Question about Gotham 265 ECU and reliability ??

[MyElise]

Originally Posted by Jack

Taking precautions is always wise.

Jack -

That is much, much much too clean for a race car. Do you employ "little people" to climb into the foot wells to scrape the dirt out?

Does this car ever get driven?

[qball]

Originally Posted by MyElise

Jack -

That is much, much much too clean for a race car. Do you employ "little people" to climb into the foot wells to scrape the dirt out?

Does this car ever get driven?

He doesn't actually race. He buys a Lotus... plays with it in his garage, and then sells it and upgrades when the next version comes out.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by MyElise

Jack -

That is much, much much too clean for a race car. Do you employ "little people" to climb into the foot wells to scrape the dirt out?

Does this car ever get driven?

Yes, it does -- photo was taken when the car was new, but I do keep my cars (race or not) very clean.

In fact, my car gets nut and bolted and washed after every track day and over-maintained. I'm very anal -- that's why people buy my used sh*t -- it's better than new.

Right now, the 255 has 3500 track miles....Cup 240 had 5500 track miles when it went to a good home back East in August. 9000 track miles over 15 months isn't too bad. Of course, being an old fart and semi-retired, I've got the time...what's your excuse.

I do, however, appreciate your concern.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by qball

He doesn't actually race. He buys a Lotus... plays with it in his garage, and then sells it and upgrades when the next version comes out.

And, you're right...I don't race....I'm just tracking it. How about you.... have you done a track day in your S yet?

[codymac]

Originally Posted by Jack

[size="6"]In fact, my car gets nut and bolted and washed after every track day and over-maintained. I'm very anal -- that's why people buy my used sh*t -- it's better than new.

Having seen Jack's used sh*t firsthand, as sold to a friend by someone other than Jack, yeah... the man keeps his cars nice.

[exige S]

I am happy owner of a Exige S.
I live in Mexico City which is at 7,000 ft over sea level. Therefore the PSI will never be around at 6 lb due to altitude (I can fell the difference when I bring the car at sea level... 250 miles away).
I basically use the car for track days. I have the following questions:
1. Does anyone know where I could find a smaller pulley?
2. Does the injectors hold the power (Not too lean) level if I bring the car at sea level, with the smaller pulley
3. If I put a larini exhust and decat how much PW I gain?
4. Is it possible to get a special tuning program for a smaller pulley, exhaust and de cat with the gotham 265, do I need to change the injectors? Is it the same cost?

Grazie mille

Andrea

[truffier]

hi,

smaller pulley : try forcedfed ! they have a smaller pulley with their kit

ECU and injectors might be changed or the engine will run lean.

cheers

[charliex]

Originally Posted by exige S

I am happy owner of a Exige S.
I live in Mexico City which is at 7,000 ft over sea level. Therefore the PSI will never be around at 6 lb due to altitude (I can fell the difference when I bring the car at sea level... 250 miles away).
I basically use the car for track days. I have the following questions:
1. Does anyone know where I could find a smaller pulley?
2. Does the injectors hold the power (Not too lean) level if I bring the car at sea level, with the smaller pulley
3. If I put a larini exhust and decat how much PW I gain?
4. Is it possible to get a special tuning program for a smaller pulley, exhaust and de cat with the gotham 265, do I need to change the injectors? Is it the same cost?

Grazie mille

Andrea

2. the ecu will correct as it can for altitude, but won't correct for changing injectors since it doesn't know you did it, same goes for pulley.

4. no it isn't.

[NoFear99]

It makes 2 years now that the Gotham tune by Charlie have been released.

I would like to know if any of you have heard a bad story about it ???

Nobody had a problem with this mod until today ?

My car have 3125 miles on it and I'm planning to do this mod this winter while my car will be sitting on the lift anyway. Instead to lost my car for 2 weeks without ecu in it during the short summer season.

I have never done my first service or any service at all with my Lotus Dealer because it is 250 miles away from me ( too far ) and I can do my stuff easily myself. With that said, I know that if I'm buying that ecu and if a problem happen, my dealer will never support me as I know how the guy is at the service department. To him It would be the ecu fault for sure if anything would happen to the engine.

Is it worth the monney ? I want more power but it is very important to keep my reliability at close to 100%.

And Finally , why the Gotham Tune for the S240 is 200$ cheaper ??? Is it a marketing reason because I mean it must be the same job for Charlie to tune a 2007 S ecu or VS 2008 S240 ecu ????

[Chili Red]

Ive been running the Gotham tune for over a year now and have put 10,000+ miles on the car, about 2500 of those miles on track. I have had zero reliability issues with the car. It continues to run like a champ. I do maintain my car extremely well though.

As for the tune being worth it. The car feels much faster on the street in short bursts, but I do not think you get much on the track as the intercooler becomes easily heat soaked and robs most if not all of that extra power. I have found that a heat soaked Exige S is not much quicker than an N/A Exige. Now this may change a bit as temps start to drop and Im tracking in cooler weather, but Ill just have to wait and see.

[Illumiloti]

Originally Posted by Jack

I agree both water and oil temps are important...oil pressure too. Several of us have added appropriate gauges.

Just for the record -- the dual oil cooler Loti run very low oil temps...the total opposite of the Z06. In fact, I need to make sure my oil temp gets up to a reasonable operating temp before I run it hard on track...and that can take a good 10-15 minutes after the water temp is in the normal range. On track during 107 degree ambient temp days -- my oil temp gets no higher than 215-220. Yesterday, during an 80 degree day -- oil temps were about 190-195.

I also agree that running on track is significantly harder on a car than street/canyon driving no matter how hard one thinks they run on their car on the street. Taking precautions is always wise.

Jack, it looks from the photo that your oil temp guage (one on the left) only goes to 150!? how did you know that you were at "215 to 220"?
What is the operable range for oil temps (I just put in a guage)

[NoFear99]

Originally Posted by Chili Red

Ive been running the Gotham tune for over a year now and have put 10,000+ miles on the car, about 2500 of those miles on track. I have had zero reliability issues with the car. It continues to run like a champ. I do maintain my car extremely well though.

As for the tune being worth it. The car feels much faster on the street in short bursts, but I do not think you get much on the track as the intercooler becomes easily heat soaked and robs most if not all of that extra power. I have found that a heat soaked Exige S is not much quicker than an N/A Exige. Now this may change a bit as temps start to drop and Im tracking in cooler weather, but Ill just have to wait and see.

The Proalloy charge cooler is probably the best solution to take care of the heat soak on a track but for me it is still too much expensive and not an option. What would be the second best choice to reduce heat soak on our engine ? A better intercooler . What company ? How much ?


I'm very happy to hear that you had zero problem with your Gotham tune. And also very happy to know that you can feel the difference on the street because that's what I'm doing. I accelerate and then brake right after that. So heat soak should not be a big deal for me and especially here in canada. Hot days are very rare..

[Bavarian Motorist]

Here's my thought on this. As far as charlie has stated, the S produces only 30 hp because the throttle is restricted to around 60 %. All the gotham does is remove most of that restriction; EXACTLY what Lotus does on the factory 240s and now 255s and 260s. So why would charlies flash compromise the drivetrain more than Lotus's "flash" does? Do they upgrade the drivetrain parts? Thanks and please correct my mistakes.

[AustinP]

Originally Posted by Pestodude

Jack, it looks from the photo that your oil temp guage (one on the left) only goes to 150!? how did you know that you were at "215 to 220"?
What is the operable range for oil temps (I just put in a guage)

I'm not Jack (obviously), but I'm sure the "215 to 220" quote was for degrees F, but the gauge in the pic is labeled in degs C. 150*C (the gauge limit) equals 302*F, which is plenty high.

As far as "operable range" goes, oil temp takes longer to warm up, but once warmed up, I'd expect oil temps to pretty much track water temps on the street (or maybe a little lower, with an oil cooler), and will tend to run higher than water temps on the track (hopefully not too high, I'd ease up if they hit 260*F).

HTH,

[Chili Red]

Originally Posted by NoFear99

The Proalloy charge cooler is probably the best solution to take care of the heat soak on a track but for me it is still too much expensive and not an option. What would be the second best choice to reduce heat soak on our engine ? A better intercooler . What company ? How much ?


I'm very happy to hear that you had zero problem with your Gotham tune. And also very happy to know that you can feel the difference on the street because that's what I'm doing. I accelerate and then brake right after that. So heat soak should not be a big deal for me and especially here in canada. Hot days are very rare..

Best I can tell from reading the forums is the Really light stuff intercooler is going to give you the most bang for your buck. At this point Im more concerned about my driving skills than getting any more power out of my car. The Elise/Exige in the right hands can really own the track. Im slowly getting to the point to where I wont be able to go much faster and may consider going for an intercooler upgrade.

[KenRK]

Originally Posted by TiGumz

Charlie,

IIRC you mentioned at one time that you could set up a switchable dual map system.

Glenn

I ran APR software on the TT for years that allowed the switching of ECU programs using the cruise control button. Maybe you could do the same with the Lotus... Oh wait, nevermind...

[NoFear99]

Originally Posted by KenRK

I ran APR software on the TT for years that allowed the switching of ECU programs using the cruise control button. Maybe you could do the same with the Lotus... Oh wait, nevermind...

That would be so nice and sweet !!!

[shay2nak]

no probs with Gotham for about a year and 5k miles. I have the RLS IC and I'm picking it up from the coater Mon/Tues. Hopefully I can run a dyno of it in 3 weeks.

[Vishus_1]

Originally Posted by Bavarian Motorist

Here's my thought on this. As far as charlie has stated, the S produces only 30 hp because the throttle is restricted to around 60 %. All the gotham does is remove most of that restriction; EXACTLY what Lotus does on the factory 240s and now 255s and 260s. So why would charlies flash compromise the drivetrain more than Lotus's "flash" does? Do they upgrade the drivetrain parts? Thanks and please correct my mistakes.

Yes Lotus does upgrade the clutch on the 240 and there seems to be differences in the way the shifting operates.

Also - the only problem I have ever heard with a Gotham tune has been with Ducboy who is also here in Missouri. The original owner Ducboy purchased the car from was in another state and put the Gotham ECU on it. Here in Missouri though, the car did not pass emissions. We only get the car hooked up to the ECU diagnostic and it is either a pass/ fail.

Now in Charlies defense, this has not been proven to be linked specifically to Gotham however at the time Ducboy had the emissions run - it was the only major mechanical change made to the car. It could still prove to be a oxygen sensor or something else.

[NoFear99]

Originally Posted by shay2nak

no probs with Gotham for about a year and 5k miles. I have the RLS IC and I'm picking it up from the coater Mon/Tues. Hopefully I can run a dyno of it in 3 weeks.

How much cost the RLS intercooler ? Does it comes with new ligther better piping ?