RE: Lotus Elise at 20: PH Heroes
Discussion
zebedee said:
Wow. Very low mileage and totally original, so just as s
t as it was the day it rolled out of the factory 
I love my Type 25 colours S2 Sport 111s, but I hate the gearbox - too much gap between 2nd and 3rd, you have to absolutely thrash it in 2nd to stay in the power band in 3rd. Gets very tiresome on the (alpine type) road.
Wonder whats the easiest way to close the gap up, any ideas?
Please don't say 'buy a whole new gearbox' as it most probably won't be available here in NZ and shipping costs are crazy expensive
Wonder whats the easiest way to close the gap up, any ideas?
Please don't say 'buy a whole new gearbox' as it most probably won't be available here in NZ and shipping costs are crazy expensive
slider2 said:
I love my Type 25 colours S2 Sport 111s, but I hate the gearbox - too much gap between 2nd and 3rd, you have to absolutely thrash it in 2nd to stay in the power band in 3rd. Gets very tiresome on the (alpine type) road.
Wonder whats the easiest way to close the gap up, any ideas?
Please don't say 'buy a whole new gearbox' as it most probably won't be available here in NZ and shipping costs are crazy expensive
Fit a short-shifter from Eliseparts. It massively shortens the throw on the gearstick. My 340R has one and I'm going to fit one to my Elise. It's masses better. Also, replace the crappy rubber bushes at the gearbox end of the gear linkage cables with solid nylatron items. Makes the shift action far more positive and mechanical. Costs under £100 and both are diy items. Wonder whats the easiest way to close the gap up, any ideas?
Please don't say 'buy a whole new gearbox' as it most probably won't be available here in NZ and shipping costs are crazy expensive
HMBB
HeMightBeBanned said:
slider2 said:
I love my Type 25 colours S2 Sport 111s, but I hate the gearbox - too much gap between 2nd and 3rd, you have to absolutely thrash it in 2nd to stay in the power band in 3rd. Gets very tiresome on the (alpine type) road.
Wonder whats the easiest way to close the gap up, any ideas?
Please don't say 'buy a whole new gearbox' as it most probably won't be available here in NZ and shipping costs are crazy expensive
Fit a short-shifter from Eliseparts. It massively shortens the throw on the gearstick. My 340R has one and I'm going to fit one to my Elise. It's masses better. Also, replace the crappy rubber bushes at the gearbox end of the gear linkage cables with solid nylatron items. Makes the shift action far more positive and mechanical. Costs under £100 and both are diy items. Wonder whats the easiest way to close the gap up, any ideas?
Please don't say 'buy a whole new gearbox' as it most probably won't be available here in NZ and shipping costs are crazy expensive
HMBB
Good to see the Elise being on the spotlight as they were truly the change Lotus needed in the 90's.
I owned one for 6 years and I have touched every single nut and bolt in the car. They are truly an enthusiast car in every sense and not for the great majority of people.
Parts are easily avaiable and mods are easily done at the confort of your own garage.
Being S1 it comes with some issues that were ironed out with the launch of the S2. Having driven several versions of the elise/exige as a drivers car they are hard to beat. I would avoid the standard model and opt for the upgraded versions, ie 135 or the 160 as they have the extra punch required for the chassis.
My elise was converted to a VHPD with all the possible mods to go with it, i spent more hours under it than driving it in the search for perfection, so dont be put off by elises that have upgraded parts as they tend to be better than the standard items, and save you some pennies.
As a track day / fast road car, very few cars would be able to leave the Elise behind on the twists, including ferraris etc..
Great value for money and can be easily tuned to perform like no other.
The only negatives, or less positives are the confort ride and noise. The roof leaks, no matter how good it looks and the less elegant way of getting in and out of the car, however if that doesnt bother you this is the car to buy.
The K-series engine is much more reliable than people led to believe and easily tuned, mine was highly modified and it never stoped a beat no matter how much stress it was put under.
All in all I miss my Elise.
I owned one for 6 years and I have touched every single nut and bolt in the car. They are truly an enthusiast car in every sense and not for the great majority of people.
Parts are easily avaiable and mods are easily done at the confort of your own garage.
Being S1 it comes with some issues that were ironed out with the launch of the S2. Having driven several versions of the elise/exige as a drivers car they are hard to beat. I would avoid the standard model and opt for the upgraded versions, ie 135 or the 160 as they have the extra punch required for the chassis.
My elise was converted to a VHPD with all the possible mods to go with it, i spent more hours under it than driving it in the search for perfection, so dont be put off by elises that have upgraded parts as they tend to be better than the standard items, and save you some pennies.
As a track day / fast road car, very few cars would be able to leave the Elise behind on the twists, including ferraris etc..
Great value for money and can be easily tuned to perform like no other.
The only negatives, or less positives are the confort ride and noise. The roof leaks, no matter how good it looks and the less elegant way of getting in and out of the car, however if that doesnt bother you this is the car to buy.
The K-series engine is much more reliable than people led to believe and easily tuned, mine was highly modified and it never stoped a beat no matter how much stress it was put under.
All in all I miss my Elise.
turbo159 said:
Good to see the Elise being on the spotlight as they were truly the change Lotus needed in the 90's.
Shhhhh, that's twenty years ago. In a few days time we'll be celebrating the 6th anniversary of "Five new cars in five years"!!I was turning the pages of an old car magazine a few days ago and happened across an article written by Chris Harris back in 2010, expressing his incredulity at the weird Naomi Campbell/Brian event in Paris. Can't find a link to the article but here's a reminder,
http://oversteer.co/2412/lotus-unveils-five-new-mo...
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff