SE hesitation or bog under load??

[Billyr]

My se has 136 rwkw, has got hi flow air cleaner and exhaust, bigger inter cooler,boost controller, standard computer, injectors and fuel pump. Dyno sheet shows flat spot, which is quite noticeable in car, sometimes feels like it cuts power when you floor it. Can anybody recommend a tuner who knows these cars that can fix this problem, I'm in south east melbourne. Don't want to sacrifice drive ability i.e. idle hassles with air con, cold start etc. any advice would be great, Billyr

[NitroDann]

Turn the boost down or get a standalone ECU.

Dann

[davekmoore]

Dann will be right.

[93_Clubman]

Can anybody recommend a tuner who knows these cars that can fix this problem, I'm in south east melbourne.

davekmoore can also tell you who NOT to go to in SE Melb to tune an SE

[davekmoore]

True. Can also confirm the Haltech is perfectly ok. The challenge was with the installation and tune.

[Juicy HiC]

Mine has 210rwhp at the moment (around 150-160kw) . I've done the same mods as you plus rx8 injectors, Chiptorque ECU and a piggy back haltech. Your welcome to come have a drive, I'm located in Altona. I'm planning to change ECU, turbo and few other bits later in the year and so will be looking to sell the my current ECU setup.
It was certainly an improvement over where your at and if you feel that once you've got a level of smoothness and not wanting to go any further then what I've got is great.

[Billyr]

Thanks for the feed back, dann what you say re turning down the boost is of course what a bloke could do, but pressing the hi boost option is tempting and I was hoping was an option I could use without jeopardizing the engine.
Have been fortunate to speak with Dave Moore who urged me to come on the forum for some information, he certainly has been through the mill to achieve what is a great result with his set up.
Juicy, I'd love to take you up on your offer to check out yours, not sure how we do this but I can call you if you can send me your number, would b keen to find out who tuned yours and of course a heap of other questions.

[davekmoore]

Juicy's piggy back interceptor ECU and injectors were once in my car. Funny how these things go around.

After many months of trying to work with one local Haltech approved tuner who just couldn't get it right I can confirm that after a single short session with an out of town tuner who was mainly doing non-tuning work on the car, the Haltech PS1000 now enables the car to start, idle and drive as it did from the factory, except without any bog or hesitations. It just goes stronger now, as it has ID1000 injectors, higher flow fuel pump, flex fuel sensor etc and seamlessly transitions between any combination of 98 and E85.

So I reckon I could now recommend a Haltech ECU.

However, I would also suggest you ask for recommendations on here for installers/tuners from people who have had Haltechs (or your choice of ECU) installed and tuned in MX5s and only consider those tuners who get multiple recommendations and even then also talk to the ECU supplier to check out the tuner. You also want a fixed price and timescale for the job and a way for the tuner to keep you mobile if the job goes outside the quoted timescale.

If you go with a Haltech make sure a proper fitting kit and the correct loom are used. Whichever ECU you get, if it's going where the factory one is, in the passenger footwell, make sure the OEM bash plate is going to be put back over it to protect it and that you get to inspect the install before the bash plate and carpet go back in place. That's also a good time to make sure a clamp is put on the air con condenser pipe to stop the installer or passenger being so easily able to kick the pipe off, thus flooding the footwell with water. Also good to see the bash plate installed so you can confirm, before it's hidden by the carpet, that none of the cables are trapped between the plate and the car body, because if they are, when a passenger puts weight on the plate they'll cross-communicate, with disastrous and almost undiagnosable results.

Also note that Juicy is already considering a better turbo and other ways to get more power. If you're likely to do something similar you might realign your own upgrade path as other factors will come into account such as:

How much do you want to stress the tiddly OEM IHI turbo? They max out at 12psi and are working very hard at that, whereas, depending on how your tuner sets things up, a 2560 conversion will give more or the same power with always heaps more torque, way less lag at less revs/boost and with much better driveability and reliability.
How much do you want to stress the bottom end of the motor? Mine broke a rod at an alleged 174rwkw, although non-mechanical factors might have contributed.
Or do you want to shell out for a built bottom end? If/when you do that, make sure you get several recommendations from owners of MX5s, preferably of track cars and make sure the person you go with uses all the correct gaskets, seal and sealants.
Then you need to start thinking about cooling .................

[Billyr]

I see juicy that you have a chip torque ecu, has that ecu replaced the original computer and then the piggy back haltech aids the chip torque ecu? could possibly be a dumb question, but I'm not up to speed with the black art of computers, ecu's etc.

[Billyr]

Just reading daves post makes me think there has been a fair amount of grief had there somewhere, at least as a consequence your knowledge base has improved.
Power wise I'd b more than happy with the 150-160 rwkw that juicy has, as long as it's reliable.
Not at all keen to start down the bigger turbo slide, can't help but see bucket loads of $s disappearing out of her indoors retirement fund.
Who tuned your set up juicy? And we're you happy with them?