Discussion
Had a Mark Adam Tornado chip, ACT trumpets and stealth cam fitted last year. Very happy with the set up carried out by Dan T however, it is a little grumpy around town and idling can be random!
Dan has suggested getting Mark to map his chip however I have been trying to get hold of Mark for a year. I really would like to get this done early next year and so I wondered if anybody knows if Mark is still doing this? I hope he is, however if not does anybody know of an alternative in the Kent area? Im happy to take a day away from work and so I wondered if Top Cat racing would be an alternative?
Dan has suggested getting Mark to map his chip however I have been trying to get hold of Mark for a year. I really would like to get this done early next year and so I wondered if anybody knows if Mark is still doing this? I hope he is, however if not does anybody know of an alternative in the Kent area? Im happy to take a day away from work and so I wondered if Top Cat racing would be an alternative?
Not near you but worth the journey, give Joolz a ring, highly recommended!
http://www.kitsandclassics.co.uk
http://www.kitsandclassics.co.uk
I recommend Joolz as well - I know how much effort he's put into this and we should be grateful that you now have a choice of mappers and he charges sensible money. I do also believe Austec can do it in west Sussex, but they dont shout about it due to some odd old boys agreement in the TVR mapping world. Its worth bearing in mind you need to know what your base line is now, if the fuelling is out- the ECU will make some pretty big corrections to the fuel if the mapping is out, and this can lead to some bad manners at low RPM- below 3400 rpm. A quick look at the long term trim value will give you a pretty good idea of the state of play, as the higher the trim, the more the ECU is correcting the mixture, and you dont want that. Find someone who can plug in RoverGauge to get a reading. The Stealth can can be a bit shunty in cases, as its pushing the ECU to its limits- the 14CUX does not fuel well with a long duration cam.
If the idle is erratic- thats not down to chipping.
If the idle is erratic- thats not down to chipping.
Edited by blitzracing on Saturday 20th December 19:38
phazed said:
Not near you but worth the journey, give Joolz a ring, highly recommended!
http://www.kitsandclassics.co.uk
And you won`t need a bank loan http://www.kitsandclassics.co.uk
Mark Adams has always been a nightmare to get hold of, he got away with it for years because for a long time he was the only man able to map the 14CUX. But from what I hear his grip on the 14CUX market has now been lost, however in my opinion you really should also consider the option of completely removing the Lucas system in favour of something that also allows full control over the ignition side.
Ultimately ditching the distributor will be the best move you can make and while there are options available to cobble up a marriage between a 3D mappable ignition system and the old Lucas 14CUX, ultimately it's a pig in a poke as it'll never be a properly integrated system like an after market ECU package can offer.
In Mark Adams' defence his charges weren't actually that bad, but he doesn't have his own rolling road so you'll find after paying Mark & the rolling road he uses the bill at the end of a session can really add up. No doubt Mark knows his stuff too, but at the end of the day he's working with an old lurching narrow band controlled ECU that only influences the fuelling.
If you keep the distributor Mark Adams can't do anything with the ignition other than ensure it's advancing properly and the dynamic timing is set correctly, ultimately that means you're missing out on the biggest opportunity to improve the way a Chimaera performs & drives.
Changing the engine management system isn't cheap, but it's the best money you'll spend on the car if you have plans to develop it moving forward. Look at MegaSquirt, Emerald, Omex, Canems, ect ect... they all do more or less the same thing and if the truth be told aren't exactly the latest thing in engine management themselves.
But what they are is light years ahead of the Lucas 14CUX fuelling system & the archaic ignition control offered by the ancient centrifugally advancing distributor and its mechanically fixed advance curve.
I for one have no regrets in biting the bullet and switching to Canems, in fact it's the single best thing I've done with the car and if I ever bought another Chimaera it would be first thing I'd do after bypassing the badly installed (by TVR) Meta immobiliser
Ultimately ditching the distributor will be the best move you can make and while there are options available to cobble up a marriage between a 3D mappable ignition system and the old Lucas 14CUX, ultimately it's a pig in a poke as it'll never be a properly integrated system like an after market ECU package can offer.
In Mark Adams' defence his charges weren't actually that bad, but he doesn't have his own rolling road so you'll find after paying Mark & the rolling road he uses the bill at the end of a session can really add up. No doubt Mark knows his stuff too, but at the end of the day he's working with an old lurching narrow band controlled ECU that only influences the fuelling.
If you keep the distributor Mark Adams can't do anything with the ignition other than ensure it's advancing properly and the dynamic timing is set correctly, ultimately that means you're missing out on the biggest opportunity to improve the way a Chimaera performs & drives.
Changing the engine management system isn't cheap, but it's the best money you'll spend on the car if you have plans to develop it moving forward. Look at MegaSquirt, Emerald, Omex, Canems, ect ect... they all do more or less the same thing and if the truth be told aren't exactly the latest thing in engine management themselves.
But what they are is light years ahead of the Lucas 14CUX fuelling system & the archaic ignition control offered by the ancient centrifugally advancing distributor and its mechanically fixed advance curve.
I for one have no regrets in biting the bullet and switching to Canems, in fact it's the single best thing I've done with the car and if I ever bought another Chimaera it would be first thing I'd do after bypassing the badly installed (by TVR) Meta immobiliser
My 500 with a stealth cam etc idles well at 8-900 rpm and is a joy around town. I fitted a Tornado chip and then had the whole thing remapped by MA as the fuelling went horribly lean (AFR over 20) above 4600 rpm.
His Tornado chips are best guesses, so you will need a remap. By the time you have taken a day off, driven to Shrewsbury, spent an afternoon hiring the rolling road at around £100 an hour and also paid Mark's entirely reasonable fee (it's not his RR), you will be close to a grand out of pocket.
Jools has his own RR, is about the same distance from civilization (as you southerners call the south), and he effectively gives you the rolling road for free. He has learnt how to map the 14CUX since I had mine done.
No disrespect to Mark, he did a great job on my car and is a knowledgable guy, genuine and honest, but the add-on of the rolling road cost makes his service quite expensive. I thought that buying a Tornado chip for £250 was job done. In the end it cost me nearer £1250.
His Tornado chips are best guesses, so you will need a remap. By the time you have taken a day off, driven to Shrewsbury, spent an afternoon hiring the rolling road at around £100 an hour and also paid Mark's entirely reasonable fee (it's not his RR), you will be close to a grand out of pocket.
Jools has his own RR, is about the same distance from civilization (as you southerners call the south), and he effectively gives you the rolling road for free. He has learnt how to map the 14CUX since I had mine done.
No disrespect to Mark, he did a great job on my car and is a knowledgable guy, genuine and honest, but the add-on of the rolling road cost makes his service quite expensive. I thought that buying a Tornado chip for £250 was job done. In the end it cost me nearer £1250.
The limiting factor on the 450 is normally the comparatively restrictive heads... Bigger valves with some judicious port work will lift the power and extend the torque curve toward the power peak (all added area under the curves is good - the closer and further up the range you can get the power and torque peaks, the 'sportier' the car will feel; but the wider the spread between them equates to 'driveability'). The CR could most probably stand being raised a tad too, the 450s tend to be quite conservative with loads of scope for useful increase (a number of tricks to explore there once you measure what you've actually got).
Pupp said:
The limiting factor on the 450 is normally the comparatively restrictive heads... Bigger valves with some judicious port work will lift the power and extend the torque curve toward the power peak (all added area under the curves is good - the closer and further up the range you can get the power and torque peaks, the 'sportier' the car will feel; but the wider the spread between them equates to 'driveability'). The CR could most probably stand being raised a tad too, the 450s tend to be quite conservative with loads of scope for useful increase (a number of tricks to explore there once you measure what you've actually got).
All good advice. Just one thing first.....think through your engine plans to end point before you do too much more. What are your aspirations for the car? What are your plans for it?
If you are looking for a bit more power, torque and drivability, then carry right on, but if your plans involve bucket loads more, 100-200 more of each, ie supercharging or turbocharging, then work out what you need to do to get there first. You can waste a lot if money by doing a load of normally aspirated work, then going FI anyway. For example, supercharging requires a relatively low CR before you start.
Good breathing is as relevant to forced induction as it is to naturally aspirated tuning... with the clear exception of those who have actually done the measuring and the maths (as opposed to regurgitating fantasy figures), most of what is claimed here about CRs (especially) is b
ks...
ks...
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