And another TVS install thread...

[turbophil]

The belt is certainly tight when it's installed. It helps to slip it over the water pump pulley since there's no ribs on it...

[E.D.]

After a trick, the belt is on. In goes the transmission fluid and then it should start.
I keep my fingers crossed

[E.D.]

it's alive, but with a vacuum leak so 3-5K RPM idle...
after smoke machine: probably the gasket between engine and SC manifold which is screwed up.

[E.D.]

Indeed gasket was screwing things up...car is running now...so the final build up begins, getting clam back on, passenger seat in again to make it nice and pretty again.
Now with a bit of a TVS bite...

[jim-clayton]

Originally Posted by E.D.

Indeed gasket was screwing things up...car is running now...so the final build up begins, getting clam back on, passenger seat in again to make it nice and pretty again.
Now with a bit of a TVS bite...

Your fast!

Congrats!

[E.D.]

Originally Posted by jim-clayton

Your fast!

Congrats!

...i have a fast mechanic....but i do hope to be faster on the track now.
Swapped the PPE header temporarily back for standard header + cat so i can pass emissions.
Clam is back on, fastening the last screws now, it looks like a car again.
S/b done late afternoon, early in the evening. Will take if for a gentle break-in spin then.

idle was sometime rock steady around 900-1,000 RPM, sometime hunting, will figure that one out later, the EFI thread has some useful tips for that.

[turbophil]

Great news!

It's almost always the simple stuff... As my mentor who has since passed away would always say when we ran into a problem: Does it have air? Does it have gas? Does it have spark? It always boils down to those three things.

In Enrico's case, when he called me this morning and the car was "idling" at 5,000rpms, we verified over the phone that even with TB completely closed off (placing hand over TB inlet) in an effort to remove air out of the equation, the engine continued racing at 5,000revs... So you know you have a big vacuum leak if the engine can run at 5,000 rpms even with inlet closed off...

Just a lesson for the day for anyone reading... Air, fuel, and spark when diagnosing anything from a Lotus to a minivan

Cheers, Phil

[Kris from DRS]

Originally Posted by E.D.

it's alive, but with a vacuum leak so 3-5K RPM idle...
after smoke machine: probably the gasket between engine and SC manifold which is screwed up.

Please tell me you primed the engine before you fired it up w/ that high idle.

BTW - I provided a bottle of Redline Engine Oil break-in additive in one of your boxes.

Kris

[Kris from DRS]

Enrico,

A safety trick to help reduce the chance of a very high idle in the event of a vacuum leak is to set the decel limit to low rpm of ~ 2,000 to 2,500 and set the throttle limit to about + 1-2 degrees of the closed throttle position.

For example, if the engine likes to idle w/ the throttle at 8 degrees, set the decel limit to 9 or 10, this way when the engine is below your set throttle, but above X rpm the injection shuts off. This is a strategy to concerve fuel in deceleration as well.

Kris

[Kris from DRS]

Enrico,

one more thing: I suggest the break-in proceedure of the engine to consist of brisk acceleration, usually a few sweeps at half throttle up to 4K rpm, and then let it decel in gear to pull a vacuum on the rings. Then ramp up the throttle and rpm in 1,000 rpm increments with load for a few seconds. Make sure to allow for cool down in between these sessions. If you can, use Waldir's dyno to do this.

DO NOT let the engine sit and idle for long period of time.

Kris

[E.D.]

Originally Posted by Kris from DRS

Please tell me you primed the engine before you fired it up w/ that high idle.

BTW - I provided a bottle of Redline Engine Oil break-in additive in one of your boxes.

Kris

We used the full bottle of oil break in.

Originally Posted by Kris from DRS

Enrico,

A safety trick to help reduce the chance of a very high idle in the event of a vacuum leak is to set the decel limit to low rpm of ~ 2,000 to 2,500 and set the throttle limit to about + 1-2 degrees of the closed throttle position.

For example, if the engine likes to idle w/ the throttle at 8 degrees, set the decel limit to 9 or 10, this way when the engine is below your set throttle, but above X rpm the injection shuts off. This is a strategy to concerve fuel in deceleration as well.

Kris

I left my laptop w/EFI software at Intermecanica, will relook at your advice above when I have my laptop in front of me.

Originally Posted by Kris from DRS

Enrico,

one more thing: I suggest the break-in proceedure of the engine to consist of brisk acceleration, usually a few sweeps at half throttle up to 4K rpm, and then let it decel in gear to pull a vacuum on the rings. Then ramp up the throttle and rpm in 1,000 rpm increments with load for a few seconds. Make sure to allow for cool down in between these sessions. If you can, use Waldir's dyno to do this.

DO NOT let the engine sit and idle for long period of time.

Kris

I'll be back at Intermecanica this morning and then the car will be on dyno..I'll do the sweep 4K-thing above and call you about the 2nd procedure above which i'm not sure i completely follow.

Enrico

[E.D.]

Just finished doing the engine break in some torture tests.....car is cooling down now....then one dyno pull and then one last drive to the harbor just in time for the deadline of the shipping dyno.
Will post #'s tonight after i get back home.

[Bavarian Motorist]

I'm coming to see you and bring my car in...

[E.D.]

A couple of more pic's:
1. The PPE header on my car, unfortunately i had to take if off to pass emission testing. But it sure looks great! Thanks Bane.
2. The meshed side vents, perfect match with my other mesh parts. Thanks dgilmore
3. Elise on the dyno to break the engine in, simulating up to 30% gradient hills...that's tough for an engine in 4th gear.
4. Rear clam back on, everything fits nice and easy.

[E.D.]

Dyno chart, didn't download the file instead took a picture of the screen.
Somehow it never displays the all RPMs in one screen at this shop, i went further than 7,000RPM to around 8,300RPM.
So sorry, this dyno graph doesn't really help.

2nd pic are the peak #'s: 242WHP and 148 Torque. I expect #'s will increase quite a bit after i kick the OEM header and cat for the PPE header/decat again.
Last year on the same dyno i had 160WHP (can't remember torque anymore), so +82WHP (over 50% increase over NA) with some HP's still in the bag for the header and for further finetuning of the tune.
I'm happy with these #'s.

[turbophil]

Considering that we totally guessed on a base tune with your unique engine build, I'd also say that ain't bad. Can't ask for much of a smoother powerband... Get rid of the stock header and tune that puppy for the engine build and you'll be sitt'in in tall cotton my friend

Good job in a really short amount of time!!!

Best,

Phil

[E.D.]

Right after the dyno i had drive the car for export overseas. It was rush hour so possibilities for WOT we're limited. Some short first impressions.

Is it fast? YES THIS CAR IS FAST, I'm spoiled with my 335i with 380ft/lbs from 2,000RPM but i think the elise, because of its low weight, is even a bit faster in 1st and 2nd gear. 1st gear is almost over before you can blink. 2nd, 3rd so much more torque than NA, really need to relearn the car.

Still need to finetune the idle, didn't have time to do it after the dyno anymore.

The clutch isn't as stiff as I expected it to be, even in traffic jams I didn't get a tired leg.

The motor now makes a bit more noise, a low noise, on the highway. The exhaust tone didn't change materially.

Now the long wait until i get my car back, a sad moment to see the car driving away into the parking lot of the shipping company. I cross my fingers they don't f up the car, I taped a warning to the windscreen only to tie the lotus down with the wheels, so that s/b enough.

[Bane]

Wow what a whirlwind project!

That dyno graph is extremely impressive for such a short amount of tuning time.

Best of luck to you in your new location and I'm sure the Lotus will get there unharmed and waiting for you to come play some more

[E.D.]

Lastly I would like to thank explicitly:

First of all Waldir of Intermecanica. We worked Fri, Sat and Sun from the morning until 9ish. His wife must hate me... As I said to him: he's the best mechanic i ever had and will have. Dedicated to get all the details right, details i wouldn't even bother with. I'll sure miss him.

Then Phil who made this all possible by inventing this TVS kit and for developing my base tune. I bothered him a couple of times during the install for some advice, and reading the forum he helps all kinds of other forum members also, so he invest a great amount of time to give great customer service, even to people who aren't his customer. It has been said many times, he's a great guy.

Lastly Kris from DRS who build my engine and helped on the last day by looking at my map to tweak it a bit based on his EFI experience and guidance to break the engine in on the dyno. Again, excellent customer service and dedication to get things done the right way.

[Eyelise]

three days, geez, it's gonna take me about a year lol.