LMR ZR1 R&D Testing
 

We all know that about 12 days ago HP Tuners released the ability to tune the new 2019 ZR1. The DAY that was announced we started the hunt for a R&D car. We flew to Ohio and bought a LMR blue one from Rick Conti (great guy BTW) Check out his VLOG, he invited Steven to his be a guest on his VLOG while he was there picking up the car.

Anyhow enough of the fluff. We got the car home this past Sunday and Monday morning we had already ordered the unlocked ECU from HP tuners and immediately went to work on the car. Our objective for this car is to build it in stages to show the ZR1 aftermarket what each little step offers in the build process.

Our car is a 2019 ZR1 3ZR with track package and 8 speed auto.

Step 1 was to baseline the car.
Step 2 was to tune the car
Step 3 was to put American racing 2 inch headers on the car.
Step 4 (not done yet, but probably pulley change)
Step 5 .....:hide:
Step 6 .....:hide:
:hide:

Have a look at the results below. There is no funny dyno business here. What you see here is what you get. We were SHOCKED the car picked up 40 wheel from just a tune, and we feel there is more in it in that regard also. The car sounds SOOO good with the headers.

Green line is the baseline. Blue line is just a tune. Red line is with AR 2 inch headers. We're hoping with a pulley change we can touch the 800 wheel mark. That would be INCREDIBLE for just a couple simple bolt ons and a tune.

Give us a call at the shop if you have any questions! We have parts in stock for anyone that wants to do a similar build!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...f8adcd8221.png

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2693dd49d2.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...c9b45dc8c3.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...64a7de9d47.jpg


VLOG with Rick Conti when we went to get the car this past weekend. Thanks again Rick!

Oh boy. Subscribed.

Isnt 40 whp with a $2000 tune very little? What am I missing here? I am used to BMW twinturbo piggyback/ecu tunes. Piggy back tunes yielding at least 50-60whp for $300-400 and ecu tunes for 120whp for around $1500-2000 (need to ship it to the tuner etc similar to this one we have here).

Doesnt the stage 1 tune simply increase boost, change fuel trims, and afr to get more power? Or is it how supercharged cars are, they cant pick up so much power like twin turbo v8s do.

The S63tu engine that can be found in M5/M6 will literally pick up 60 whp with a $300 BMS tune that you can install in 15 minutes. The ecu tune is more expensive but you pick up twice as much. If you go catless downpipe route with ecu tune, you pick up another 40whp thats 160whp with the tune.

You guys are swapping pulleys, headers, xpipes, fuel rails, fuel pumps, sounds way too much work and invasive just for 150 more horses.

Again maybe this is my first supercharged car, some of this might be obvious to many of you and I m sorry if I sound stupid. Trying to learn it.

What's difficult is you are comparing different vehicles and different motors. The s63 and m5/m6 that picks up that power are turbo charged. To pick up 75rwhp from headers and a tune is pretty significant. The tune will really be needed and make a large difference with other modifications. It's not really worth it to tune a stock car. The people looking to tune these cars are more than likely going to be adding more modifications as well. Its not the single item that makes a big difference but the combined mods that really add up!

Thank you.

What I am used to with twin turbo cars is you have multiple choices of picking up more power. Stage 1 tunes provide decent (not substantial but decent) gains. Usually around 10-12% gains with a piggy back and around 20% with an ECU tune. Stage 2 tune requires only the downpipes (i.e no cats) and your increase is now around 25% (thats around 560 hp stock to 700-710 hp crank). Only if you are not satisfied with this 25% then you go into more invasive modifications such as new turbos. But even with these new turbos (which will get you to around 50% delta over stock) you are only touching 2 parts total - downpipes and turbos. So thats 2 parts -> 50% increase.

With supercharger setup, you are touching xpipe, headers, pulley, intake, fuel rails, injectors, ported supercharger, throttle body. Thats 8 parts and to me these are quite invasive.

Is there no way to simply “tune” the stock car to get another 125hp at crank? I think to me thats a huge value add.

To me forced induction is forced induction whether its turbocharged or supercharged. Why cant we see similar increases here

The short answer is no. Unfortunately a tune only on this kind of vehicle won’t yield those numbers. While the vehicles you are comparing are forced induction they are still different. A turbo charger is more efficient. It’s driven by the exhaust. Where as a supercharger is belt driven. In this case it takes power to make power. This means that the drag on the engine to spin the blower actually takes power. If I recall I read it takes over 100 horsepower to turn this blower. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. However with a PD blower the power curve is very flat. Full boost comes on quick and carries through the rpm band. On a turbo or centrifugal blower the curve rises with the rpms because the boost increases with higher exhaust flow from the turbo or because the centrifugal blower is being spun faster. I’ve worked on, built, and had all of these types of forced induction. Depending on goals with a car I’d suggest different ones. For me I love the PD blowers because the torque is just plain fun on the street. Hopefully this answers some of your questions.

That's some good stuff :)

thanks it does

New update! She made 800 rwhp with headers, tune, and lower pulley. Simple bolt ons without opening the motor, or without adding meth, or without touching the fuel system.

Any track day outings planned?

Jason

Wow. We’re talking about like $3000 in parts for 800 wheel. The tune is super pricey, but wow that is amazing power and the torque being over 850 ft lbs at 3500 is NUTS

Badass!

Awesome!!!
Thanks for sharing the comparison of different mods.
Very Impressive.

How much boost is this setup making?
I have noticed a few different moded ZR1dyno graphs that show a drop in HP over 6,200hp, any idea what is causing this?
Thanks, Bob

Its like 18-19 psi.

I bet the dip is the high pressure fuel system limit. I bet this is the limit right now without adding a cam or meth or low pressure AUX pump. Or without totally figuring out how to make the port injection do its job.

Thanks