ADF

Passenger ejector seat ?

Brakes sticking on ? If the clutch is slipping, the vehicle speed won't rise inline with the engine speed. Is it doing this ? Either of these should produce a distinctive smell. Definitely worth checking mounts, but it doesn't sound like it's that. Can be checked easily by watching engine movement as it takes up drive (might need an assistant) I would have thought clutch hose and fork problems would effect the disengaging of the clutch, broken springs or plate on the clutch however may cause issues. I would probably jack it up and have a good feel of each wheel, check it's free and then pop into gear to feel for play and clonking in the drive train. I assume the engine is running fine, are there any new/unusual noises ? Sounds intriguing, I'm probably not a lot of help but best of luck and let us know how you got on.

Hi chaps, I am totally gutted that I'm not gonna make it tonight. Unfortunately I've had/got the lurgy, its starting to wain but I don't want to risk passing it around. Hoping to make it to castlecombe on 24th so may see some of you there, if not then at the next beer op. Have fun, Tony

Sounds good to me.

Hi there Keith, Had plenty of rattles and knocks over the years, always sounds worse in the elise as there's no sound deadening. As @Bibs had, I had a 2pence piece under the seat. Also had loose speaker pod, engine cover bolt fall out, cables on undertray, cat internals and many stones and the odd stick on the undertray, front brake pads and probably stuff I've forgotten over the years. Hard to advise as could be lots of things but from your description it doesn't sound like driveline or brakes. Could be stone on undertray (most likely) , h/brake or gear change cable on undertray, something loose on suspension. A couple of Quick checks you could do is litely tap the undertrays to see if anything clonks and open the doors, sit on the sill and bounce up and down (both sides) that will most likely show up suspension issues. As youve recently got the car worth haveing a good look around the car and poke/wiggle stuff in the interior, wheel arches, under engine and front cover, look for anything loose. Its probably worth checking battery is secure, mine was loosely held on with a bit of wood and moved about. Almost certainly going to be minor but worth checking out.

Hopefully, I'll be along just after.

Just checking if its still on for the flower pots @ cheriton tonight ?

Hi Mark, I did a fair bit of researching and tried various supposedly matched paints for my monaco white B01 elise, after an unfortunate incident with a hare cracked the front clam. Mine previously had been repainted so was slightly different. However, the matched paints didn't seem that close (I tried quite a few) and I also tried a few from halfords that looked close but next to the car they just weren't. In conclusion, white is a very hard paint to get right (even the tiniest difference stands out). I am not sure that the old 1970s Monaco white is the same as the later one, as it was reformulated. If your car has been repainted or the colour has changed with age there may also be a difference. You could try a code matched paint touch up kit (there's plenty out there) and if that doesn't work you could do what I should have done in the first place. I eventually took the car to an automotive paint supplier, in Newbury, the guy mixed up paint to B01, applied to a test card. We put it next to the car in the sun and shade and you could clearly see it was different, he then used his substantial experience to alter it and it came out as perfect as I could tell. It has a lot of what he called "base" so needed a gloss lacquer on top. On the car it is indistinguishable from the original. I had 2 cans made up and he put the leftovers into a touch up bottle. It depends how fussy you are and how noticeable on the car it is but to my eye everything else I tried just seemed obviously wrong. Until you try matching white you just don't realise what a pain in the arse it is. Good luck.

Hi Nathan, That is a lovely looking car, Probably like you I find with the standard set up the wheels don't fill the arches properly. I think there may be a few options of wheels out there but if you stick with the size and offset of the victory alloys you know it'll work without any issues (I think they're an inch wider). Of course it's down to personal taste as to what looks best to you. If you do modify best to keep original parts and not do anything that can't be undone then it can be changed back. With many things with car design /setup it is a compromise so any change may improve one aspect but may have other, sometimes unforseen, negative consequences. I am sure many have ruined really good road cars trying to chase trackday lap times. I have a feeling in the elise book there was a mention of a bit of a cockup with the dimensions between the initial model and moulds meaning it came out a bit bigger than the designer, Julian Thomson, originally planned. Might be mistaken. The best thing I have found for the sound is a tunnel, especially a quick blast in 2nd. Quite addictive but not very helpful if you don't have one at hand. Looking at what you've owned previously, some pretty powerful machines, I'm surprised you're not after a big power increase. It made me curious to know how the little elise compared on say, a fast b-road blast and the feel of the throttle response?

I'm sorry but I would disagree with @jep that you can't upgrade an S1, however I definitely agree to be careful as its probably easier to ruin than make it better. The Elise is getting on a bit now so 1st thing is probably to assess the car for any defects to sort along the way. Such as suspension joints / bushes, play in the rack, etc. Before doing any mods have a clear vision of what you want to achieve (sounds like you may have done this a bit) I would completely avoid the trackday special route as it will probably be unpleasant to drive on the road. Also understand that suspension is a complicated dynamic structure where small changes can have dramatic effect, for example if you lower the car too much the bumpsteer can be a real issue and too much camber on the front will cause it to tramline like a bitch. I have been a bit excessive with mine, not in what I've done but how much research, analysis and testing I've put in but it's a hobby and I've loved fiddling with it. Fiddling with the suspension is not a five minute job, things like instant roll centres, camber change, bump steer, bumpstops all have to be considered when changing ride heights and spring rates. It is probably rather specialist. My car was so old and worn out when I got it just fixing things and getting the geometry right improved it allot. There's the obvious rear sports silencer (I have janspeed) and cold airfilter kits that will change the sound. MOMO steering wheels seem to be popular (tuner and race). Drivers seat cushioning, definitely worth it and some interior led lighting helps, Other stuff may not be so obvious. Just some of the things on my car that you may consider. Braided brake / clutch lines, uprated LHS engine mount, Motorsport style Rear toe link + brace kit, suspension refresh with new std bushes and joints. Wider victory sport 160 wheels, Nitron adjustable coilovers, faulkner race springs, steering rack lowering plate. Geometry (can't stress enough just how important this is) bit of a pain with reshimming but easy to do. If you change the ride height you must get this re done (I always undo / tighten the bush bolts as well, to be right the suspension should only be tightened up at ride height. I found somewhere that does my geometry checks for free, this was really handy. For me, getting the springs right was the key, I used faulkner because I could select the rates and lengths I wanted. To do this I drove the car with 2 sets of spring rates I had available to get a feel, created a spreadsheet to compare difference in the rates front to back w.r.t the cars weight distribution (as well as other factors such as compression and induced stress) and selected combinations from available rates, it looked as though there were 2 options that might work I opted for the least soft, I think?. Tweaking rates front to back alters the balance through the corners making it feel a bit more oversteery or understeery when pushed. I spent a lot of time fiddling, testing and considering this as I found it endlessly fascinating and enjoyable. (As you can probably tell I am not normal) I was after a fast road setup with a good degree of compliance as I actually like to feel the car move around abit. I feel I have also achieved a good balance in the corners. I found the bilsteins (eibach) and the nitron springs far to stiff for me and very bumpy (however neither where new off the shelf items) I don't know how helpful that is, as this is not the place to go to deep and the suspension has many complexities to its design even though it looks very simple. Best of luck with it and hope you enjoy it half as much as I did, let us know how you get on. Tony

I probably shouldn't comment as my S1 is currently SORN and tucked up in the garage for winter. However before I rebuilt it I used it all year round, just avoided using it when the roads had been salted and used ACF50. Nowadays I actually use a spray polish (williams F1 stuff) on the underside, stays a lot cleaner. I am not into garage queens (which mine effectively is a bit, but that's just because I did it up too well and I have a toy 4x4 offroader). I do like to drive rather over enthusiastically and wet, muddy rural roads can be a bit limiting vs a nice dry warm day. Almost learned the hard way coming of a greasy roundabout, luckily the cars handling really saved the day. As @Bibs said the steel bits rust. Very bad on mine but easily dealt with. The body is GRP so no rust issues (apart from the steel fixing bobbins) but can get bubling from osmosis. The Aluminium is anodised so Is generally fine but can corrode around front suspension points.Its super easy to work on if that's your thing. Lotus and especially Elise aren't for everyone, however I sense that you're a petrolhead who's really into enjoying enthusiastic driving and the feel of exploiting a sportscars handling (mx5 and being here) I myself toyed with the idea a long time before taking the plunge. I can categorically say It was one of the best decisions I have ever made, (putting to one side the financial aspect of a car that's now worth more than twice what I paid) In my view the Elise, when good, is so special to drive and completely unique, the dynamic response you get from the lightweight and mid engine is just an astonishing feeling. The S2 is probably better for day to day use than an S1, especially ingress/egress and the roof (don't get me started on the S1 soft top) but either way I think they will both feel rather special. This feels a bit like encouraging an alcoholic to drink but my advice would be to get a test drive and see how it feels. The main problem with Lotus is not reliability or usability but addiction, it is a disease that many here have and in my case uncurable. The way I looked at it, get one and if you don't like it you can always sell.

Might be wrong but is it not recycled oil from food industry and a waste/by product. Eg. Fry your chips then drive home on the oil (once processed). Therefore no extra crops/land required, however they almost allways seem to ignore collecting, processing,storage and distribution in environmental impacts and whether its actually scalable to meet current needs.

Any one been brave enough to use there Lotus in this grotty weather ? Mines SORN and tucked up all cosily in the garage at the moment.

On my car the LED flash is really dim and is only obvious if it's in the garage, when the car is switched off (others cars seem brighter). Basically there are two overlapping systems with the alarm. With either set the alarm light keeps flashing until disabled. 1, passive immobiliser 2, Alarm with siren. The alarm you have to activate (with the key fob) but the immobiliser arms itself (I believe ths is required by the Thatcham insurance classification) that way it doesn't rely on a fallable human to protect the car. Whilst you're at it you might want to test the alarm functions. Quick and easy to do. Just try activating the alarm with each sensed part open individually (front, rear boot and drivers door) you should get a buzzing noise. Then close everything activate the alarm and open the door the siren should sound then you can check the microwave sensor similarly. I Hope that reassures a bit, I think there are some instructions for testing the alarm in the instructions or workshop manual, might be worth familiarising yourself with the system.

That does sound normal. Auto arming of the immobiliser.