I've been wanting an Exige since I was pretty young. This year I decided that it was now time to get the project I've been dreaming of. I had been glued to the classifieds since I had put my 944 up for sale. The more I searched the more impatient I became to the point where I was asking many advertisers if they'd accept the Porsche as a part exchange - I knew this was a long shot due to the amount of work that had undergone on the 944 but it was worth a shot and in the end paid off.

I contacted Jon Seal, which I know is not a new name in the Lotus world. He had in stock a perfect base model for what I have planned. A tatty Elise S2 that was begging to be put back on the road. We struck a deal and I was on the way home with what will be my dream car.

The car is a base model 1.8 Rover K Series early S2.




The car is not without its faults. Upon collection I had the following list to go through:
- Drivers dipped beam not working
- Passenger sidelight not working
- Wipers not working
- Washer jets not working
- All switches and right hand side of the dash missing
- Front bumper held together with duct tape
- Drivers seatbelt cut
- Missing seatbelt clasps
- Rear view mirror detached
- Missing wheel bolts and tool
- Missing centre console
- Struggling to Idle (revs fine)
- Horn not working

The first day after collecting my Dad popped over to have a look at the car then ended up spending the whole day helping me clean it!













It scrubbed up very well considering it's condition when we left Jon's. He'd had it sat in the corner for a while and that on top of being parked for 2 years outside in Scotland had really taken it's toll.

So the last couple of weeks I have been sourcing parts and trying to get it ready for an MOT so I can at least drive it.

I've not been able to source all the parts but I have addressed all the issues apart from finishing the body work.

That'll be the wiper motor fault then...





Temporary decals for the light switches :lol (I've since fitted a fog light switch)



Temporary clam fix (this is still in progress)



So I have done quite a bit of work to get it road legal. All that's left at the moment that I know of is a new idle control valve which should be here Monday.

Thursday it goes for an MOT and Cambelt/Waterpump/Tensioner.

As you can see from the photos, this is not a perfect car. You may already be one step ahead of me from the start of the post but this car will change form. I look to change the clams for Exige clams and swap in some vtec.

Like the Porsche, this will be my weekend/track toy. So be ready for some track focused mods as well.

So I took the car for it's MOT - Cambelt and Water Pump. The journey there was eventful... resulting in loss of brakes.

This was the culprit.



New one on pressure bled up



Surprisingly the car did very well on the MOT! :bc Only mention of Tyres and corrosion on the discs which both will get replaced soon enough.

This meant I could take it for a drive :brum

A very random assortment of cars in our friendship group, but all with the same car enthusiasm.





First impressions are I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying this car. I knew it was going to be good but I was always a bit worried the lack of power might bite me seeing as I've got so used to the turbo shove from the Porsche. I'm happy to say that is not the case! It feels very nippy and is so rewarding to drive. I clocked up a couple of hundred miles that day with my mates and it performed faultlessly.

So on to the more recent changes. First up I got a carbon centre console off eBay. Finding a standard or any centre console for the early s2's appears to be a nightmare.

This one isn't perfect by any means but it's better than nothing imo.



I've been using the car quite a lot just to see if there are any teething issues from getting it back on the road... It turns out there was one obvious one.

What I thought was a leaky brake line turned out to be a leaky shock absorber. :wall

I'm the type of person that likes to upgrade so to speak when something breaks. I've always planned of changing to adjustable coilovers on this car and it turned out this was the time to do it rather than spend money on temporarily fixing the issue.

So out with the old...




and in with the new...










I've gone for the Nitron street series. They were for sale on Seloc and local to me so it was silly not to go for them.

I'm looking to do some track days in this car but I predominantly want it to be a car I want to just get in on a weekend and go for a B road hack.

I'm happy to report that these are exactly what I was after. Ironically a bit less harsh compared to the Bilsteins but they have the same character and the handling feels just as good.

I've also made progress on the front end. The photos above of it looking Matte were just to make it MOT friendly. I didn't want any of the sharp edges to be a problem for that.

I've now sanded it all back and fibreglassed it back together and then primed/painted it. This is not a forte of mine and it's by no means perfect but for my first attempt at anything this big I feel its gone quite well!









Original paint (top) vs New paint (bottom)


It'll need a little bit of sanding back and polished up to get it as glossy as the rest of the paint but I'm happy with what I've done and know what I need to do better next time.

Please remember that this car will be getting the Exige front and rear clam. This is purely temporary and just something to make it a bit more respectful.

The car blew a bulb on the weekend so thought I'd try some LED bulbs. Got some nighteyes as recommended by a friend.

Here are the results:

50/50



Beam looks very crisp





A bit of a tight fit and had to take out the cradle to get the bulb in due to the large fans on the rear. Hopefully these last

So following the previous update I decided this was a perfect excuse to take it for a night drive.

I'm very happy with these, light covers a very wide area and I've not been flashed so I don't think it's blinding anyone too badly either





Due to a trackday being booked in February I've set about getting it ready for some track work - One key thing was to change the tyres.

I've wanted some Prorace 1.2's since I got the car. I found a set on eBay - these are the 1.2S's which are without the Team Dynamics stamps on the sides which I'm very happy with.



I've also purchased a toe link kit as I'll be looking to put some stickier tyres on the car.





A test fit of a front wheel:





You can see in the above photo that the bumper is still a bit orange peely - I've just not got round to wet sanding/polishing yet... It's on the list!

Another on the list to do was change the brake discs and pads. The stuff that was on it seemed a bit of a mismatch so I set about sorting all 4 corners. Unfortunately I ran out of time today so only managed the fronts.





Mintex 1155's going on. I've read some good reviews on these and my understanding is that these are the DS2500 equivalent which for what I plan to use the car for should be adequate. If I don't get on with them I will look to replace with them with something a bit more hardcore in the future.



I'm not a fan of drilled discs as I've seen a few crack quite quickly when used on track so I've gone for some OEM paid plain discs.



Fronts on. I've also lowered the front down a tad. This is mainly for when I get the new wheels and because I'll be doing the alignment when I do the toe links.



I'm sure it won't come across as busy as it has felt over the Christmas period but I have been doing a fair amount of work on the Elise.

First up was I got the tyres fitted to the wheels. I'm running 205/45/16's at the front and 225/45/17 Rear. They're Nankang NS2R's - I've used these before and have always been impressed by the performance especially for half the price of its competitors.





I gave it a quick clean





So that's the wheels fitted - I'm very happy with them.

Next up was to finish fitting the brakes (rears) and fitting the new toe links.



The calliper will need glamming up at some point but that's for another day.



The old toe links - they'd seen better days and the ball joint dust covers had split so a good time to replace.



Next up is mainly due to me being 6ft2 and probably a slightly odd size - My legs are longer than my arms so I find the steering wheel a bit further away when I sit in a comfortable position for my legs.

So I've bought this OMP steering wheel with a MOMO boss kit along with the MOMO offsetting spacer.



I bought a horn with a lotus logo so that it looked a bit more OEM. (I'm planning on going black/silver on all the badges)



Boss kit with wheel



All fitted



I also fitted some speakers and a headunit - I know this goes against the ethos of these cars but I need music in my cars for the days they're not being thrown around like a go kart.

Removing the velcro strips on the sill is on the list to remove but it's a task I know I'm not going to like so I've been putting it off :beat :lol I also need to clean the inside.





Hopefully it hasn't been too hard to read - I've copied multiple updates and condensed into one.

Feel free to leave any comments

Nice work!

Any reason why you want exige clams? I think the elise is the prettier car and the money would be better spent elsewhere - 4 pots, suspension refresh, hardtop etc.

Also, where did you get the hornpush? I have been looking for a black one for ages!

Well bloody hell, so it does £20 just spent!

Ah thats a different and much larger project. I would still recommend tackling all the handling upgrades though before committing to the Honda conversion and clams.

Looking great so far

Great thread. My 111s is one of the few cars I still miss.
I keep watching out for 'cheap' S2s but not been brave enough to take the plunge... I shall watch this thread with interest.

I love TD2s on a slightly dropped elise, so purposeful. I approve

To be honest I like a challenge. This was definitely one of if not then the cheapest on sale at the time. As you can see it has its faults but ultimately with an Elise/Exige they are so simple mechanically there’s only so much that can be wrong. Parts are just parts from other cars. You just need to find out what car they came from and the price is then halved 90% of the time.

Cheers I think exactly the same

Nice work! Looks much better already.

But 100% get the rest of the suspension overhauled. You've done part of it with the dampers and the toe link, but sort the bushes out too! I used HPE's kit here:
http://www.hpeauto.co.uk/products/wishbone-bearing...

you can sort out those rusty-looking wishbones while you're there

Great work, looking forward to following your progress. Have a soft spot for S2 Elise/Exige!

Nice project- what are the Honda plans?

Slightly biased towards Honda motors myself being B18C powered in my DC2!

Can imagine the genuine absence of weight plus a peachy revvy motor with extra grunt really is something special in an Elise.

Still amazes me what the humble Integra will show up with a mere 1100kgs/190hp/130lbsft

With powdercoat you can’t see any stress cracks in the welds forming/propogating which wouldn’t be so much of an issue on a road car. Also any chips (again, an issue on a tracked car) can’t be touched up properly so it looks crap and can corrode.

No thread but if you don’t mind me adding them here i can post pics up as i rebuild the corners this week. I opted for epoxy/PU as its tough as nails yet can always be touched up. I’m also refurbing my radical suspension but opted for yellow zinc on that. Luckily a supplier / friend of mine is doing it all for nowt.