500+HP BRaptor | Custom Tuning from 5 Star Tuning and HP Tuners
This is the day we’ve been waiting for. True custom tuning is now available for the Bronco Raptor, as well as the rest of the Bronco line-up. 5 Star Tuning and HP-Tuners have collaborated to science out a way to break a factory Ford ECU’s encryption, then upload a custom tune file to it. Once the encryption is broken, the BRaptor can be tuned with an HP-Tuners RTD or MPVI just like Fords of years past. You know once we heard about this performance break-through we would have to get in on the action, so that’s exactly what we did.
We loaded up the SVTP Bronco Raptor and headed out the 5 Star Tuning in Florence, SC so Josh, Brandon, and the rest of the 5 Star Crew could work their magic. The first step was to use a Ford FDRS (Ford Diagnostic & Repair System) equipped laptop to draw the factory calibration from the ECU. While Brandon was doing that, Josh was busy “decrypting” a brand new Ford ECU. From there, Brandon swapped the computers and loaded our factory BRaptor calibration into the new ECU. Then it was time to upload the 5 Star Tuning HP-Tuners 93 octane calibration and spin the rollers.
This was a journey we were excited to take. Super stoked we can finally start custom tuning these new Fords.
As soon as we made the first pull we knew the 3.0L EcoBoost was making more power than it ever had before. You could hear the turbos spooling harder than usual. Twenty-two pounds of boost will do that. The result was 458.9HP and 540.9TQ, which is basically the same as my Kenne Bell Supercharged F-150 Lightning. Times have definitely changed. While that number is impressive, it could have potentially been a bit higher. The ECU appeared to be detecting knock, and was pulling a couple degrees of timing. It seems the 93 octane I had in the tank may not have been as sweet as we had hoped, but that wasn’t going to stop us from looking for more power.
Tools of the trade.
Brandon taking care of business on the tuning front.
5 Star had a one of S&B Filters new cold air intake systems for the Bronco Raptor sitting on the shelf, so we absolutely had to try that. Past experience on the drag strip provided us with datalogs showing that we had reached the point of needing more airflow than the factory intake could provide without becoming a restrictive. We just added more power, so we know we had just made that problem worse. The S&B CAI was definitely the answer we were looking for.
We’ve used lots of S&B products in the past, and this intake system lived up to the solid quality we’ve come to expect from the brand. It fit perfectly into place of the old system without the need to modify any factory components, and looked great once installed. Due to the complexity of the system, which replaces both turbo intake pipes, it takes about an hour to complete the installation. It’s definitely worth the time and money spent. With the intake in place and the 5 Star tune loaded up we spun the dyno rollers again, this time cranking out 466.8HP and 542.1 TQ. The majority of the power gain is at the upper end of the rev range where the turbos are drawing the most air. I believe this power difference would be even greater in the real world out on the track.
The S&B kit all laid out. It's a nice quality unit, and needed at our power level.
It's easy to see why the S&B parts are less restrictive than the factory pieces.
The end product is a great fitting kit that looks awesome under the hood and makes real world power gains.
However, we kept running into a tickle of detonation which was costing us 2 degrees of timing. At these boost levels those 2 degrees could easily translate to 20+HP being left on the table. We weren’t 100% sure the timing issue was fuel related, as false knock from exhaust components could definitely be in play, but we had a theory on how we could help narrow down the possibilities.
Josh had a can of Boostane laying around, so we added just a skosh of happy juice to the tank. After a bit of manual mixing (aka, rocking the Bronco back-and-forth) we ran out for lunch to let things settle out. Once we were back we ran the BRaptor for about 10 miles on the dyno to make sure the juiced up fuel had made it to the rail. Then it was time for a pull, and we were not disappointed with the results. The 5 Star Tuned BRaptor laid down 503.2HP and 562.1TQ. Not only did we gain back the timing we had been consistently losing, the ECU added a couple more degrees on top of that. I think it’s safe to say we needed better quality fuel to take advantage of the tune.
Just a sip of Boostane made all the difference in the world.
That's a torque gain you can feel.
The difference a few degrees of timing up top can make on a boosted engine is massive.
These little guys put in some work today.
The 5 Star crew have a preferred gas station near the shop that has a high turn-over rate on their fuel, which has shown to be more consistent for them. The next time we come out to dyno test the Raptor we’ll roll in on fumes and fill up at that station to see if we can duplicate those results.
Ultimately, a 500+RWHP BRaptor is insanely fun to drive on the street. It pulls much harder up top, but I think the most exhilarating part of the experience is the transition into high boost once the turbos really light off. The soft suspension squats, the nose goes up in the air, and the 5,000 brick launches like it’s been fired out of a cannon. I can’t wait to get it to the track again. Unbelievably, it’s been almost a year since we made our record breaking run at Summit Motorsports Park and I think we can now drop that number significantly. More on that in the future, and you find it posted right here on SVTP.
5 Star Tuning
HP Tuners
S&B Filters
-SID297
