mods and what not for smart roadster

[lovecraft4]

Ive been looking at the smart roadster lately and seen alot of mods for their ECU's but nothing much more. I know this might be a cheap way but wouldnt you get more out of the engine if you swap the turbo for a bigger one or installed a supercharger ( ive got limited knowledge so no idea if you COULD do this). I live in Oz(wa) and cant find anyone with these ecu mods( I imagine there specific to each car???) so I would be left finding another source of increasing HP, Any ideas would be great, thanks

[YarisSi]

You can get a motorbike engine put in instead. Z Cars do this?
Also air filters and bits like that but nothing much else. Nitrous Oxide is a no no then engine is not stong enough apparently unless only put very little boost with progressive controller.

[lanciachris]

www.smartsrus.com/evil_twin_z-cars.htm

[lovecraft4]

Hey thanks for the heads up they also say there going to produce it as a kit!!! i hope that means i could import the kit and do it myself, or have a shop do it if its extremly techy. Well ill keep my eyes glued to that page LOL

Anyone know if a supercharger is at all possible??? i dont see why it wouldnt work, then again space might be a problem

[stevieturbo]

I dont think a supercharger would be a good idea. These things require HP to drive them, and with a small starting engine, any gains would soon be eaten up again driving the blower.
Turbocharging is the best option.

[Martin_S]

erm...the Smart already has forced induction, guys!

The standard engine is turbo'd!

[lanciachris]

the roadster can be safely chipped to provide decent levels of go anyway, thats the way id go if I wanted one.

Z cars conversion is cool, but the price is ... well, fine, considering what they do, but more than id want to spend if i wasnt 100% sold on keeping the car for many years

[sharky55]

Anything is possible. It really depends how far you want to go.I think supercharging is the best way to go with any engine, its more reliable, under-bonnet temps are lower & has a wider scope for further tunning(could go on for..... ). first you have to look at what you've already got then decide what you want to do with it. improve the commponents of the engine that arent up to the the job of coping with the state of tune you want or throw it away and start with something else

[stevieturbo]

When comparing turbo vs super, a turbocharged motor always has potential for more power.

More so when applied to such a small engine to start with.

[SXS]

Yup, but if you want BIG power, then you'll need some NOS or something to fill in the gap of turbo LAG...

A centri or Lysho big blower on a motor producing around 280lbs+ is the way forward - for useable big power...

why not drop in a BMW V8? you can pick them up VERY cheap from the breakers these days...
I would say, 5k all in... and you get a BEAST! no need to spend a thousand here, a thousand there... I know the 5k upfront sounds too much, but trust me, once you get into the number crunching business, after a year or so, you look back at the bills and realise you've gone well above what you would have thought was too much money to pay initially...

just a thought - god knows if a V8 would fit in the roadster

[lovecraft4]

hmmm, well maybe a bigger turbo would be the way of going. you could fit a bigger engine but that sounds like more trouble then its worth... who knows maybe someone here in WA is working on a ecu mod as we speak.

Could'nt any tunning house re-map the ECU for more oomph? or is it VERY technical

[lanciachris]

To create a decent ecu map requires a good amount of time spent on the rolling road etc. Some places just give it a best guess, or dont spend much time on it.

Smart R Us do a remap for £300 that takes the car up to 100bhp as well as the usual exhausts + k&n stuff.

[love machine]

Whack a wankel in there, or a bank of them. How about a Buell V-twin? 500cc 2 stroke? Whannanananannanannnnanaannanaan-dang-dang-dang!

[RazMan]

SXS said:

just a thought - god knows if a V8 would fit in the roadster

Maybe with several large shoe horns and a bucket of KY jelly? ........ but I seriously doubt it

>> Edited by RazMan on Saturday 5th February 10:21

[lovecraft4]

good idea lancia, but im in Australia

Hmmmm rotary engines are smal... but to heavy on gas

[cyberface]

Plenty of people selling Smart ECU remaps for higher boost - some deliver a little more power, some are worthless.

To do it properly you'd be better off putting your own ECU on the engine and a bigger turbo, then tune as you like

I've got a smart cabrio rather than roadster - the induction on it is tortuous so there must be gains to be made there.

Anyone know whether there's space in the block to increase capacity? The difference between the 600cc in mine and the 699 in the new cars is considerable, so boring it out may give bigger gains.

Personally I'd be careful regarding the sort of mods that increase torque substantially (NOS, more boost) because the Smart gearbox is shite and is going to be the weak point...

I'd love a manual box on my Smart - it's remapped and has enough torque for the size, but the semi-auto is appalling. Equally, I'd like it to hold the torque for higher revs: mine's putting out around 60 bhp but 90-odd lb ft of torque: any modern engine should be able to hold the torque at 5500-odd revs i.e. 90 bhp...

Given that that V6 smart roadster exists, there may be space for an engine transplant other than a bike unit?

[love machine]

lovecraft4 said:

good idea lancia, but im in Australia Hmmmm rotary engines are small... but to heavy on gas

and hopefully heavy on air as well, that's how you smoke 'em up. Yehaaaaaaaa!!!!!

[lovecraft4]

I was looking at www.smartbil.izhere.com/ in their tuning section and have have listed Quote:

"Not in Sweden? Then you can always send us your ECU and we can upgrade the software for you and send it back!"

SO I guess I could just buy another ECU from someone in UK, tune it at a UK shop then have it sent to me then just sell the old to...some one