Got my car back from Vortech!-3rd party tests & test drivers thread

[Huehuecoyotl]

yes, its true. I'm looking to provide unbiased feedback from other forum members:

I went and got my car back from Vortech, so I am starting a thread in advance of a group meet locally in a few weeks where I plan to have other forum members test drive my car and post feedback in their own words on their driving experience of my car.

This space Reserved for future info.

I ask that you respect my intentions and that the thread try and stay clean for reference, rather than clutter up with posts other than driver feedback

[Huehuecoyotl]

reserved for build progress final tests

[Huehuecoyotl]

reserved for pics of final dyno expected by 4/31/13

[Huehuecoyotl]

Note, I have edited this to consolidate information:

Originally Posted by congiiee

what are your initial impressions of the kit?

Ok here goes: I am running a modded version of their Vortech FRS/BRZ kit, so you you have to take what I am about to say as what you can do with the kit, rather than what you get out of the box vanilla stage 1 Kit. Thats outta the way.

My car has been with them for *literally* months, so it may better speak to what the system/solution CAN do.To the disappointment of some readers, I have not driven the vanilla out of the box kit, so I can not say what that is like.

At present, the kit is putting out "about 9psi plus". Its modded, and this is what we settled on, which is pulled back from what got tested and stress tested. yes, there is infact more on tap, but then you approach the limits of 91 octane,and I wanted to stay CLEAR of even approaching those limits. A setup similar to mine with e85 or 93 octane or better can be pushed well past where I have mine set for high altitude and 91. That would rock.

9psi is awesome at sea level, and becomes less snappy where I live at 4500feet but its so much peppier than stock even when I visit 7000 feet, I cant complain.

is 9psi enough? Well I seem to think so, can higher psi be done? sure--All this means is that it can indeed be done with this solution, and is by no means a limit of any sort. Its simply where the car is set to be safe to be tracked as it is built at present.

In the future, I may add 2-3psi extra boost, since the setup can do it. We are going to look at safety on an ongoing basis as I build up.

I am considering the flex fuel solution, and look forward to an opportunity to unleash Visconti's flex fuel onto my build when it is available, as you all know, I am open to donating my vehicle for the development of our platform, so as John progresses I'd really like to put my kit+e85 together, I think that could be really something, low boost low redline, high power and high abuse threshold, but am weary of testing this without being on a dyno, so unless Visconti is in PHX, my car's future with flex fuel is a ways off.

I want to be careful about that point where it gets less drivable, less trackable, so I am not here to try and get into magazines, or showcase max psi/max tq/max HP. I do not want power deliver/traction to be an issue on a hot racetrack, so i am not going to ever try and make sick amounts of power, not with stock valvegear etc. I'm conservative here.

This is about track fun so if you only plan to street your car, you can likely go further than me with all the parameters available.

we have elected to not equip the car with a boost gauge since the risk of overboost is very very unlikely, and safety steps are there, should, tho unlikely, overboost occur. I will try and see if I can provide more details on this when I share dyno run data. I like the stock interior, and the driving experience being unaware of the boost being made, its simply irrelevant on the track or on my race homeward bound.

It has completely changed and altered how I drive the car. I drive it like a V6. I say that owning both inline 6's V6's V8 and now yes,a SC 4 banger.

The power band begins much sooner, and I can now 'baby the car' at low rpms in traffic where before it felt bogged down below 2500 rpms. I find myself crusing in 4rth gear at 2200 rpms, chillin.

There is pull, even down there. Its far more agreaable to being urged above 2500, and by 3000, its 'ON'.

the climb from 3000 to 4000 is markedly better than stock, but still pretty limited on 'punch', but there is lots of passing power, and it feels strong, seemingly unaffected by hills or changes in grade, 6th gear at 3200 rpms is SOLID right up to 4000.

Punch starts here, and there it is enough to take on most highway passes, and is still a good rpm for corner exit, a steady increase in TQ and HP that seems synched and pulls strong to 6000. from 6000 to 7000 its pretty much a rush to redline.

its playful to the point of getting you into trouble, and has increased top speed considerably
traction requirements made me drop tire pressure on my stock sized grippy Z1's

Straight line power/traction is fine, its the corners where I can get on it too soon, where with all the nannies off, my driving skills show under full throttle

There is added whine and noise at lower rpms, but inaudible at higher revs, there is the rest of car tires and wheels and exhaust that dominates sonically. With the hood open you can hear the whine clearly.

The wonder of the system is how fast it recovers from getting heated, and how tolerant it seems to be of being pounded on hours after hour. I was able to get the system heatsoaked, but it took high speed stop and go. reaching the 140 mark repeatedly, is easy now. Yes, closed course testing, dont try this on the interstates please. See photo evidence of trying to get heat soak, took repeats tho. The water temps didnt move past where you see in the pics.

oh, and driving 'normal' I see 26 mpg. I can get it to 23-24 MPG driving it very aggressive, and for the short while I tested being frugal, I got just over 27MPG, not a bad trade off for significant HP upgrade at the wheels if you ask me.
Our testing so far, all this on stock injectors and fuel pump, without any issue, for me that was an impressive bullet point. you dont need injectors or a fuel pump unless you plan on e85 or passing this boost level with the way this kit delivers fuel, power and fun. Thats a milestone in offerings, and a price/powerpoint that many will find attractive once my setup is available for upgrade or purchase. I dont want to pay for items I dont need, or am not using, so for now i want to keep it like this and see how far I can take it with incurring additional or un-needed costs trying to make power safely and incrementally.

Originally Posted by Sonolin;771280

EDIT: Something I've been wanting to ask - would you say your kit is a little [i

too[/i] much, when it comes to spirited driving on canyons/public roads? Sounds like its a beast, but I wouldn't want something that takes away the fun through the canyons at the risk of my license (although a supercharger will do this much less so than a turbo, but the concern is still there).

Great question to answer BEFORE we dyno it at a 3rd party shop! again, mines test, and it is no longer true to 'vanilla' stage1 specs, so yeah its a lot of power, as observed by passengers in the car. even faster when I am alone.

I think RIGHT where I have it is at the limit's edge for built street cars, and maybe a bit much for green/novice drivers, tho its very friendly to drive, and in no way intimidating, under normal driving, which is normally below 5000 rpms. If you dont shift by 5500, it does get pretty wild up there past that point its no time to sleep.

While it doesnt give you anything that your right foot doesnt ask for, it was able to overwhelm my wife(green/novice) who had to suddenly apply brakes going thru our canyons "a bit hot" into a blind corner and she has bounced off the limiter in 1st gear more than once, it happens so fast, sorta like a parabola, it takes off with boost being proportional to revs, it really makes you pay attention near redline, Its too easy to attain triple digit speeds too quick. repeatedly. so yeah, buy a good radar, you will need it.

again, driven mellow style, there is no prominent TQ or HP peak in the middle of the band so it lends itself very well to having to drive 'behaved', so if you can handle having the power on tap and have the driver skills, go for it.

For sure, one needs to employ judgement as to when to apply throttle, however from a safety perspective, its for sure too much for stock tires but the oe clutch handles the smooth non surge-like boost delivery very well under day to day. It will fall short at the track based on its smell from spirited runs. Keep the nannies on the 1st few times you drive it

However the velocities at play will make you wish you had a more built car than a less built car. Driving it hard, I can over heat the stock clutch easy at my power level, so it is on the entrance ramp to "too much for the DD". I dont think any DD car needs this much power.

For guys wanting to stay mostly stock, or with medium track to full on 'street' builds, I think the the 'vanilla' STAGE1 kit they offer will be plenty. My setup is a great power point for the driver who is no longer a novice, and has at a minimum intermediate level car control, wants to explore those limits and wants to continue modding to the stage2 and beyond points. Most drivers will fine what they want somewhere between stage1 and stage 1+ that are already on the market. You should have already addressed stuff that control power like brakes and truly functional suspension before aiming for this much power. You should have oil coolers, uprated tires, etc. Any more than this you need much much more tire, brake and some good quality cahones too. adding power to a car this light gets unruly really quickly.

theres that one road up by you I love to drive btw that connects temecula to the ocean!

thats all for now, more later, questions welcome.
Here are some of the pics of it being used to prototype the current day Vortech Kit

[Huehuecoyotl]

2013 Subaru BRZ Limited 5/12 production date
Special thanks to Vortech Engineering, Perrin Performance, Racer X Fabrications and Ground Control Suspension for their letting me test their products ahead of release and for supporting my build.


Vortech Supercharger 9psi +(Tester Building 10 psi now, and targeting 12psi endpoint with EBC and Wastegate)
Perrin UN-Resonated Headerback
Perrin Hangers

17x7.5 Track wheels OZ Racing Rims 15.3-15.5 lbs each
Track tires Nitto NT01 215/45-17 amazing roadcourse grip
Mcgard Lug Nuts
Plan to try out a Hoosier in 225/40 A6 for autox
Tried the R888 in 225/45 and felt it was wrong size, may try the r888 as a track day tire, too loud for road use tho

daily Tires
235/40 Dunlop Direzza II and SPARCO RTT524 17x8
Ferrodo Brake Pads for now, Sprint or Endurance in weeks ahead

Motul Brake Fluid
Pentosin Tranny Fluid

WC Lathe Werks Polymer Shift Knob(gets hot out here!)
Whiteline X member Bushes
Perrin Rear Shifter bushing Bush
Liqui Moly Diff Lube
Sustina 0w-20 and Liqui Moly Synthoil Longtime 0w-30

Carsmo Armrest

Ground Control Koni Race Coilover Suspension Kit and Strutbar, custom 'high-grip' rear spring setup via Adam DA 375 fronts SA 350 rears
Perrin Rear Camber Arm Bolt Kit TC112(ask for Chris for special instructions) these were fine for making a set of coil springs symmetrical in the rear, but now with my coilovers
I'm going with rear end alignment parts from Racer X Fabrications and starting off with their toe links and lower camber arms
Perrin PSRS, Offset 7.2degrees
Perrin Sway Bars 22/16, I prefer the feel of a non hollow bar vs hollow, full soft front and middle rear
Alignment Camber: (-2.5F/-2.0R)Toe: (1/32 out F and 1/32 in R)

Perrin Motor Mounts
EcuTek Cable/License

GrimmSpeed Billet Battery Tie Down
Valentine1

Coming Soon
Grimmspeed hood struts
Borla EL Header catless, on order(special request) also on order P&L header with cat
RacerX Front sway Bar Links Front and Ground Control Rear links-both ordered
Perrin Differential Bushing Inserts when they are released
Brake lines TBD
Exedy clutch, more realistically FX300 or 350
Racerx 4130 LCA and possible other track oriented steering parts

[congiiee]

what are your initial impressions of the kit?

[Sonolin]

Awesome! Thanks very much for the review

I've been eyeing vortech & innovative, and its nice to see these reviewers pop up. Hoping by the end of the year I'll have enough sample data to make my choice... being patient has its benefits

Also - the formatting of your post is all messed up because your picture is very large. Is there any way you can resize that, similar to how the other posts are (where you click to enlarge)? Just my .02

Enjoy it!

EDIT: Something I've been wanting to ask - would you say your kit is a little too much, when it comes to spirited driving on canyons/public roads? Sounds like its a beast, but I wouldn't want something that takes away the fun through the canyons at the risk of my license (although a supercharger will do this much less so than a turbo, but the concern is still there).

[BRZranger]

Thorough review! You're in the PNW? Close to Seattle by any chance? Would love to take it for a spin!

[Sonolin]

Great, thanks man!

And yea, you mean ortega hwy 74? I drive at least once a week, its a blast.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I'm glad this kit is relatively modest power gains on stg 1, with the potential to be nearly uncontrollable.

Sounds like a fun mini 4 cylinder corvette. Muahahaha

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by BRZranger

Thorough review! You're in the PNW? Close to Seattle by any chance? Would love to take it for a spin!

Unless he moved after January, he lives in Arizona.

Gem, thanks for the feedback thread. Looking forward to your ongoing review including track time, temp control etc.

Edit: Ahhh.. finally GemHooker has officially return from hiding. He never left, was just hiding behind this disguise. I noticed it the same day he was banned . It's good to see him back, hope he keep behaving like he has behind the costume.

[skatery1989]

Hey Gem so what kind of boost is your car making where you are at?

[Mr.Jay]

The return of Gem

Ft86clubs original celebrity haha

Thanks for the review and can't wait for the rest of the post to be editted with pics and info

[2forme]

Can we really call it unbiased now that we know it's gem?

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by 2forme

Can we really call it unbiased now that we know it's gem?

Please, let's not go there. Let him do his thing....


He is behaving really good. He's not doing any harm. Let's let him do the review however way he wants. :happy0180:

(At the end of the day, whomever wants to look into a product, and gather more unbiased info, will do enough research to form their own opinion. Whomever doesn't bother and takes whatever anyone writes in the internet as , that's what they'll have, the kit for someone else.) I know exactly where you are coming from trust me!!