Lotus Elan Central

by **Elanlover** » Wed 09.05.2007, 01:50

F1 LOTUS wrote: I sincerely hope not!

That'd be a "gotcha" :-D

Pics of the mystery device in question below.

by **johnny** » Thu 10.05.2007, 17:14

What about this?

BOLLECKS..?????
Cant do links. Sorry.

turbonator.com

by **lotusgirlmarie** » Thu 10.05.2007, 23:13

Ya know what s funny about the pics.... The part looks exactly like the material used for the crush material behind the bumper of my Elan. Kinda sketchy.....

by **Doc Fizzix** » Fri 08.06.2007, 05:31

I have thought about this for some time but have not commented but I do not believe this device holds much water as far as the claims that are made about improving performance. I see this device only working for air streams that are pushed into the compressor side of the turbo in order to spin the turbo BUT NOT for streams of air that are being pulled into the compressor side by the turbo.

Here are my thought (may be totally wrong):

I believe this device will impede the air flow into the compressor side of the turbo and you may loose performance. By using the TAG, kinetic energy is removed from the the incoming air thereby decreasing the overall speed of the air stream leading to a build-up of pressure within the intake. (recall the concepts of entropy as it relates to increasing the order of a disorder system and the concept of Bernoulli as it relates to fluids velocity).

For simplicity, the kinetic energy of the air coming out of the engine spins the turbo and the compressor wheel causing air to be pulled into the compressor side turbo. The spinning of the compressor wheel creates a vortex of air within the intake pipe, but with the TAG in place, the vortex is destroyed by the TAG and the air stream looses energy. In essence, by using the TAG, the turbo now must use some of its energy to "straighten" the incoming air.

I believe you want as little pressure or as few restriction as possible on the intake side of the compressor wheel and this is the same reason most of us throw out the original accordion rubber hose and replace it with a smooth pipe so there is less restriction or in essence better air flow with less pressure within the intake.

by **Elanlover** » Fri 08.06.2007, 14:04

Well, enough speculation then. I'm going to try and clear my project slate (the boss won't like her priorities being pushed aside :roll:

) and install this thing this weekend. I'll run a couple of scans before and after then submit them to Alan for a better review than I'll be able to give them.

We'll find out soon enough if its worth $50. :smt102

by **Doc Fizzix** » Fri 08.06.2007, 15:49

Elanlover

I admire your work and efforts, I hope I did not offend you, I have not intention on that. I just question the claims that are made by the people selling these things. It will be interesting to see what happens

by **Elanlover** » Fri 08.06.2007, 16:05

Doc Fizzix wrote:Elanlover

I admire your work and efforts, I hope I did not offend you, I have not intention on that. I just question the claims that are made by the people selling these things. It will be interesting to see what happens

No offense taken in any way :-D

I've no idea if this thing will do anything for us at all. But, for $50, I figured I'd give it a shot. They make some pretty good claims for diesel engines that seem well substantiated by the public. Only one claim on a gas powered engine though. Hey, if it adds 5-7 BHP it might be worth $50. If not, then we'll all know where not to spend our next $50 :wink:

by **GeoffSmith** » Fri 08.06.2007, 16:23

WTF? MORE expense!

by **Dovey** » Sat 09.06.2007, 09:51

Good posting Doc.

A lot of typing though. I just used the vacuum cleaner similie :roll:

by **Elanlover** » Sat 09.06.2007, 22:19

Okie Dokie. The TAG run is complete and the ElanScan logs sent off to ElanScan Incorporated (i.e. Alan) for analysis. I will withold comment until the results are in. :twisted:

by **Specky** » Sun 10.06.2007, 00:42

Give us a clue...

TTFN

by **Elanlover** » Sun 10.06.2007, 22:03

Well, the results are in!

Alan was very kind to offer some analysis in the major areas where the TAG is supposed to be of benefit. Those areas were:

Increased power
Increased power at lower revs
Better gas mileage
Faster turbo spool up/reduced lag
Less wear and tear on the turbo

And the results are:

0

:roll:

No appreciable difference in the performance at all. I told Alan that i thought I detected a small boost in peformance but you know how these things go. You "think" you feel the car is going faster or slower when in fact its doing the same thing it always has. Specifically, I thought I might have felt a little faster spool up but its really hard to say. After both runs, I knew that if there was any improvement, it would have been very minor indeed.

Alan did report a slight gain in fuel economy but, that too is hard to verify conclusively as the two runs had slightly different average speeds, distance travelled, etc.

Now, having said all this, I can see where the TAG could help in a large diesel engine with a much larger turbo and air intake system than our 1 3/4 inch inlet. The pics on their website show the TAG fitted into a huge intake hose that's got to be 3 times the size of ours. I can see how, in an intake of that size, straightening the air flow would have a greater impact.

Oh well, it was worth the $50 to try it out. At least none of you will ned to waste your cash :-D

Nothing like the mice volunteering for the science experiment :lol:

I'm going to leave the TAG in and see if it helps with fuel economy at all. I'll report back after I've emptied a few tanks. :wink:

by **Specky** » Sun 10.06.2007, 22:15

Would you like to buy some magic beans, 50 bucks should do it.. :lol:

TTFN

by **GeoffSmith** » Sun 10.06.2007, 22:37

Elanlover wrote:I'm going to leave the TAG in and see if it helps with fuel economy at all. I'll report back after I've emptied a few tanks.

I bet you subconsciously alter your driving style ever so slightly and show a benefit - who bought an Elan for fuel economy though!

Dave_speck wrote:Would you like to buy some magic beans, 50 bucks should do it.

Sign me up. I'll take three bags, one for each car. :smt043

by **Elanlover** » Mon 11.06.2007, 00:00

geoffsmith wrote: I bet you subconsciously alter your driving style ever so slightly and show a benefit - who bought an Elan for fuel economy though!

Busted! Damn hard to pull away from a stop light in 3rd gear as I've found out :lol:

by **Doc Fizzix** » Mon 11.06.2007, 01:27

Elanlover wrote:Now, having said all this, I can see where the TAG could help in a large diesel engine with a much larger turbo and air intake system than our 1 3/4 inch inlet. The pics on their website show the TAG fitted into a huge intake hose that's got to be 3 times the size of ours. I can see how, in an intake of that size, straightening the air flow would have a greater impact.

How would this help a diesel turbo? Why would straightening the air flow help? I like there pictures on their site but I think they left out the real world physics and put in their own to sell the thing :lol:

by **Elanlover** » Mon 11.06.2007, 13:42

Well, I'm no expert in this area at all but there has to be some benefit to a more laminar air flow than one with vortices in it when it hits the impellers.........no?

But, if you look closely at their website you'll see something else. Almost all of the intake hoses they show where their TAG is installed are not straight. They all seem to have a lot of bends in them and one has a bend right where it mates with the turbo inlet. Our intake is not like that at all. Even the stock intake has a relatively straight run from the filter to the turbo. With the smooth intake pipe and open air filter I have installed there's far less chance that the airflow will be turbulent when it hits the turbo. Thus the lack of any noticeble benefit from installing the TAG on the Elan.

At least that's my take on the thing............ :smt102

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