issues that we, at the leading edge of product development and engine performance for the XR6 Turbo are facing. We release products to our customers after an exhaustive testing program. The drive train issues you see us talking about on other threads are those faced at power and torque levels much greater than those available to our customers currently. The best clutches and transmissions in the world can be destroyed given sufficient abuse (drag racing, burnout competitions etc). As we resolve these issues, the information is made available to our customers – and as you will see with the forthcoming release of the APS clutch package, the fruits of our labours and extensive testing will prove very rewarding for our customers.

We currently have three PHASE III vehicles testing various automatic transmission upgrades and I am pleased to say that the results thus far are very favourable. There is much more that goes on behind the scenes at APS than you could imagine. I know - you should see our R&D expenditure on the XR6T program to date. We are not afraid to go the extra yard to deliver practical engineered solutions at an affordable price for our customers.

Again Brian, let’s keep the discussions relevant to the topic. This is after all about the APS PHASE III High Output System where stock engine components are tested by APS to support the required torque and power levels. If the PHASE III system needed conrods and pistons, they’d be part of the total system - end of story.

Peter

APS

[Turbo6man]

APS

Simply AWESOME

[Guest PaulM]

I would be happy to give a totall independant and unbiased opinion. Just tell me where to go and get my complimentary kit fitted and I will start writing just as soon as I stop driving.

[NT TURBO]

  PaulM said:

I would be happy to give a totall independant and unbiased opinion. Just tell me where to go and get my complimentary kit fitted and I will start writing just as soon as I stop driving.

I'm with you......need some serious open limit testing