DJ Wilmas Lotus Elise S2 111 Turbo ECOBOOST

[djwilma]

Well i know the reason the rack felt ok but was horrible to drive / failed the mot

The casing was cracked on the passenger side close to the pinion.....

Luckily i ordered a new rack from the ever quick elise parts, went for the quick rack as it sounded cool so its fitted and feels so much better

Awaiting the plinth for the drivers mirror, apparently lotus only process orders on Wednesday so i have to wait till next week.....if anyone has a spare drivers side please let me know otherwise i will bodge something on for Friday as need to get it MOT'd or the insurance will be cancelled

[djwilma]

Car is now road legal !

Now to sort out lack of electricity and oil leak......exhaust manifold maybe leaking as well ffs

Then get it sprayed, then uprated links and geo

Then actually drive it !!!

[raymondmarble]

Brilliant!

[djwilma]

Quick update, the alternator belt was on and the connections tight so assumed it was the alternator gone / fubarred

Luckily i have an inspection hatch behind the drivers seat so i had a quick look and managed to get the alternator out, little worried it has no heat shield so will place one on it when back on.

Took it to local alternator checking place (technical term of course) and they span it up and deemed it a working alternator !!!! A little confused they suggested i could of dropped it / rolled about the car and the bushes maybe connecting. I hope so, so i asked them to refurb as i have no idea what alternator it is.



Once the alternator was off i went in search of the oil leak, so off came the rear clam, and found the exhaust manifold was leaking

This is the second one to go so the flange (he he) cant be straight so it will have to come off and be skimmed.......I did tweak the bolts and it has made it better. Oil leak though, seems to be the cam carrier so will have to take off the rocker cover and tweak the bolts. I have a ported and polished head with some wilder cams to go in so may just do it all at the same time but this will be after the Geo and Spray job.....



Bought some upgraded Toe links from Elise Parts too, thought as the geo will be done in the next few weeks i might as well upgrade them.....plus the plan is to get some ZZR's and do some track days

[5tox]

That is seriously cool!

[djwilma]

Thanks

So its not the altenator, although it did have a leaking diode, put it on and 11.8Vs

So we did the unthinkable and checked the main alternator fuse, and as per the pic below, it was blown.

So we change the fuse and bingo, 12.8v's, then bang fuse popped again. Looks like i have a short circuit and as i hate electronics i have to wait for a man to do it.......arrgghhh

Anyhow the rear clam is being sanded down, primered and should be sprayed by the end of next week.......which i have been saying for about a year so fingers crossed

[Graham]

a 40a fuse is very small for an alternator to run through, most these days have outputs between 70 and 150a

[djwilma]

Seems like a school boy error

Should of been 80amp fuse hence 40amp blowing.....will change and move on

[djwilma]

Electrical issue sorted was wrong size fuse should be 80amp and incorrect wire on starter sone reason a red wire is a ground

[trig]

Good to see you still doing this one buddy

[Tomm]

Remarkable.

I would love an Elise and find myself looking at them weekly. Problem being I can never seem to find an accident damaged on in my price range.

One day maybe.

Continue the impressive work.

[djwilma]

Trig, i will never give up......i hope

Tomm they are going up in value as well, even a crap S1 engine gone looking tatty will still go for £5k plus.

Interestingly though a few cheap ones have come up for sale in Jersey, low mileage etc but you have to pay VAT when you import them. Looking back i got this one for a steel, esp as its a low mileage S2 2005 with only one owner

I just got the V5 and it doesnt have a CAT C marker against it too........

[djwilma]

Finally things have started to move on the body work, been a nightmare as friend who is spraying (and has been paid to do it, silly school boy error) has been off work for a while with various problems.

But its now promised to be done in the next few days

I have a few electrical issues to sort too, central locking has stopped working, battery is now discharging when ignition is off and also a few mechanical ones

Think as the car is being stop started a lot, the plugs have fouled up as its running on 3 cylinders, and the exhaust manifold is leaking for the second time so i think it was bent when welded and needs to come off. Luckily i have the mechanical cams and ported head to go on so will have to do that sooner than expected.

Just want it finished now so i can enjoy the british summer........doh

[raymondmarble]

Looking good! Bodywork is my nemesis, the only part I have to pay others to do.

[djwilma]

Put some base coats on the clams, rear looks lovely in matt colour but the front reacted badly to the paint, which is why it was crazy paved before. Car will be painted original Starlight Black

bit of a bugger but at least it coming on now

[alladdin]

What actually causes crazy pave issue ?

[Graham]

its the solvent in the new paint reacting with the old paint, sometimes its cause by differing incomparable paint types, or the old paint hasnt hardened enough to stand the new on top.

the way to stop it happening is spray an isolater coat, which forms a barrier between old and new paint so no reaction can take place

[djwilma]

its the solvent in the new paint reacting with the old paint, sometimes its cause by differing incomparable paint types, or the old paint hasnt hardened enough to stand the new on top.

the way to stop it happening is spray an isolater coat, which forms a barrier between old and new paint so no reaction can take place

#

Yep this is what happened, and isolator coat is being applied as we speak

[trig]

Looki good buddy.

[djwilma]

Woo hoo starting to get somewhere paint is on clams....car will be done next week

Was tempted by the matt colour but its shiney with laquer

bad news is I now have an oil leak from the cam cover arrrgghh

[trig]

looking great buddy

[djwilma]

Getting there !

Got the clams on the car today ready for flatting and polish

Still have the doors, roof and inspection pods to spray shouldnt be long (sure i have said this before)

[djwilma]

240R spoiler turned up today many thanks Alex

hopefully have it sprayed tomorrow

[djwilma]

Well the good news is.........

Its on my drive, tucked up nicely in its new pyjamas

Drove if home and it's geo is all over the place, the brembos rattle, the shocks are set too hard, suspension is too low, oil leak drops onto exhaust manifold which is leaking.........body work needs some flatting polishing and a few chips from fitting.

but its on my drive and third gear with foot to floor is a giggle exhaust sounds lovely too

Photo when it was light....its all together now

[gorilla1q]

Looking good mate just a little fettle more and it'll be sweet

[djwilma]

A big smile is an understatement ...

Nearly finished it off today. Still needs some flatting and polishing and grills adding. I am missing the front undertray so cant fit the splitter which is a shame.

111S Stickers to go on to but just so excited I couldnt help but put photos up

its booked in with Sportomotive on thursday for a Geo, going to go for 340r setup at 120mm front so I can go over speed bumps

had a little play on the way home and a nice man and his Pillion on a motorbike Aprillia Rv4 assisted with the how quick is it test......on low 11psi setting it was close thing.....so I would say its quick enough

[5tox]

looking very nice

[djwilma]

Woo hoo it has electricity ! Been a nightmare, battery had been going flat over night so thought the alternator was gone then it kept blowing fuses, 40amp. So had the alternator refurbed, this then blew the voltage regulator and the diode pack. So bought a new alternator that was the wrong size so old one refurbed again is back in.........phew

Dont know for how long but it managed to get to the local track for a quick blast up the straight, did a 3rd and 4th gear on low 11psi boost

You can hear the exhaust manifold blowing and its a little laggy, also ECU light is linked up to the DTA and comes on when its time to shift

[raymondmarble]

Thats fantastic! Great job!!

[djwilma]

Currently sat in Sportomotives Reception with the car on the ramps, they very kindly booked it in at short notice

Not quite gone according to plan as the castors are out on the front and the worst wheel is the front right which had the crash damage, no surprises. Little bit of bonding on to the left of the right top wishbone which i assume was done after the crash is not the usual bond.

Rears were a little out too.....

Also fitted the Uprated Rear Toe Links but, and no surprise, as the car is a late 2005 it turns out it needed the taper bolts not the older style ones which came with the kit.

[djwilma]

So not quite there seems the front right max camber is 1° positive.....

Car is much better to drive but at highet speeds it feels "light" on the front ride heights are

130 rear and 125 front

[trig]

great job bud

[djwilma]

Not a great week.....stripped ported head down today and found this




Oh well looks like its through the head to the port and head is a scrapper

[djwilma]

Dp sorry

[rampant racing]

I fix that stuff all the time. just take out the seat and grind out the crack and tig weld it up and cut for a new seat and surface cut the head for straightness. that's an easy fix.you should see some of the stuff I have done...complete reconstruction of the combustion chamber and seat areas.

[5tox]

how did that happen?

[djwilma]

how did that happen?

Was a spare head i purchased from someone who said the engine was running fine. Definitely scrap cracked through water well into port

Well after the Ported Head i purchase was a dud, i decided to go all gung ho and get a new head ported by Jason Hellier of Hellier Performance as he is 20 mins from my house and i have heard good things about him. He is also good friends with Rog from Sabre heads and i would like to thank rog for his help.

Anyway, i asked for Jason to Flow Test the new head, the old cracked one (supposedly a GBE head, but its not) and the std head to see what flows i would get. The cams i have are 260 degree 285M Piper re-grinds with just under 10mm lift so figures at 400 thou are roughly this.

The std head flows ok, the cracked head did well on the inlet but basically bugger all improvement on the exhaust even though massive amount of metal was removed. Luckily Jason spotted this and his head flows approx 20% more than the std head on the inlet and exhaust so i cant complain. All test were done on the Janspeed Flow tester in CFM

Cams were set up and measured, took a day apparently, single piper springs (157lb @ 10mm vs 128lb std springs) with modified std caps for a 7500rpm limit.

But i now have a solid tested head so i hope this helps with the lack of top end revs.

Car is with JDM Dyno in Cumbria who will strip the head and re-dyno with a few other minor mods

[djwilma]

Well the head is off and new head going on tomorrow

Looks like the old head had been ported slightly

Exhaust manifold was warped, its been skimmed and ready to go back on

Oil leak was not what I expected. The cam carrier was leaking, but small amounts. Main problem was it was coming out the dipstick straight onto the exhaust manifold....so will add a couple of breathers.

Should be on the rollers on Friday for 400bhp........

[djwilma]

Good news is that I was kindly sent me an S2 wishbone to compare with the existing one and it was slightly longer than the one fitted, so seems you the wishbone was an S1 item hence not being able to get negative camber

Bad news is that the original cams in the engine may not have been the piper 270 ones as they are not stamped by piper on the end. But this will be good news as the cams could be std so happy with the power it was making esp as the head only has a light port

Car will go back to Sportomotive to have the Geo corrected properly. Will then drive it for a few weeks and see what its like, then next year take it to one of the know how guys and get it setup how i want it. Secretly hoping the 340R settings will be good enough though :nana

Hoping the dipstick oil issue is windage and oil levels but its a worry as its a strange one, but it should be on the rollers this afternoon may even get a couple of power runs and hopeful to go over the 400bhp possibly slightly more if the engine will rev to the 7500rpm i would like :bc

[djwilma]

This is what happened today.....low boost is 11psi so spot the problem

Looks like the std garrett wastegate is too small and now I am getting more flow through the head it just cant cope so backed out at 6000rpm.

Still 360bhp but at 19psi so really have no control ovet boost

So ordered an external wastegate and will get this fitted next week.