S1 Elise 2.0 Duratec Conversion
Discussion
Ok, here is my Duratec build blog.
I purchased a standard S1 Elise earlier in the year with the intention to run it as standard over the summer and then perform a Duratec conversion with my friend over the winter. I'd class myself as an enthusiastic spanner man but I have little in the way of fabrication skills so I chose to go with the Essex Autosport DIY Mugello conversion.
I chose to go with a Duratec over the Honda as I didn't want to over power and fundamentally change the driving characteristics of the Elise. I also didn't want the hassle of driveshaft and CV boot failures. I know there will be plenty people who will tell me I should have gone Honda and the faults have been ironed out etc etc but the choice has been made. I also know there are plenty of people who will tell me I should have gone 2.3 Duratec. Once again, the choice has been made.
So, the car has till then end of October before it comes off the road but I received my kit on Friday so I figured I'd kick off my blog.
So for a kicker. Here's my S1. As I say it is 100% standard. I got it off eBay for a very good price. It's been well looked after with a wallet full of every single receipt in chronological order.
Here's my engine. Taken from a 30,000 mile Fiesta ST150.
And here's what you get when you order a Mugello kit from Essex Autosport. A big box
Containing....
Unwrapping
As I say the car still has a couple of months until it comes off the road but I'm going to begin building up the engine in the coming month. There are issues to resolve with alternator belt routing and a bit of fabrication work to do with the water outlet from the head. I'll detail this work as I progress.
I purchased a standard S1 Elise earlier in the year with the intention to run it as standard over the summer and then perform a Duratec conversion with my friend over the winter. I'd class myself as an enthusiastic spanner man but I have little in the way of fabrication skills so I chose to go with the Essex Autosport DIY Mugello conversion.
I chose to go with a Duratec over the Honda as I didn't want to over power and fundamentally change the driving characteristics of the Elise. I also didn't want the hassle of driveshaft and CV boot failures. I know there will be plenty people who will tell me I should have gone Honda and the faults have been ironed out etc etc but the choice has been made. I also know there are plenty of people who will tell me I should have gone 2.3 Duratec. Once again, the choice has been made.
So, the car has till then end of October before it comes off the road but I received my kit on Friday so I figured I'd kick off my blog.
So for a kicker. Here's my S1. As I say it is 100% standard. I got it off eBay for a very good price. It's been well looked after with a wallet full of every single receipt in chronological order.
Here's my engine. Taken from a 30,000 mile Fiesta ST150.
And here's what you get when you order a Mugello kit from Essex Autosport. A big box
Containing....
Unwrapping
As I say the car still has a couple of months until it comes off the road but I'm going to begin building up the engine in the coming month. There are issues to resolve with alternator belt routing and a bit of fabrication work to do with the water outlet from the head. I'll detail this work as I progress.
John D. said:
Nice. I really fancy a Duratec or Honda powered S1 at some point.
What power output is this spec?
The engine is from an ST150. With the throttle bodies and management fitted it should put out at least 180bhp. That works out at just shy of 250bhp per ton for an S1 Elise. Plenty to be getting on with.What power output is this spec?
One of the first things I need to do is get the Duratec water manifold modified to suit the installation.
It's upside down in this picture but in it's original setup the output to the left goes to the radiator, top right to the heater matrix, bottom right to the header tank. Central hose fitting is a thermostat bypass to keep water flowing through the head even when the thermostat is closed. There is also a fitting for the Ford coolant temperature sensor.
For the Elise the split between radiator and heater matrix is made downstream with a hose so I have no need for the heater matrix output on this item. I could just cap it with a rubber end cap but I'd like to see if I can get it properly blanked off. I also need somewhere to fit the Elise 'blue' water temperature sensor. I plan to copy the EA design which is to have the blank port at the top of the manifold drilled and tapped to take the sensor. This is something I can't do myself as I don't have the equipment so I'll have to find somebody in Aberdeen who does and can.
If anybody knows the thread type of the blue temperature sensor I'd be interested to know.
It's upside down in this picture but in it's original setup the output to the left goes to the radiator, top right to the heater matrix, bottom right to the header tank. Central hose fitting is a thermostat bypass to keep water flowing through the head even when the thermostat is closed. There is also a fitting for the Ford coolant temperature sensor.
For the Elise the split between radiator and heater matrix is made downstream with a hose so I have no need for the heater matrix output on this item. I could just cap it with a rubber end cap but I'd like to see if I can get it properly blanked off. I also need somewhere to fit the Elise 'blue' water temperature sensor. I plan to copy the EA design which is to have the blank port at the top of the manifold drilled and tapped to take the sensor. This is something I can't do myself as I don't have the equipment so I'll have to find somebody in Aberdeen who does and can.
If anybody knows the thread type of the blue temperature sensor I'd be interested to know.
james_gt3rs said:
Any reason in particular for the Ford engine?
Ford engine was chosen as with the help of a simple adapter plate it can be mated to the original Elise gear box. If you go honda then you fit both the Honda engine & gearbox. This can lead to drive shaft issues, something I don't wish to entertain. This particular engine was chosen as it has later high flow head which means it gives better bhp straight out the box.I've done a little more work so I figure an update is warranted.
My water manifold is now with a local performance garage Wallace Performance who said that they could handle the relocation and blanking off of the required ports (Thanks to Mark Bideleux on SELOC for his input on this). I have a feeling that I'll get it back some time next week.
In the mean time the engine has been relocated to my friends triple garage where we'll perform the conversion. We also began to bolt a few bits onto the engine.
First things to go on were the throttle bodies. At first we thought this would be a simple job but on examining the bolting locations we found that one of the bolt holes was slightly too big and had no thread. It appears to have come like this from the factory so must not be used by a standard Ford inlet manifold kit.
Only one solution really a Helicoil, something that neither of us have never used before. Still, in for a penny in for a pound.
So, one 9mm Helicoil kit later we.
Drilled out the mounting hole in the head.
Taped the hole
Installed the coil.
And Bingo! A 9mm threaded hole.
Which allowed us to mount the AT Power direct to head Duratec throttle bodies.
Looks pretty good I think.
We also fitted a new horizontal oil filter housing, tensioner pulley for the new alternator arrangement and the gearbox adapter plate. I'll get some photos of this little lot up on my next update.
My water manifold is now with a local performance garage Wallace Performance who said that they could handle the relocation and blanking off of the required ports (Thanks to Mark Bideleux on SELOC for his input on this). I have a feeling that I'll get it back some time next week.
In the mean time the engine has been relocated to my friends triple garage where we'll perform the conversion. We also began to bolt a few bits onto the engine.
First things to go on were the throttle bodies. At first we thought this would be a simple job but on examining the bolting locations we found that one of the bolt holes was slightly too big and had no thread. It appears to have come like this from the factory so must not be used by a standard Ford inlet manifold kit.
Only one solution really a Helicoil, something that neither of us have never used before. Still, in for a penny in for a pound.
So, one 9mm Helicoil kit later we.
Drilled out the mounting hole in the head.
Taped the hole
Installed the coil.
And Bingo! A 9mm threaded hole.
Which allowed us to mount the AT Power direct to head Duratec throttle bodies.
Looks pretty good I think.
We also fitted a new horizontal oil filter housing, tensioner pulley for the new alternator arrangement and the gearbox adapter plate. I'll get some photos of this little lot up on my next update.
As promised a few more picks of work so far.
The secret sauce that is the gearbox adapter plate.
A new top tentioner pully has been fitted. The conversion kit uses the alternator from my existing engine and it will be fitted, with the aid of custom mounts, below and to the right of the water pump.
Finally the new oil filter housing. This is much more compact than the Ford item and ditches the cooler plate. It will proved clearance between the bulkhead of the lotus and the filter itself.
Oh, and another of the throttle bodies. Just for luck.
I'm almost at a natural hold point now but I have a few more things I can do before I really have to pause and wait for the car to come off the road.
- I've still to recieve back my modified water manifold.
- I need to purchase some ARP flywheel bolts so I can fit the flywheel to the engine.
- I need to purchase a clutch; I'll be going for an uprated AP item.
- I need to mount an air temperture sensor in the backplate of the throttle bodies.
Once all this is done I'll have to pause and wait till the end of October till the car comes off the road.
The secret sauce that is the gearbox adapter plate.
A new top tentioner pully has been fitted. The conversion kit uses the alternator from my existing engine and it will be fitted, with the aid of custom mounts, below and to the right of the water pump.
Finally the new oil filter housing. This is much more compact than the Ford item and ditches the cooler plate. It will proved clearance between the bulkhead of the lotus and the filter itself.
Oh, and another of the throttle bodies. Just for luck.
I'm almost at a natural hold point now but I have a few more things I can do before I really have to pause and wait for the car to come off the road.
- I've still to recieve back my modified water manifold.
- I need to purchase some ARP flywheel bolts so I can fit the flywheel to the engine.
- I need to purchase a clutch; I'll be going for an uprated AP item.
- I need to mount an air temperture sensor in the backplate of the throttle bodies.
Once all this is done I'll have to pause and wait till the end of October till the car comes off the road.
Edited by GregorFuk on Friday 9th September 13:44
As requested Nigel 
Okay, I took the car for an MOT earlier in the week which it passed without too much trouble. Emissions were very tight which could cause me problem on the other side of the conversion, we will have to wait and see.
So today was the day we started things properly.
First things first, we got the car up on stands. Not too much of a problem there though the front end was very light, occasionally lifting off the ramps, hence the cargo straps.
Then, arch liners out.
Then after an hour or two of spannering with the odd Dremel intervention the rear clam was off.
Fluids Drained
And now everything is unhooked and the engine + gearbox are ready to be lifted out.
We did a power of work today and it went a lot quicker than I expected, but I guess dismantling is the easy part, it's putting it all back together that will be to real test. There is a part of me asking myself what have I done? Especially when I look at the wiring loom. I'm sure if we tackle things in a methodical manner it will all come together....Fingers crossed...
So, next step is to get an engine crane on site to lift the engine and box clear. Then I'll give the engine bay and its surrounds a good clean and tidy up. I'll also need to order a clutch and the ARP flywheel bolts.
I've pulled the injectors from the inlet manifold and will send them away for cleaning and a service this week.
Okay, I took the car for an MOT earlier in the week which it passed without too much trouble. Emissions were very tight which could cause me problem on the other side of the conversion, we will have to wait and see.
So today was the day we started things properly.
First things first, we got the car up on stands. Not too much of a problem there though the front end was very light, occasionally lifting off the ramps, hence the cargo straps.
Then, arch liners out.
Then after an hour or two of spannering with the odd Dremel intervention the rear clam was off.
Fluids Drained
And now everything is unhooked and the engine + gearbox are ready to be lifted out.
We did a power of work today and it went a lot quicker than I expected, but I guess dismantling is the easy part, it's putting it all back together that will be to real test. There is a part of me asking myself what have I done? Especially when I look at the wiring loom. I'm sure if we tackle things in a methodical manner it will all come together....Fingers crossed...
So, next step is to get an engine crane on site to lift the engine and box clear. Then I'll give the engine bay and its surrounds a good clean and tidy up. I'll also need to order a clutch and the ARP flywheel bolts.
I've pulled the injectors from the inlet manifold and will send them away for cleaning and a service this week.
A little bit more work was performed last night and the car is now K free!
We were very kindly lent an engine crane which made easy meat of lifting the engine and gearbox clear of the chassis.
A few pics of the process.
Strops on.
And lift!
And separate!
Duratec goes here.
The K is feeling a little unloved I'm sure
We were very kindly lent an engine crane which made easy meat of lifting the engine and gearbox clear of the chassis.
A few pics of the process.
Strops on.
And lift!
And separate!
Duratec goes here.
The K is feeling a little unloved I'm sure
Managed to do a bit more work on the conversion last night, though not as much as we’d have liked.....
With the K now out of the car we can start prepping the Duratec and swapping the necessary parts over.
First things first. Fitting the new custom light weight flywheel. I used ARP flywheel bolts obtained from SBD Motorsport.
Following the flywheel came a new up-rated AP clutch.
Finally on the other side of the engine the custom alternator brackets were fitted and the Elise alternator swapped from the K to the Duratec.
All was going smoothly until we tried to fit the gearbox to the engine. We could not get the two to mate together with the gearbox snagging up a good inch away from the adapter plate. At the moment I’m not too worried as I think it’s a simple case of the gearbox input shaft not finding its way into the clutch plate. I have a good layer of copper slip on the input shaft and could see non on the spline of the clutch plate so I’m assuming it’s a simple alignment issue (Though by eye it all looks pretty central). We will have another bash at getting the gearbox fitted tonight. If necessary we’ll remove the clutch and trial fit everything to see where the issue is. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.
On top of this we have a few other things we need to do.
I need to order new gearbox drive shaft seals as we damaged one whilst trying to remove a stubborn drive shaft.
We also need to modify the bracket that holds the gearbox shifter cables. This has two mounting points but one will have to be moved to take into account the gearbox adapter plate. I’ll post further details later.
We also need to re-route the Duratec dip stick. I don’t see any real challenges with this.
More to come....
With the K now out of the car we can start prepping the Duratec and swapping the necessary parts over.
First things first. Fitting the new custom light weight flywheel. I used ARP flywheel bolts obtained from SBD Motorsport.
Following the flywheel came a new up-rated AP clutch.
Finally on the other side of the engine the custom alternator brackets were fitted and the Elise alternator swapped from the K to the Duratec.
All was going smoothly until we tried to fit the gearbox to the engine. We could not get the two to mate together with the gearbox snagging up a good inch away from the adapter plate. At the moment I’m not too worried as I think it’s a simple case of the gearbox input shaft not finding its way into the clutch plate. I have a good layer of copper slip on the input shaft and could see non on the spline of the clutch plate so I’m assuming it’s a simple alignment issue (Though by eye it all looks pretty central). We will have another bash at getting the gearbox fitted tonight. If necessary we’ll remove the clutch and trial fit everything to see where the issue is. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.
On top of this we have a few other things we need to do.
I need to order new gearbox drive shaft seals as we damaged one whilst trying to remove a stubborn drive shaft.
We also need to modify the bracket that holds the gearbox shifter cables. This has two mounting points but one will have to be moved to take into account the gearbox adapter plate. I’ll post further details later.
We also need to re-route the Duratec dip stick. I don’t see any real challenges with this.
More to come....
A second night of tinkering and we has success!
Alignment of the clutch plate was done with a suitably sized socket wrapped in masking tape to ensure a snug fit. I'm a little sore that I splashed out on the plastic alignment tool now as it turned out to be kind of useless.
Our next problem is that we need to extend the bracket that holds the gear shifter in place. This has two mounting points on the gearbox but the adapter plate has now spaced the two points apart from each other. I'll have to find somebody who can weld a bit of plate into the bracket to space it out the same distance.
Alignment of the clutch plate was done with a suitably sized socket wrapped in masking tape to ensure a snug fit. I'm a little sore that I splashed out on the plastic alignment tool now as it turned out to be kind of useless.
Our next problem is that we need to extend the bracket that holds the gear shifter in place. This has two mounting points on the gearbox but the adapter plate has now spaced the two points apart from each other. I'll have to find somebody who can weld a bit of plate into the bracket to space it out the same distance.
So after taking a break from the project over the Tattie holidays work has started again.
First step was to tackle the shifter bracket issue we identified. The gearbox adapter plate is 16mm think and the brackets two mounting points have now been moved apart by the same amount. Nigel’s idea was to flatten out the existing bracket and use it as a template to draw out an extended version. The new version would then be cut out of plate.
The original bracket is made out of 3mm plate. This must be a standard gauge plate in Rover world because as luck would have it we found a suitable piece of plate inside a spare Defender wing we had stuffed away in the rafters of the garage. So with a template made cutting began.
And by the end we had the beginnings of our new bracket. Some more drilling and dremel work is needed but it’s getting there.
Whilst Nigel was doing that I busied myself fitting the new gearbox oil seals.
And then looked at how best to mount my dip stick. For this I’m going to drill a hole in my airbox back plate and bolt through to the fixing point of the dip stick tube. This coupled with a lower mount will keep the stick in place and keep it easy to get to.
I also fitted my injectors and fuel rail. The injectors were sent away, flow tested and cleaned so they are in good working order and flowing as they should.
I also trial fitted my loom to look at where I could fit my inlet air temperature sensor. It has to go on the airbox back plate somewhere but I needed to see how much length I had on my loom before I chose the location. In the end I chose to mount it just below the trumpet of cylinder 4.
I also fitted my newly modified water manifold.
The next thing we identified that needed doing was a bit of grinding to the engine block. It protrudes about 3mm out past that of the adapter plate and will foul the driveshaft so we’ll need to take this part of the block back a little. I’m currently looking into the best way to do this.
Once we get the block ground we can lift the engine back into the car. More to come.....
First step was to tackle the shifter bracket issue we identified. The gearbox adapter plate is 16mm think and the brackets two mounting points have now been moved apart by the same amount. Nigel’s idea was to flatten out the existing bracket and use it as a template to draw out an extended version. The new version would then be cut out of plate.
The original bracket is made out of 3mm plate. This must be a standard gauge plate in Rover world because as luck would have it we found a suitable piece of plate inside a spare Defender wing we had stuffed away in the rafters of the garage. So with a template made cutting began.
And by the end we had the beginnings of our new bracket. Some more drilling and dremel work is needed but it’s getting there.
Whilst Nigel was doing that I busied myself fitting the new gearbox oil seals.
And then looked at how best to mount my dip stick. For this I’m going to drill a hole in my airbox back plate and bolt through to the fixing point of the dip stick tube. This coupled with a lower mount will keep the stick in place and keep it easy to get to.
I also fitted my injectors and fuel rail. The injectors were sent away, flow tested and cleaned so they are in good working order and flowing as they should.
I also trial fitted my loom to look at where I could fit my inlet air temperature sensor. It has to go on the airbox back plate somewhere but I needed to see how much length I had on my loom before I chose the location. In the end I chose to mount it just below the trumpet of cylinder 4.
I also fitted my newly modified water manifold.
The next thing we identified that needed doing was a bit of grinding to the engine block. It protrudes about 3mm out past that of the adapter plate and will foul the driveshaft so we’ll need to take this part of the block back a little. I’m currently looking into the best way to do this.
Once we get the block ground we can lift the engine back into the car. More to come.....
Edited by GregorFuk on Tuesday 25th October 11:11
Edited by GregorFuk on Tuesday 25th October 12:04
More work on the Duratec conversion last night, substantial progress in fact.
Work continued on the new shifter cable bracket, it's coming on great. Just the job. A few bends and a coat of paint and it will be ready for mounting.
The engine block was also ground down by a few mm to provide driveshaft clearance.
With this done the engine was ready for lifting into the car!
After a fair bit of manipulation she was in!
Well she was in but something wasn't quite right. A closer inspection of the clearances shows that the crank pulley is hitting off the side of the engine bay.
At first we couldn't quite work out what the problem was and we began to move the engine around to see if we could make it sit better. It was only when we looked underneath that the problem became obvious. The sump of the engine was sitting on the bracing of the lower wishbone.
We began to look at various options, including repositioning the engine by modding the gear box mount; however a call to Essex Autosport confirmed one of our other potential solutions. The brace on the wishbone has to be cut out and moved by around 20mm away from the sump. Once the brace is moved the engine will sit down further and the crank pulley will clear the chassis.
So it's in, but there’s a bit of work to do to make it sit right. We'll have to get the wishbone out and then find somebody who can do the welding.
Still, It's not going too badly.
Work continued on the new shifter cable bracket, it's coming on great. Just the job. A few bends and a coat of paint and it will be ready for mounting.
The engine block was also ground down by a few mm to provide driveshaft clearance.
With this done the engine was ready for lifting into the car!
After a fair bit of manipulation she was in!
Well she was in but something wasn't quite right. A closer inspection of the clearances shows that the crank pulley is hitting off the side of the engine bay.
At first we couldn't quite work out what the problem was and we began to move the engine around to see if we could make it sit better. It was only when we looked underneath that the problem became obvious. The sump of the engine was sitting on the bracing of the lower wishbone.
We began to look at various options, including repositioning the engine by modding the gear box mount; however a call to Essex Autosport confirmed one of our other potential solutions. The brace on the wishbone has to be cut out and moved by around 20mm away from the sump. Once the brace is moved the engine will sit down further and the crank pulley will clear the chassis.
So it's in, but there’s a bit of work to do to make it sit right. We'll have to get the wishbone out and then find somebody who can do the welding.
Still, It's not going too badly.
Edited by GregorFuk on Thursday 27th October 12:51
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