Emira JB4 Tuning Now Available for I4 & V6 Cars!

[freefall_junkie]

It always seemed to me that Lotus builds in considerable overhead to increase power. JB is taking advantage of that overhead

You may well be right, not least because Lotus have emissions regs to deal with, but here is the question in my mind. Both Jubu and Komotec are well respected companies with in depth engineering expertise and many years of experience in tuning the V6 in the Exige, Evora and more recently the Emira. They have tuned literally hundreds of cars, including for race applications. As I understand it neither company takes the supercharged V6 beyond circa 430hp without hardware mods including a smaller supercharger pulley and different exhaust manifold. If it was possible to extract 60 to 100 hp by simply modifying the ECU parameters without compromising engine longevity, surely they or some other company would have done it long ago. I don't believe it is because they want to sell more expensive upgrades, you would think there has to be an engineering reason . Again, I'm not trying to diss the JB4, I'd just like to understand how the results are achieved.

 

[675430VME]

Forgive me as I have not reseached this too much.. but it seems the power of the Burger tune is less "down low".
Do you think Burger could ever custom tweak it to give it more power in lower gears?

Yes, I believe this is possible. You can do your custom tweaking by limited boost in certain rpm range. So let say you use map 3 or 4 for instant boost at lower rpm then cut the output in half once it is over 4k rpm or whatever you choose.

 

[chirowolf]

You may well be right, not least because Lotus have emissions regs to deal with, but here is the question in my mind. Both Jubu and Komotec are well respected companies with in depth engineering expertise and many years of experience in tuning the V6 in the Exige, Evora and more recently the Emira. They have tuned literally hundreds of cars, including for race applications. As I understand it neither company takes the supercharged V6 beyond circa 430hp without hardware mods including a smaller supercharger pulley and different exhaust manifold. If it was possible to extract 60 to 100 hp by simply modifying the ECU parameters without compromising engine longevity, surely they or some other company would have done it long ago. I don't believe it is because they want to sell more expensive upgrades, you would think there has to be an engineering reason . Again, I'm not trying to diss the JB4, I'd just like to understand how the results are achieved.

I agree. I waited a bit to see if anyone was having issues. Curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to order last week. I'm telling myself I will be conservative and stay with map 1 and 2. Should not stress anything too much and still have a nice punch.
I look at it as an $800 experiment. Even if I only get 30hp seems like a relatively inexpensive option. Much more has been spent for much less gains. (think exhaust and intake modes)
I should get mine in the next few weeks if everything goes as planned.

Next upgrade????? Turbo and SC badging. That must be good for at least another 20hp. Right?

 

[GRP]

You may well be right, not least because Lotus have emissions regs to deal with, but here is the question in my mind. Both Jubu and Komotec are well respected companies with in depth engineering expertise and many years of experience in tuning the V6 in the Exige, Evora and more recently the Emira. They have tuned literally hundreds of cars, including for race applications. As I understand it neither company takes the supercharged V6 beyond circa 430hp without hardware mods including a smaller supercharger pulley and different exhaust manifold. If it was possible to extract 60 to 100 hp by simply modifying the ECU parameters without compromising engine longevity, surely they or some other company would have done it long ago. I don't believe it is because they want to sell more expensive upgrades, you would think there has to be an engineering reason . Again, I'm not trying to diss the JB4, I'd just like to understand how the results are achieved.

You can make pretty solid power just by cleaning up the tuning on these cars, they run very conservative timing and rich fueling.
In my past experience when we tried to work with Komotec on tuning for Evora's they were very very conservative and wouldn't alter anything on their base line tunes and were really into selling packages with their parts to get certain power levels. Not all of those parts are 100% needed to reach those power levels though.
Maybe @Payam@BMS can elaborate some more as well on the tuning with the JB4.

 

[Terry]

I don't believe it is because they want to sell more expensive upgrades, you would think there has to be an engineering reason . Again, I'm not trying to diss the JB4, I'd just like to understand how the results are achieved.

For the supercharged models the majority of the power gains come from additional engine boost by allowing the throttle body to open more. Here is a factory tuning log and one with the JB4 enabled. Note the JB4 log is running a more open throttle and around 2psi more engine boost.

As to why Lotus leaves power on the table it's likely the same reason most turbocharged applications leave power on the table. They prioritize consistent power regardless of weather, elevation, fuel quality, and conditions. There are likely situations where the ECU itself allows more boost, for example, at very high elevations. We're just unlocking those levels under a wider range of conditions.

As for what other tuning shops offer, I'm sure if they offer ECU tuning, they are making similar changes. Since ECU flash maps are not "adjustable" its possible they limit their gains to the lowest possible denominator as changing maps, customers moving between different fuels like 93 or an E85 mix, or customers doing customized tuning, is not possible with a mail order ECU situation.

 

[NoFear99]

You may well be right, not least because Lotus have emissions regs to deal with, but here is the question in my mind. Both Jubu and Komotec are well respected companies with in depth engineering expertise and many years of experience in tuning the V6 in the Exige, Evora and more recently the Emira. They have tuned literally hundreds of cars, including for race applications. As I understand it neither company takes the supercharged V6 beyond circa 430hp without hardware mods including a smaller supercharger pulley and different exhaust manifold. If it was possible to extract 60 to 100 hp by simply modifying the ECU parameters without compromising engine longevity, surely they or some other company would have done it long ago. I don't believe it is because they want to sell more expensive upgrades, you would think there has to be an engineering reason . Again, I'm not trying to diss the JB4, I'd just like to understand how the results are achieved.

With the Jubu 460 kit, the SC pulley is even bigger to get less boost, lower engine bay temperature and putting less stress onto the engine.
So that means without doing that it would be called a 475-480 kit in fact.

Remember the JB4 test car had a GRP 3rd cat delete, It is a 13 whp right there and also a drop in air filter +5HP = +or-20HP without any tune yet.
I gave you those numbers with a before and after dynos result online. Without those 2 simple bolt-on mods the map2 could have get 440WHP instead of 460whp.

 

[Eagle7]

You may well be right, not least because Lotus have emissions regs to deal with, but here is the question in my mind. Both Jubu and Komotec are well respected companies with in depth engineering expertise and many years of experience in tuning the V6 in the Exige, Evora and more recently the Emira. They have tuned literally hundreds of cars, including for race applications. As I understand it neither company takes the supercharged V6 beyond circa 430hp without hardware mods including a smaller supercharger pulley and different exhaust manifold. If it was possible to extract 60 to 100 hp by simply modifying the ECU parameters without compromising engine longevity, surely they or some other company would have done it long ago. I don't believe it is because they want to sell more expensive upgrades, you would think there has to be an engineering reason . Again, I'm not trying to diss the JB4, I'd just like to understand how the results are achieved.

There is the possibility that they simply didn't think of doing what JB did. Or they could have wanted to sell parts too, or were worried about warranty issues, etc. Who knows.

 

[allenyao09]

With the Jubu 460 kit, the SC pulley is even bigger to get less boost, lower engine bay temperature and putting less stress onto the engine.
So that means without doing that it would be called a 475-480 kit in fact.

Remember the JB4 test car had a GRP 3rd cat delete, It is a 13 whp right there and also a drop in air filter +5HP = +or-20HP without any tune yet.
I gave you those numbers with a before and after dynos result online. Without those 2 simple bolt-on mods the map2 could have get 440WHP instead of 460whp.

I think someone on the forum has proved that the 3rd cat delete does not add any extra power?

 

[NoFear99]

I think someone on the forum has proved that the 3rd cat delete does not add any extra power?

Myself I saw a before & after dyno onto Lotus Emira Owner USA facebook page.

 

[Porter]

Myself I saw a before & after dyno onto Lotus Emira Owner USA facebook page.

That doesn't mean it has zero effect. That just means that on that car, absent other mods, it didn't gain power in those conditions. But with tuning changes, it might have a significant effect compared to the results that would have been achieved if the cat were present.

Mods don't happen in a vacuum... everything you change affects everything else. None of it is additive in the way that people usually talk about it.

 

[NoFear99]

That doesn't mean it has zero effect. That just means that on that car, absent other mods, it didn't gain power in those conditions. But with tuning changes, it might have a significant effect compared to the results that would have been achieved if the cat were present.

Mods don't happen in a vacuum... everything you change affects everything else. None of it is additive in the way that people usually talk about it.

In that particular case, the 3rd cat delete with a milltek valve I think was the only mods done to his car and the dynojet sheet showed a +13 WHP.

 

[scc.131.fe]

Yeah. I guess all that bullshit about our v6 emiras are fast and powerful enough was just bullshit.

“Comparison is the thief of joy”

My goal is to use the rest of my warranty period to prove to myself that I can wring out 100% of this car on the street with aplomb. Once I get to that point, this mod sounds like a fantastic way to add another dab of hot sauce!

 

[Eagle7]

That doesn't mean it has zero effect. That just means that on that car, absent other mods, it didn't gain power in those conditions. But with tuning changes, it might have a significant effect compared to the results that would have been achieved if the cat were present.

Mods don't happen in a vacuum... everything you change affects everything else. None of it is additive in the way that people usually talk about it.

What I would expect it to do is what I saw with the Aerie Titanium exhaust, which was an increase in torque at the lower rpms. There's obviously a fair amount of back pressure from the 3rd cat and factory muffler that restricts power. Removing that should improve things, especially torque.

 

[kdkns]

In that particular case, the 3rd cat delete with a milltek valve I think was the only mods done to his car and the dynojet sheet showed a +13 WHP.View attachment 65383

That’s my dyno, and the shop is also surprised that there was such a big gain just with opening the valve.

My JB4 comes tomorrow and I’ll be installing it and running it on map1 for a week or so before switching to map2 even though i have 93 and thats what’s in the car right now.

Once I feel comfortable and it seems like it’s running well I’ll get it to do a dyno at the same place under similar conditions hopefully, and see the comparison.

 

[crestima]

Installed my JB4 today, initially programmed to Map1 (91 octane), took her out for a trial spin, but struggled to notice much of an hp increase at all. I then changed to Map2 (93 octane) and, wow, I immediately and most definitely felt the increase.

My Emira has a GRP High-flow Media (blue) filter, 3rd CAT delete and Miltek valve controller, which interestingly, I believe are the same mods of the V6 test car used in the Burger YouTube video. Also, I've been feeding my Emira 93 octane since the onset.

I'm not installing the OBDII connector because I'm not really in to checking, gathering and crunching performance data rather, I'm content with my own seat-of-the-pants experience, and a good one it is.

As for the risk/reward debate, with all due respect to the more conservative and perhaps wiser of you, for me, the added enjoyment of Map2 is worth the tradeoff in risking broken axles/motor, whateva...

 

[Dweby]

SOON

Any updates on this?

 

[Eagle7]

Installed my JB4 today, initially programmed to Map1 (91 octane), took her out for a trial spin, but struggled to notice much of an hp increase at all. I then changed to Map2 (93 octane) and, wow, I immediately and most definitely felt the increase.

My Emira has a GRP High-flow Media (blue) filter, 3rd CAT delete and Miltek valve controller, which interestingly, I believe are the same mods of the V6 test car used in the Burger YouTube video. Also, I've been feeding my Emira 93 octane since the onset.

I'm not installing the OBDII connector because I'm not really in to checking, gathering and crunching performance data rather, I'm content with my own seat-of-the-pants experience, and a good one it is.

As for the risk/reward debate, with all due respect to the more conservative and perhaps wiser of you, for me, the added enjoyment of Map2 is worth the tradeoff in risking broken axles/motor, whateva...

Unless I misread it, doesn't the OBD connection enable it to work with the ECU and make adjustments on-the-fly to your car? Obviously it's a hassle to run the connection, but you only have to do that once, and the benefit of live tuning as conditions change seems like it would be worth it.

On a side note, are there only 2 maps? One for 91 and one for 93? In the video it looked like there were 3.

 

[crestima]

Unless I misread it, doesn't the OBD connection enable it to work with the ECU and make adjustments on-the-fly to your car? Obviously it's a hassle to run the connection, but you only have to do that once, and the benefit of live tuning as conditions change seems like it would be worth it.

On a side note, are there only 2 maps? One for 91 and one for 93? In the video it looked like there were 3.

1) What I've found so far is that you don't need the OBD wired connection to change maps via the JB4 App, as this is achievable by the Bluetooth feature of the wireless dongle. I did it myself w/o the connection. What you do need the OBD connection for however, is to get data transmitted to the JB4 Mobile App's gauges, logs and codes.

2) Actually there are 3 programmed maps so far, which are: MAP 0 (OEM) Map1 for octane 91, and MAP2 for octane 93. The JB4 App does show 6 additional map fields (up to Map 8), but, so far, Burger only programmed the first three. Perhaps they plan to program additional maps, which could later on be loaded via software updates to then populate some of the empty fields. I'm also convinced that they're reserving some map fields to upload customized maps for customers seeking this alternative going forward.

Hope this helps to clarify.

 

[idleuser]

Installed my JB4 today, initially programmed to Map1 (91 octane), took her out for a trial spin, but struggled to notice much of an hp increase at all. I then changed to Map2 (93 octane) and, wow, I immediately and most definitely felt the increase.

My Emira has a GRP High-flow Media (blue) filter, 3rd CAT delete and Miltek valve controller, which interestingly, I believe are the same mods of the V6 test car used in the Burger YouTube video. Also, I've been feeding my Emira 93 octane since the onset.

I'm not installing the OBDII connector because I'm not really in to checking, gathering and crunching performance data rather, I'm content with my own seat-of-the-pants experience, and a good one it is.

As for the risk/reward debate, with all due respect to the more conservative and perhaps wiser of you, for me, the added enjoyment of Map2 is worth the tradeoff in risking broken axles/motor, whateva...

This make sense. The dyno chart for map 1 makes most of the power from 5k rpm and up, while map2 with 93 octane looks proper.l from 3.8k-redline

The thing that bugged me the most about map one is the HP and TQ dip.

 

[seriously]

This make sense. The dyno chart for map 1 makes most of the power from 5k rpm and up, while map2 with 93 octane looks proper.l from 3.8k-redline

The thing that bugged me the most about map one is the HP and TQ dip.

But map 1 does make more torque from 3-4k as well. The power delivery just probably feels more even until the big bump at 5k. So net is more average power either way a bump at 5k. Probably much more satisfying to feel the map 2 bump at 3.5k onwards given the low redline.