aps

The valve spring issue has been confusing for many xr6t owners and tuners alike. APS will release a range of upgraded springs at an affordable price in the near future. We have been testing valve springs over the past 9 months and the results are promising. Peter APS

Thanks for your reply Bloan. I have not yet considered emission testing for the phase IV system, though I can't see why this is not achieveable. We will have to wait until we run the tests to see if we can meet ADR 79/00 requirements. Peter APS

Hi guys, I have not seen the article yet. Can any of you guys fill me in on the story? Peter APS

LOK 11 Well I am surprised at your comments. The stock injectors are flat out at 280Kw,that is the injector is working at 100% duty cycle, beyond280Kw the best option is definetly a larger multi orifice injector not working above 85% duty cycle,the injector will need to be sized correctly for the intended power level. There is no doubt that this is the best engineering approach its the way an OEM would engineer the fuel system if releasing the xr6t at 300Kw.Of course one has to be able to source the correctly sized injector which APS has and in addition have the technology in order to map the fuel system precisely.This is no problem for the UNICHIP, enough said on this issue for now . Peter APS

It will mainly depend on the driver and the application.And it may be that we have a number of upgrades for different torque levels, the phase 3 system will need the auto upgrade for sure and the phase 2 would also benefit from quicker gear changes. should have much more info within the three weeks. will keep you posted on the progress.

One of the other benefits is you can easily remove the unichip and plug in harness when you decide to sell your car and resell the product to recoup most of your money.

I have found this topic very interesting. After testing a number of xr6t's with the centre muffler removed I am now convinced that this mod makes little or no additional power over the stock system. The cars we measured without the centre muffler made approx 180 to 185Kw, I have seen better power from stock xr6t;s. The main restriction in the exhaust system is the stock cat,so dont waste money on this mod unless your after more noise.

Will be testing new auto upgrades next week the trick is to find a cost effective modification that will cope with around 700 Nm of torque,and still change gears smoothly, its an issue well worth sorting.

Would be worth checking the swing valve, if its sticky this may be the cause of the intermittant power loss.

CNC Well I hope to rectify this very soon.Large injectors will be packaged with the unichip and plug in harness this will make it easy to upgrade to 300Kw in a single step at a reasonable price. We have been listening .

Ownaxr6t The phase four will be an awesome street car, though the drivetrain wil need significant upgrading to cope with the huge torque generated by this system. We have been testing clutch and pressure plates and six speed transmissions now for over 20,000 kay's and I am confident this is the ultimate manual trans and the only cost effective way to proceed as of now. I know that many will say that this option is very expensive, the reality is transmitting over 850 Nm of torque without hurting the trans is a tall order at any cost. The auto upgrade to cope with the 850Nm of torque will also be in the price range of the six speed manual upgrade, though when you consider the outright performance of the phase four xr6t only a 300K plus super car would get any where close in outright accelaration,I think this makes the phase four equipped xr6t a real value for money supercar.

Better to go straight to the high volume pump with correctly sized multi orifice injectors,this method will provide the best combustion,engine response ,fuel economy and highest power possible for the combination of mods on the car

Geeseman We will have a special release price of approx 1595 dollars installed and mapped, this will include before and after power graphs.This is not final, though I hope we can offer this special deal for a three month period and to the first 100 customers. There is plenty more to come this year from APS for the xr6t,this is just the start.

PRETZEL I trust my explanation on the valve spring issue was helpful,in addition to better valve springs a low restriction exhaust is the real key to consitant performance and reliable engine operation.When the power level approaches 300 Kw with the stock exhaust the back pressure gets very ugly,and the increased exhaust gas temp is really hard on both the valves and valve springs,I would not suggest going past 300Kw before having a good think about the exhaust and its performance.Food for thought.

CNC The phase four system is not yet complete,so its not possible to discuss prices right now as there is lots of testing and checking of components during the development period. The power level will be in the 450 Kw area if all goes to plan,and we intend to retain the stock turbo for phase four 'this power level is the limit of the stock turbo.Phase three will be released in early march,I am still working on what components APS will/can sell on a stand alone basis.

HI guys, We had a xr6t which was driving the owner crazy, normal power for 90 percent of the time approx 180 kW then the power would drop away to approx 120 Kw for a short period before returning to normal.The owner had it back to the dealer many times, and the dealer was really trying to sort the problem though they gave up after five attempts.We have seen this type of problem before on other turbo cars so we started by graphing the boost pressure, after sixth dyno test we saw turbo pressure fall away to nearly zero from that point we suspected a sticky swing valve in the turbo housing,our guess proved to be correct.Removed the turbo freed up the swing valve hey presto problem solved without much drama.Checked for fault codes all was clear and the engine is now running fine and making good power

I expect that we may upgrade phase1 with the inclusion of the larger injectors.Around 300 Kw should be practical with the stock exhaust system before the engine runs into valve springs promblems/engine misfire, all be it an intermittant problem depending on how good the valve springs are .Used in conjuction with a low restriction exhaust ,power could be raised to 320 Kw given that the engine is in good shape and well run in.

The valve spring issue is related to the amount of exhaust back pressure at the exhaust valve the higher the turbo pressure in the inlet manifold the higher the back pressure will be at the exhaust valve hence the valve spring cant close the valve quickly and in high boost conditions the valve lash adjustor pumps up and causes an engine miss under high load. THE miss will come good after the engine idles for approx 30 to45 seconds, and the problem is directly related to total exhaust back pressure,which is why a zero or very low back pressure exhaust system should be considered mandatory equipment for 300 plus Kw applications.I guess by now you guys have a real insight as to why APS went to great lengths when designing a combination 3.5''/ twin 2.5'' zero restriction exhaust, with the 3.5'' high flow cat which is the only cat that will deliver low back pressure at 500 plus horse power on a 4 litre turbo engine. No doubt we will all see and hear plenty on this issue over the coming months as more owners try to reach higher power levels.

FORDTECH, what you have stated is fair comment thought the point is the ford diagnostic tool does not detect the unichip computer, the stock computer does log some unusual codes such as high torbo pressure, though these codes are easily cleared through scan tools which we have. Without reverse engineering of the factory software any product which increases turbo pressure will generate the same code within the ford control unit. It's really no big deal as the issue is easy to deal with when the right diagnostic equipment is used to clear codes, this should be done previously to disposing of the vehicle. Peter APS

Gooday guys, yes the ute that is on display at summer nats is the ute which we run at calder drags and is currently the fastest xr6t in the country. We didn't enter the horsepower shoot out as the auto trans is pretty sad and we are waiting for the new upgraded auto before running the vehicle at calder or in dyno comps. This engine spec is very close to the final phase 4 spec, so what you see is pretty much how we expect to release the product. One of the other xr6t's which entered the dyno comp was sprung with NOS which is strictly prohibited, so I don't think we will see big horsepower from the T at this years summer nats. There's always next year. Peter APS

Turbotrana, it would be great if you could contribute to the cost of running this site as the old saying goes many hands make light work. As stated previously I will post general information on the trans upgrade when I am confident that the information is proven and reliable Peter APS

51XRT, we'll definently post infromation on the unichip with plug-in harness as soon as we have final product specification and pricing. I hope it is possible to have the product installed and custom tuned for approx $1600 inc. GST. Will also post information regarding unichip plug-in harness and matched multy orifice injectors in the near future. Peter APS

If all goes to plan we hope to encorporate the plug in harness into the current pricing, so the unichip and plug in loom installed and custom mapped will be approx $1600 including before and after power graphs. Peter APS

If all goes well we hope to relaese the unichip with plug in harness by end of feb, it is quite complexed to manufacture and then pre-test ever harness to ensure positive 100% connection, please be patient it will be worth the wait, I promise. Peter APS

Rapt, you may have a sticky swing valve in the turbo housing, this can cause normal boost and then complete loss of turbo pressure. We saw ths problem on an xr6t in december and sorted the problem after the vehicle had been back to ford on 5 occasions. Need less to say the owner was stocked when we sorted the problem. Peter APS