The Ford Raptor 3.5L EcoBoost was a game changing truck when it came out in 2017. With 450 horsepower and full off-road racing suspension setup, this truck became the flagship which all other manufactures tried to copy. From 2017-2021 the Raptor was a tuners dream platform. tons of bolt-on parts for horsepower and the ability to tune the vehicles ECU where in some cases you could get nearly 80hp. In fact on our very own 2020 Ford Raptor we did the Garrett bolt-on turbo upgrades and tuned the truck for 600 horsepower. When the updated Raptor came out in 2022, a lot started to change and one of those was with the ECU. HP Tuners is able to crack the security but not on the newer 2023 and up Raptor (as of 4/2025). So ECU flashing these trucks is not easy or possible in some cases. Even more of an issue is the vehicle warranty. These trucks have so many electronics controlling them that an ECU flash is an instant red flag to void the warranty.
This is where the VR Tuned ECU Tuning Box Kit comes into play. A tuning box is a device that plugs into vehicle sensors in the engine bay to change the signals and deliver an increase in horsepower and torque. Made in Germany, the tuning box features a high performance processor that is bluetooth controlled to work with the ECU in making power. The tuning box connects to the vehicles boost pressure and manifold pressure sensors. Once connected, the box takes over these readings and the factory ECU compliments it by adjusting fuel and timing for the boost levels it sees. Since you are not flashing or altering the factory ECU, this leaves ZERO imprint on the ECU where you do not have to worry about warranty issues. Should your vehicle have an issue or you want to take it in for service, unplug the harness and remove the box. NO TRACE!
The tuning box has preloaded 7 stages of maps. Each one of these maps is dyno tuned and tested for the vehicle. The higher the number, the stronger the map. Typically these are directly related to fuel quality and environmental conditions. If you are running 93 octane or higher in cool temps, running the tuning box on 6 or 7 is very effective. For those running 91 octane and warmer temps, we recommend setting the box at 5 or 6. You can pre set these on the IOS or Android App as Eco, Sport, or Race as well. If you turn the box off from the app, then the vehicle will perform like stock.
Even though we have dyno tested these before, we wanted to run our truck again for this video. We use a Mustang Dyno Here in Arizona and have 91 octane. These trucks are rather long so its hard to get them secured on the dyno. With the 10 speed gearbox, we like to run the truck in 5th gear. However 6 or 7th might be better for 1:1. Just going 115mph in a truck on the dyno isn’t always the most comforting thing! We were really interested to see the torque improvements as unlike a car, we are not doing to much 60-130mph runs :). So we decided on our dyno to run short tests from 2500-4000rpm. Where the turbos are spooling the truck picked up massive gains in torque of nearly 90ft/lbs and about 50rwhp. Over the years we have learned that dynos are not the most important measurement as is real world testing. Different dynos can read differently and there are settings to manipulate the outcome. As well, if you do not have the right fans on the intercooler, intake, radiator, then your numbers can be altered. So we also tested the tuning box with the Dragy GPS device.
Having learned from our 600hp Big Turbo Ford Raptor, to get the best results you need to put the vehicle in 4A and do a little bit of brake boosting. I am sure if you tweak tire pressures and not do back to back to back runs with the right temps, your 0-60 results could be better. But what matters is the delta as long as you are keeping everything else consistent. We did 3 runs of stock and tuned. Our best stock run was 6.22sec where our best VR Tuned setting 6 run was 5.77sec. At the end of the day, the tuning box gave us 0.50 seconds quicker 0-60 which is very noticeable!
Watch the entire installation and testing of the VR Tuned Ford Raptor Gen 3 Tuning Box on our Video Below.
Previous testing on a 2022 Ford Raptor Below.
