Bama V2 tune and VMP

[Grabber Blue 5.0]

My car must have not gotten the memo

But wasn't your car tuned by someone at Bama that hasn't been around in many years?

 

[Docktour Z]

So I got the VMP tune loaded last night and did some driving for adaptation. My first impressions of the tune is that the power feels more robust with the VMP tune. With Bama the power feels like there is more of it but for a shorter duration of the powerband. What I mainly feel is that the Bama tune has a bigger HP peak number by a small margin but the VMP tune feels like someone took the torque curve and stretched it across the entire powerband. The Bama tune behaves better with Street manners prior to allowing the tune to adapt and part throttle power is more with Bama (feels like throttle command is higher for part throttle values) but the VMP tune has a smoother power delivery. Overall both tunes are fantastic. I think that there is a little power left on the table with both tunes but the base files are damn near perfect. The team at Bama has some ridiculous turn around time where as VMP does not. If time is your deciding factor I would go with Bama. If you have time and want the safe and robust power curve go with VMP. If we ran my car with VMP vs Bama side by side the VMP version would begin pulling immediately since the power onset comes much sooner. The best analogy I can give is that Bama feels like a centrifugal blower in the power delivery while VMP feels like a positive displacement blower.

As far as which tune is staying on my car?

That will be the VMP tune as the car feels to like the VMP tune. That isn't to say Bama isn't just as good. The Bama I have used is nothing of what I have read. The interactions with the entire team were great and informative, the turn around time was non-existent, and the tune performed flawless out of the box. The warranty they offer is awesome too and you should know it is a 3y/36k warranty like your B2B. You wouldn't be wrong in choosing Bama for your tuning needs. I really was impressed with them. The V2 tunes will put Bama on the map, they will refine these tunes to compete with the big names out of the box, and I think the household name tuners should be worried because Bama is to be thrown in the mix with these guys now. I will still run the Bama tune and the VMP tune at the track as well (I never touched the race tune from Bama).

Hopefully I can convince Justin to strap my car down and do some pulls with both tunes. I would also reinstall the stock intake and do a few pulls with the stock airbox and tune vs what can be gained with the JLT and tune. I also will post some logs to show which tune is more refined out of the box.

It is seriously outstanding how the cars personality changes with these simple mods. I am frugal and here's my math:
JLT CF intake: $250
VMP tune: $135
SCT X3: $175
Roush AB: $250
Eibach Springs: $200
Total: $1,010 and the car is entirely different than when I bought it.

 

[Strengthrehab]

So I got the VMP tune loaded last night and did some driving for adaptation. My first impressions of the tune is that the power feels more robust with the VMP tune. With Bama the power feels like there is more of it but for a shorter duration of the powerband. What I mainly feel is that the Bama tune has a bigger HP peak number by a small margin but the VMP tune feels like someone took the torque curve and stretched it across the entire powerband. The Bama tune behaves better with Street manners prior to allowing the tune to adapt and part throttle power is more with Bama (feels like throttle command is higher for part throttle values) but the VMP tune has a smoother power delivery. Overall both tunes are fantastic. I think that there is a little power left on the table with both tunes but the base files are damn near perfect. The team at Bama has some ridiculous turn around time where as VMP does not. If time I'd your deciding factor I would go with Bama. If you have time and want the safe and robust power curve go with VMP. If we ran my car with VMP vs Bama side by side the VMP version would begin pulling immediately since the power onset comes much sooner. The best analogy I can give is that Bama feels like a centrifugal blower in the power delivery while VMP feels like a positive displacement blower.

As far as which tune is staying on my car?

That will be the VMP tune as the car feels to like the VMP tune. That isn't to say Bama isn't just as good. The Bama I have used is nothing of what I have read. The interactions with the entire team were great and informative, the turn around time was non-existent, and the tune performed flawless out of the box. The warranty they offer is awesome too and you should know it is a 3y/36k warranty like your B2B. You wouldn't be wrong in choosing Bama for your tuning needs. I really was impressed with them. The V2 tunes will put Bama on the map, they will refine these tunes to compete with the big names out of the box, and I think the household name tuners should be worried because Bama is to be thrown in the mix with these guys now. I will still run the Bama tune and the VMP tune at the track as well (I never touched the race tune from Bama).

Hopefully I can convince Justin to strap my car down and do some pulls with both tunes. I would also reinstall the stock intake and do a few pulls with the stock airbox and tune vs what can be gained with the JLT and tune. I also will post some logs to show which tune is more refined out of the box.

It is seriously outstanding how the cars personality changes with these simple mods. I am frugal and here's my math:
JLT CF intake: $250
VMP tune: $135
SCT X3: $175
Roush AB: $250
Eibach Springs: $200
Total: $1,010 and the car is entirely different than when I bought it.

Great review. Im looking forward to doing some work to mine too.

 

[Docktour Z]

Great review. Im looking forward to doing some work to mine too.

It's amazing the foundation that Ford has put in the Mustang GT. I come from driving a 550RWHP '96 Cobra, a 300AWHP S4, a 440RWHP' 03 Cobra, and a 300RWHP 3V GT... This 5.0 engine feels better than anything I have driven.

 

[fdjizm]

But wasn't your car tuned by someone at Bama that hasn't been around in many years?

Kris Talalt, last revision in February, running a V2 race tune.
I do keep my older tune in the tuner, I kind of like the pedal ramping on it but they perform pretty much the same at the track.
The beauty of tunes for life

So I got the VMP tune loaded last night and did some driving for adaptation. My first impressions of the tune is that the power feels more robust with the VMP tune. With Bama the power feels like there is more of it but for a shorter duration of the powerband. What I mainly feel is that the Bama tune has a bigger HP peak number by a small margin but the VMP tune feels like someone took the torque curve and stretched it across the entire powerband. The Bama tune behaves better with Street manners prior to allowing the tune to adapt and part throttle power is more with Bama (feels like throttle command is higher for part throttle values) but the VMP tune has a smoother power delivery. Overall both tunes are fantastic. I think that there is a little power left on the table with both tunes but the base files are damn near perfect. The team at Bama has some ridiculous turn around time where as VMP does not. If time I'd your deciding factor I would go with Bama. If you have time and want the safe and robust power curve go with VMP. If we ran my car with VMP vs Bama side by side the VMP version would begin pulling immediately since the power onset comes much sooner. The best analogy I can give is that Bama feels like a centrifugal blower in the power delivery while VMP feels like a positive displacement blower.

As far as which tune is staying on my car?

That will be the VMP tune as the car feels to like the VMP tune. That isn't to say Bama isn't just as good. The Bama I have used is nothing of what I have read. The interactions with the entire team were great and informative, the turn around time was non-existent, and the tune performed flawless out of the box. The warranty they offer is awesome too and you should know it is a 3y/36k warranty like your B2B. You wouldn't be wrong in choosing Bama for your tuning needs. I really was impressed with them. The V2 tunes will put Bama on the map, they will refine these tunes to compete with the big names out of the box, and I think the household name tuners should be worried because Bama is to be thrown in the mix with these guys now. I will still run the Bama tune and the VMP tune at the track as well (I never touched the race tune from Bama).

Hopefully I can convince Justin to strap my car down and do some pulls with both tunes. I would also reinstall the stock intake and do a few pulls with the stock airbox and tune vs what can be gained with the JLT and tune. I also will post some logs to show which tune is more refined out of the box.

It is seriously outstanding how the cars personality changes with these simple mods. I am frugal and here's my math:
JLT CF intake: $250
VMP tune: $135
SCT X3: $175
Roush AB: $250
Eibach Springs: $200
Total: $1,010 and the car is entirely different than when I bought it.

Nice honest review, it's good to hear from someone who is not swayed by what the internet thinks and speaks on what the tunes ACTUALLY DO.

 

[Redline727]

For me it's all about attention to detail and customer service. I too switched from Bama before they made the tuner change. I since have went with Mike Rousch and would never look back. I'm one of those you have one time to make a first impression kind of guys. I only expect your best effort each and every time I deal with you. And I will be your customer for life. Mike is spread pretty thin being a one man show and still manages to give great customer service and impeccable tunes. And the fact he even takes the time to tune cold starts shows his attention to detail. So to me I want someone who understands the small details make BIG difference.

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[Unreal]

Mike is amazing. For a NA tune, and especially for an Auto tune he is the only one I would use.

 

[Justin00Stang]

Thanks for the feedback Docktour_Z. Since VMP is a manufacturer and retailer of positive displacement superchargers, I find it quite funny that our NA tune feels like one.

That is the beauty of the 5.0L, the TI-VCT allows us to optimize power delivery over a wide variety of operating conditions. We take full advantage of its capabilities. TI-VCT is one of the reasons Rebecca Starkey racing can run 8s in mostly stock 5.0l aluminator with a VMP TVS supercharger and still idle smooth and knock down 20mpg on the highway.

 

[Docktour Z]

Thanks for the feedback Docktour_Z. Since VMP is a manufacturer and retailer of positive displacement superchargers, I find it quite funny that our NA tune feels like one.

That is the beauty of the 5.0L, the TI-VCT allows us to optimize power delivery over a wide variety of operating conditions. We take full advantage of its capabilities. TI-VCT is one of the reasons Rebecca Starkey racing can run 8s in mostly stock 5.0l aluminator with a VMP TVS supercharger and still idle smooth and knock down 20mpg on the highway.

The tune is running fantastic and the power doesn't stop until I push the clutch in. Whatever values your commanding for part-throttle TB position is making the JLT whistle way louder than the Bama tune. The car definitely feels like an Eaton swapped Mach 1 because they're around the same power level. We should try to set up some dyno time so you can throw some bonafide results on your website of what your tune actually gains, how the stock log looks, and how gorgeous the torque curve is. Breaking lose in 2nd gear with 285's and 3.31's still surprises me. This power plant is definitely a huge step in the right direction for Ford.

 

[Kuplex]

I think Bama is fine for minor bolt-ons but then again I'm not so sure... I have a friend who is on his 4th-5th tune from Bama and they can't seem to get it right. Just a simple bolt-on 3V, has all kinds of drive ability issues.

My Doug era Bama tune is great and what I ran for a long time. My more recent Bama ones have drive-ability issues like very twitchy throttle, an idle that lasts like 5 minutes at 1500rpm, etc. Decided to try their new V2 tunes and the car would stall, buck, etc. Bama sent me revised tunes within 48 hours but my tune from Justin arrived in the meantime (I had his tunes on my previous 95 and 04). It's been so great that I haven't even bothered with the revised tunes yet. The power and driveability is much improved. My backup "Oh shit, they don't have 93!?" tune is a Doug-era 91 tune.

 

[Docktour Z]

I got the datalogs for the VMP tune and sent them over to Justin. Tomorrow the car will have the Bama tune loaded up and I will datalog the Bama tune the same way. I will be dyno'ing the car on Friday with most likely the VMP tune.

 

[Docktour Z]

Turns out the Bama tune is almost spot on safety wise. Did several logs to check knock and timing. The VMP tune is making power but I am getting a little more knock than the Bama (5 vs 2-1). Looking forward to revisions and putting her on the dyno this Friday