Opinions on closed loop conversion

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Opinions on closed loop conversion

Postby ashm » Thu 03.10.2013, 13:44

Afternoon all!
Having worked furiously to get my current elan back on the road, I've now dropped it off at Lakeside Engineering in Surrey for a cambelt change (incidentally, highly recommended based on my few experiences with them and they clearly know Elans inside out).
I spent a while talking them through the various modifications that have been made, and when I mentioned the closed loop conversion, the chap pulled a face and asked "why would you would want to do that?" I explained my rationale was that it saves fuel, removes the requirement to periodically set up the O2 pot, and reduces stress over emissions come MOT time. He said "fair enough, but you're storing up problems for yourself!" He said they've gotten very good at tuning the SE and never really have issues with emissions tests. As an aside, in this case I wonder if they'd be prepared to run a tuning class for the LEC membership?!

I've now done the conversion on two cars, however I haven't yet run a converted car for a long time. I believe a few people here have been running conversions for some time though - so I thought I'd ask:
- How has it been working out for you? Are you still getting an improvement in fuel economy etc?
- Any reliability issues?
- What opinions (if any) have you gotten from your own Lotus specialists?

Cheers,
Adam
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Re: Opinions on closed loop conversion

Postby GeoffSmith » Thu 03.10.2013, 13:48

My only question is "what problems?".

The engine runs a lot cleaner/more efficient off boost and it is over-fuelled in exactly the same way as open loop configurations under boost, so I can't see what problems he is worried about. I would have thought the problems would have been going to open loop.
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Re: Opinions on closed loop conversion

Postby ashm » Thu 03.10.2013, 13:56

GeoffSmith wrote:My only question is "what problems?".

The engine runs a lot cleaner/more efficient off boost and it is over-fuelled in exactly the same way as open loop configurations under boost, so I can't see what problems he is worried about. I would have thought the problems would have been going to open loop.


I got the impression he considers lambda sensors to be unreliable and overcomplicated. Which I suppose they might be when compared to having a few little screws you can twiddle to set everything up if you get good results, but then I've found the latter approach to be quite complicated and unpredictable.

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Re: Opinions on closed loop conversion

Postby ColinB » Tue 06.05.2014, 12:52

I agree with Geoff - I did mine about 5 years ago. The mixture is spot on and no probs at MOT time.

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Re: Opinions on closed loop conversion

Postby JohnB » Tue 06.05.2014, 13:15

Just done the closed loop conversion on mine and it seems to run smoother and without the pops and bangs on overun I had before.
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