Power Upgrades

Author
Discussion

lx993

Original Poster:

12,214 posts

258 months

Monday 21st April 2003
quotequote all
No, I don't think the Noble is too slow

However stuh (in the gearchange thread) mentioned a power upgrade for 2.5 litre cars from the factory. If it's a factory job rather than a shady superchip then I'd be interested - I'm sure Warren @ Mole Valley mentioned a factory power upgrade to put the 2.5 ahead of the GTO3s...

Anyone here got the remap, and is it effective / reliable??

There has got to be some extra refinement to be done on the software - mine still takes ages to start when hot as it's pumping too much fuel in. It's so rich on warm start that you can smell the petrol wafting around the car.

joust

14,622 posts

260 months

Monday 21st April 2003
quotequote all
Not noticed the hot starting problem myself - but I was told when I originally picked up the 2.5 about the 3.0l (before it was officially announced) by those helpful MVer's - and then it was confirmed that the factory would have an upgrade for the 2.5 to give it "similar" power to the 3.0l.

Mine is going back to the factory for all sorts of "mods" in a month - so I'll ring them tomorrow and see if the rumoured upgrade is available, and perhaps I'll have it done at the same time.....

J

lx993

Original Poster:

12,214 posts

258 months

Monday 21st April 2003
quotequote all
Hey perhaps it's just me - the GTO3 demonstrator MV had also wouldn't start when warm when I was sitting in it (same issue, too rich, petrolly smell)

Joust - I thought you'd upgraded from the 2.5 to the GTO3... if not, and you're speaking to the factory tomorrow - let me know on this thread or by mail about the upgrade, cheeers!

guysh

2,250 posts

284 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2003
quotequote all
As I posted in the other thread, I was told by the factory they could not upgrade my car.. I would be interested in what they say.

PS Joust - we visited the same petrol station on the Island (I think there are only 2 that have Super unleaded) - hope you missed the new speed cameras and didn't bottom out on any of the bumps!


joust said: Not noticed the hot starting problem myself - but I was told when I originally picked up the 2.5 about the 3.0l (before it was officially announced) by those helpful MVer's - and then it was confirmed that the factory would have an upgrade for the 2.5 to give it "similar" power to the 3.0l.

Mine is going back to the factory for all sorts of "mods" in a month - so I'll ring them tomorrow and see if the rumoured upgrade is available, and perhaps I'll have it done at the same time.....

J


joust

14,622 posts

260 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2003
quotequote all

guysh said:PS Joust - we visited the same petrol station on the Island (I think there are only 2 that have Super unleaded) - hope you missed the new speed cameras and didn't bottom out on any of the bumps!

Grounded it out once (no noticable damage), and could only find that one National that had SUL - even the single Shell garage didn't have Optimax.......

J

goodlife

1,852 posts

260 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2003
quotequote all
Lee mentoned on the Noble-discuss archives about there being a power upgrade available for the 3R's.
"the 360 HP motor will also be available as an option, this motor uses forged pistons and a different intake system more boost and of course
costs more."

Still hunting down the price via MV, but expect any 3.0l would be able to have it fitted. Retro-fitting might be a bit more expensive though.

joust

14,622 posts

260 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2003
quotequote all
Just rung the factory - they seem to have a new auto-attendant and voice mail system that - shock horror - actually seems to work and get you to the right place!!!!!! Amazing

Left a voicemail for the engineering peeps to ring me back - when they do I'll try and find a sane answer to this 2.5l upgrade question (not that I'm unhappy with the power in mine you understand )

J

SteveJT

77 posts

272 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2003
quotequote all
I believe I was one of the lucky few who had an engine upgrade to 345bhp. This was done over a year ago and has proven to be very reliable. However, the risk I had to take was having my engine warranty invalidated.
As far as I am concerned the risk was well worth it since the engine management is properly sorted and the car shows smooth progress up to max revs. I could also feel a performance improvement over the original set up at the time. It would be interesting to run a standard version side by side against mine. Maybe even a side by side against a GT0 3?
Apparently the fellas at Mole Valley service reckon they can tell the difference.

lx993

Original Poster:

12,214 posts

258 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2003
quotequote all
Well the guys at MV sales reckon they can't tell the difference between the 2.5 and the GTO3 performance-wise

More power's always nice, esp. when you've got an Ultima behind you on a track day, but I'll always be after the latest ECU map. The software must get refined over time...

As an aside, does anyone here ever get above 21 mpg?? Is mine running too rich or am I simply a nutter??? (the 21 mpg was a 200 mile drive to Somerset, never letting the boost gauge EVER get above 0 psi) That was seriously a test of my self control.....

joust

14,622 posts

260 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2003
quotequote all

lx993 said:As an aside, does anyone here ever get above 21 mpg?? Is mine running too rich or am I simply a nutter??? (the 21 mpg was a 200 mile drive to Somerset, never letting the boost gauge EVER get above 0 psi) That was seriously a test of my self control.....
Check out www.lotus-elise.org.uk/noble/runningcosts.htm - 22.45 is my average - but have got it as high 25.6, as low as 15.8

J

guysh

2,250 posts

284 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2003
quotequote all
I have had mine up to 25 MPG but as low as 7 mpg !!!

SteveJT

77 posts

272 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2003
quotequote all
On long journeys I average 24 to 25 mpg.

joust

14,622 posts

260 months

Thursday 24th April 2003
quotequote all
OK - spoke to the factory (after playing ansaphone tennis!) and here's the lowdown.

There are two upgards that can be done to 2.5l cars, one gives around 330ish bhp - the other doesn't give much.

To get the 330bhp your car must be a "MM" controlled type. Upgrade is around the £600 point for MM cars.

I've been told how to tell if a car is an MM or not - i'm going to check it out on mine and hopefully take some pictures to demonstrate.

More as I know it.

J

stuh

2,557 posts

274 months

Thursday 24th April 2003
quotequote all
Joust

Before i put my car in for the upgrade i was advised of the process you mention in identifying the management system of the car and as a consequence whether it was a factory/dealer upgrade or back to John Noble Motorsport. After much head scratching on my part delving around under the hood with one hand talking on the phone to JNM i said "I can't see those leads but there is one with MBE written on it", "ah, that'll be the MBE system then!"

Anyhow i get the car back on Monday so i'll report back on any perceptable improvement. I'm hoping the top end will see the biggest improvement.......otherwise JNM did mention that we could take it further with bigger turbo's, forged pistons etc........although i'd probably just wait for my GTC next year by which time i'm sure Noble will have pushed the output of the 3L block a lot further

joust

14,622 posts

260 months

Thursday 24th April 2003
quotequote all
Cool - could you enlighten me - I've just been out in the dark and not worked much out.... What am I looking for?

Ditto I've got a GTC on order (I'm number 11 - what are you?) - and the lower weight and slippery front end (well - it looks a bit more slippery) should help - but I'm sure I'll just *have* to have the wing put on it as well - maybe a bit lower down though?

J

stuh

2,557 posts

274 months

Thursday 24th April 2003
quotequote all
There will be a black lead running under the steering fluid resoivoir that says MBE / Noble on the plastic shielding or alernatively a silver / black leads which signifies the older system...........

Not sure, i ordered about 2 weeks before the Motor Show so one of the first few i would imagine ?

stuh

2,557 posts

274 months

Wednesday 30th April 2003
quotequote all
Car is now back from dealer and running 0.9 peak boost

I'll get it dyno'd next week and let you know what improvement it's made....................

joust

14,622 posts

260 months

Wednesday 30th April 2003
quotequote all
What does it feel like to drive - differences?

J

stuh

2,557 posts

274 months

Wednesday 30th April 2003
quotequote all
Mid range pick up in 2nd, 3rd and 4th is noticeably better. Top end doesn't seem any different however which is slightly dissapointing.............i guess getting over the drag of the car is going to take considerably more than a 10% power hike ! I guess i won't really be able to tell until i get it back on track after the sump work is done. I was quite surprised to see that you had managed a vmax of 161 at Bruntingthorpe as i really can't see my car pulling that over 2 miles even after the tweaking

Dependant on how long it will take my GTC to become available i may take up JNM's offer of taking the mods further

joust

14,622 posts

260 months

Wednesday 30th April 2003
quotequote all
The 161 was with about 10mph of tail wind - I got 147 the last time I tried there with no wind.

J