Just how noticeable is OFT+OFH and stage 2 tune?

[BBYZILA]

This is one of the most popular performance mods for our twins. I know w a 93 tune you can get close to around 190 whp, but how does that 30 extra hourses feel on our cars? Objectively it seems to add some more power, but how does it feel subjectively?

Can those who have these respond with your impressions?

Thank you!

[raven1231]

Noticeable. It makes the car more fun to drive in my opinion, but if you're expecting a FI type difference you will be thoroughly disappointed.

[BBYZILA]

Originally Posted by raven1231

Noticeable. It makes the car more fun to drive in my opinion, but if you're expecting a FI type difference you will be thoroughly disappointed.

i'm hoping/expecitng for fiesta st levels of acceleration, but i think thats just wishful thinking..

[kch]

Originally Posted by BBYZILA

i'm hoping/expecitng for fiesta st levels of acceleration, but i think thats just wishful thinking..

Yeah, no. You won't get that FiST-style surge without boost. It will feel nice and peppy, though, especially if you add E85.

[raven1231]

Originally Posted by kch

Yeah, no. You won't get that FiST-style surge without boost. It will feel nice and peppy, though, especially if you add E85.

Yeah this

[DarkSunrise]

It's more like 20 whp. I think Shiv's baseline was 170 whp.

Where you'll immediately feel more power is in the torque dip. Once the tach crosses ~3700 RPM, you'll hear the difference in VVT tuning (sounds like valve clatter or rasp) and feel the extra pull.

It's not like the midrange kick from a turbo, just a smoothing out of the torque dip. If you want the huge midrange of a turbo, you'll have to add one.

[kch]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Once the tach crosses ~3700 RPM, you'll hear the difference in VVT tuning (sounds like valve clatter or rasp) and feel the extra pull.

AFAIK, that valvetrain noise is only present on the EL tunes. As soon as I switched to UEL, that noise was gone.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by kch

AFAIK, that valvetrain noise is only present on the EL tunes. As soon as I switched to UEL, that noise was gone.

Yeah it's more noticeable on EL tunes. I remember hearing it distinctly when I was running the stage 1 file. I can still hear it a bit on my current UEL stage 2 setup though.

[vividracing]

I have an Invidia N1 cat-back and combined with the OFT/OFH it sounds amazing. The performance difference isn't that much in my opinion. It does seem to accelerate a bit better, and through 2nd-4th gears it opens up.

I will be getting my car dyno'ed soon with a couple of FRS to compare modifications and finally learn my gains, as one of the cars is stock.

I'd buy the OFT/OFH and cat back just to change the sound and make it super sexy, which it is.

-RyanG

[Tromatic]

Originally Posted by kch

AFAIK, that valvetrain noise is only present on the EL tunes. As soon as I switched to UEL, that noise was gone.

The latest tunes have much less noise, or at least it's in a smaller rev band. The E85 tunes on a stock car are eye-opening.

[Ragua007]

I installed the JDL UEL Catless header and reflashed to the 91 octane OFT tune (I only have access to 92 octane) and there's a noticeable difference where the torque dip used to be. I haven't got my car dynoed yet but it accelerates a lot better now and I can say I enjoy driving it even more now.

It sounds so mean now with my header back exhaust when I'm at WOT but pretty quiet (relatively speaking) when I'm just cruising. IMHO if you're not wanting to go FI then the OFT/OFH is a great option. The OFH header was one of my top choices but I couldn't pass up the JDL header.

[tracerit]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Yeah it's more noticeable on EL tunes. I remember hearing it distinctly when I was running the stage 1 file. I can still hear it a bit on my current UEL stage 2 setup though.

NOOOOO!!!!! I got the OFH primarily to get rid of the rasp. Now you're saying it still exists with an UEL map? :/ Makes me wonder if I should even install it (currently sitting in my garage for another two weeks).

[mrxchris]

Originally Posted by tracerit

NOOOOO!!!!! I got the OFH primarily to get rid of the rasp. Now you're saying it still exists with an UEL map? :/ Makes me wonder if I should even install it (currently sitting in my garage for another two weeks).

You probably can't even hear it over the sound of your header as you drive anyway. I could hear it distinctively when I was on the Stage 1 tune with my TRD catback. Now that I'm on the Stage 2 map with my OFH, I can hardly hear any intake noises over the sound of the UEL header.

[mrxchris]

Originally Posted by BBYZILA

This is one of the most popular performance mods for our twins. I know w a 93 tune you can get close to around 190 whp, but how does that 30 extra hourses feel on our cars? Objectively it seems to add some more power, but how does it feel subjectively?

Can those who have these respond with your impressions?

Thank you!

I just got the OFT and OFH header about three weeks ago. The first thing I did was tune the car because I didn't have time to install my header yet. After tuning the car, I could definitely feel a difference than the stock map. It felt a bit more livelier and responsive. About a week later, I installed my header and tuned to the Stage 2 91 map. The car got louder and at first, I could feel a small bit of a difference compare to the Stage 1 map but not as noticeable as when I first flashed my car with the OFT. The cause of this might have been that I was expecting a lot more from the Stage 2 map than I was from the Stage 1. The Stage 1 definitely surprised me more so that might be the reason why I felt it more than Stage 2. A couple days later, I tuned for E85. I could definitely feel a kick after breaking it in a bit and allowing the E85 to flow through my lines. Engine felt more smooth and a bit more power could be felt.

Today when I was driving to work, I was driving in traffic and needed to change lanes to the empty one to my left. Signaled, downshifted and gassed it and felt that torque around 3-4k that I didn't have before. It brought a smile to my face and definitely made my morning a bit more entertaining. My advice would be to go in with small expectations, although there shouldn't be FI-type gains anyways. Just install the header and tune and drive like you normally would, and eventually, when you least expect it, you'd be pleasantly surprised with the results.