Lotus Elise 111R
Discussion
Cheers Gavin 
In light of the feedback I got from Track Torque, I picked up a replacement handbrake cable and some braided brake hoses.
Last week I got to work fitting them:
This is where the handbrake cable was catching on the rear wheel.
It seems like water had gotten into the "springy bit" of the cable and had effectively expanded it, causing it to bulge out at the side and catch the wheel under moderate cornering.
Handbrake cable was a doddle to get out, quick pin release to detach the halfmoon bit from the primary cable and then just slacken off the adjusters... though I did take a dremel related shortcut to get it off.
Pre-Adjustment shot of the new one fitted:
Next up, brake hoses... as I said before, I'd been under the impression that front clam needs to come off for the fronts but that appears to be Exige specific advice.
With the service panels and grills off (few allen bolts and clips) you get access to the resevoir:
And deeper down you can see the unions between the brake lines and rubber hoses:
The passenger side wasn't obstructed by the ABS plumbing, so was much easier - but either way, it wasn't massively difficult to undo the rubbers.
The front hoses actually looked in decent nick, perhaps they've been changed in the recent past of the car. The rears though looked ancient:
I'm really not a fan of this type of brake hoses which is threaded at each end, I much prefer the ones I had on the Subaru APs which had a banjo fitting at one end.
With these Lotus ones, I had to removed each caliper so that I could screw the caliper onto the hose (if that makes sense) once the hardline end was attached. I got there eventually, though.
Then it was time to bleed. The missus and me got fairly good at bleeding brakes on the Subaru but the Lotus just wasn't playing ball. I did some Googling and found that it's typical of these front calipers to capture air pockets due to how the fluid is routed through them. The trick is to unbolt the calipers from the car and basically shake them around to dislodge the air pocket whilst bleeding.
So I didn't have to keep bugging the missus, I (finally) invested £20 into a Gunson Eazibleed kit. I know they get mixed results, but it worked really well for me.
Pressurised the reservoir with 20psi from a spare wheel/tyre (got plenty of those lying around...) and then just went round each corner bleeding off the bubbles.
I've now got solid brakes but still a fair bit of travel in the top of the pedal (had that before too). It may just be a pedal adjustment needed rather than further bleeding, the brakes come on nice and solid and bite much harder than they did pre-hoses/bleed.
Even if the pedal can be adjusted, I think I'm reluctant to do so as I'm finding a nice heel-toe position with the car now, and having that little bit of slack in the brake increases the theshold for getting that right IMO. You soon forget about the slack and "drive around it" anyway.
In light of the feedback I got from Track Torque, I picked up a replacement handbrake cable and some braided brake hoses.
Last week I got to work fitting them:
This is where the handbrake cable was catching on the rear wheel.
It seems like water had gotten into the "springy bit" of the cable and had effectively expanded it, causing it to bulge out at the side and catch the wheel under moderate cornering.
Handbrake cable was a doddle to get out, quick pin release to detach the halfmoon bit from the primary cable and then just slacken off the adjusters... though I did take a dremel related shortcut to get it off.
Pre-Adjustment shot of the new one fitted:
Next up, brake hoses... as I said before, I'd been under the impression that front clam needs to come off for the fronts but that appears to be Exige specific advice.
With the service panels and grills off (few allen bolts and clips) you get access to the resevoir:
And deeper down you can see the unions between the brake lines and rubber hoses:
The passenger side wasn't obstructed by the ABS plumbing, so was much easier - but either way, it wasn't massively difficult to undo the rubbers.
The front hoses actually looked in decent nick, perhaps they've been changed in the recent past of the car. The rears though looked ancient:
I'm really not a fan of this type of brake hoses which is threaded at each end, I much prefer the ones I had on the Subaru APs which had a banjo fitting at one end.
With these Lotus ones, I had to removed each caliper so that I could screw the caliper onto the hose (if that makes sense) once the hardline end was attached. I got there eventually, though.
Then it was time to bleed. The missus and me got fairly good at bleeding brakes on the Subaru but the Lotus just wasn't playing ball. I did some Googling and found that it's typical of these front calipers to capture air pockets due to how the fluid is routed through them. The trick is to unbolt the calipers from the car and basically shake them around to dislodge the air pocket whilst bleeding.
So I didn't have to keep bugging the missus, I (finally) invested £20 into a Gunson Eazibleed kit. I know they get mixed results, but it worked really well for me.
Pressurised the reservoir with 20psi from a spare wheel/tyre (got plenty of those lying around...) and then just went round each corner bleeding off the bubbles.
I've now got solid brakes but still a fair bit of travel in the top of the pedal (had that before too). It may just be a pedal adjustment needed rather than further bleeding, the brakes come on nice and solid and bite much harder than they did pre-hoses/bleed.
Even if the pedal can be adjusted, I think I'm reluctant to do so as I'm finding a nice heel-toe position with the car now, and having that little bit of slack in the brake increases the theshold for getting that right IMO. You soon forget about the slack and "drive around it" anyway.
Been collecting a few bits the last few weeks, got a smaller rear view mirror to help give me a better "gopro angle" and some mechanical bits before my first track outing.
Oh, also booked my first track outing - a CarLimits circuit tuition day at Blyton in mid-April. Read some excellent reviews and had a few positive stories from some NYLOC members about the tuition provided by Andy Walsh on these. He does two types of training day from what I can gather, circuit and airfield. I'd like to do an airfield day too at somepoint but they're not very local, but on these you get to do some very high speed oversteer stuff.
Blyton is my local circuit, I know it very well and really look forward to getting some proper tuition there to help my RWD/unassisted learning curve.
Speaking of Blyton, I drove there yesterday in the Lotus to spectate for a few hours for a LotusOnTrack trackday. Were some great cars out and got to see a few cars moving around a lot in directions I'm not used to! It got me excited anyway, bring on April.
Back to home, I've been collecting new supplies for the 2016 car cleaning campaign and with the good weather this weekend - got to work for the first "proper" clean of the Elise.
Gratuitous snowfoam shot first...
Numberplates ripped off to finally replace the old branded ones. Also had the front cut to the minimum legal border (11mm from all lettering).
The car got detarred (lots of sappy stuff on the horizontal surfaces, parked under a tree for a while I guess...) and clayed before being wheeled back into the garage.
I've picked up the gubbins from the Meguiars Microfibre kit, intended for DA use.
It was a pleasure to use really, the correction compound goes on with a red pad and finishing polish/wax with a black one. The car had a really good contender for "correction" on the rollbar cover, it looks like a botched attempt at fitting the roof had scuffed the lacquer nicely. Happy to say that the Meg's kit resolved it completely, much better correction than I've had from any other DA setup... but still not as good as a rotary in the hands of a pro I'm sure.
Finishing stuff went on easily, intended to do the whole car and buff off at once... missus dragged me out for a walk half way through and as a result the compound ended up being on the car for a couple of hours... it still buffed off with barely any pressure or effort.
Quick drive out for some finished photos, will see how long this finish lasts but will pick up some carnuba topup spray to keep it nice.
Oh, also booked my first track outing - a CarLimits circuit tuition day at Blyton in mid-April. Read some excellent reviews and had a few positive stories from some NYLOC members about the tuition provided by Andy Walsh on these. He does two types of training day from what I can gather, circuit and airfield. I'd like to do an airfield day too at somepoint but they're not very local, but on these you get to do some very high speed oversteer stuff.
Blyton is my local circuit, I know it very well and really look forward to getting some proper tuition there to help my RWD/unassisted learning curve.
Speaking of Blyton, I drove there yesterday in the Lotus to spectate for a few hours for a LotusOnTrack trackday. Were some great cars out and got to see a few cars moving around a lot in directions I'm not used to! It got me excited anyway, bring on April.
Back to home, I've been collecting new supplies for the 2016 car cleaning campaign and with the good weather this weekend - got to work for the first "proper" clean of the Elise.
Gratuitous snowfoam shot first...
Numberplates ripped off to finally replace the old branded ones. Also had the front cut to the minimum legal border (11mm from all lettering).
The car got detarred (lots of sappy stuff on the horizontal surfaces, parked under a tree for a while I guess...) and clayed before being wheeled back into the garage.
I've picked up the gubbins from the Meguiars Microfibre kit, intended for DA use.
It was a pleasure to use really, the correction compound goes on with a red pad and finishing polish/wax with a black one. The car had a really good contender for "correction" on the rollbar cover, it looks like a botched attempt at fitting the roof had scuffed the lacquer nicely. Happy to say that the Meg's kit resolved it completely, much better correction than I've had from any other DA setup... but still not as good as a rotary in the hands of a pro I'm sure.
Finishing stuff went on easily, intended to do the whole car and buff off at once... missus dragged me out for a walk half way through and as a result the compound ended up being on the car for a couple of hours... it still buffed off with barely any pressure or effort.
Quick drive out for some finished photos, will see how long this finish lasts but will pick up some carnuba topup spray to keep it nice.
Thanks Rick, http://www.fancyplates.com/
They will make up whatever you want - legal or otherwise, though if you want the same as my front you'll need to select the "fancy plate" option and just explain in the description exactly what you need.
They will make up whatever you want - legal or otherwise, though if you want the same as my front you'll need to select the "fancy plate" option and just explain in the description exactly what you need.
Thanks all, I do indeed like the colour.
RE: The Rust, It seems to be very common, a very popular winter activity for Lotus/VX owners is a full suspension refresh which involves removing the wishbones, toe links and hubs - deep cleaning them, blasting/replating and then protecting it all with POR15 or similar before rebuilding with fresh bushes. The rust is rarely anything other than aesthetic, parts don't tend to need replacing with the exception of the balljoints which are inexpensive.
Oh, the factory Bilsteins also have a life expectancy of only about 50k miles too, presumably the stiff chassis and/or setup of the car puts excess force through them compared to a normal road car(?) but either way, replacements are relatively cheap even though most people go for aftermarket coilovers.
RE: The Rust, It seems to be very common, a very popular winter activity for Lotus/VX owners is a full suspension refresh which involves removing the wishbones, toe links and hubs - deep cleaning them, blasting/replating and then protecting it all with POR15 or similar before rebuilding with fresh bushes. The rust is rarely anything other than aesthetic, parts don't tend to need replacing with the exception of the balljoints which are inexpensive.
Oh, the factory Bilsteins also have a life expectancy of only about 50k miles too, presumably the stiff chassis and/or setup of the car puts excess force through them compared to a normal road car(?) but either way, replacements are relatively cheap even though most people go for aftermarket coilovers.
Mikeeb said:
Thanks for the reply. Did you look at/test drive any VX's? If so how do they compare?
Cheers
Mike
No worries Mike,Cheers
Mike
VX's were on my consideration list but nothing past by that really grabbed me on the market at the time. I rode in a VXTurbo which was really impressive, probably the best car power-wise that was available out of the box until you're talking £25k+ SC cars from Lotus. The power delivery was nothing like my previous turbo car, was very linear considering and pulled really well.
My heart would have been on an NA car though with an aim to SC it afterwards, and the right car just didn't come along.
GL with your search, you'll be happy with whatever you get - Lotus or VX.
Potatoes said:
That is a very lovely car
As above, John Seal is a great guy to know locally as he often has useful bits of kit for sale.
Maybe 'll see you on track one day, sign-up to Lotus-on-Track to get out with other Lotus's/Lotus derivatives and selected others, really well organised days and it's always great to be on track in similar cars
Thanks As above, John Seal is a great guy to know locally as he often has useful bits of kit for sale.
Maybe 'll see you on track one day, sign-up to Lotus-on-Track to get out with other Lotus's/Lotus derivatives and selected others, really well organised days and it's always great to be on track in similar cars
Already a LoT member so looking forward to getting a day booked following my CarLimits adventure...RSteve said:
Looking awesome bro 
I was with Fonzey on Saturday when we headed to Blyton to watch some action, first time out in it, was grinning from ear to ear when he gave it some stick! Really is a lovely car, major car envy.
Glad you enjoyed it! It's still making me smile like an idiot even just looking at it...I was with Fonzey on Saturday when we headed to Blyton to watch some action, first time out in it, was grinning from ear to ear when he gave it some stick! Really is a lovely car, major car envy.
snotrag said:
Great thread, and I recognise that barn in those last shots so you can't be far from me!
Brilliant! That's just 5mins from my house, I'll have to look out for you snotrag said:
Edited by snotrag on Monday 14th March 12:53
I think it's fair to say that not every Lotus/VX on the planet is in the same state as mine underneath, but it's not something that should scare you away from an otherwise good car IMO. It's easily resolved for not all that much money if you DIY it.
Many cars that have been enthusiast owned will have been refurbed already, so result if you can find one of those. Perhaps that's the case with James' car assuming he's not owned it from new.
Many cars that have been enthusiast owned will have been refurbed already, so result if you can find one of those. Perhaps that's the case with James' car assuming he's not owned it from new.
AyBee said:
Very good result - what process did you use please? I've got a similar mark on mine 
It's the Meguiars Microfibre Dual-Action polisher kit. You need their polishing pad and matching compound and then the finishing pad and matching compound.It took 5 or 6 passes to correct that particular mark with the polishing compound but the whole car was done in just 2 passes other than the focussed areas for correction.
Well chuffed with the results from a DA.
C.A.R. said:
Very nice. I've sat in your car - it was on the forecourt back in October last year. I tried to convince my dad to up his budget to buy this car, but he preferred the power delivery of the 160 VVC engine.
Nice! The car was sat with Castle for a while I think. I was nervous about that, but I've yet to find any reason for that concern.Sorry to hear that!
There was a 111S in stock when I went to view this R, and we had a discussion about the old K-Series HGF issues. He swore blind there was no issue at all on any car that had been properly maintained... It's a situation that divides opinion I know, but most people that seem to say "K Series is fine" don't have to live with one, they just sell them and/or work on them...!
Took the car on a run out to the seaside yesterday, along with what appeared to be a billion other people.
Lots of traffic but great weather and no roof there or back... lost my Red Sox hat though
Some great roads on the way back over the North York Moors.
When crusing around Whitby at 2mph looking for a parking space, the fans kicked in with anger for the first time and they sounded a bit agricultural tbh :lol: Perhaps a rough bearing, but really doesn't sound healthy at all despite keeping temps in check no problem. It's a clam off job to replace, so will keep an eye on that one.
There was a 111S in stock when I went to view this R, and we had a discussion about the old K-Series HGF issues. He swore blind there was no issue at all on any car that had been properly maintained... It's a situation that divides opinion I know, but most people that seem to say "K Series is fine" don't have to live with one, they just sell them and/or work on them...!
Took the car on a run out to the seaside yesterday, along with what appeared to be a billion other people.
Lots of traffic but great weather and no roof there or back... lost my Red Sox hat though
Some great roads on the way back over the North York Moors.
When crusing around Whitby at 2mph looking for a parking space, the fans kicked in with anger for the first time and they sounded a bit agricultural tbh :lol: Perhaps a rough bearing, but really doesn't sound healthy at all despite keeping temps in check no problem. It's a clam off job to replace, so will keep an eye on that one.
Essay Inc.
Shortly after buying the car I was in two minds about my approach to "track prep" modifications and in the end decided to remove some doubt and just get stuck in, ahead of my first track outing in a week or so.
The two go-to modifications not being performance enhancing as such, but for safety/reliability purposes.
The 2ZZ engine in my car is oil-surge vulnerable, so a baffled sump is highly recommended for track work with sticky tyres such as the A048's that I've got.
Upgraded toe-links for the rears, as the OEM ones are notorious for shearing on pretty much the entire VX220/Elise/Exige line since the dawn of time. (Youtube search for "toe-link failure")
I'd made myself some promises with this car after my experience with the Subaru. On some occasions with the Sub I was guilty of spending out a little over the top and beyond my requirements. Going straight in for external resevoir 3way adjustable coilovers for example when I didn't need the functionality at my driving/usage level and never really got my ££ worth out of the extra thousands that I spent. Same went for the engine work, I went the long/expensive way round of achieving ~400bhp with it by putting larger injectors, completely new fueling system and stuff like that... I coulda just slapped a bigger turbo on it and it would probably have been fine...!
With that in mind, I went out of my way to avoid some Gucci parts here... which has already sort of bitten me!
First up, the sump:
There are a handful of fancy options available all in the ~£500 range. They've got little hinged flaps, extra oil capacity and takeoffs for oil temp gauges etc. I admit, they look sexy as hell but instead I went for an OEM sump with a baffle plate welded in for less than half the price.
I had an unexpected couple of days off this week (turned up to work to be told I was supposed to be on holiday...) so I got to work and got the car into position for the next couple of days.
Oil was drained out, all over the damn floor. I need a bigger drain pan and better fluid dynamics simulation software.
In-Progress pics of the sump change are few and far between, I got very dirty and the timing was a bit critical (at least it felt it) between applying the liquid gasket and getting it bolted back up.
Getting the old sump off was a bit of a pig, smacked it with a rubber mallet for a bit then eventually managed to lever it off. I was less concerned about damaging the sump as I was replacing it, but didn't want to damage the block!
I did get a side by side comparison though:
The level of engineering that's gone into this compared to the gucci options is extremely underwhelming but for the sake of my engine (and wallet) I hope it's enough. It's tried and tested on racecars apparently, so hopefully will be OK for me trundling around Blyton.
I got it all cleaned up and dried, likewise with the mating surface on the engine block. Then applied a bead of Loctite 5980 and got it bolted back on the engine.
As I had a 24 hour cure time, I knocked off for the night.
Next day, and next job - my toe link kit. As above I went for a non-Gucci option and this ended up being a bit of a nightmare tbh. At first the kit arrived and the threads for the rosejoints were mismatched to the rods, so returned and got it swapped - mistakes happen and the vendor responded brilliantly.
In the meantime I got my old stuff off. Not many photos, left side came off easy but had to get a bit choppy with the drivers side.
The kits generally attack two areas of weakness. One being the materials used by the joints and the other being the addition of a double-shear fitment for the inboard connections.
The cars from the factory just have balljoints at each end, with the inboard side having a massive long skinny bolt to go through the trailing end of the wishbone too. The kits generally come in two formats, one uses a central brace to share load across the two inboard joints and the other involves drilling and bolting brackets on to create double-sheer connections.
Comparison pics below: (neither from my car/kit)
Brace type:
Bracket type:
I initially opted for the brace approach because I didn't need to drill (lazy) and in theory it braced by subframe too which can't be a bad thing.
The kit though was underwhelming even after getting the replacement with matching threads. First off the inboard bolts werent long enough to go through the brace, toelinks and subframe (probably from a kit without a brace?) and second the outboard bolts didn't have a cone shaped insert for the tapered hole in the hub. Third, the subframe brace didn't line up properly with the transmission mounting bolts that it was supposed to attach to for extra support. The vendor have been brilliant with me though and offered to get things sorted out but I really ran out of time, I've got geo booked early next week and track time booked very soon after that so we agreed I'd send the kit back for a refund.
Luckily, I came across a local resource who could sort me a kit very last minute that was due to be sent out elsewhere on very short notice and sell me it instead. This is in the form of the Spitfire kit which is positively Gucci in comparison.
Oh, this is also the bracket style kit too. I know I didn't want to drill, but I needed something quickly and Gaz@Spitfire explained that the brace on the Toyota subframe isn't functional anyway, just extra weight!
Key differences are that there's a cone insert for the hub, fittings generally look/feel better quality, the bolts are long enough and the actual toe bars themselves are significantly thicker/nicer but also lighter! The kit is more expensive though, and I'm sure the first kit would be fine and would have been fitted now if everything was the right shape/size in time for my install. I'm not going to badmouth the vendor because their comms have been excellent and I'm hoping that with my feedback they can respond and their kit will be spot on in future.
The Spitfire kit came with rivnuts and comprehensive instructions, so off I went drilling into my subframe. It took ages because I only had an air drill, and my compressor is tiny... but eventually, after a few hours I had 10 holes. Only got a pic after a lick of paint and the rivnuts were in place. I had to bodge a rivnut tool but they were quite easy to work with.
It was then a pretty simple case of lining everything up, bolting up and torquing up accordingly. Dead easy really.
If the bracket mounting doesn't look straight, it's probably because it isn't
Somewhere between all that, I got my oil topped off and happy to say I appear to be free of leaks.
The rods came pre-set to OEM toe measurements but obviously each chassis will be different so it definitely needs geo, which I'm booked in for on tues.
I had also ordered some brake pads, I did a bit of research and went for Pagid RS42s. They're a "fast road" compound (whatever Fast Road actually means?) but the RS14 alternatives for track/race work have the usual issues of being noisy etc. I can't be doing with noisy pads, another lesson learned from the Subaru.
The pads arrived, and of course were RS14s instead of the 42's that I ordered so they're on their way back. Hopefully will get those sorted early next week so I can get them bedded in before tracktime.
I ran the engine for a bit while the car was on axle stands just to check oil leaks, levels, etc and it seemed to send my ABS into a bit of a spaz. 30 yards of driving on the road though cleared the fault and I've not seen it since.
Got the car back on the road and went for one of those tentatively terrifying shakedown drives that you have after you've spent a few days tinkering. Eagerly listening out for my subframe dropping off, or that impact socket bouncing around my engine that I left laying in the new sump. Luckily I got to the petrol station and back without dying, though I certainly didn't push the car on the damp roads with an untested back end which may well be pointing all over the shop.
Can't wait for geo on tuesday, then finally the following week I can lean on this car on a circuit and see what all the fuss is about!!
Shortly after buying the car I was in two minds about my approach to "track prep" modifications and in the end decided to remove some doubt and just get stuck in, ahead of my first track outing in a week or so.
The two go-to modifications not being performance enhancing as such, but for safety/reliability purposes.
The 2ZZ engine in my car is oil-surge vulnerable, so a baffled sump is highly recommended for track work with sticky tyres such as the A048's that I've got.
Upgraded toe-links for the rears, as the OEM ones are notorious for shearing on pretty much the entire VX220/Elise/Exige line since the dawn of time. (Youtube search for "toe-link failure")
I'd made myself some promises with this car after my experience with the Subaru. On some occasions with the Sub I was guilty of spending out a little over the top and beyond my requirements. Going straight in for external resevoir 3way adjustable coilovers for example when I didn't need the functionality at my driving/usage level and never really got my ££ worth out of the extra thousands that I spent. Same went for the engine work, I went the long/expensive way round of achieving ~400bhp with it by putting larger injectors, completely new fueling system and stuff like that... I coulda just slapped a bigger turbo on it and it would probably have been fine...!
With that in mind, I went out of my way to avoid some Gucci parts here... which has already sort of bitten me!
First up, the sump:
There are a handful of fancy options available all in the ~£500 range. They've got little hinged flaps, extra oil capacity and takeoffs for oil temp gauges etc. I admit, they look sexy as hell but instead I went for an OEM sump with a baffle plate welded in for less than half the price.
I had an unexpected couple of days off this week (turned up to work to be told I was supposed to be on holiday...) so I got to work and got the car into position for the next couple of days.
Oil was drained out, all over the damn floor. I need a bigger drain pan and better fluid dynamics simulation software.
In-Progress pics of the sump change are few and far between, I got very dirty and the timing was a bit critical (at least it felt it) between applying the liquid gasket and getting it bolted back up.
Getting the old sump off was a bit of a pig, smacked it with a rubber mallet for a bit then eventually managed to lever it off. I was less concerned about damaging the sump as I was replacing it, but didn't want to damage the block!
I did get a side by side comparison though:
The level of engineering that's gone into this compared to the gucci options is extremely underwhelming but for the sake of my engine (and wallet) I hope it's enough. It's tried and tested on racecars apparently, so hopefully will be OK for me trundling around Blyton.
I got it all cleaned up and dried, likewise with the mating surface on the engine block. Then applied a bead of Loctite 5980 and got it bolted back on the engine.
As I had a 24 hour cure time, I knocked off for the night.
Next day, and next job - my toe link kit. As above I went for a non-Gucci option and this ended up being a bit of a nightmare tbh. At first the kit arrived and the threads for the rosejoints were mismatched to the rods, so returned and got it swapped - mistakes happen and the vendor responded brilliantly.
In the meantime I got my old stuff off. Not many photos, left side came off easy but had to get a bit choppy with the drivers side.
The kits generally attack two areas of weakness. One being the materials used by the joints and the other being the addition of a double-shear fitment for the inboard connections.
The cars from the factory just have balljoints at each end, with the inboard side having a massive long skinny bolt to go through the trailing end of the wishbone too. The kits generally come in two formats, one uses a central brace to share load across the two inboard joints and the other involves drilling and bolting brackets on to create double-sheer connections.
Comparison pics below: (neither from my car/kit)
Brace type:
Bracket type:
I initially opted for the brace approach because I didn't need to drill (lazy) and in theory it braced by subframe too which can't be a bad thing.
The kit though was underwhelming even after getting the replacement with matching threads. First off the inboard bolts werent long enough to go through the brace, toelinks and subframe (probably from a kit without a brace?) and second the outboard bolts didn't have a cone shaped insert for the tapered hole in the hub. Third, the subframe brace didn't line up properly with the transmission mounting bolts that it was supposed to attach to for extra support. The vendor have been brilliant with me though and offered to get things sorted out but I really ran out of time, I've got geo booked early next week and track time booked very soon after that so we agreed I'd send the kit back for a refund.
Luckily, I came across a local resource who could sort me a kit very last minute that was due to be sent out elsewhere on very short notice and sell me it instead. This is in the form of the Spitfire kit which is positively Gucci in comparison.
Oh, this is also the bracket style kit too. I know I didn't want to drill, but I needed something quickly and Gaz@Spitfire explained that the brace on the Toyota subframe isn't functional anyway, just extra weight!
Key differences are that there's a cone insert for the hub, fittings generally look/feel better quality, the bolts are long enough and the actual toe bars themselves are significantly thicker/nicer but also lighter! The kit is more expensive though, and I'm sure the first kit would be fine and would have been fitted now if everything was the right shape/size in time for my install. I'm not going to badmouth the vendor because their comms have been excellent and I'm hoping that with my feedback they can respond and their kit will be spot on in future.
The Spitfire kit came with rivnuts and comprehensive instructions, so off I went drilling into my subframe. It took ages because I only had an air drill, and my compressor is tiny... but eventually, after a few hours I had 10 holes. Only got a pic after a lick of paint and the rivnuts were in place. I had to bodge a rivnut tool but they were quite easy to work with.
It was then a pretty simple case of lining everything up, bolting up and torquing up accordingly. Dead easy really.
If the bracket mounting doesn't look straight, it's probably because it isn't
Somewhere between all that, I got my oil topped off and happy to say I appear to be free of leaks.
The rods came pre-set to OEM toe measurements but obviously each chassis will be different so it definitely needs geo, which I'm booked in for on tues.
I had also ordered some brake pads, I did a bit of research and went for Pagid RS42s. They're a "fast road" compound (whatever Fast Road actually means?) but the RS14 alternatives for track/race work have the usual issues of being noisy etc. I can't be doing with noisy pads, another lesson learned from the Subaru.
The pads arrived, and of course were RS14s instead of the 42's that I ordered so they're on their way back. Hopefully will get those sorted early next week so I can get them bedded in before tracktime.
I ran the engine for a bit while the car was on axle stands just to check oil leaks, levels, etc and it seemed to send my ABS into a bit of a spaz. 30 yards of driving on the road though cleared the fault and I've not seen it since.
Got the car back on the road and went for one of those tentatively terrifying shakedown drives that you have after you've spent a few days tinkering. Eagerly listening out for my subframe dropping off, or that impact socket bouncing around my engine that I left laying in the new sump. Luckily I got to the petrol station and back without dying, though I certainly didn't push the car on the damp roads with an untested back end which may well be pointing all over the shop.
Can't wait for geo on tuesday, then finally the following week I can lean on this car on a circuit and see what all the fuss is about!!
Had an afternoon out at Rob Boston Racing on tuesday, turns out they're just a few miles from Blyton Park.
After finally finding their unit, it was like being a kid in a sweet shop. They'd just got back from the BTCC weekend at Brands and they were preparing/fixing/checking over a couple of the Ginetta cars that they support that had been running at the weekend.
Always thought Ginetta cars looked a bit rough and agricultural from a distance but when you get to look at them without body panels on, they're really cool looking bits of kit.
When driving my car there it felt like a death trap, the rear of the car was just constantly moving around. On each compression of the rear suspension the rear would wiggle a bit and it was horrific!
Pulled it into the unit and explained how I'd be using the car, first up is a job I could have done at home had I known about it. The cars run pretty much 0 camber from the factory but the hubs are shimmed away from the upper wishbone so you can actually add a bit of negative camber front and back.
We removed all three of the shims in the front and removed 3 of the 5 that were in use at the rear (at each side).
That took a while due to stuck bolts and stuff like that, but then onto the alignment. I've had loads of alignment sessions before using fancy laser equipment but this is the first time I've had a car aligned with string!
Out came some poles and some string, and after a few minutes of very careful measuring and lining up we learned that my rears were toed in by about 10mm either side! No wonder it felt so broken.
We finished up with about 1mm toe in at front and 2mm toe in at the rear (I think).
Needless to say, the car was an absolute peach on the drive home. 6 days till I get to lean on it round track
After finally finding their unit, it was like being a kid in a sweet shop. They'd just got back from the BTCC weekend at Brands and they were preparing/fixing/checking over a couple of the Ginetta cars that they support that had been running at the weekend.
Always thought Ginetta cars looked a bit rough and agricultural from a distance but when you get to look at them without body panels on, they're really cool looking bits of kit.
When driving my car there it felt like a death trap, the rear of the car was just constantly moving around. On each compression of the rear suspension the rear would wiggle a bit and it was horrific!
Pulled it into the unit and explained how I'd be using the car, first up is a job I could have done at home had I known about it. The cars run pretty much 0 camber from the factory but the hubs are shimmed away from the upper wishbone so you can actually add a bit of negative camber front and back.
We removed all three of the shims in the front and removed 3 of the 5 that were in use at the rear (at each side).
That took a while due to stuck bolts and stuff like that, but then onto the alignment. I've had loads of alignment sessions before using fancy laser equipment but this is the first time I've had a car aligned with string!
Out came some poles and some string, and after a few minutes of very careful measuring and lining up we learned that my rears were toed in by about 10mm either side! No wonder it felt so broken.
We finished up with about 1mm toe in at front and 2mm toe in at the rear (I think).
Needless to say, the car was an absolute peach on the drive home. 6 days till I get to lean on it round track
I finally got the right set of Pagids sorted so threw those in on Friday. No in progress pics but look! Proof!
The old pads had LOADS of meat left, infact they looked almost new. I didn't want to risk taking OEM grade pads on track though, been there before and it's a quick way to waste a day. Still, the OEMs will be kept aside for a rainy day.
Been and done 30miles or so, mercifully the RS42's don't squeal at all. Not really stomped on them yet, will see if I can get another 50miles or so done tomorrow then will give them a few hard stops from a high speed of a round number to make sure they're somewhat bedded in.
Was out early this morning, any excuse for a pic.
The old pads had LOADS of meat left, infact they looked almost new. I didn't want to risk taking OEM grade pads on track though, been there before and it's a quick way to waste a day. Still, the OEMs will be kept aside for a rainy day.
Been and done 30miles or so, mercifully the RS42's don't squeal at all. Not really stomped on them yet, will see if I can get another 50miles or so done tomorrow then will give them a few hard stops from a high speed of a round number to make sure they're somewhat bedded in.
Was out early this morning, any excuse for a pic.
Had my first time on track this week, a CarLimits circuit driver tuition day at Blyton Park.
I'd been really looking forward to it more than I have any track day previously, because finally I'd get to knuckle down and focus on my weak areas (of which I have many).
I woke up stupid early, and had a heart sinking moment when I saw the small river that replaced the road through our village By the time I left, it had stopped raining but the roads were very wet so a slow drive to Blyton was in order.
Arrived in thick fog, no sign of the rain letting up and could barely see the first corner from the track entrance.
Soon met up with Andy Walsh (instructor for the day) and the other three participants for the day. A lad in an S1 Elise, an M235i thingy and an Evora made up the participation list with me. We'd have the circuit all to ourselves for the day.... if the circuit would ever open.
Finally got on track for 10:30'ish, and started with each of us taking Andy for a handful of "evaluation laps". Probably the worst laps I've ever done around Blyton, not just slow because of the rain but lines all over the place, hand position on the wheel all awkward and generally just a crap 5 minutes on track. It must have been nerves or something, but nontheless Andy made some good observations about my mannerisms in the car and despite the very slow pace he identified issues that I can work on whenever I visit a circuit.
After we'd all done our eval laps, he split us up into different corners of the circuit to do some excercises. I started with a figure eight to get my hand positions right going from lock to lock quickly and accurately while two others did heavy braking on the straights and the final guy went to do oversteer/spin control round bunga bunga.
I soon got the hang of the figure 8 hand positioning, started having a bit of fun kicking the back out on the transition and then got so dizzy and car sick I had to come in!
Next up, heavy braking. Andy set two cones out at an arbitrary distance apart and then instructed me to get to 70mph for the first cone and slam on, see where I stopped in relation to cone #2 and then work from there.
I stopped up about 3 car lengths AFTER cone #2 and then Andy had a go, first time ever in my car and he stopped 2 car lengths before the cone - and not a hint of ABS despite considerable standing water.
He explained the physics, I needed to relax brake pressure when I sensed ABS was about to activate and off I went - sure enough before long was consistently stopping before the cone - probably knocked 30m or so off my initial braking distance.
Back to the pits impressed, then off for lunch.
The rain worsened over lunch and the circuit was borderline lethal at this point. The format of the day was supposed to allow us free reign of the circuit in the afternoon to work on the full track and have Andy help us improve our pace, but we had no chance of that.
Confined to my final excercise of oversteer/spin control on Bunga Bunga. Andy put me on a line through the corner (which you would never take in the dry/normally) to specifically induce a spin at slow speeds - then taught the various approaches to "catching it".
First up, simply letting go of the wheel straightend the car from a near 90degrees angle and left me safely rolling into the runoff zone. Then tried to use my hands to control the slide AND keep it on the track, and that's when the spinning started
A few corners later and I was reliably catching slides and keeping it roughly between the lines. Great fun and felt I was learning lots. What I was struggling to do though was catch the slides which required more than an armful of lock, by using the "correct" hand positioning. By letting go of the wheel a bit and controling it through my hands I did much better... but that's not the proper way! Must improve
I did a few sessions like this, only caught the first on GoPro as I guess one of my spins sent the gopro pointing to the floor at somepoint... but uploaded a few attempts of the corner here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohMraf-R7kc
After a visit to the bathroom, I was eager to get back out but was greeted with this
Looks like I picked up a screw at somepoint and ripped it out presumably whilst going sideways. The tyre would hold zero PSI and as such, had to await an AA man to come temp repair it and get me home! Luckily a chap arrived in a camper for an overnight stay before the Javelin event on the following day, so he invited me in for a cuppa while I waited! Hope you had a good day Martin if you're out there...
Overall, the day was very useful. I wouldn't use the word "humbling" as many do, as I was already pretty aware of how crap I was :lol:. That said, due to the weather the day also felt like a massive wasted opportunity, I would have loved to have settled into my groove around a very familiar track and have a proper driver help me improve, and help me learn the limit of this new car at higher speeds in the dry.
With that in mind, I WILL book another day with Andy, and I'd really recommend that anyone else does the same. He teaches from utter novices to current F1 drivers so he can adapt his sessions from learning hand positions to shaving 10ths off depending on the capability of the participant.
I'm going to get the tyre repaired, it's smack in the middle of the tread and it's a front tyre which doesn't get quite as much abuse in the Lotus. Spoke to a few people who have run repaired tyres on track and nobody seems too scared of it.
Another "almost issue" I had with the car was my battery. It is clamped down in the boot by one of those base clamps that holds the flared base of the battery. The battery had shuffled towards the rear of the car and was about 1/2 inch from coming free of the clamp completely. That would have been a smashed rear clam and a few grand to sort... so need to research more substantial battery clamp options.
I'd been really looking forward to it more than I have any track day previously, because finally I'd get to knuckle down and focus on my weak areas (of which I have many).
I woke up stupid early, and had a heart sinking moment when I saw the small river that replaced the road through our village
By the time I left, it had stopped raining but the roads were very wet so a slow drive to Blyton was in order.Arrived in thick fog, no sign of the rain letting up and could barely see the first corner from the track entrance.
Soon met up with Andy Walsh (instructor for the day) and the other three participants for the day. A lad in an S1 Elise, an M235i thingy and an Evora made up the participation list with me. We'd have the circuit all to ourselves for the day.... if the circuit would ever open.
Finally got on track for 10:30'ish, and started with each of us taking Andy for a handful of "evaluation laps". Probably the worst laps I've ever done around Blyton, not just slow because of the rain but lines all over the place, hand position on the wheel all awkward and generally just a crap 5 minutes on track. It must have been nerves or something, but nontheless Andy made some good observations about my mannerisms in the car and despite the very slow pace he identified issues that I can work on whenever I visit a circuit.
After we'd all done our eval laps, he split us up into different corners of the circuit to do some excercises. I started with a figure eight to get my hand positions right going from lock to lock quickly and accurately while two others did heavy braking on the straights and the final guy went to do oversteer/spin control round bunga bunga.
I soon got the hang of the figure 8 hand positioning, started having a bit of fun kicking the back out on the transition and then got so dizzy and car sick I had to come in!
Next up, heavy braking. Andy set two cones out at an arbitrary distance apart and then instructed me to get to 70mph for the first cone and slam on, see where I stopped in relation to cone #2 and then work from there.
I stopped up about 3 car lengths AFTER cone #2 and then Andy had a go, first time ever in my car and he stopped 2 car lengths before the cone - and not a hint of ABS despite considerable standing water.
He explained the physics, I needed to relax brake pressure when I sensed ABS was about to activate and off I went - sure enough before long was consistently stopping before the cone - probably knocked 30m or so off my initial braking distance.
Back to the pits impressed, then off for lunch.
The rain worsened over lunch and the circuit was borderline lethal at this point. The format of the day was supposed to allow us free reign of the circuit in the afternoon to work on the full track and have Andy help us improve our pace, but we had no chance of that.
Confined to my final excercise of oversteer/spin control on Bunga Bunga. Andy put me on a line through the corner (which you would never take in the dry/normally) to specifically induce a spin at slow speeds - then taught the various approaches to "catching it".
First up, simply letting go of the wheel straightend the car from a near 90degrees angle and left me safely rolling into the runoff zone. Then tried to use my hands to control the slide AND keep it on the track, and that's when the spinning started
A few corners later and I was reliably catching slides and keeping it roughly between the lines. Great fun and felt I was learning lots. What I was struggling to do though was catch the slides which required more than an armful of lock, by using the "correct" hand positioning. By letting go of the wheel a bit and controling it through my hands I did much better... but that's not the proper way! Must improve
I did a few sessions like this, only caught the first on GoPro as I guess one of my spins sent the gopro pointing to the floor at somepoint... but uploaded a few attempts of the corner here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohMraf-R7kc
After a visit to the bathroom, I was eager to get back out but was greeted with this
Looks like I picked up a screw at somepoint and ripped it out presumably whilst going sideways. The tyre would hold zero PSI and as such, had to await an AA man to come temp repair it and get me home! Luckily a chap arrived in a camper for an overnight stay before the Javelin event on the following day, so he invited me in for a cuppa while I waited! Hope you had a good day Martin if you're out there...
Overall, the day was very useful. I wouldn't use the word "humbling" as many do, as I was already pretty aware of how crap I was :lol:. That said, due to the weather the day also felt like a massive wasted opportunity, I would have loved to have settled into my groove around a very familiar track and have a proper driver help me improve, and help me learn the limit of this new car at higher speeds in the dry.
With that in mind, I WILL book another day with Andy, and I'd really recommend that anyone else does the same. He teaches from utter novices to current F1 drivers so he can adapt his sessions from learning hand positions to shaving 10ths off depending on the capability of the participant.
I'm going to get the tyre repaired, it's smack in the middle of the tread and it's a front tyre which doesn't get quite as much abuse in the Lotus. Spoke to a few people who have run repaired tyres on track and nobody seems too scared of it.
Another "almost issue" I had with the car was my battery. It is clamped down in the boot by one of those base clamps that holds the flared base of the battery. The battery had shuffled towards the rear of the car and was about 1/2 inch from coming free of the clamp completely. That would have been a smashed rear clam and a few grand to sort... so need to research more substantial battery clamp options.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff