upgrading s2 with honda engine

[Rob_T]

i posted yesterday regarding buying a 135r or 111r for track use, and am grateful for the replies recieved. having investigated further, i understand there are companies out there - eg maidstone sports cars that put honda civic type r engines into elises. seems like a sensible idea based on reliability. you can then essentially build your own elise from a donor chassis to get exactly what you want, ie nitrons (seems to be current flavour of the month), upgraded floating discs etc etc. does anyone have experience of this? is it value for money, or is it worth just getting a 135r and changing to nitrons, then if / when the engine goes pop just put a honda engine in then? 135's do seem a good deal and you get most of the kit for track days except they only seem to come in gay colours.

again any comments or ideas are appreciated.

[bogie]

if you want a very fast reliable Elise then this is a good way of doing it. MSC have done over 80 aspirated cars now and around 15 supercharged (like mine)

You could pick up a cheap S2 for £12K and then spend £12-15K on it, and have pretty much the ultimate all round Elise.

Theres a huge amount of information on this over on www.seloc.org...you will find most of the Honda owners there...think theres only a couple of us on here.

[Rob_T]

mark,

just read your profile and the details on your car. it does sound the the business, and pretty much what i' m after (although i don't think i would go supercharged striaght away). any pics of your car?

interesting that you have got a 72... i was contemplating a 25 (one for sale in the classifieds for 18 with some of the work already done). do you know barry thompson (the owner)? if i could knock him down i'd probably get that one....

rob

[bogie]

no - sorry, dont know the owner - some pics here:

http://community.webshots.com/user/t72bogie

[Rob_T]

hangar 111 race seats... they look the business. and all that alcantara is yummy. did maidstone do all that for you?

great looking car. the wheels are equally scrumptious!

[bogie]

no - Sinclaires did it via the Lotus trim shop a couple of years ago...but MSC offer a full service for all that kind of stuff too....ring them up and book a drive in one of their demo cars...they have an S1 Honda demo and an S2 Exige SC demo (which was a 111R - they rebuilt it as an Exige)

those are the wheels you want too so you can run 195 fronts .....

[bogie]

PS - see if Neil Brandburys car is still for sale via MSC - its a fully sorted S2 supercharged in black like my car ...think he had it up for £30K, but may be open to offers if its not already sold.

[Mr_C]

off topic but looking at your profile Rob your old 996 GT2 is the daddy!

how come you let that go??

having seen bogies car at Donington the other week it is stunning! and a fantastic conversion - its neater than with a K in there!

also round the track the Honda Exiges were showing some seriously powerful 911s a thing or two!

[Rob_T]

Mr_C said:

how come you let that go??

not too sure any more! i think i made a mistake...

[Mr_C]

Rob_T said:

not too sure any more! i think i made a mistake...

i think you did...

[S Works]

www.pistonheads.com/sales/53029.htm

This looks very good value for the money and ripe for a Honda'ing.

[bogie]

yep - thats Tee's car - fully sorted...just needs the Honda Pilbeam suspension is as good as it gets...must have cost £££££

[StuartB]

There is also the audi route. Can't speak from any sort of experience, but I understand these to have been equally as reliable as the Honda conversions plus there are some currently up for sale. This could potentially save you thousands

An Elise
http://forums.seloc.org/classified.php?action=ad&id=1034

A race prepeared Exige
www.exiges.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=48757&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

[bogie]

yep - the Audi is a great conversion too...and those cars are well sorted...however if its an S2 Elise you are after then youre only option is Honda, as the Audi/Duratec conversions are not available for the S2.

[jamieall]

Bogie
Did not think anyone had replaced the yota with a Honda I thought they had taken a 111s and replaced all the body work and fitted a Honda.
Thought that was due to the different engine sub-frame of the yota cars?
If not could be a viable alternative to the sc wich is bound to cost 8k.
Just curious.

[bogie]

your right - thats a typo - should have been S2 111S they started with...although I hear they are working on a kit for the 111R for people that want big power conversions...

[jamieall]

ooooh dont tell me that