Elise s1 engine

[Motorsport3]

I was out today for a drive in Surrey/West Sussex area to get to know my car. The handling is amazing , the feedback incredible. The only thing that let's me down a bit is the engine note. That chassis/setup would be so nice with an italian soundtrack. Am i the only one thinking like that? Anyone ever fitted an Alfa or Maserati engine in a lotus?

[itcaptainslow]

A K-Series is IMO one of the best sounding four cylinder engines with a set of ITB's. I love the noise mine makes even with just a decent induction and exhaust setup.

[lee111s]

Agreed! With a good induction/exhaust the k series can really sing when you're giving it some around the twisties!

[Motorsport3]

My car is completely stock currently. What would be a good kit so that it sounds more evocative, but not louder?

[kambites]

In my experience, finding a setup which sounds better but not louder is pretty much impossible. Some of the aftermarket exhausts aren't much louder, but all of those I've experienced are louder.

[Ikemi]

The Janspeed exhaust with decat on my S1 was deafeningly loud! To be honest, it was much better with the cat back in place. That said, Larini do some nice systems for the S1 Elise. Have a look on YouTube for comparisons between exhausts, both with cats and decat pipes, as well as fly-bys etc ...

As others have said, the K-Series is a characterful engine and for a 4 pot, sounds really good with the right induction/exhaust combination!

[dunxS1]

I have a stainless 4-2-1 front pipe with a larini cat bypass and Larini clubsport rear box. Induction is via a hurricane from eliseparts, its quiet enough to creep out of the garage early doors if you don't want to wake the neighbours, but give it the beans and it howls like a banshee on acid. Perfect.

[kambites]

The S1 Larini Clubsport is obviously very different to the S2 then. Mine tends to set of car alarms if I reverse up to them.

[boobles]

You bought it in the wrong colour - there's your mistake!

[dunxS1]

kambites said:

The S1 Larini Clubsport is obviously very different to the S2 then. Mine tends to set of car alarms if I reverse up to them.

I'll have to try that one, its loud but so long as I'm careful on start-up the neighbours can slumber on. Great system though, highly recommended.

[kambites]

I find mine uncomfortably loud. It's a shame no-one makes aftermarket exhausts which use the vacuum valve actuation of the S2 111S; I'd love an exhaust which sounded like mine at >4000rpm but was half the volume at lower revs.

[itcaptainslow]

Mine has got a Janspeed manifold & exhaust with the standard cat, together with a K&N cone with a cold air chamber & feed. Wouldn't mind a decat for the pops/bangs but I fear it won't pass the noise tests for track days.

[Ive]

kambites said:

I find mine uncomfortably loud. It's a shame no-one makes aftermarket exhausts which use the vacuum valve actuation of the S2 111S; I'd love an exhaust which sounded like mine at >4000rpm but was half the volume at lower revs.

I have just build it myself. It does exactly that. Engine is a build 1.8l Rover K with a Rotrex C30-94 supercharger currently running 0.83bars of max. boost.
2bular 2.5" H1 repackable race exhaust. The main path is blocked by the valve and the gases pass the through a 1" pipe. The valve is controlled by the Emerald ECU using the VTECcontrol feature.
It opens past 3000rpm and 30% throttle. It closes below 2500 rpm and below 20% throttle. Works a treat and you cannot feel the transition. if you very slowly accelerate in 5th at around 60 mph the valve opens and you can hear a slight increase in volume.
With the valve closed, the low frequencies are damped effectively, but it still sounds sporty. Perfect for the city and the neighbors. If you floor hit and the engine sees boost, it sounds awesome :-))



This is how it sounds with the valve closed idling.
https://youtu.be/h-898etjgx0

Ask Jim @ 2bular, he can build this for you incl. a valve.

Marko

[kambites]

Looks interesting but I suspect it'll well beyond what I'd be willing to spend to achieve the goal. Still, I'd be surprised if there's not a market for such a thing to be mass produced.

[Ive]

the valve costs about 80 to 100 pounds. Welding of a small diameter restriction pipe and the valve into the existing muffler or U-pipe an other 5 quid.
if you have a S2 111s you already have the controls.
if not, you need a pressure controller or a programmable ECU. the valve itself is controlled by a BMW e39 12V exhaust flap control valve and a passive check-valve to keep it closed. The BMW valve sells on ebay for 10-20 quids.

A 2bular muffler is a tad more..... but if you already have a muffler that has a low backpressure and sounds good at full chat, but you want to calm it down in town, this is a good way to do it.

[bopper]

I have an S1 with standard exige manifold,eliseparts silenced cat bypass and a Larini with an 11/2 inlet which sounds fantastic without being too noisy.

[kambites]

Ive said:

the valve costs about 80 to 100 pounds. Welding of a small diameter restriction pipe and the valve into the existing muffler or U-pipe an other 5 quid.
if you have a S2 111s you already have the controls.
if not, you need a pressure controller or a programmable ECU. the valve itself is controlled by a BMW e39 12V exhaust flap control valve and a passive check-valve to keep it closed. The BMW valve sells on ebay for 10-20 quids.

A 2bular muffler is a tad more..... but if you already have a muffler that has a low backpressure and sounds good at full chat, but you want to calm it down in town, this is a good way to do it.

Ah I hadn't appreciated that you were talking about retro-fitted it to an existing system. That makes it perhaps more viable although I've no idea what my Larini would sound like with one tail-pipe blanked off. I guess it's easy enough to try, I can just block one side with something.

And yes, I already have an S2 111S. In fact while changing the cam belt a few weeks ago I came across the vacuum pipe and wondered why I had a random pipe not connected to anything.

[Ive]

you could try blocking one of the end pipes. try one and also the other. they might sound different due to the internal design of the muffler.
if it is still too loud, yo might consider blocking the main inlet and use a small bypass as I do.

[kambites]

Ah yes, now I understand the picture (I blame jet lag for my original stupidity). Does the increase in back pressure at low revs have a significant effect on fuel consumption?


The S2 Larini Clubsport muffler design is pretty much symmetrical so I'd imagine the two sides would have a similar effect:



I guess the fact that the air flow wont be straight where the pipe splits might mean one side is slightly louder. There's not quite such an obvious place to put a bypass on the S2 because t doesn't have a 180 degree bend like the S1 setup.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 4th June 07:11

[g7jhp]

The Lotus Motorsport exhaust made a big difference over a standard exhaust on my standard Mk1 Elise.