Discussion
This is the ongoing saga of the many faces of my S1 Elise. It is a tale of lunched engines, arguments with wildlife, scraped paint and an odo which is now reading over 100,000 miles!
Being over 6' tall, way back in 2009 I decided that this would be a great idea as a daily car.
An elise had been a car I wanted the moment I'd first seen them and my thoughts at the time were i could give it a try for a while, if i found it frustrating to live with I'd be able to sell it on without losing much.
This car I'd found for sale with good history, previously upgraded with a 135bhp engine kit, relatively standard otherwise and yellow paint, the correct colour.
It had a few stone chips on the front which i didn't mind as having a pristine car would have had me worrying about using it too much. Which probably fairly well sums up how the last few years have gone!
The car has looked incredibly ropey over the last couple of years, but as long as it's driving well and reliable, I'm not too worried about how it looks. Though it has been tidied up significantly over the last couple of months!
How it began:
How it is looking currently:
|http://thumbsnap.com/gt0XuaU4[/url]
A number of photos from the years in between!
This did not sound good!
An argument with some local wildlife
When you have an oil leak, the obvious solution is to buy a used engine, with unknown mileage and a set of cams!
DIY bodywork. Because why not?
Road trip to Italy, monaco Austria and germany
More DIY bodywork
Unplanned track day at zandvoort on holiday last year
Short road trip from Aberdeen to Bristol and back to pick up a hard top!
Being over 6' tall, way back in 2009 I decided that this would be a great idea as a daily car.
An elise had been a car I wanted the moment I'd first seen them and my thoughts at the time were i could give it a try for a while, if i found it frustrating to live with I'd be able to sell it on without losing much.
This car I'd found for sale with good history, previously upgraded with a 135bhp engine kit, relatively standard otherwise and yellow paint, the correct colour.
It had a few stone chips on the front which i didn't mind as having a pristine car would have had me worrying about using it too much. Which probably fairly well sums up how the last few years have gone!
The car has looked incredibly ropey over the last couple of years, but as long as it's driving well and reliable, I'm not too worried about how it looks. Though it has been tidied up significantly over the last couple of months!
How it began:
How it is looking currently:
|http://thumbsnap.com/gt0XuaU4[/url]A number of photos from the years in between!
This did not sound good!
An argument with some local wildlife
When you have an oil leak, the obvious solution is to buy a used engine, with unknown mileage and a set of cams!
DIY bodywork. Because why not?
Road trip to Italy, monaco Austria and germany
More DIY bodywork
Unplanned track day at zandvoort on holiday last year
Short road trip from Aberdeen to Bristol and back to pick up a hard top!
Character is one way of putting it! It's been a daily driver for more or less 7 years, and I'm happy to drive it almost anywhere through any weather.
Over 700 miles from Amsterdam to Italy in a day was hot, noisy work! But the car itself I still find surprisingly comfortable.
the first engine went bang properly and the rebuilt one I bought to replace it was a leaky moneypit, with a very interesting torque curve!
The big dip in the torque curve made it absolutely horrible to drive, but i managed to fix this. By finding another secondhand engine for a few hundred, complete with a set of piper cams!
This one was much healthier, and has been doing a fine job in it for the past 3 years or so!
The fibreglass and carbon clams were inspired by Andygtt's noble thread.
With the damage in the front clamshell, the paintwork across the whole clam was crazed, some local fibreglass specialists said they could repair and paint it but with the amount of cracks they werent sure whether they would reappear. So i decided to give making moulds a go. Nothing to lose really!
Repairs the front shell, made the moulds, took them off and damaged the front shell further, discovered I'd made a proper poor job of the join sections, but gave the fibreglass a go anyway.
While it was successful in that I've made my own bodywork from it, it really is the flimsiest, most poorly built shell ever made, although it was as light that the day me and my mate were taking it out the moulds it started to get blown down the street while we were tidying up!
The carbon shell although I couldn't get the mould to seal meant I basically made it as per the fibreglass. It wasn't any lighter but it was a lot more solid. Though still visually terrible. Doing it in a garage in the middle of winter doesn't help!
However I've repaired and painted the original shell again over the last couple months, which again isn't perfect, but I'm satisfied enough with it. I'm considering getting the carbon one tidied up and painted as well now.
Despite now having a second car, most of the work I do I now plan in order to have it off the road for the minimum amount of time possible, which was one of my frustrations with using garages.
I know it's definitely not the highest mileage example, but i reckon it's probably a bit higher than most:
Over 700 miles from Amsterdam to Italy in a day was hot, noisy work! But the car itself I still find surprisingly comfortable.
the first engine went bang properly and the rebuilt one I bought to replace it was a leaky moneypit, with a very interesting torque curve!
The big dip in the torque curve made it absolutely horrible to drive, but i managed to fix this. By finding another secondhand engine for a few hundred, complete with a set of piper cams!
This one was much healthier, and has been doing a fine job in it for the past 3 years or so!The fibreglass and carbon clams were inspired by Andygtt's noble thread.
With the damage in the front clamshell, the paintwork across the whole clam was crazed, some local fibreglass specialists said they could repair and paint it but with the amount of cracks they werent sure whether they would reappear. So i decided to give making moulds a go. Nothing to lose really!
Repairs the front shell, made the moulds, took them off and damaged the front shell further, discovered I'd made a proper poor job of the join sections, but gave the fibreglass a go anyway.
While it was successful in that I've made my own bodywork from it, it really is the flimsiest, most poorly built shell ever made, although it was as light that the day me and my mate were taking it out the moulds it started to get blown down the street while we were tidying up!
The carbon shell although I couldn't get the mould to seal meant I basically made it as per the fibreglass. It wasn't any lighter but it was a lot more solid. Though still visually terrible. Doing it in a garage in the middle of winter doesn't help!
However I've repaired and painted the original shell again over the last couple months, which again isn't perfect, but I'm satisfied enough with it. I'm considering getting the carbon one tidied up and painted as well now.
Despite now having a second car, most of the work I do I now plan in order to have it off the road for the minimum amount of time possible, which was one of my frustrations with using garages.
I know it's definitely not the highest mileage example, but i reckon it's probably a bit higher than most:
2Btoo said:
Two questions from a non-Elise owner;
- Why do you have those covers over the front lights? For aesthetic reasons or something else? I guess they could be to protect the headlight lenses.
- How did you fit those skis to the roof, through the soft top?
Thanks!
Headlight covers, bit of both. They look better IMO, and when running without them I have had a headlight cracked, so they do help as well.- Why do you have those covers over the front lights? For aesthetic reasons or something else? I guess they could be to protect the headlight lenses.
- How did you fit those skis to the roof, through the soft top?
Thanks!
Skis - cheat photo sadly! Not actually attached, my mate just stuck them on top of the car for the photo!
I "think" you can adapt a roof rack for a fiesta if needed, I've seen photos of it but never bothered myself.
Yeah, temperamental doesn't quite cover the first couple years I had it!
Although the bodywork still isn't quite right, I don't mind it as it makes it a lot more carefree, a couple friends have commented on how good it must be to not worry about stonechips etc.
Getting stuck in with repairing and rebuilding it is something I'm very glad I've done.
Almost anything that happens to it now I know I'm able to fix myself within a couple of days and the more you do the better you understand it.
Best thing about getting that involved in the car is the cost of mechanical parts. Even if the whole engine lunches itself (again?), a good used k series is probably cheap enough to be classed as a consumable
Although the bodywork still isn't quite right, I don't mind it as it makes it a lot more carefree, a couple friends have commented on how good it must be to not worry about stonechips etc.
Getting stuck in with repairing and rebuilding it is something I'm very glad I've done.
Almost anything that happens to it now I know I'm able to fix myself within a couple of days and the more you do the better you understand it.
Best thing about getting that involved in the car is the cost of mechanical parts. Even if the whole engine lunches itself (again?), a good used k series is probably cheap enough to be classed as a consumable
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