The big valve ported head and Newman Phase 3 cams are working out really well, intially I was concerned I'd gone too far as Monty's idle was very spashy, I've since by way of an early update, I've now spent some considerable time refining my PID and other closed loop ECU idle seettings, surprisingly advanced timing numbers in the idle area of the ignition table helped a lot too.
I'm now idling at a richer 13.7:1 and at 1,050rpm, this rather than the previous 14.7:1 at 970rpm I was able to achieve on the much milder Phase 2 cams, I'm now super happy with Monty's idle quality.
As you'll see the IATs are very high as I'd been sat idling while tuning for 40 minutes, air temps do fall dramatically on the move but I definitely need to build a cold air intake setup. Saying that if I can get Monty idling this well while he's sucking 55c air, then it's only getting even better from here.
Overall impressions of the way Monty drives are also super posotive, sticking with the Fusion Fabrications inlet and refusing to follow the herd by fitting ITBs was definitely the right decission. Probably the best way to describe the drive is Monty feels the same from idle to 3,000rpm, so he remains a very usable street friendly machine.
However, from 3,000-3,500 you can start to feel the better breathing taking effect, by 4,000rpm Monty takes on a more sporty exhaust note. From 4,000-5,000rpm the push is way stronger than before, and becoming super exhilerating as you press on to 6,000rpm. From there and above it's a very different engine, those following Monty's journey will know he previouly fell over at 6,500rpm, now he just laughs at such low engine speeds as he encourages you to wind out the Duratec way beyond 6,500rpm.
I've only taken him to 7,300rpm so far which TBH is already pretty intense, but James my engine builder says he expects peak power to arrive at 8,250rpm, he also said he'd be disapointed if it did'nt make at least 230hp.
But best of all, Monty still trickles through town at a lovely smooth 1,500-1,800rpm and now also returns to a civilised idle at junctions, this is the difference between a well tuned engine on a modern engine management system and the kind of cammed up Mk1/2 Escorts on a pair of DCOE Webbers we used to play with back in the day.
