Critical Lotus Elise questions!

Critical Lotus Elise questions!

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Discussion

liquid_technique

Original Poster:

24 posts

262 months

Tuesday 28th January 2003
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>>> Edited by liquid_technique on Thursday 23 October 12:57

bennno

12,671 posts

276 months

Tuesday 28th January 2003
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you will need to buy a sport 190 from the factory for £37K which is almost ready to race, they will then add in LSD, Cage, Fire system, racing tyres etc

if you want it to be any good for racing then it will be rubbish on the road or vice versa. Theres no point in putting in a load of weight with leather seats, air con, supercharger etc if you are going to race it.

Bennno

twin40s

154 posts

262 months

Tuesday 28th January 2003
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You might want to check that you can fit the TT supercharger with aircon. The elise engine bay isnt huge, there may not be room for both the blower and the aircon compressor.

As for top speed, without changing the gearing i think you'll find an elise will hit the redline in top somewhat before 165 mph.

sounds interesting though!

bennno

12,671 posts

276 months

Tuesday 28th January 2003
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good point you cant have air con and a compressor as the compressor runs off the air con pulley

bennno

glugcom

114 posts

263 months

Tuesday 28th January 2003
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My 111s feels like it is about to take off at 130 so 155 would require a change of underware. Please let me know when you achieve it,
regards,
glug

onedsla

1,114 posts

263 months

Tuesday 28th January 2003
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Test drive an S2 111S (with 156bhp) and decide if you really need more power - it will come with leather and CD player with a light weight aircon unit costing an extra £1000. I'd consider not bothering with aircon - if it's hot take the roof off and drive at 60 - 70 - you'll soon cool down - also, when you come to sell it, think about who'll be buying it from you and if they'd really want it - apparently it does affect the acceleration too.

My personal preference was gunmetal grey with even darker wheels (I'll put a pic of my car on [url] www.geocities.com/onedsla/DSCN1132.JPG [/url] in a minute) but it looks equally as cool in black - I also saw an amazing looking red one that I liked a lot.
good luck shopping

Edited to correct url
No really trying to correct url
>> Edited by onedsla on Tuesday 28th January 20:02

>> Edited by onedsla on Tuesday 28th January 20:04

>> Edited by onedsla on Tuesday 28th January 20:13

Felix7

464 posts

267 months

Tuesday 28th January 2003
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TT got their demo car, an S2 with 215bhp (a customer had an off with it before Xmas so its now off the road), up to 150mph at a track in the UK.

Not sure how realistic that was, but time will tell, I'll be able to find out for myself once my conversion has been run in properly!

henrybovis

29 posts

264 months

Tuesday 28th January 2003
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this guy is just winding you all up.
if he needs a lard ar*e car then he should buy a german saloon!

Elise4me

16 posts

266 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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for 240hp+ go to www.prototyperacing.com

Joe will hook you up. I think you will be very impressed with the performance. How does 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds sound?

Jonathan T

52 posts

287 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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Judging from the list of things that you need in the car I think you need a different car. The whole point of the Elise design is that it's focussed on performance through lightweight. Why bother messing that up just cos it doesn't have all the comfort aids of a normal car. It's not a normal car, don't try to make it into one.

Arno

349 posts

285 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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Get a V8 Esprit. 170-something MPH, 350bhp, A/C, comfy seats, etc. etc. etc.

Bye, Arno.

mrflibbles

7,706 posts

290 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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why do you need a top speed >150 mph?

Obvious question, but surely 120 is ample?

Bombjack

483 posts

274 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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Jim, why've you changed your name?

twin40s

154 posts

262 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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All those mods are going to be expensive!

Probably cheaper (and alot easier) to buy a Noble instead

It has 300bhp 165mph top speed etc, straight out of the box


TheLemming

4,319 posts

272 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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twin40s said: All those mods are going to be expensive!

Probably cheaper (and alot easier) to buy a Noble instead

It has 300bhp 165mph top speed etc, straight out of the box



This sounds about right. By the time you have costed up any interior mods you wanted to make, Supercharging, LSS kit, bigger brakes etc you are talking about serious sums of money.

IIRC there isnt a "production" 6 speed box available for the car (correct me if im wrong here). There is a Quaife sequential kit, however that was somewhere in the region of £6k + (Not cheap).

You would be better off buying a noble, or perhaps a tvr, your mod list for the elise runs to about £20k!

JonGwynne

270 posts

272 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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Would a Quaife gearbox do something about the Elise's sloppy gearchange?

Anyone got one? What do you think of it? How much did it cost?

JonGwynne

270 posts

272 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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TheLemming said:

twin40s said: All those mods are going to be expensive!

Probably cheaper (and alot easier) to buy a Noble instead

It has 300bhp 165mph top speed etc, straight out of the box



This sounds about right. By the time you have costed up any interior mods you wanted to make, Supercharging, LSS kit, bigger brakes etc you are talking about serious sums of money.

IIRC there isnt a "production" 6 speed box available for the car (correct me if im wrong here). There is a Quaife sequential kit, however that was somewhere in the region of £6k + (Not cheap).

You would be better off buying a noble, or perhaps a tvr, your mod list for the elise runs to about £20k!



The Noble has a turning circle even bigger than a Delorean. Definitely a "try before you buy" proposition.

Anyone here got a Noble as a daily driver? Any issues with narrow streets or parking?

Felix7

464 posts

267 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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JonGwynne said: Would a Quaife gearbox do something about the Elise's sloppy gearchange?

Anyone got one? What do you think of it? How much did it cost?


Try the full Quick Shift and gear linkage kit from www.eliseparts.com makes all the difference, the rubberry feel dissappears and becomes a far more positive change.

I think Bonce had it fitted on his car too.

PC

>> Edited by Felix7 on Wednesday 29th January 21:16

Bonce

4,339 posts

286 months

Wednesday 29th January 2003
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Yep, I have the gear linkage kit but not the quick-shift. I can definitely recommend it (works on S1 and S2), fabulous!

JonGwynne

270 posts

272 months

Thursday 30th January 2003
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Thanks for the info. The gearchange is one of my big gripes about the Elise. It is totally unworthy of the car. Actually, I'm surprised (since it seems a pretty easy thing to fix) that Lotus hasn't done anything about it yet.

I might have to go check out one of the 111s's now. ;->