WARNING: MASSIVE Post Alert!
I too want to sing the praises of the Krazy folks, as my experience with them last Thursday was outstanding. As far as I am concerned they are up there with the G56 team for proper, customer-focused, professional service. Top marks....
I was booked in for the 569 cams (MMC Stage-2 or KH Stage--3, depending on your point of view) and before/after dyno setup. I have the G56 ECU already remember, following the over-voltage death of my original, together with the Idle Control Valve when the OEM regulator let go, as is their want, so it would be easy for KH to adjust the map to suit.
I had a pleasant drive up there and the car was going very nicely indeed and I admit to having a dose of "
if it ain't broke, don't fix it" anxiety if I'm honest. I said as much to the very helpful George and Dan (the tech) when they greeted me. I explained that I'd ideally like before/after plots so that I could see as well as feel the difference that the cams made. Whilst it was always going to add some extra time to the operation, I was willing to accept that as comparison plots are important to me.
Dan was quite the most helpful, engaging and knowledgeable chap and was happy to talk me through all he was doing and I was able to watch through the window of the very impressive custom dyno-cell whilse the car was on the roller. I've spent enough time playing with engines and ECU's and he was happy to talk detail technical with me, which was excellent.
I was up in the cafe working on my PC at the time he did his first baseline runs and my cup of tea made increasingly impressive ripples as the vibrations grew and grew. It's not often that you can sit in a comfy cafe, with decent wifi (plus the best egg & bacon roll on the planet...) whilst feeling every beat of your tricycle's massive heart, shaking the table, chair and floor in time... Well worth the trip for that alone
I went down to chat and Dan explained the plots and how he was very impressed with the relative output for the G56 pipes. He said they were quieter than others he'd experienced, yet clearly flowed well as the figures were good. Nice and smooth curves but slightly rich overall, but of course that explained why the car has felt so good since the G56 ECU complimented the G56 Stage-1 filter/pipes. I was now even more convinced that I might be making a mistake, but it was already too late to change my mind.
So, out with the stock Eazi-Start cookers and in with the 569E's (still easy starting design in fact) and lots more runs to fine tune the map. Instead of flashing the entire thing and starting with one of their KH .BOX files for the ECU, Dan elected to tweak the already very well sorted G56 map, as this was the easiest route. After a good 45 minutes of so of minor cafe floor-quakes, the cell went silent and I ventured in to see what was what.....
.... which was a very respectable increase in torque and power across the entire range - particularly below 3000rpm where in part throttle the car feels utterly unstressed and effortless in providing very effective forward thrust. All dan had to do was tweak the AFR's and timing to get the smooth results he was after. The figures speak for themselves and he maintains that they are strong numbers relative to other cars he's had over the months. So that's good.
The drive home was great and the extra urge is now very obvious and the last 20 wet miles were quite entertaining - care required for sure.... The exhaust note is a little harder above 4000rpm, but other than that you'd not know the cams were changed. Overall the engine is smoother throughout the rev-range, much more torquey and it feels 'natural' if that makes sense - completely opposite to the strangled, unnatural setup present from the factory. I am sure MMC had a good reason for stuffing the engine up so fundamentally (and badly, introducing dangerously high cylinder temps and potentially engine damaging levels of detonation on some) - maybe to protect the unwary or inexperienced, maybe the driveline (although plenty of 128cu.in engines out there seem to prove it's OK), but I suspect more to make sure the car is approved for sale globally. Either way, it sure feels good now.
In terms of power, I'm not too fussed about absolute figures, as what's important is before/after on the same dyno on the same day, which I now have. Although I wasn't able to see what my car made as stock on the KH dyno, plenty other 2012/2013 cars have been run up and Dan kindly laid one of those typical stock plots down on my graphs, so I could see the difference.
Stock v's my G56 Stage-1/2 (ie: Filter, pipes and ECU) shows pretty much the same shape, profile and increase as G56 saw on their dyno, whose figures might also be correct and tie up a little more closely to what was advertised by MMC in the first place. Remember that S&S themselves show plots for power of the X-Wedge and they too are closer to MMC numbers than KH, so maybe the KH rollers just read low, relative to other rollers around the place? Not that it matters one jot, as measured increase for a modification is all that matters of course.
You can see that the 569 cams add power/torque everywhere and the car feels like those plots look. Overall I am very happy and for the whole 300 miles travelled, tuned, thrashed, dyno'd and cruised, I averaged 32mpg brim-to-brim. Not half bad if you ask me!
I cannot fault the Krazy Gang at all - they were just what you'd hope a customer focused team to be and they have offered to address any concerns I have as quick as possible, should anything arise. As I've read above, they are clearly good for their word too. Top blokes all round
Seeing as the rumours suggest that MMC are no longer offering Stage Upgrades, I'd not hesitate to steam over to Garage-56 for their Stage-1+ECU and then have the cams installed and setup by KH. That's not to say that the KH kits are any less effective, but by the 'sounds' of things, the G56 pipes are the most practical in terms of power v's noise. Just my view of course...
Happy. Very. Roll on Grindelwald
GREEN - Stock
RED - G56 Stage1/2
BLUE - +569 Cams
