📓 Journals Adding Lightness

[Dragoon]

Just got the car weighed today. With a full tank of gas, it was 3,240 lbs but that's with the Antigravity battery installed. Adding back the 30 lbs saved with the battery, the car was 3,270 lbs stock. Stock it has a weight to power ratio of 8.175. With the Antigravity battery, the ratio is 8.1.

Next up: oil change and installing the Eventuri, then back to the dyno shop.

This is great to know! It will be interesting to see what combination of parts it takes to get under a weight to power ratio of 8.

 

[Time2Fly]

Third cat delete and Eventuri should get close with a bump of thirty to forty horsepower.

 

[TomAce]

Third cat delete and Eventuri should get close with a bump of thirty to forty horsepower.

It doesn‘t necessarily mean that peak bhp from third cat and intake can be added because their benefits may Lappen in a different rpm range.

For example peak gain of Eventuri is at 5500rpm, peak gain of third cat is at 7000rpm.

 

[Biggles of Norwich]

Yes it does require a trickle charger for Lithium Ion batteries. I didn't know if the Lotus factory charger supported lithium batteries, so I'd already ordered a CTEK lithium trickle charger before the car was ever delivered.

Something interesting though; since I installed the Antigravity battery, I haven't had to use the trickle charger once. I've now got 1,000 miles on the car and it's never failed to start, nor have I had any problems with any of the electronics. These batteries seem to be strong enough (even with the 40ah one I got) that they don't need the trickle charging every night thing. My car has sat for several days when we had about a week of thunderstorms and rain, and it started right up.

To offer some balance, I've left my factory battery for two weeks and it started no bother. It does NOT need to be trickle charged every night.

 

[wuster]

wow what a great read and thank you for the time to share your feedback, journey, thoughts, and pics / videos with all of us! Look forward to more!

 

[Speedy Emira]

Yeah I know. Just driving around town in the Emira, there are stretches of road that are very quiet, then suddenly roaring, and that's on asphalt that changes from a new patch to an older surface. Driving on grooved concrete on the freeways, it's so loud I don't think I'd even be able to have a conversation with someone. Coming off the freeway onto an asphalt off-ramp, it's like someone flips a switch and turns off the roar.

When I get home, stop the car and get out, my ears have that high-pitched hiss in them that you get after being exposed to high levels of sound for prolonged periods of time. Maybe it's just me; I am 72 so it could be my older hearing is more susceptible to this, but I want to get this under control because I really enjoy driving the car. Most of the sound seems to be coming from the back of the car, so I'll start with the rear wheel well liners first. If I have to, I'll even put sound deadener on the firewall behind the seats if necessary. I know this can be brought under control, it's just going to take some time and effort.

Wont soundproofing reduce the exhaust sound as well?

 

[Speedy Emira]

You know why they're called Goodyear?
Because they're only good for one year!
I can't stand the Goodyears and can't wait to replace them with Michelins.

I agree, since fitting coil overs I’m keen to see the difference with Cup 2s as well. I plan to order lightweight wheels soon and fit Cup 2 Connects with the temp sensors and app.

 

[Eagle7]

Wont soundproofing reduce the exhaust sound as well?

It would if I put it on the firewall, but it won't if I put it on the wheel well liners. In fact, I suspect damping out the noise from the wheel wells might actually improve the exhaust sound because those frequencies are probably being interfered with by road noise.

 

[Hapkin]

Which coilovers did you go with? Nitrons? What spring rates.

Great thread @Eagle7. I did lithium AG battery and 3CD and it has been noticeably better balanced. Hard to say for power since I replaced before 1k break in.

Strongly looking at Steve Tillets B10's and hoping GRP can figure out the last couple of ECU error codes and proper resistors.

Then light wheels and titanium lug nuts.

Super interested in hearing about your ceramic bearings. Reducing rolling resistance is a win at all speeds.

Lastly, eventually hoping for Syvecs or other ECU with 7200 rpm.

 

[Time2Fly]

@Hapkin what's 3CD?

 

[LuckysDad]

@Hapkin what's 3CD?

3rd Cat Delete

 

[Eagle7]

Got the Eventuri installed last night. It was a bear. Took me 2 hours; not because of the Eventuri, but because the factory airbox did NOT want to come out. The battery cable that connects to the engine is routed through a clip/holder on the far end of the lower airbox. It's just out of reach, so it was very hard for me to get it out of the clip so I could remove the airbox. You have to lean over the back of the car to do everything, and it really put a strain on my lower back. If you are younger (I'm 72) it may be easier, but it was a strain for me.

If you have a long (12 inches) or two 6 inch extensions combined, it will be MUCH easier to remove the top left bolt on the airbox. The Eventuri instructions say the 2 bolts at the top of the airbox are 13mm, but mine were 10mm for some reason. I guess Lotus changed those for North America as opposed to the U.K. version?

Below is the factory airbox. The 3 screws circled in red are what you need to remove if you're simply changing the air filter. The front swings out and there are two plastic hinges on the bottom that come loose when you do that. The two large holes on the top left and center are where the mounting bolts are that bolt the airbox to the car. At the bottom I put a red arrow to show where the battery cable goes through. You have to push it towards the front of the car to get it to slide out of that groove. That's what gave me such a hard time. It was tight and did not want to slide out.

I got some gold heat reflect tape and put it on the Eventuri connector tube. I did it mostly for cosmetics, although obviously it will keep the tube cool. The travel path from the side of the car to the supercharger is so short, I doubt it will make much of a difference for street driving. For those taking their car to the track, it will probably make a bigger difference; especially to help minimize heat-soak after you come off the track. I just like the way it looks. There are a lot of small ridges all over the tube, so it made it a bit difficult to get everything to lay down. I washed the whole tube in dishwashing liquid and let it dry thoroughly before putting the tape on. It stuck to it with no problem. If anybody else is going to do this to their Eventuri tube, I'd recommend using smaller cuts of tape instead of trying to wrap it with long pieces. There's a lot of changes in shape and angle that are just easier to cover with smaller pieces.

Through the rear glass (I don't have the privacy glass) I think it jazzes up the engine compartment nicely.

The Eventuri setup weighed 4.5 lbs. The factory airbox setup weighed 5 lbs, so there's a very slight weight reduction of 1/2 a pound.

DRIVING IMPRESSIONS
I noticed right away that the engine starts and idles more smoothly. I cannot feel any vibration in the shift lever; even with the A/C on. The engine just runs more smoothly overall. Sound-wise, the exhaust tone even in Tour mode, sounds just a slight bit throatier. When accelerating, everything just feels smoother. The mid to upper rpms always had good pull, but the lower rpms felt somewhat soft. Now they don't. There's a consistency in the way acceleration feels all the way from lower to higher rpms.

The differences are subtle, but there. It isn't an OMG type of difference, it's more of a refinement to the overall performance. Car sounds good, pulls good, runs good right from when you first take off. With the window up, I don't hear any difference in the supercharger whine, but you can hear it more with the window down.

Overall I'm very happy with how the car feels now. It's more than just a power increase. It's hard to describe. Tomorrow I'm going to the dyno shop to see if I can get in for a run sometime next week.

I did NOT do an oil change yet. I'm going to add a friction modifier to the oils (both engine and transaxle) and I know that will reduce the drivetrain loss somewhat, and I didn't want that coloring the performance gains of the Eventuri. Whatever the dyno run shows will be just the difference the Eventuri makes.

 

[Time2Fly]

That foil looks great. Which one did you use? Thank you for the detailed writeup!

 

[Eagle7]

That foil looks great. Which one did you use? Thank you for the detailed writeup!

I got it from Amazon:

www.amazon.com/dp/B07C5Q1XC7?ref_=pe_386300_442618370_TE_sc_as_ri_0&th=1

 

[LuckysDad]

I too had a bit of trouble with the battery cable. What I did was to remove the airbox bolts (yes they are 10mm, not 13 as in the directions) and coolant lines first. Then slid the airbox away from the cable instead of trying to pry the cable away from the slot.

Working my way through the directions slowly and methodically it took me just about an hour to complete.

The sound is killer!

 

[Time2Fly]

So are you waiting for the oil change for the dyno?

 

[T6061]

The gold heat tape gives it an Apollo Lunar Module feel...cool!

 

[Eagle7]

So are you waiting for the oil change for the dyno?

No. I'm going to get the dyno soon as I can. Hopefully next week sometime. Depends on how busy they are.

 

[Eagle7]

I too had a bit of trouble with the battery cable. What I did was to remove the airbox bolts (yes they are 10mm, not 13 as in the directions) and coolant lines first. Then slid the airbox away from the cable instead of trying to pry the cable away from the slot.

Working my way through the directions slowly and methodically it took me just about an hour to complete.

The sound is killer!

That's a good idea with moving the box instead of the cable. If I had thought of it, it would be a great idea!

 

[senna223]

When are you putting your wheels on?