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How did yours fail though? Under what conditions
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LOTUS EMIRA ─ ECU Tuning options
- Thread starter finny76
- Start date
Sorry. I’m calling BS on this. Maybe we drive a bit differently down under, but gbox failures and drivetrain snapping is simply unheard of down here. We are a close community, and most of us attend regular track and sprint events which means our bush telegraph works very well. Not trying to g to upset anyone or call them out, but we regularly pump out 450 to 550 bhp v6 engines and never even look at the drive train. Maybe the air is thicker down here.
steveoexige
Member
- May 27, 2024
- 24
- 39
No BS here. My V6 Exige trans let go at 460bhp and I have the bills to prove it. The engine can handle that power more reliably but the gearbox is most definitely the weak link and I'm not the 1st to find out. Ring Komo-tec or JUBU, they'll tell you the same
Steve. I’m sorry that your exited gbox blew up. But 460 bhp is not a big figure. Do u think it would have blown up at 430 bhp? See my point. Things break g on a car are due to multiple factors. Hidden manufacturing faults, driving styles, what one was fit g when it failed, bad luck, etc…but reading posts that claim that increasing the engine output will blow boxes is just not correct. There is a point where that happens. And down here in australia we have just not seen it happen at that level. And the people I associate will all track regularly, and have engine mods.
If you did poll on it, I doubt it would raise many yes votes like the on on paint blistering.
steveoexige
Member
- May 27, 2024
- 24
- 39
Yes, 460bhp isn't a massive number but it definitely blew my V6 trans apart and Emira owners deserve to know that it can and sometimes does happen. I was running a TVS1900 chargecooled supercharger, MOTEC ecu and other associated hardware to mitigate the extra stresses of track day driving and to keep everything "safe". I liaised with Komo-tec extensively when tuning the car and they warned me that my gearbox would likely let go beyond 450bhp and 440Nm - not if, but when.
They sell an uprated gearset, JUBU sell their own too and state in their blurb: "The manual Lotus OEM gearbox hits its limits at about 450hp of power output."
During my ownership of 3 exiges I was a member of SELOC, Exiges.com and Lotustalk. Do your own research, I wasn't the only V6 owner with a destroyed gearbox. We aren't talking large numbers of owners, just a percentage of those that ventured north of 450bhp/440Nm.
Word for the wise, don't believe a word from the keyboard warriors on the forums, if I was an Emira owner looking to tune my V6 I'd speak to Komo-Tec and/or Jubu about their experiences of failures during testing/tuning.
Don't even get me started on the costs to get the V6 engine to consistently and reliably perform beyond 450bhp......this engine and trans are not a great starting point if you like tuning
They sell an uprated gearset, JUBU sell their own too and state in their blurb: "The manual Lotus OEM gearbox hits its limits at about 450hp of power output."
During my ownership of 3 exiges I was a member of SELOC, Exiges.com and Lotustalk. Do your own research, I wasn't the only V6 owner with a destroyed gearbox. We aren't talking large numbers of owners, just a percentage of those that ventured north of 450bhp/440Nm.
Word for the wise, don't believe a word from the keyboard warriors on the forums, if I was an Emira owner looking to tune my V6 I'd speak to Komo-Tec and/or Jubu about their experiences of failures during testing/tuning.
Don't even get me started on the costs to get the V6 engine to consistently and reliably perform beyond 450bhp......this engine and trans are not a great starting point if you like tuning
Sounds a bit like my ex v6 exige. I had my engine rebuilt with forged parts. It was an absolute rocket. Made me laugh when ever I went to eastern creek raceway for some private practice, and would surprise the mclarens when they couldn’t out pace me down the long straights. Yr right. Not the best tuning engine, but when you do it right, it’s an absolute rocket. I don’t doubt the drive train is not the best. I am surprised that the suggestion that a jubu 440 would likely detonate the gearbox.
Doesn't the V6 Exige have a completely different transmission than the Evora and Emira?
Strmshdow84
Member
No, from what I've read. All the same gearboxes with the difference being small updates throughout the years.
steveoexige
Member
- May 27, 2024
- 24
- 39
Any Lotus with a manual trans and the V6 Toyota uses the same EA60 gearbox albeit with some minor tweaks to ratios. This includes the series 3 Exige, Evora and Emira
NorCalEmira
Well-known member
The EA60 gearbox is strong enough to live behind the new 600HP Jubu Clubsport build with whatever upgrades they install for that application. I agree that outcomes will vary depending upon the amount of abuse that a given driver doles out. Jubu indicates that the use of their flywheel and heavy duty clutch offerings go a long way to increase strength. Definitely worth a call into Jubu to understand what specific upgrades are recommended for higher power levels but their 440 and 460 tunes are safe for the standard drivetrain according to their website
So with the replacement ECUs, if you use it and swap back to stock for a service can the dealer tell?
Most dealers wont care but if it comes to warranty the guys at Lotus are pretty savvy and will know that the engine hours dont line up with the mileage.
I'm sure your observations are accurate, but I think this is also a case of volume in data points.
I would argue that there are multiples of these cars being tracked in the states vs. other countries. Also, the number of times a car gets tracked per year is likely higher. I'll use myself as an example (granted it's skewed even for the states). Just in Souther California alone, I have access to buttonwillow (old track), buttonwillow new track (the circuit), streets of willow, big willow at Willow Springs, Chuckwalla, and thermal. Oh and as of 1.5 years ago, we even had a track in Fontana (oval for indy with an infield road course), but the city said no more. So, cars just get punished out here. I personally know of two evoras with gearbox failures over the years (same tranny as the emira).
All of the preceding is not meant to discredit anyone's perspective. It's simply a different perspective based on another geographic data point and use case. I will say, that no one can argue with the concept of increased stress eventually = some form of failure. So, if someone is considering squeezing more power, they should also consider a slush fi=und for extra maintenance and possible repair.
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