Esprit

Well, October and November have been a pretty decent month for the car so far really. The gearbox wasn't able to be fixed in time for the CJC Jerkfest trackday in Taupo, so I was going to give it a miss. I did, however, manage to talk JC into heading down in his S260, so I decided to ride shotgun down with him. I'm glad I did because we had an AWESOME fun time at the track. My father brought MADD E up from Havelock and met us there too. I love spending time at the track with my father, he loves trackdays and even if not driving we always have a great time. I think it's time we both appreciate even more since his accident. I was fortunate enough to be able to take the Jag out for a session, which was a massive laugh as always! Here's a vid of me playing around with the old girl, although a slipping clutch meant I was being a bit more gentle than I could have been! Later in the day, I got to have a couple of session driving JC and Nixx's S260. Was the first time I'd driven their car in any kind of anger and it was really quite lovely. The extra weight really does blunt it a bit, but the extra torque makes it very playful when you want it to be and it's got enough power to be rather nippy in a straight line. Here's some video of my session with JC in the pax seat. A couple of laps from the end I turned the traction control off to have a bit of a play. I bought JC and Nixx dinner that night to pay for the rubber I'd used I got the gearbox together just before Labour weekend and the car was back running again. This was just in time for me to take it away touring for a week down to Hawke's Bay to visit the folks. The car racked up several hundred trouble-free miles, which was very nice to get under the belt. I was also pleasantly surprised with how nice the car is to tour in (apart from the noise, but I wear earplugs/phones, so that's negated). I'm looking forward to the Christmas Holidays already! Late in October, issue 192 of New Zealand Performance Car Magazine was released, which ran a feature on my car. This was done at the end of August at a trackday at Hampton Downs and I was quite happy with the write-up and photos. This weekend I managed to get the car into work and give it a polish and wax after its trip away. I also got JC and Nixx around (now sporting a second Lotus in their family as they could never agree who was going to drive and who was going to pax!) to help me bleed the brakes and clutch. I've not been happy with the shift on the Quaife box for a while, it's been notchy and getting 2nd gear was sometimes tricky. You know how when something gets gradually worse, you don't realise how bad it gets? Well that's what my clutch is like. We managed to get a bit of air out of the line and the gearshift is back to being like a rifle-bolt! So good! So, to celebrate, today we made the most of the fine weather and the three of us went on a bit of a blat, joined by Guy and his wife in his custom Type 79 themed 111R. I'd seen guy around a bit since he moved to Auckland a year ago, but had yet to meet him properly. The couple of hundred miles we did today were certainly a good way to meet up! It was quite cool how we managed a convoy of four; Elises and Exiges in both S1 and S2 variety! SEXIGE is now tucked up in bed awaiting the next sunny day. I've got a couple of niggles to chase down. The engine and the gearbox both have a weeping oil leak. Nothing major, just enough to piss me off a touch. I also want to head back up to GDS and see Glenn for a bit of a tweak on the tune as it's developed a bit of a hot idle problem where it takes a bit of heel-toe when coming to a stop to stop the engine dying. It's fine when it's idling, but coming down from revs it stalls if you're not paying attention. Other than that, it's plain sailing! Roll on summer and trackdays!

As suspected it's ripped a couple of teeth off the input shaft second gear: It's nicked a couple of teeth on the corresponding gear, only just a tiny, tiny touch but given the hassle involved it's better to just replace the bitch. Box is currently being stripped and fully inspected and will get all the gears crack-tested next week to ensure there's nothing else I'm missing. Visual analysis seemed to show fatigue beach-marks on the teeth indicating low-cycle fatigue, so it's probably a bunch of hard upshifts/downshifts in its life that's done it. What finished it off would have been the full-power corner exits on bumpy roads out towards Bethell's... but they would have gone anyway, most likely next track session so at least it didn't waste a trackday Oh well, onwards and upwards.

Sadly, I bought the box used, it's second-hand so Quaife have no obligation, and even so, a warranty wouldn't extend to this. The box has seen a few seasons racing and while it's been rebuilt/serviced before, that's only extending to replacing worn components. This 2nd gear may have been overstressed before and the damage is only now becoming clear. When I strip it this time, I'll probably send all the internals off for crack testing to make sure there's nothing else there about to go tits-up. It's just a case of it never having been rebuilt properly in the past and it's now coming back to bite me in the arsehole.

Oh dear, it seems we find ourselves here again! I took the car out at about midnight tonight, I'd not driven it in anger since the trackday a couple of weeks back and thought I'd take a midnight run out to Bethells Lake out in the Waitakere ranges. Had a lovely drive out there gradually leaning on the car more and more. Out towards Bethells the road really tightens up and it's all pretty much from the bottom of second gear to the top of third and the car seemed really on-song and healthy. I wasn't really hammering it, generally shifting at about 6800-7500 or so. Then, just as I was nearing the end of the road I heard a nasty metallic buzzing/rattling sound so I immediately backed off it and could hear all sorts of mechanical knocking/banging as I slowed down.... sounded very much like a bearing had spun or I'd lost a big-end. I coasted the car to a stop and the oil pressure low warning was on and it was down at about 20psi at idle, which in retrospect was about right for the oil temperature (~102 degrees) but at the time seemed a touch low. Anyway, the engine was still running okay, with what sounded like a bit of a knock. With no cellphone coverage I thought I'd try and limp the car back as close to Auckland I could get it without it sounding too awful. As I drove on, in 4th-5th gear it sounded generally okay, at about 2500RPM it sounded pretty gnarly but if you stayed off the throttle it sounded okay, with just perhaps a slight rattle, and it didn't seem to be getting any worse. As the oil cooled the pressure came back again and whereas before I'd convinced myself the oil pressure was too low it was now reading about normal. Anyway, I pressed on and it wasn't until I came to a set of traffic lights in Henderson that I finally figured out what was wrong.... I changed down into third, and then down into second and then GNAAAAAARRRRRRRRNNGNGNGNGNGNNGGNNGGNANNAANAGNNGNNANAN..... FUCK! I came to a stop, and at a halt, it generally sounded okay, pulling away in first again I could hear a slight rattle but then when I slotted second it snicked home with no synchro action at all and I could hear a KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK through second that was quite loud. In third gear again it was fine bar a light rattle and 4th/5th/6th it generally sounded just fine. So to me it sounds like it's knocked a couple of teeth off second gear or a baulk-ring or something has flown itself to bits inside the box. I got it back to the workshop and the engine oil level seems just as it was before I set off and looks clean, second gear is definitely gone though. I guess right now I'm just feeling a bit thankful that it's not a big end, as I'd really rather not rebuild the engine again right at this moment, but it looks like the box is going to have to come out and apart again..... At least Ken's used to getting it in and out again now. It's a shame though because I was just beginning to get confidence in the car as it'd run like clockwork at the last couple of trackdays, now I'm back paranoid again. I might treat her to an oil and filter change before I take the engine in, at least then I can inspect the oil filter to make double sure there aren't bits of big-end floating around in it. Oh well..... sodding car.

Well, I made it out to the track again this weekend just gone. Two weekends and two trackdays. Car ran almost faultlessly again and went even quicker, despite running more fuel and a less-grippy track. This is from the second run of the day (first being a warm-up): And this one is the third, where my third flying lap was a new best lap for me around Hampton Downs of 1:13.5s: This session was cut short by a high oil temperature warning, that made me s**t myself. However, subsequent sessions showed it to be nothing more than a dying temp sensor, which is on the cards to be replaced. Even so, I restricted my pace for the last couple of sessions. She's quick! I'm not sure how many road-legal cars can turn Hampton Downs laptimes like this, but there can't be many. With the car getting better and better, and my driving having another second or so in it, it's not doing too badly for itself! It's also so nice to drive quickly, it has very few vices and while it's not an easy car to drive fast, it's a very predictable car once you get it up to pace. Just how I like it!

Yeah that S14 was very quick and fairly well driven. It monstered me in a straight line and not bad in the corners, I was only really making lots of ground up under brakes. It's a good example of how a car doesn't have to look crazy to go fast, it was very subtle.

Had a great day on track with SEXIGE on Sunday and thought I'd share. The car is going great now and ran trouble-free all day This was the first session of the day, and was a bit caught out with the extra grip from my fresh Toyos on the first corner and ended up apexing early (got the blind entry wrong and apexed the penultimate ripple strip rather than the last one),ran a bit wide onto the grass, but was a pretty good session: The third session of the day was brilliant fun, I got to have a bit of a play with a freshly built V8 Supertourer (NZ's version of the Aussie V8 Supercars). These things are normally a good deal quicker than me, but this one was having its first shakedown run and I was just about to keep up for a lap or three. It was also my personal best laptime at Hampton Downs, lapping in the high 1:13s bracket, which is pretty nippy. I love my car

Not sure about that, but I like the way it's turned out. In everything I've done, the wheels and tyres are the only actual cosmetic thing I've done to the car.... everything else is going on behind the scenes

Thankfully it SOUNDS even better! Doesn't drive too badly either

Weather's been a bit wet here lately, so I've been busying myself doing a lot of little odd-jobs on the car. Slowly ticking through them. Nothing interesting, it's all stuff like replacing the wiper blade, re-gluing and cleaning up a couple of little bits here and there. I've also given it a wash, wax, polish, clean-out etc.... it hadn't had one for 6 months and while it didn't exactly look dirty, it's come up so shiny again. Got the TMRs and new Toyo R888s on the car now. Will bed them in on the road and then these will be my dedicated track-rims. Car looks a lot more serious with these on! Even though they're the same sizes as standard, they do look a lot wider than the stock rims. Optical illusions! Also finally got around to fitting my Lotus Sport sun-strip... handy at this time of year with the sun low in the sky! Managed to get it outside during a break in the showers to take a couple of photos at last!

Just arrived! So shiny and light! I think they'll look good on the car on track

Any progress Paul? I hope you've been at least using it Oh and one thing that should definitely go on the shopping list are a set of upper shock mounts. Your car being a post '98 car has a 160mm/160mm ride height, 4WD spec. The other brackets bring it back to the 140mm/140mm of the early cars. That's still plenty high enough, not low just looks and performs a bit better

Damn, only just seen this project.... LOVE your work man, this thing should fly on the track and sound like Jesus himself having moderately kinky sex with a Greek siren.

Get rid of those kingstars ASAP! Also, great spec. Two seater manual hardtop. Turbo it later and it'll be awesome. Too many whale-spec 2+2 T-tops out there! They look so much better as a 2-seater.

If you're looking for a light 4 cylinder engine, the Rover K is the lightest around unless you want to screw around with a bike engine. The later VVC engines were 160 bhp or you could build up a non-VVC engine with porting, cams etc to about the same power and still be reliable. Also the option of going to 200+bhp later if you want to get silly

Well it's been a little while since my last update. I've not been doing a lot with the car lately. It's midwinter here, and I've had a sick girlfriend to deal with as well as having the flu myself and shifting house, so it's all been a bit hectic. I got the clutch replaced, it ended up just being a failure of the centre plate, the friction material had come right off the plate. I suspect it must be faulty as I've never seen one go like that before. There was no wear at all on the lining and even the factory original inked-stamping on the lining was visible! I guess it was just bad luck, and fingers crossed the new clutch is a bit longer-lived! We managed to get the 6-speed box back out and in again without removing the engine or body this time, so now we know how to do that for the future.... which is good because I was getting tired hauling the body off and engine out each time! Also, I have been emptying my wallet, and have a nice new set of shiny, super-light, super-spendy TMR Podium FSL002 rims on their way to me from Japan. They're coming by sea so another 5 weeks or so away, but they'll become my dedicated track wheels when they get here. A useful weight saving on the track as well as the ability to run different tyres on road and track. The original Rimstocks will get checked over and any buckling removed, and will then be stripped back and repainted to be like new again. Here's my new wheels when they got to my agent in Japan and all boxed up ready to come to NZ. Another little thing that I've been working on is a new cam cover. At the last trackday one of the little cast-on pillars that the spark plug cover screws onto fractured off. Given the Exige's alloy spark plug cover is alloy and the Elise/Rover one is plastic, I had been tightening it up a little more as the screws don't bite into the alloy as they do the plastic. This was to prevent them working loose. I think I overtightened it and put the plug cover in tension, and the engine's vibration finished the job. Here's the old cover off the car: And here's the offending fracture: I picked a used cam cover up from the scrappy's, had it stripped down and re-powdercoated in the OEM satin black: Here's a new vs. old comparison... new one is much nicer without years of chips and marks on it I had been using the car without the spark plug cover in place, but it looks much better now it's fitted again, no unsightly plug leads! (excuse the poor quality cellphone snaps): Since I had the clutch done, the engine's picked up a small rattle or tizz sound around 3000RPM. It sounds like a loose bolt somewhere or the manifold is touching something. Tomorrow I'm going to track that down. I'm also going to finish off machining my sump plug temperature sender adaptor and do an oil change. My Eliseparts adaptor doesn't seem to seal well and it's weeped oil from here ever since I built the engine. Hopefully it's the last oil leak for me to chase down! In other news, I went for a spin in the car today with James (JC) and his Exige S out around the Waitakere Ranges. Some lovely roads and a fun little blat and a timely reminder to us both that we should do it more often! We swapped cars and it was interesting to see how his compared. He's got the Cup260 upgrade and the car has so much more torque than mine! You can be in pretty much any gear and it pulls like a train. I'm in no doubt that in the real world it's a much faster car than mine, even if mine has the legs up top. You can feel the extra weight though, but on the flipside it's much more comfortable and usable. It was an interesting comparison!

That's an unusual failure Paul, never seen one go like that before, without a hit anyway. What's actually broken? The die-cast bit where the mirror swivels from? The mirror is just off a Rover Metro, so cheap enough, only the silver bit is painted, and textured black off the Metro, they can be swapped over. My guess is that someone's walked into it in the garage in the past and cracked it and fatigue has taken over from there.

Nice, alwas wanted to see people play with one of these. Can see the Lotus Backbone inspiration in the chassis.

It's a prick of a job Paul You;re lucky though because that Oddyssey battery is smaller than standard. Yes, the radiator trim and wiper motor cover needs to come off to get it out. No point even trying to do it with them in place What battery did you replace it with by the way? Another Odyssey or something like a Bosch battery for the application? Like many Elise jobs, it's all about technique... replacing the battery next time will be a much quicker job, as you'll know the tricks first-up

Paul picked the car up from its old owner. It was an Auckland car, now a Wellington car. We went for a quick blat on Sunday evening. Elise engine is Rover K-series 1.8, same engine as an MGF in pretty much every way.

Yeah Paul's sidelights are MUCH brighter than my OEM ones, actually nearly as bright as a dipped beam really. I'm not sure what spec they are but I'd be getting them back to stock for fear of overloading the wiring etc. Paul, I've got a workshop and parts manual here in PDF form that'll be essential bedtime reading for you. 26MB and 10MB so I can get them to you through yousendit or something if you like.

LOL those are the sidelights, which are incandescent. HIDs in Paul's car are dazzle-spec. Thankfully the rear of the Exige is high and tinted

It's very NZ-spec underneath. I'm pretty sure it didn't see any winter running in the UK, at least not enough to corrode any of the usual bits that suffer.

It's a tarp!

*like*