There is a very good explanation of the various forms of "VE" (used very loosely) on redhardsupra's blog site. Don't think of the VE as only volumetric efficiency. It has several other forms and units. I still haven't made complete sense of the tables we currently have, but I will continue to work on it.

I still say the VE tables are not arbitrary or the open-loop fueling would be way off (if you use the % maximum value). I can change the PE AFR and see it reflected in the wideband reading. There are several places where the commanded and actual are not as close as I would like them.