The truth about Horse Power??

Believing my “190 upgrade” to be somewhere near the advertised power I went to Jason’s Rolling Road day at Frost Motor services ,Ipswich(Great bunch of guys) where my pride an joy only just headed a Ford Pinto engied Mk 1 Escort.

Would you believe 169 BHP at the crank…plus a possible extra 5 for pressurised airflow into the airbox …SO 174 What price the alledged “190” then???
Oh yes 133 ft-lbs of Clarksons Torques

Right, its now time to seek MORE POWER…starting with
a Typhoon ECU, Specialised components claim it is more up to date than Emerald??

So Pete I now know why you are faster than me …nothing to do with driver in-ability of course.!

Believing my “190 upgrade” to be somewhere near the advertised power …SO 174 What price the alledged “190” then???

I actually don’t think that’s too bad considering you have an 8 year old car…

I actually don’t think that’s too bad considering you have an 8 year old car…

Are you aware of the mileage Steve?

By the way, I think rr numbers are a total waste of time in isolation. Only useful for ballpark “before & after” readings, particularly whilst mapping.

Clive, what other Lotus cars were tested on the day, & how did their numbers stack up against “expectations”?

Are you aware of the mileage Steve?

no…do tell

Clive, what other Lotus cars were tested on the day, & how did their numbers stack up against “expectations”?

No other Loti inspite of a good thread on LOT Forum

Mileage 14500…

I Rather like the Escort Mk1 with Pinto …gave over 155 BHP and could be good fun in the wet!and is spanner and screwdriver engineering which I understand,…It will never handle or draw the crowdettes that the Lotus does so dont worry Unc I am not leaving the fold…(thinks I wonder if 'er indoors would like to swap her Mini Cooper S for a Mk 1 escort …OOOOPS

Steve

I honestly don’t know, but I think it had about 8K miles on the clock when Clive bought it about 18 months ago(?).

No doubt Clive will clarify, but I would guess it’s done 12K to 15K miles. It has been lovingly pampered throughout its life, by its owners (originally Lord Whitter, then Russ briefly before Clive).

My car has always been down on power when its been there. Think if gave about 180 the last time As Pesky says useful for before and after.

Are you on an Emerald clive or still the 190ECU and pulleys?

I’m not convinced my car was anywhere NEAR 190bhp before it got stripped (but then my engine WAS decidedly “second hand” on the inside)… I reckon it’d have been lucky to make 170bhp possibly 175. Given that my car juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust barely hauls in your son-in-law’s car and his is known to be making about 165bhp then this wouldn’t surprise me.

Having said that, I’ve also seen some VHPD engines that have claimed 202bhp on the rollers with just an emerald and verniers so who knows?

All I know is that when (if) mine’s back together, it’s going to feel like a substantially different engine.

Did they do it in the right gear?
Your car cant be that far off, I seem to remember a ‘drag race’ between me, you and another red S2 n/a exige (189bhp) down the straight at Snetterton last year and we were all the same speed? Unless that was your old car and my minds gone?

No Idea what gear as I was not able to see the gear lever…I would think it was 4th…but???
I suppose the final conclusion can only be made by me…Do I want more power???/ what do you think!

BTW its on solid pullys.

Neil-C if I won the drag …it was not me!
Will you be there on the 13 Apl?? we can try again…

See you there

Hi Clive!

I am still ‘downunder’!

Yes, was quicker due more power!!!

Interesting about your power… My 12,000 mile ‘190’ before the mods achieved 179 BHP on the Dave Walker rollers. Dave used 4th gear running standard tyre pressures…

Post Emerald and verniers it went to 189 Bhp.

Post DVA work, then went to 202 BHP.

I do believe the very best Emerald bit is the massively improved drivability… and mpg!!! Did not really notice a power gain until the DVA work…

Who cares anyway!!!

Lets do a rolling 1st gear ‘side by side’ up to 100 mph at Anglesey, along with Graham who has 215 bhp from his DVA ‘k’… that would be an interesting observation…

We should also have Pesky along side (or behind!) too!!!

Were the guys able to check to see if your throttle was wide open ?

When I had my first Exige dynod it was down on power but then they found the throttle was only 86% open or something daft.

Were the guys able to check to see if your throttle was wide open ?

When I had my first Exige dynod it was down on power but then they found the throttle was only 86% open or something daft.

Same here, my car showed 169 hp on the rollers. We then checked the throttle cable and it had about 7mm left (iirc), we adjusted it and the car ‘felt’ better. Might have been wishful thinking though :O)

Good luck.

Thirded. By cable mount was bent, preventing full throttle. ‘Unbent’ it gave a bit extra.

Throttle opening seems OK …however before spending on ECUs and fettling I plan to invest in some coaching putting my own advice to test and see how much more there is to come from the sawdust filled head of mine…
We can all go quickly down the straight but its the twisty bits that count…

Not to repeat the age old forum debate, but I would only take any note of a dyno reading if you did a before and after run.

Also I know pretty much what to look for on a dyno setup.

Exiges are quite sensitive to dyno’s and pull a lot of timing die to heat. It’s pretty difficult to replicate road conditions using a crappy fan. Some cars are ok with it, others aren’t. I saw mine dropping about 2-3 bhp per run due to heat soak.

Added to that is tyre pressure errors, ambient correction factors, how well the car is tied down and set up, etc…

I also only use Dyno Dynamics and only really take the ATW figures.

So in summary, don’t get too hung up on the figures!