ESM Chips - Performance & discussion

[ESM]

I'm changing ISPs on the 27th and so my pipex e.mail account will become defunct. I'll post up the new address when its set up.

[mickmick]

got my chip, not yet managed to do a scan run yet, might be doing that tonight on my way to a poker game

not 100% sure but i think i might be running a little rough since fitment, will do a scan run and post it up for the scan experts to look at

Mick

[tigerdog]

Alan and friends,

I understand "cold start to fans" is one easy scan to undertake and very self explanatory. Other than this, what are the most useful scans to have on record? Also, what is the safest method for taking a useful scan without an assistant in the car?

Please advise.

[ESM]

TigerDog,

It depends what you are trying to get out of it really. If you are trying to diagnose a problem then inducing the problem while logging is good. If you are interested in performance 30-70 runs (in 3rd) are a favourite.

MickMick,

Is the rough running at idle, under boost or other? If its under boost occasionally people find that smaller gapped or esoteric (iridium) spark-plugs are needed to get the spark to jump at the higher cylinder pressure. The problem manifests as a high boost misfire. Its also worth checking the timing.

[tigerdog]

If you are interested in performance 30-70 runs (in 3rd) are a favourite.

Sounds like a starting point. SO: I'm in the car solo, laptop in the passenger seat. Can I simply start logging at a stop, then let logging run while I accelerate up to 30, do a couple of runs then stop logging at a safe stop? Or do I have to trigger the logs while driving at 30 then untrigger at 70? I'm unclear on the capacity of an ElanScan log file. I'm in need of simple step-by-step instructions to gathering data whilst not killing myself in the process.

[mickmick]

yeah, its under boost conditions, mostly in 5th gear

couldnt scan last night as the kids wanted my laptop to play club-effing-penguin!!!!

i'm soft as fck really you know

i will get a scan done soon tho as i have to test out the adaptor Geoff sent me.

and i havent changed/checked the plugs since i bought the car

Mick

[GeoffSmith]

If you are interested in performance 30-70 runs (in 3rd) are a favourite.

Sounds like a starting point. SO: I'm in the car solo, laptop in the passenger seat. Can I simply start logging at a stop, then let logging run while I accelerate up to 30, do a couple of runs then stop logging at a safe stop? Or do I have to trigger the logs while driving at 30 then untrigger at 70? I'm unclear on the capacity of an ElanScan log file. I'm in need of simple step-by-step instructions to gathering data whilst not killing myself in the process.

Yes, do it safely. I've produces some very big logs (half an hour) but ES does cope, perhaps a bit slower than usual.

[tigerdog]

Yes, do it safely. I've produces some very big logs (half an hour) but ES does cope, perhaps a bit slower than usual.

Thanks, Geoff! You've cleared up my question. Now to dust off the car and go drive a bit

[knoxmotorsports]

Our customer (Steve Matthews on this forum) strapped his car to a Dynojet this past weekend during a get together of ours. He has a bright red '91 Turbo (USA spec), and from memory, his mods include a full sport exhaust with downpipe and no catalytic convertors, stock turbo, stock injectors, a cone filter/intake, and mountain chips (Everest, currently).

The last time we dyno'd his car, we were a bit disappointed with the results... roughly 145whp/135wtq. Boost response sucked and the car was rather doggish around town...slow to spool. We poked our heads under the bonnet, and changed some things around, including replacing a pair of crimped boost reference hoses going to the BCS (the most likely cause of our disappointing results), and got the boost to come on strong and early. He now consistently lights the tires up all the way through first and second gears!

The results from this weekend were pretty good, and certainly better than I expected based on the mountain chips website documentation (of course, all dynos are different, and UK dyno operators have a penchant for scaling results back to their precious "bee-haitch-pees" to simulate power to the crank (which is silly, and a waste of time/excuse to make you think your car is more powerful than it really is)). We ended up with 194 whp and 176 wlbft at a maximum boost north of 14.6psi (cold day, near sea-level, referenced at the intake manifold). We ended the pulls at 7000 (from memory), but it held power all the way up to that point. 90% of peak torque was available across a very broad range. This is good for drivability.

Some thoughts:
The tune was pig-rich in boost, the boost peaked at 3200rpm (which is NICE to have that spool all-in early in the rpm range). AFRs coming into boost were pretty good, going from 14-15:1 at tip in to roughly 11.5 around the boost peak. Torque actually peaked a little before 4000rpm, but the torque graph showed a bit of a dip between boost peak and tq peak, indicating the motor could be leaner or run more timing. Our wideband was reading AFRs south of 11:1 from 4000rpm to about 6200, after which point it leaned out a touch to 11.7-ish, holding to redline.

For a small-bore turbo motor with 1.0 bar or more boost pressure, I like to run around 12.0:1 or a touch richer at boost peak (which is usually pretty close to torque peak, where the engine reaches peak cylinder pressure), and then run 12.5-12.8:1 to redline. If we could get a 2.5 or 3bar map sensor into this thing, we could lean the mixture out ourselves by simply cranking the boost up . I think that we would find a pretty happy medium (generalizing) at 17-18psi, but I'd need to run some calculations to find when this turbo is out of its efficiency range to be certain. Steve wants something north of 200whp but south of 300whp, so I don't see why we couldn't get close with just a little more boost and a little leaner tune.

He wants to trade in his everest setup for a switcher, we'll see if we can get to our goal.

Will try to have him post scans or something of his runs.

We don't have an elan scan to check vitals, but there was no knock, ping, or detonation. But we are planning to get him one soon.

[Blue_Bullet]

I am thinking of upgrading from Everest to the V5 Switcher chip in near future, but i was looking at the various programs and thinking how the hell am I going to memorize all those numbers and settings???

1. Garage mode 9929 (0.4bar maximum boost)
2. Stock 9929 (as Lotus released)
3. Kilimanjaro 9929 V4 (0.8 bar maximum boost)
4. Everest 9929 V4 (0.9 bar maximum boost)
5. Elysium 9929 V4 (0.95 bar maximum boost)
6. Kilimanjaro 9929 V5 (0.8 bar maximum boost)
7. Everest 9929 V5 (0.9 bar maximum boost)
8. Elysium 9929 V5 (0.95 bar maximum boost)
9. Garage mode 9930 (0.4bar maximum boost)
10. Stock 9930 (as Lotus released)
11. Kilimanjaro 9930 V4 (0.8 bar maximum boost)
12. Everest 9930 V4 (0.9 bar maximum boost)
13. Elysium 9930 V4 (0.95 bar maximum boost)
14. Kilimanjaro 9930 V5 (0.8 bar maximum boost)
15. Everest 9930 V5 (0.9 bar maximum boost)
16. Elysium 9930 V5 (0.95 bar maximum boost)

So I was thinking maybe a metal plate or laminated card/credit card could be made up to put behind the Sun visor or next to the Lotus By Design Badge or Something!
Has this already been done?

Whats your thoughts plz?

[rip]

I doubt you'll need a label, BB.
I can't remember the difference between 9929 & 9930. I think this may be something to do with emissions, so you may want to leave this until MOT time to bother with I think it tells you the difference on ESM's website.

That cuts the options in half.

Next, experiment with the 4 different settings, stock, Kili, Everest & Elysium & remember that they go in that order. You will probably find one you like & stick with it. Finally I am not quite sure of the diffences between v4 & v5 but seem to recall that these are very marginal. v5 has smaller safety margins so should be slighly more economical but I'm not sure you will notice any performance difference.

[Blue_Bullet]

Oh....

But you still have to know the values for 0 - 8 settings for a 9929 and 9 - 16 for a 9930 correct?

[lotos]

I have also read that ESM is happy to program it with whatever programs you want - so potentially you could pick 4 program you want (Valet, Kilo, Everest, Elysium) and simply reapeat them a few times each. (I do the same with the AM stations on my car radio, I only listen to three so I repeat them twice and it cycles through)

[Blue_Bullet]

OK thanks for information!

So I would need 5

1: Garage........................6: Kilimanjaro V5
2: Standard V4..................7: Everest V5
3: Kilimanjaro V4...............8: Elysium V5
4: Everest v4
5: Elysium v4

Yes that makes it a lot more simple, but would you not want to toggle between V4 and V5 or does that make no difference?

Still thinking it would be cool to have a small placard with all 8 settings for user information!

[Elanlover]

OK thanks for information!

So I would need 5

1: Garage........................6: Kilimanjaro V5
2: Standard V4..................7: Everest V5
3: Kilimanjaro V4...............8: Elysium V5
4: Everest v4
5: Elysium v4

Yes that makes it a lot more simple, but would you not want to toggle between V4 and V5 or does that make no difference?

Still thinking it would be cool to have a small placard with all 8 settings for user information!

You can ask Alan to make a "custom" program set. I asked him to make one with only 5 settings: garage, stock, everest 4, everst 5 and elysium 5. Didn't make any sense to me to have all those other programs to switch between as I would never really use them.

[Blue_Bullet]

Thanks I will do this but....

Is there any difference between V5 and V4 ?

What would be best 5 to have? >>> 5, V5 settings or 5, V4 ? or all 8?

[dapinky]

Personally, I would find out if you are currently running 9929 or 9930 memcal, then have 8 (or 5 if you want only 5) settings appropriate to that chip.

The other 8 I would go for the same 'range' but suitable for the 1499 memcal. That means you will have the option to fit an O2 sensor either now or in the future, and have the suitable settings to take advantage of the 15% better economy you will get!

The only reason Alan originally did the switcher with 9929 & 9930 settings was because many/most of us didn't know what we had fitted to the SE models, and it was a 'one size fits all' option.

To clear up the next question, 9929 was the original SE fitment, with a certain type of CO pot, but when emission regulations changed, the CO pot didn't have enough range to get it within the new requirements with any margin to spare, so a different one was fitted which needed the ECU settings changing slightly - hence the 9930 was born.

[Blue_Bullet]

Ok thanks Pink !

So a Info Panel/Plate/Credit card displaying the 5 or 8 settings >>> Cool or Uncool ???

[Monty]

Ok thanks Pink !

So a Info Panel/Plate/Credit card displaying the 5 or 8 settings >>> Cool or Uncool ???

All you have to do is print of the programes and stick it in the glovebox, it`s a no Brainer

[Blue_Bullet]

Oh thanks I never thought of this!!!

But really was asking if it would be cool for a data plate to be made up to stick under control !!!