ECU Upgrade - Test Results

[gryphon]

Originally Posted by gryphon

4. When I got the Veloce ECU upgrade I had never been able to find out whether the 90-92 MPH limiter function for the stock ECU had been eliminated. I don’t have roads in my driving area that would allow me to find out by actual road experience. Apparently the limiter was removed as the smart reached 97 MPH in 4th gear and 130 MPH in 5th! Keep in mind that actual road speed would be considerably less in that our "flying brick" aerodynamics would obviously slow things down a significant amount

I had a rare opportunity today to try out the smart for a top speed run on the road and found that the speed limiter with the Veloce ECU upgrade is NOT eliminated. The limiter cut in at 95 MPH indicated on the smart's speedometer and 89.5 on the ecometer's digital readout. Incidentally, the ecometer indicated speed matches that of my GPS navigation unit. While I had gotten the smart to 130 MPH on the dyno test, the road test differed in one significant area...fuse 11 (ESP power) was pulled for the dyno test and was in place for the road test. It is my assumption that the speed limiter is part of the ESP logic and is disabled when the fuse is pulled. I'm going to verify that assumption with a fuse-out high speed run when I get another chance, but these occasions are pretty rare. I'll post the results when I find that stretch of road available and open again.

[SmartCarPerformance]

Thank you for letting us know.

We have had several road tests going well over 100 MPH after the ECU upgrade without pulling the fuse.

[buellwinkle]

SmartCarPeformance, maybe you can help me understand the graphs. I'm assuming from past experience that you ignore dyno noise and the shift points as invalid data. So the question is, at what point on the bottom graph do you see 76HP, am I missing something? I see the same 70HP peak in the 2 graphs with the ECU mods.

Since it's highly likely the dyno saved these numbers, can you asked him to merge the 3 runs into one graph and do it by RPM so we can we can see the typical HP/Torque crossover at 5252 rpm and see the benefits across the rev range.

Thanks

[SmartCarPerformance]

Originally Posted by buellwinkle

SmartCarPeformance, maybe you can help me understand the graphs. I'm assuming from past experience that you ignore dyno noise and the shift points as invalid data. So the question is, at what point on the bottom graph do you see 76HP, am I missing something? I see the same 70HP peak in the 2 graphs with the ECU mods.

Since it's highly likely the dyno saved these numbers, can you asked him to merge the 3 runs into one graph and do it by RPM so we can we can see the typical HP/Torque crossover at 5252 rpm and see the benefits across the rev range.

Thanks

The graph result we posted were given to us by our local Corona company who has been doing Dyno graphs for many years. We double checked the horsepower that he gave us and he verified it to us and said it was correct.

We had asked him to convert the data to show the horsepower according to the RPM readout but he said because of the current configuration the readings would not have been so accurate. As I said before, it seems that there are several different ways to interpret the graphs. The Dyno is a very static environment which does not take into consideration many factors. It think our Dyno graphs should be used as a guide to help people decide if it is worth it or not. There are also other factors to consider like being able to go faster than 90MPH, smoother shifting, and the overall efficiency of the engine after being remapped.

We are still contemplating taking our Smarts to the track to see what difference this will make. Again, that's not a perfect thing either. You have take into consideration the driver's response time, getting the correct timing, and of course the weather. But it is still in our agenda.

I will have to say the people who have had their ECU remapped have been more than pleased.

[SmartCarPerformance]

From what we found out, it is not possible to control/remove the traction control on an ECU remap.

[buellwinkle]

I've run a lot of dynos on various dyno equipment like Mustang and Dynojet and from what I read from the graphs, I see a 3HP increase between your chip and stock. Sure, there are other things you do besides increase HP, but you can't go and put misleading and deceptive info and tell people they will get 9HP when it's just dyno noise from the car shifting.

[SmartCarPerformance]

Originally Posted by buellwinkle

I've run a lot of dynos on various dyno equipment like Mustang and Dynojet and from what I read from the graphs, I see a 3HP increase between your chip and stock. Sure, there are other things you do besides increase HP, but you can't go and put misleading and deceptive info and tell people they will get 9HP when it's just dyno noise from the car shifting.

That is why we have the forums. We have had several different interpretations on the Dyno results. I am simply giving you the interpretation given to me by the company who says they have had over 25 years experience. I apologize if you feel mislead. We try to give the community the information they need without doing more than we should. I could possibly go to another Dyno shop and get totally different numbers. But at this point, I don't think it is necessary. Our Dyno results are out there and different people will interpret it however they choose. We are not here to force our information but to share our information.

[gryphon]

I'd posted a few weeks back that during the dyno testing on my car ithad gotten up to 130 mph, albeit with fuse 11 (for the ESP) pulled and wondered if pulling the fuse bypassed the top speed limiter. I can report now that the removal of fuse 11 has no effect on the limiter as the max I can achieve is 89.5 mph shown on my ecometer & GPS (94-95 mph on the smart's speedo) in either 4th or 5th gear. I cannot explain the differential between the dyno max and the on-road max and I doubt that air resistance alone can account for this much variation. I simply have no explanation for how the dyno numbers are so much higher.

[BARNEY O]

Originally Posted by gryphon

I'd posted a few weeks back that during the dyno testing on my car ithad gotten up to 130 mph, albeit with fuse 11 (for the ESP) pulled and wondered if pulling the fuse bypassed the top speed limiter. I can report now that the removal of fuse 11 has no effect on the limiter as the max I can achieve is 89.5 mph shown on my ecometer & GPS (94-95 mph on the smart's speedo) in either 4th or 5th gear. I cannot explain the differential between the dyno max and the on-road max and I doubt that air resistance alone can account for this much variation. I simply have no explanation for how the dyno numbers are so much higher.

Not so familiar with a chassis dyno but on our engine dyno there was the 'ol correction factor for a given pull to add to the mix. Totally amazing what a little % error can do for making big numbers.

Barney O.