She went on PH briefly over the weekend, then the good lady indoors told me to take her off sale.
Not used the Exige much last year due to other things keeping me busy and sometimes I can’t be arsed to get it out of the garage. It just sits there under a cover on battery conditioner.
The good lady suggested I should perhaps spend some money on the car to rejuvenate me, get it serviced, detailed, the Mowhawk roof I have wanted and maybe some BHP.
(I hate it when she is right)
Looking on “tinternet” ES Motorsport do the 260 upgrade kit for about £1,000.
How easy is this to DIY?
Remove tank for fuel pump or go in from behind the seats?
Not starting till the end of January but researching now.
Do NOT change the pump from inside the car behind the seats, it will mean cutting lumps out of the chassis. So remove the tank and do it correctly.
Make sure you get the correct injectors!!! Fuel pumps that lotus use are like hens teeth, but we offer an good option if you need a pump.
Fuel pump is the only bit of the job that’s “hard”, even the often touted shortcut of chopping the hatch at the top isn’t particularly quick or easy, dropping the tank just makes more sense.
Saying that, might be worth checking your tank hatch anyway. You need to open it regardless of approach and there’s a slight chance (however unlikely) somebody has already chopped it in the past. I know certain Lotus Dealers that shall remain unnamed went for the chop approach…
For the injectors, I’d recommend going with the recommendation of whoever is supplying the ECU/Map even if you feel you can find similar capacity ones for cheaper. The deadtimes may well be different which could cause clumsy fuelling at idle.
For fuel pump, I’d lean towards Dave’s option than the Walbro255 which I believe ES offer. W255s are “fine” and used in loads of project cars, but they can be a bit noisy and they’re a bit oldschool nowadays.
To counter the popular vote, I’d also say that if you’re bored of your car… An extra 40bhp probably won’t suddenly make you drive it all the time. If you are going to do it, I’d also make an argument for a standalone ECU and not the 260 map, but again that may be unpopular.
Cheers guys a lot of food for thought.
Ideally I want a “kit”, not faffing around with different suppliers. In the event of an issue I don’t want the injector supplier saying it’s fuel pump issues, who then say it’s an ECU issue.
Not fussed with data logging.
I have told the good lady that I’m going 260 and she beamed with delight.
260 will be noticeable and I’m happy to explore and experience it. They say it’s a good upgrade.
Just got mine up to this spec but started with 240.
I got genuine brand new / old stock cup 260 ECU , there’s a few different types of these mostly black dash or white ( silver) clocks. These run a different protocol for the dash data stream so watch out for this. You can also get your old ECU upgraded but not sure what map is flashed to it, so I went for the original lotus 260 ECU.
Next up was fuel pump upgrade, along with a slightly larger alloy fuel tank while the old tank was out anyway & significant weight saving too. No injectors required starting from 240 spec.
I’ve only done one track day at Silverstone since but the map is pretty good. There appears to be more torque & no holes or dips in the toque curve right to the limiter. General driving & tick over is great too. It’s a win win
Sorry I forgot about TRD as already had this air filter fitted a few years ago. Definitely worth fitting & part of the upgrade. It makes the induction roar & supercharger sound pretty good
I also have a Lotus sport exhaust think it’s stage 2 ( it’s the quiet one. But louder than standard & ok for tracking ) this was fitted from new.
Agree with above it’s a great upgrade & well worth doing.
If you’re starting from 220 you’ll need :-
Fuel pump
Air filter
Injectors
ECU
There are various ways to go out this too. But I’ve used original Lotus 260 parts, this setup is a bit conservative & most of them can produce around 270 bhp.
You won’t be disappointed with the drive ability or engine manners when stuck in traffic.
