Juicy's SE

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 6:44 pm

Dave's is stand alone isn't it?

Juicy HiC · Postby **Juicy HiC** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:04 pm

Yep ps1000

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davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:22 pm

... and the fuel figures are the same as when it had the standard SE ECU plus a Haltech Interceptor, although it was 15% more powerful then with 6psi more boost and did have a tendency to explode.

Juicy HiC · Postby **Juicy HiC** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:22 pm

7.8lph that time

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Postby **Okibi** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:43 pm

Sorry Dann, I have not idea about mine, it mostly gets spirited driving and at the track it can drink fuel like crazy.

I'd rather reliability over economy.

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:22 pm

Lokiel's gets 1tank/year

Postby **NitroDann** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:36 pm

It sounds like we are in the ballpark, I am happy with that

Dann

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 7:38 am

Yeah, I think with the setup you've got going on, and no doubt Justin hit the loud pedal a few times, I reckon 8L/100km is pretty good.

Juicy, we need a report!

Juicy HiC · Postby **Juicy HiC** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:45 am

Update will be up soon. One more piece of the puzzle to come

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Juicy HiC · Postby **Juicy HiC** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:01 pm

So the car is finally home after its trip to NitroDanns in Newcastle for surgery.

1st impressions... WOW!

I set him a pretty difficult task, I wanted a car that would be great at the track, fun on the street but still easy enough to drive that my wife, who hates modified cars, could get in it and drive it.

He has nailed it!

What's been done?

ECU got rid of the factory with Chiptorque and haltech interceptor replaced with Elite 1500.
Engine, lots. New rods, fuel pump, injectors, oil pump, oil cooler, t28 turbo, Nitrodann exhaust and the first of its kind, a Nitrodann clutch, I'll let Dann explain it.
Also added Frame rails and an Automotive plus twin diagonal rollbar.

We did discuss going to flex fuel but it just didn't quite fit in with my budget at the moment. I may still do it later down the track but for now it will be 98.

Final result... 280+RWHP

This was done on an unknown dyno and Dann feels that it's quite a conservative number. But also a conservative tune as he was concerned about the after sales care given that I'm 1049km from him.

So I picked it up yesterday, went driving with Dann for a couple of hours in the hills outside Newcastle (I would recommend that road to everyone on this forum. 100kmh speed limit with windy stuff;))

Not knowing what to expect drove away and my 1st thought was, my wife will love this. You cannot tell that it's modified other than that beautiful sound coming from the exhaust. But when I did finally plant my foot, HOLY S?! T! It f'ing goes!
It's not a brutal push you into the seat thing but once you go full throttle there's is a very insistent continually growing push that never let's up until you give up as you go past jail territory. It's like that in every gear up to 5th and I assume all the way through 6th, but when I looked down and was doing near on 190 and the next bend was approaching at warp speed I chickened out. It is seriously fast, to quote Dann, "there's now way highway patrol could catch us". At least not while we're driving, unfortunately the VR MX5 does stand out in a crowd.

As for the drivability, it's better than its ever been. Power is linear and smooth, and because of the way Dann tunes, if your only using part throttle you will never know how fast it really is. I got caught in some stop start traffic just before Sydney on the way back to Melbourne and it was not an issue at all. What he's done with the clutch is fantastic.

So once we'd finished our drive through the hills I dropped Dann off, grabbed my old parts and got on the road at 1130 and pulled into my driveway in Melbourne at 1030. It was very comfortable the whole way, not once did I feel that the exhaust was drony or annoying. The best thing was I averaged 7.8lt per 100kmh. This is the best I've ever gotten out of this car.

Obviously if your reading this you've seen the other various comments about the Elite and other available ECU's. The short answer is, it's brilliant. The long answer is, be prepared to wait for Haltech, as Dann has pointed out to me, they are a small company even though they seem quite large. Things take time and they may not be perfect when you get them. However the other side of that is, give it to the right person and the thing is amazing.
Only 3 of these have been installed on MX5's, 2 of which have been done by Dann. The other was by Haltech. All I can say to this is that if your considering it I would only use one person at the moment to install it. He has the setup down and a couple of great tunes to go of.

I'm also aware that some may be interested to know of my experience with Dann. I choose to send my car to him based on a few things (it was no minor decision either given the distance)
Firstly he has done quite a bit of work on my Dad's ( ausbuoy on the forum) MX5, the red NA6 turbo affectionately known as the Turbinator. I'm sure that those that have seen it run at Lakeside, QR and Morgan Park will agree, it is seriously fast and has embarrassed many much more expensive cars. I probably would have sent my car to him based on this alone however during the past year Dann has been through some ups and downs with Exocet and the way that he delt with some of the fallout from this showed me the sort of person that he is and gave me the confidence to know that if something goes wrong with my car he will do whatever he can to fix it.

However as a result of the work that he has done don't expect to be able to walk in off the street and get it done tomorrow.

The quality of his work is fantastic and shows the pride that he places in his finished product.

During the decision process I also considered A Plus in Brisbane and I had used a local guy for some work who deals with Haltech exclusively. But in the end the results that Dann has gotten and the chats that I'd had with him convinced me.

As a bit of nice to know, if you've been considering frame rails or a rollbar, Do it! The car was pretty good before but these two things have completely transformed the car, the only way I could describe it was that it is just planted and inspires complete confidence going into any corner.

That's enough for now, I'm going for another drive8-)

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ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:15 pm

Sounds awesome. I'm glad you're so happy with the outcome, and reports like this give others (ie me) the confidence to send their cars to Dann, despite the distances involved.

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:49 pm

ManiacLachy wrote:Lokiel's gets 1tank/year

I win!

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 3:42 pm

Just gone back and re-read the build and rebuild of this car. Great thread. It's always good to read about people's experiences and their comments on the work that's been done, especially when the outcome matches their requirements so well. I have no idea how far I may go with mine in the future, but the type of information on here will certainly help with any decision process. Will be interesting to hear of any quirkiness or issues that may arise and, if they do, how they are handled.

speed · Postby **speed** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 6:55 pm

Lokiel wrote:
ManiacLachy wrote:Lokiel's gets 1tank/year

I win!

I'm going on 2 years ownership now and can count the times I've filled with petrol on one hand...

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 9:21 am

Highway driving to Wakefield was a touch over 7l/100

Driving on the track at Wakefield: about 38l/100 :shock:

That's beast guess sharing the car so 12 sessions. Started with a full tank and topped up with 20l fuel can, still left the track with the fuel light on at the end of the day :oops: