S2 Elise HGF - What to upgrade from DVA.....

[rorys]

So my new to me 2002 S2 that I bought with a full engine rebuild seems to have developed the dreaded HGF within a few hundred k's of the work being finished. Lucky me.....

Coolant weeping from the head so looks like something has been botched in the original job. Luckily we have caught it early so no damage done.

So its going to be heading back to a trusted mechanic to put it right which got me thinking what I could be doing to improve things along the way.

Been spending way too much time on the DVA Power website looking at the options.

So I'm thinking a new ported head as the one thats on it is potentially soft and the DVA power K12 fast road cam kit.

Anyone on here gone down a similar route and was the upgrade worth the extra?

[snotrag]

rorys said:

Anyone on here gone down a similar route and was the upgrade worth the extra?

Did it last year. 2002 Elise with the 'standard' 118 (120?)hp K.


Mild, early signs of failure, the mileage was right, and it was something I was sort of ready for/prepared for when I bought the car.

I did stacks of research, and considered everything from 'just throw another gasket in and send it' to full engine out rebuilds etc.

Where I ended up was what I beleive was the correct fix, and the peak of the cost/benefit/value curve.

I fully stripped the head, sent it to Dave, he hardness tested it (critical) and once confirmed it was good, skimmed it, did some mild porting, cleaned up a lot of the factory casting flaws, de-shrouded the valves a little and generally just 'fixed it up', roughly equivalent to a Stage 1 port. Then all cleaned up and prepped ready for rebuild.

There was also 1 valve that was fractionally bent (no idea how) so that was replaced with a good used valve.

The cost for this was very, very fair - and to be honest, barely any more than local shops were quoting to just dip it and skim it.

I re-assembled the head, then rebuilt it all with new timing belt, a new pressure relief remote thermostat kit and pressure bypass, a decent gasket set, etc etc, as well as a set of used MG TF 135 Cams and some of Daves magic timing advance dowels to time it all up correctly.

The whole fix cost me less than £600, a couple of weekends of not very difficult work, includes basically a full major service into the cost and sorting the cooling system with decent aftermarket MG/Rover bits, and I've got what is fundamentally Elise 135R spec.

The car now warms up quicker, the heater works better, it runs perfect in freezing cold winters or stinking hot summer weather absolutely brilliantly, and crucially, its transformed the engine into one befitting a sports car. It pulls much harder to the redline, really waking up and feeling like it 'wants' to rev out, which the bog standard K series, tuned for a Rover 45, does not.


Well, well worth it, very easily DIY-able. The mild headwork, cams and dowels are easy, cheap, good value for money and really worth it.


Note you'll need to do your research regards choosing gaskets, measruing liner heights etc, and you'll need to borrow two dial gauges. Other than that, easy.

Email DVA/Dave, he has much more to offer than just the 'packages' on the site.

Edit to add:

rorys said:

So my new to me 2002 S2 that I bought with a full engine rebuild seems to have developed the dreaded HGF within a few hundred k's of the work being finished.

This is the difference. You need to understand why. Its not complex, IF you understand what you are doing and why it failed originally - why the rebuild?

Your situation is more complex because someone else has fked up, basically, and you need to find out what, and how.

Edited by snotrag on Friday 3rd February 11:03