S1 Lotus Elise 111S
Discussion
bigmowley said:
I’ve got a 99 111S as my guilty pleasure. They really are brilliant little things. It’s been on the fleet for well over 10 years now. 65K miles, still on the original engine and box. I’ve gently modified it over the years it’s at about 180BHP flywheel which is about as far as you can go on the VVC and standard cams. It’s extremely fast with the std close ratio box even if it’s a bit low geared. Mine will rev out in 5th which is quite entertaining. Best mod of all for me is the Quaife ATB diff. totally transformed the car, it does the most sublime donuts without any negative impact on the handling, highly recommended. I can even do donuts inside my garage. 
Replacing the ancient MEMS engine management with an Emerald system should be well up the shopping list as well.
It’s much better for getting the best out of any other engine mods that you might do.
Lovely car, enjoy it in good health.
I have that engine / gearbox spec in a metro at 800kgs, absolutely hilarious to drive…. Replacing the ancient MEMS engine management with an Emerald system should be well up the shopping list as well.
It’s much better for getting the best out of any other engine mods that you might do.
Lovely car, enjoy it in good health.
In an Elise it’s a nice amount of power , if you know how to drive and extract the most from a sorted balanced car you don’t need any more !!!!!! 😎👌🏻❤️
Joehow said:
Crashed a Porsche meet this morning to meet the old man in his Spyder.. and ticked over more miles in the last 6 weeks than I've had in the last 6 months. However with today's weather I did wish I had no hard top on.
Fixed a couple of annoying jobs!
- squeaky clutch pedal, bit of wd40 on the hinge point helped but broke my back doing so.
- fixed a funky squashed rubber in the rear glass which had been squeaking since I popped the roof on.
One thing I haven't fixed is I had a broken centre cap for the victory wheels. Still have it but the tabs are broken, annoyingly these are completely different to any other Elise wheel so I think I need one 3D printing. If anyone is able to do that for me here it would be brilliant!
Finally a thing I'm mentally battling with is the head gasket. I don't have any history of it being done but the car runs perfectly, temps are spot on and there's no mix of coolant / oil etc. Might get a leak down test just to be sure and go from there but I'm reluctant to open an engine I don't need to.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the head gasket unless it needs doing. Just make sure it’s warmed up properly and it might never need doing.
As I said before, you’ve inspired me to get back out on the road in mine, so that will happen next weekend.
bencollins4 said:
Awesome cars, the 987 Spyders! Is it a manual? Original owner of my Sport 135 now has a 987 Spyder, so he clearly has impeccable taste in mid-engine sports cars!
I wouldn’t worry too much about the head gasket unless it needs doing. Just make sure it’s warmed up properly and it might never need doing.
As I said before, you’ve inspired me to get back out on the road in mine, so that will happen next weekend.
Yes Ben it's got the right bits, manual, buckets, chrono and sports exhaust. I wouldn’t worry too much about the head gasket unless it needs doing. Just make sure it’s warmed up properly and it might never need doing.
As I said before, you’ve inspired me to get back out on the road in mine, so that will happen next weekend.
Yeah I probably need to stop worrying!!
Joehow said:
Yes Ben it's got the right bits, manual, buckets, chrono and sports exhaust.
Yeah I probably need to stop worrying!!
Perfect spec, then. I could see the buckets. Great cars! I guess it would lack a bit of steering feedback compared to the Elise, but make up for it in noise and additional comfort and usability? Yeah I probably need to stop worrying!!
bencollins4 said:
Perfect spec, then. I could see the buckets. Great cars! I guess it would lack a bit of steering feedback compared to the Elise, but make up for it in noise and additional comfort and usability?
Yeah exactly that, it's still super alive compared to most but not compared to the Elise. Mega car though and I love the 3.4 DFI. So bit of an unexpected turn but I took a deposit on this yesterday..expect it to go to a new home next weekend.
I've absolutely loved owning it and in the right moment it is utterly brilliant.
But I've come to the conclusion that I think I'm done with cars that have quite a singular function for a bit. So I if I get something else it'll definitely be with more of a mind on wider adventures.
Final pic of the car at an inspection for the new buyer... Guys at Back on Track at Guildford did it, really impressed genuine humans.
I've absolutely loved owning it and in the right moment it is utterly brilliant.
But I've come to the conclusion that I think I'm done with cars that have quite a singular function for a bit. So I if I get something else it'll definitely be with more of a mind on wider adventures.
Final pic of the car at an inspection for the new buyer... Guys at Back on Track at Guildford did it, really impressed genuine humans.
So, finally I’m the new custodian of Joe’s 111S. It’s a lovely little car and the plan is to carry on documenting it’s history on here.
First big job will be a full suspension refresh, but that can wait to winter. The plan for now is to enjoy the car when the good weather breaks and get the floor corrosion sorted.
First big job will be a full suspension refresh, but that can wait to winter. The plan for now is to enjoy the car when the good weather breaks and get the floor corrosion sorted.
mikeulster500 said:
So, finally I’m the new custodian of Joe’s 111S. It’s a lovely little car and the plan is to carry on documenting it’s history on here.
First big job will be a full suspension refresh, but that can wait to winter. The plan for now is to enjoy the car when the good weather breaks and get the floor corrosion sorted.
Great, welcome to 111S S1 ownership First big job will be a full suspension refresh, but that can wait to winter. The plan for now is to enjoy the car when the good weather breaks and get the floor corrosion sorted.
mikeulster500 said:
So, finally I’m the new custodian of Joe’s 111S. It’s a lovely little car and the plan is to carry on documenting it’s history on here.
First big job will be a full suspension refresh, but that can wait to winter. The plan for now is to enjoy the car when the good weather breaks and get the floor corrosion sorted.
Congrats on the purchase. For a suspension refresh, I cannot recommend Simon at Meteor Motorsport highly enough - in fact having just checked he's expanded into https://raceshocks.uk/ for non-Caterham stuff. I've had his custom valved Nitron NTR1s on both my Caterham and my Elise S1 and they're very, very good.First big job will be a full suspension refresh, but that can wait to winter. The plan for now is to enjoy the car when the good weather breaks and get the floor corrosion sorted.
So, little update. Managed to get a bit of time
On the car today.
Joe had made a start on the floors, however I wanted to get them properly sorted and give the pedals and tub inside a real good clean.
Picture of how it was
After a good scrub and getting all the sticky residue off, as well as dremelling the corrosion
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/ZjXyFG9M[/url]
Tub masked up and primer coat done. Will do the top coats in silver next weekend
On the car today.
Joe had made a start on the floors, however I wanted to get them properly sorted and give the pedals and tub inside a real good clean.
Picture of how it was
After a good scrub and getting all the sticky residue off, as well as dremelling the corrosion
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/ZjXyFG9M[/url]Tub masked up and primer coat done. Will do the top coats in silver next weekend
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