[vTuga]

Hi everyone, I've just ordered a Ventura tuning box for my G20 330e B48B20B, and would like to know if there are any feedback of owners of G20 BMWs who have this solution in their cars.

I have a draggy on the way too, so I'l be sure to make a review with real life performance numbers.

Anyone has a ventura on their G20?

[mike@x-ph.com]

Let us know how it goes

[VipinLJ]

I don't think anyone here has one on their G20. I believe I've read about people running it in Audis (iirc) and they were happy with it.

So looking forward to dragy numbers!

[vTuga]

I've been in contact with them for the last couple of days and they have been very responsive to my questions over email.

On their website they claim an increase from 292 to 354 hp on the 330e G20 and a decrease of 1,1s in 0-100kph, but according to them that's with high octane fuel (Ron 102). With Ron 98 (map 6) the increase should be 48 hp (340hp), and around 10hp less with Ron 95 (map 5).

They say they do this kind of tuning on 3-series every day, and that this B48 engine is very strong and reliable.

I'll keep you updated.

[VipinLJ]

Yes sir. Looking forward to it! And I just realised you had the 330e. I thought it was the 330i! It should put out great numbers.

[EDMG20]

Originally Posted by vTuga

Hi everyone, I've just ordered a Ventura tuning box for my G20 330e B48B20B, and would like to know if there are any feedback of owners of G20 BMWs who have this solution in their cars.

I have a draggy on the way too, so I'l be sure to make a review with real life performance numbers.

Anyone has a ventura on their G20?

I am also looking into this, how much did you pay for the tune box?!

[vTuga]

Originally Posted by EDMG20

I am also looking into this, how much did you pay for the tune box?!

499€+VAT (21%) + 22€ shipping. Total: 626€

Not the cheapest box but the fact it is made by a company who specializes in BMW tuning (and 3 other german brands), and has 4 connections instead of 3, I think it’s worth it. I had a Racechip ordered but canceled because it is very generic and I don’t trust their stated gains. JB4 might be a little more versatile but I don’t have easy access to it and I don’t intend to thinker around with the values, so I prefer something more plug and play.

[EDMG20]

Originally Posted by vTuga

499€+VAT (21%) + 22€ shipping. Total: 626€

Not the cheapest box but the fact it is made by a company who specializes in BMW tuning (and 3 other german brands), and has 4 connections instead of 3, I think it’s worth it. I had a Racechip ordered but canceled because it is very generic and I don’t trust their stated gains. JB4 might be a little more versatile but I don’t have easy access to it and I don’t intend to thinker around with the values, so I prefer something more plug and play.

That is awesome, I'm the same way. I have Bootmod3 and a JB plus. I'm looking for something more plug and play like the JB+. BM3 is unusable now because of the BMW software updates...

[Knifeedge2k1]

Originally Posted by vTuga

499€+VAT (21%) + 22€ shipping. Total: 626€

Not the cheapest box but the fact it is made by a company who specializes in BMW tuning (and 3 other german brands), and has 4 connections instead of 3, I think it’s worth it. I had a Racechip ordered but canceled because it is very generic and I don’t trust their stated gains. JB4 might be a little more versatile but I don’t have easy access to it and I don’t intend to thinker around with the values, so I prefer something more plug and play.

Which 4 connections?

[VipinLJ]

Originally Posted by Knifeedge2k1

Which 4 connections?

Camshaft, fuel pressure, turbo pressure 1&2 as per the link below.

https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...72&postcount=7

[Knifeedge2k1]

Doesn't seem as proven as other systems and the attached link has some questionable post behavior which is very fishy

[VipinLJ]

Originally Posted by Knifeedge2k1

Doesn't seem as proven as other systems and the attached link has some questionable post behavior which is very fishy

Yup. Like I mentioned before, I've only read about a few people running Ventura on their Audis. And they seemed to be happy with it but no data/dragy to back it up. This was years ago. But then I don't blame them completely. I was in the same boat with Racechip. My butt dyno threw me off completely and it didn't help that the A4 was already a very fast car. It was only when I drove my brother's A5 with a JB4 that I realised how good it (the JB4) was.

Problem with JB4 is the availability outside America and shipping costs can be prohibitive.

[vTuga]

So I got the ventura tuning device installed today. Had some trouble unpluging the connectors in the engine, but I managed to do it eventually. No check engine lights or faults, so that is good.

I tested it a bit, and even though I felt a small increase in torque in the low end, it's not that noticeable of an increase, honestly.

I tested with dragy too. Conditions were not ideal as it has been raining the last few days, so the road wasn't completely dry, which could affect grip. Stock runs were done in a different day, in the same place, but with dryer conditions.

0-100 kph (no launch control or brake boost)
stock 5.52
tuned 5.35

1/4 mile
stock 13.50
tuned 13.34

100-200 kph
stock 15.65 (corrected 15.51)
tuned 14.47 (corrected 14.17)

I didn't open the tuning box so I assume it was in the default map (I think map 5, which is meant for Ron 95 and up). I used Ron 98. I'll try map 6 in the next couple of days to see if I can improve results further.

Some screenshots:

[EDMG20]

I find that a little disappointing.. I feel like with these tuning boxes they should feel more special on the car compared to a JB+ or a piggyback tune, these improvements are similar to that of a JB+2. How does the car feel overall? I know with piggybacks there is a dip in performance after later gears. Thanks

[vTuga]

Originally Posted by EDMG20

I find that a little disappointing.. I feel like with these tuning boxes they should feel more special on the car compared to a JB+ or a piggyback tune, these improvements are similar to that of a JB+2. How does the car feel overall? I know with piggybacks there is a dip in performance after later gears. Thanks

The car feels awesome, like in stock. So in that regard it's great. It's just the performance improvement that's a little underwhelming.

Supposedly map 5 should give about 40 hp more. Is that consistent with a reduction of 0.16s in 1/4 mile time?

[EDMG20]

Originally Posted by vTuga

The car feels awesome, like in stock. So in that regard it's great. It's just the performance improvement that's a little underwhelming.

Supposedly map 5 should give about 40 hp more. Is that consistent with a reduction of 0.16s in 1/4 mile time?

The car might need some time to adjust to the tune box, I'm glad your car feels good though!

[VipinLJ]

That's not bad to begin with. Not sure how the maps work on the Ventura box. But yes. If you have better fuel, you could try moving up to the next map?

Also, to roughly estimate your HP, you should use your trap speed at the quarter mile and not the time you did. They say a 1MPH increase in your trap speed can correspond to roughly 10WHP. Obviously there are other factors to consider (like the weight of the car, actual HP of the car to begin with (law of diminishing gains), drivetrain, transmission type etc). But if your trap speed has increased from, say, 100MPH to 104MPH, then the whp has roughly increased by 40.

I'm sure the more knowledgeable members here will chime in. If they say I'm wrong, don't flame me and just disregard the entire post

[vTuga]

Originally Posted by VipinLJ

That's not bad to begin with. Not sure how the maps work on the Ventura box. But yes. If you have better fuel, you could try moving up to the next map?

Also, to roughly estimate your HP, you should use your trap speed at the quarter mile and not the time you did. They say a 1MPH increase in your trap speed can correspond to roughly 10WHP. Obviously there are other factors to consider (like the weight of the car, actual HP of the car to begin with (law of diminishing gains), drivetrain, transmission type etc). But if your trap speed has increased from, say, 100MPH to 104MPH, then the whp has roughly increased by 40.

I'm sure the more knowledgeable members here will chime in. If they say I'm wrong, don't flame me and just disregard the entire post

The box comes stock in map 5. They advise map 5 for Ron 95 fuel (91 octane in US), and map 6 for Ron 98 (93 octane in US). They don't reveal boost numbers, but from other sources online I think map 6 is +5 psi.

I talked with them and they said the transmission needs some time to adjust, so I'll try again in the next few days. Also, the road conditions were not completely the same, so that can have some impact also (today the road was not completely dry like it was when I measured stock times).

As to trap speeds in 1/4 mile, in stock it was 101.92 mph vs tuned 103.65 mph. So a 1.73 mph increase. According to that rule of thumb it would be equivalent to 17.3 whp gain.

Lets see if it improves giving it time, and adjusting it to map 6.

[VipinLJ]

Originally Posted by vTuga

The box comes stock in map 5. They advise map 5 for Ron 95 fuel (91 octane in US), and map 6 for Ron 98 (93 octane in US). They don't reveal boost numbers, but from other sources online I think map 6 is +5 psi.

I talked with them and they said the transmission needs some time to adjust, so I'll try again in the next few days. Also, the road conditions were not completely the same, so that can have some impact also (today the road was not completely dry like it was when I measured stock times).

As to trap speeds in 1/4 mile, in stock it was 101.92 mph vs tuned 103.65 mph. So a 1.73 mph increase. According to that rule of thumb it would be equivalent to 17.3 whp gain.

Lets see if it improves giving it time, and adjusting it to map 6.

Yes. Definitely give it some time. Even my car takes like a day or two (with my limited driving) to adjust to changes I make (whether it is changes on map 6 or whether I switch to another map). Usually the changes are subtle and happens over a few miles. So you might not notice it. But I believe those changes definitely do happen.

And also. Wait for the conditions to become similar to the day you did the stock run. Wet roads/cold tyres/temperature plays a big part. Also the level of fuel and stuff in the trunk of your car. Best would be to do a map 5 dragy run after a few days. And then immediately go to stock and do another run then.

[vTuga]

So I have a few updates.

Got a Check Engine Light next day after installing the box. Connected to carly and it showed two error codes that couldn't be cleared related with short circuit in the boost and camshaft sensors. Talked with Ventura about it, and they very quickly figured out what was going on. There were two wires crossed/switched in the connection to the camshaft sensor of the ventura box (how they shipped a product with switched wires is beyond me, specially after being told they test the product 7 times before shipping).

They guided me to switch the wires back to the correct order. Apparently that was causing the car not to have the expected performance gain. After switching the wires there was no new check engine light, but the codes are still there. They reassured me they would eventually disappear in the next couple days. I hope so.

It's been raining for the last few days, so I couldn't really test it properly. I've been having results all over the place. Results of 100-200 from a best of 13.69s to 15.57s.

Because of the wet road I'll leave the 0-100kph and 1/4 mile to another time with better conditions.

[VipinLJ]

Originally Posted by vTuga

So I have a few updates.

Got a Check Engine Light next day after installing the box. Connected to carly and it showed two error codes that couldn't be cleared related with short circuit in the boost and camshaft sensors. Talked with Ventura about it, and they very quickly figured out what was going on. There were two wires crossed/switched in the connection to the camshaft sensor of the ventura box (how they shipped a product with switched wires is beyond me, specially after being told they test the product 7 times before shipping).

They guided me to switch the wires back to the correct order. Apparently that was causing the car not to have the expected performance gain. After switching the wires there was no new check engine light, but the codes are still there. They reassured me they would eventually disappear in the next couple days. I hope so.

It's been raining for the last few days, so I couldn't really test it properly. I've been having results all over the place. Results of 100-200 from a best of 13.69s to 15.57s.

Because of the wet road I'll leave the 0-100kph and 1/4 mile to another time with better conditions.

Did you try clearing the codes?

And 100-200 in 13.69s is very good! I'm at 12.xxs now with my JB4. Which is very fast for a stage 1.

[vTuga]

Originally Posted by VipinLJ

Did you try clearing the codes?

And 100-200 in 13.69s is very good! I'm at 12.xxs now with my JB4. Which is very fast for a stage 1.

Yes I cleared them several times, but they can't be cleared, they come back immediately. But at least the CEL disappeared, which is good.

And yes, 13.69 is very good for 100-200, and corrected to inclination it was even better, 13.40. And it was in map 5. Map 6 should be even better. I'm gonna wait for better weather and road conditions to do a more in depth test.