Poor Performance

[PDH]

Hi

I have recently (last couple of months) got my car back on the road after a lot of engine work and although it runs well I feel it is not quite running as well as it should. Unfortunately I have little experience of how well the Elan should run as regards liveliness/power delivery, etc.
I drive a modern turbo diesel with 150bhp, my Elan has 200bhp (on paper as it has the Everest chip fitted) but it isn't as responsive or as powerful as the modern diesel.
I drove the car with stock horsepower for a few weeks and then put the Everest chip in, I did this partly to make sure everything ran well first and then partly to see what the power delivery was like on standard ECU settings. Now that the Everest chip is in I really cant notice a difference in power and the chip gives me a 35 hp increase, that sort of increase I would have thought you would notice!!
I don't think the problem lies with the Everest chip I think it lies with the standard car not delivering power correctly.
The turbo gauge went to 0.6bar and now goes to 1bar, the compression test showed 180psi on all cylinders but as I say I have no experience of how the car should perform.
I would appreciate it if I could take the car to someone local (ish) who understands how these cars should perform and then they could tell me if mine is performing as good as it gets or that there is something not quite right with it.
Any help would be very gratefully appreciated.
Kindest regards
Paul

[PDH]

Have been out last night looking at vacuum piping and other piping that was put back on after the engine work.
I found that the Boost Freq Control piping was reversed. The bottom take off went to the wastegate capsule and the top take off went to the air filter ducting.
Would this make a difference or is it just a single chamber at the base of the Boost Freq Control?
I drove the car last night and it felt a little more sprightly but I wouldn't say the problem was cured unless as I have said that's as good as it gets.

Still looking for some help...............

Kindest regards
Paul

[rip]

I found the ignition timing made an enormous difference with mine.
I did not set it with a timing light. Instead of this, I found that performance improved as I advanced it so I kept going until Elanscan told me I had knock, then I backed it off a little.

My time for a 30-70 in 3rd almost halved as a result.

[PDH]

Thanks for the reply.

So you didn't set the base timing, you just plugged in elanscan and watched for knock whilst you advanced the ignition timing?
I have used elanscan a couple of times but am no expert, without wading through the literature is it obvious what parameter indicates knock?
Is it common to set timing this way? I thought the base timing had to be spot on?

Kindest regards
Paul

[rip]

When my base timing was spot on, the car ran like a dog. Boost gave me very little performance, I got overboost at 4000rpm, the car spluttered to life with very sooty exhaust deposits.
I got a lot of overrun popping which prompted a remark from there's only on f in Geof Smith of 'Timing' so I decided to use some trial & error. If it didn't work, I could easily have reset the base timing again.

After each slight adjustment, I went for a short drive including a section of boost on full throttle.
Elanscan has a counter for knock so if you are using it, this will be easy to spot.
My timing is now set to 32 BTDC & the car runs so much better.

[PDH]

I will try what you have recommended and let you know how i get on.
Thanks for your replies
Paul

[Ian T]

Sorry to raise an old thread from the dead, but I'm interested to know what happened in the end?

Rip: that sort of delta in timing could account for a cambelt tooth, surely?

[rip]

Rip: that sort of delta in timing could account for a cambelt tooth, surely?

You would think it would be something fundamental like that, but this has been consistent across a cambelt change. Also, don't most engines barely run at all when a cam is a tooth out?

[Ian T]

Thanks for the reply.

I read somewhere that each tooth is c18 degrees (must be on the crank, so half that on the cam). I might have mine to bits today so I'll count the teeth and see.

But yes, I'd go with your description of barely if at all and on some engines they are so finely tuned that damage can occur certainly at one tooth out, I suppose that would be doubled at the cam, as it rotates half as fast.

The slot on the CAS (for adjustment) seems quite long. Does this imply that you can rotate it though that whole range without engine damage?