Life with a Honda Type R powered Exige(ish)
Discussion
So..... it turns out that a Mustang GT doesn't make the best track car, not helped by the bumbling idiot Ford dealers being incapable of fixing a failed oil cooler but thats another story. It did look good though, and actually handled very tidily on Pedders coilovers. Easily kept up with M2s on track as well as most Cayman GT4s though well driven ones would inevitably pull away.
Anyway after getting through a million set of pads and some ludicrous on track fuel costs ( 3 tanks at one silverstone day @ £80/tank) I had to find something better suited while still being able to serve as a weekend blast car.
So weighed up all sorts including track prepped e92 M3s (big end bearings + fuel put me off) but kept coming back to Lotus' but unless looking at S3 Exige V6s the S2 Exiges are just too slow for the money - Cup 260s around £30k+ and at that power the Toyota gearbox can be troublesome......
I always wondered what the N/A K20 engine out of a EP3 Civic Type R would be like in a Lotus and so it turned out, did other people. An entire mini cottage industry exists around shoving these into Elise and Exiges.
Having zeroed in on a Honda powered Elise the hunt began, this was lat summer so seemingly anytime one came on sale it sold pretty quickly until after annoying Will Blackham enough he gave me first refusal on one that was coming in ... Love at first sight.
It started life in 2003 as a humble Elise before being transformed at massive cost into the below
and a spec list longer than my arm ......
Deal done so went to pick up the car ....
What the f*ck have I done was pretty much the defining memory of my drive home.
Where was my A/C (it was August)?
Where was my electric seats?
Where was my stereo?
Where was.....ANYTHING?
Put the car away for a few days of poor quality sleep dreaming of my Mustang then took it out after work one evening.....
Feck me it shifts! 8600rpm redline, vtec kicks in at 4500rpm and that Honda gearbox .... mmmmm glorious!
Corners are a thought process - I think of a direction and before my motor neurons have fired the car is already aimed at the apex.
First trackday in it booked and I was a little bit wary since it was my first car with no TC or even ABS, but as soon as the Toyo R888Rs and pads had some heat in them...... by god it was like a little racecar.
Youtube clip : https://youtu.be/KucHEnhtmUE?t=115
And just like that, I was hooked.
I've started a series of little improvements here and there and will update the thread accordingly if anyone is interested before the big upgrade at somepoint, a supercharger. Its currently approx 300bhp/ton, with a Rotrex Supercharger this would increase to approx 480bhp/ton and still well well under £30k invested.
one more pic including geeky new numberplate
Anyway after getting through a million set of pads and some ludicrous on track fuel costs ( 3 tanks at one silverstone day @ £80/tank) I had to find something better suited while still being able to serve as a weekend blast car.
So weighed up all sorts including track prepped e92 M3s (big end bearings + fuel put me off) but kept coming back to Lotus' but unless looking at S3 Exige V6s the S2 Exiges are just too slow for the money - Cup 260s around £30k+ and at that power the Toyota gearbox can be troublesome......
I always wondered what the N/A K20 engine out of a EP3 Civic Type R would be like in a Lotus and so it turned out, did other people. An entire mini cottage industry exists around shoving these into Elise and Exiges.
Having zeroed in on a Honda powered Elise the hunt began, this was lat summer so seemingly anytime one came on sale it sold pretty quickly until after annoying Will Blackham enough he gave me first refusal on one that was coming in ... Love at first sight.
It started life in 2003 as a humble Elise before being transformed at massive cost into the below
and a spec list longer than my arm ......
Deal done so went to pick up the car ....
What the f*ck have I done was pretty much the defining memory of my drive home.
Where was my A/C (it was August)?
Where was my electric seats?
Where was my stereo?
Where was.....ANYTHING?
Put the car away for a few days of poor quality sleep dreaming of my Mustang then took it out after work one evening.....
Feck me it shifts! 8600rpm redline, vtec kicks in at 4500rpm and that Honda gearbox .... mmmmm glorious!
Corners are a thought process - I think of a direction and before my motor neurons have fired the car is already aimed at the apex.
First trackday in it booked and I was a little bit wary since it was my first car with no TC or even ABS, but as soon as the Toyo R888Rs and pads had some heat in them...... by god it was like a little racecar.
Youtube clip : https://youtu.be/KucHEnhtmUE?t=115
And just like that, I was hooked.
I've started a series of little improvements here and there and will update the thread accordingly if anyone is interested before the big upgrade at somepoint, a supercharger. Its currently approx 300bhp/ton, with a Rotrex Supercharger this would increase to approx 480bhp/ton and still well well under £30k invested.
one more pic including geeky new numberplate
I am green with Envy. Looks like it shifts along really nicely.
Currently hunting for a K20 Elise S2 myself, dont particularly want an SC though. I wanted one back in late 2018 but bought a DC5 Integra instead, totally hooked on the K20 now so the Honda Elise is next on my list.
Any way I can encourage you to post more photos of the car?
Currently hunting for a K20 Elise S2 myself, dont particularly want an SC though. I wanted one back in late 2018 but bought a DC5 Integra instead, totally hooked on the K20 now so the Honda Elise is next on my list.
Any way I can encourage you to post more photos of the car?
Excellent, look forward to this.
I went the 'other' way with the 260 Toyota based one, no doubt the Honda route has a higher ceiling and it's something that I'd love to explore one day.
Always like to keep a K20 in the fleet, currently in the form of an FN2 Civic... if it ever gets rear ended in a low speed car park incident I may be tempted to dismantle it and keep the engine to one side...
I went the 'other' way with the 260 Toyota based one, no doubt the Honda route has a higher ceiling and it's something that I'd love to explore one day.
Always like to keep a K20 in the fleet, currently in the form of an FN2 Civic... if it ever gets rear ended in a low speed car park incident I may be tempted to dismantle it and keep the engine to one side...
Thales said:
Very nice! Based on your last pic, you must be local to me.
Split time between Walton and Essex - usually try to make the Walton Bridge Breakfast club meets if I'm around 
Bathroom_Security said:
I am green with Envy. Looks like it shifts along really nicely.
Currently hunting for a K20 Elise S2 myself, dont particularly want an SC though. I wanted one back in late 2018 but bought a DC5 Integra instead, totally hooked on the K20 now so the Honda Elise is next on my list.
Any way I can encourage you to post more photos of the car?
Sure! Cadwell was awesome a few months back : Currently hunting for a K20 Elise S2 myself, dont particularly want an SC though. I wanted one back in late 2018 but bought a DC5 Integra instead, totally hooked on the K20 now so the Honda Elise is next on my list.
Any way I can encourage you to post more photos of the car?
A funny thing happened at a trackday at Silverstone back in December, a lovely chap come up to me and says "I rebuilt that" he was from Matthew Bentley Racing and filled me in on the complete history of it, I was aware of a 2yr gap in history in around 2016/17 before it got exported to RoI ( it came back over when I bought it).
The original engine conversion was done around 2010 by Sinclaires (now Essex Autosport) but it turns out the chap who owned it back in 2016 blew the motor on track as it had no baffled sump and the oil level had dropped a bit. Matthew Bentley Racing then did another engine swap but this time to an Integra DC5 K20A - so JDM cams etc, it was then mapped to 240bhp by Romain @Caltech so the provenance is great. This was mega news as I now had a car with an extra 40bhp AND a much younger engine then I assumed and now with baffled sump. A quick scan of MBR FB page confirmed this and they are supplying all the missing invoices too. At the same time the owner had an Alitech shifter installed which to be honest sold me on the car as soon as I saw it!
Butter Face said:
Very nice. Time to get a rotrex on that!
Thats the plan, just need the ~ £6.5k 
Edited by -Z- on Thursday 13th February 14:17
Fonzey said:
Excellent, look forward to this.
I went the 'other' way with the 260 Toyota based one, no doubt the Honda route has a higher ceiling and it's something that I'd love to explore one day.
Always like to keep a K20 in the fleet, currently in the form of an FN2 Civic... if it ever gets rear ended in a low speed car park incident I may be tempted to dismantle it and keep the engine to one side...
Yeah the Toyota motor is a peach but I had an EP3 Type R 15ish years ago and just couldn't resist the idea. Internals and gearbox can apparently handle 500bhp without too many problems so the 360bhp I want to get to eventually hopefully shouldn't be too much trouble....I went the 'other' way with the 260 Toyota based one, no doubt the Honda route has a higher ceiling and it's something that I'd love to explore one day.
Always like to keep a K20 in the fleet, currently in the form of an FN2 Civic... if it ever gets rear ended in a low speed car park incident I may be tempted to dismantle it and keep the engine to one side...
-Z- said:
Yeah the Toyota motor is a peach but I had an EP3 Type R 15ish years ago and just couldn't resist the idea. Internals and gearbox can apparently handle 500bhp without too many problems so the 360bhp I want to get to eventually hopefully shouldn't be too much trouble....
Yeah I'm currently trying to squeeze what I can safely from the 2ZZ (just chargecooled it) but Gearbox is next on the worry list... K20 setup just makes so much more sense at the end of it all, but I think I started way too expensive to be considering that just yet!Based on your comment of having 300bhp/tonne - my maths makes that 800kg? Pretty good achievement in an S2 chassis I think!
Fonzey said:
Yeah I'm currently trying to squeeze what I can safely from the 2ZZ (just chargecooled it) but Gearbox is next on the worry list... K20 setup just makes so much more sense at the end of it all, but I think I started way too expensive to be considering that just yet!
Based on your comment of having 300bhp/tonne - my maths makes that 800kg? Pretty good achievement in an S2 chassis I think!
Yeah I really did consider an Exige 260bhp but I think they're too nice to start gutting and swapping engines haha! Based on your comment of having 300bhp/tonne - my maths makes that 800kg? Pretty good achievement in an S2 chassis I think!
I was told around 800kg - its probably around 850 I reckon but there's no AC, no stereo (I do long trips with Bose noise cancelling headphones- totally fine & driving it to Spa and the Ring in the summer!), no speakers, no ABS unit, no airbags, obviously no SC or chargecooler, Lotus motorsport seats etc, want to get it on scales at some point.
Edited by -Z- on Thursday 13th February 14:29
-Z- said:
Yeah I really did consider an Exige 260bhp but I think they're too nice to start gutting and swapping engines haha!
I was told around 800kg - its probably around 850 I reckon but there's no AC, no stereo (I do long trips with Bose noise cancelling headphones- totally fine & driving it to Spa and the Ring in the summer!), no speakers, no ABS unit, no airbags, obviously no SC or chargecooler, Lotus motorsport seats etc, want to get it on scales at some point.
Yup I reckon it's not far off! My first Lotus was a Toyota (again) powered Elise (NA) and that was weighed at 850 (no AC etc). My Exige has a book weight of 930 (AC on this one, along with SC gubbins etc) and I've added another few to that with the chargecooler... so all of a sudden I'm almost 100kg heavier than my Elise was :!I was told around 800kg - its probably around 850 I reckon but there's no AC, no stereo (I do long trips with Bose noise cancelling headphones- totally fine & driving it to Spa and the Ring in the summer!), no speakers, no ABS unit, no airbags, obviously no SC or chargecooler, Lotus motorsport seats etc, want to get it on scales at some point.
Edited by -Z- on Thursday 13th February 14:29
It's crazy how it all adds up, I do have the pig-iron Lotus original wheels though so I'll be practically Ariel Atom weight once I find replacements for those...
Very nice Exige OP.
As always the temptation to go for more power and the SC is understandable.
Word of warning though, I had a S1 Elise with a K20 which was SC and CC, in the end though I wished it had been N/A as the headline figures of 350 BHP also mean, more weight, more heat and more to go wrong, they also heat soak quite badly on track so do not hold their power for long. Also the SC is loud and I struggled to get quiet enough to go on track, in the end I gave up and sold it but I have a feeling that I might have stuck with the car if it had stayed N/A. Clockwise motion and Dan Webster are the people to speak to before you do it too. Enjoy!
As always the temptation to go for more power and the SC is understandable.
Word of warning though, I had a S1 Elise with a K20 which was SC and CC, in the end though I wished it had been N/A as the headline figures of 350 BHP also mean, more weight, more heat and more to go wrong, they also heat soak quite badly on track so do not hold their power for long. Also the SC is loud and I struggled to get quiet enough to go on track, in the end I gave up and sold it but I have a feeling that I might have stuck with the car if it had stayed N/A. Clockwise motion and Dan Webster are the people to speak to before you do it too. Enjoy!
Rocket. said:
Very nice Exige OP.
As always the temptation to go for more power and the SC is understandable.
Word of warning though, I had a S1 Elise with a K20 which was SC and CC, in the end though I wished it had been N/A as the headline figures of 350 BHP also mean, more weight, more heat and more to go wrong, they also heat soak quite badly on track so do not hold their power for long. Also the SC is loud and I struggled to get quiet enough to go on track, in the end I gave up and sold it but I have a feeling that I might have stuck with the car if it had stayed N/A. Clockwise motion and Dan Webster are the people to speak to before you do it too. Enjoy!
I assume you had a JR charged car, an intercooled Rotrex would have been a lot different and it also keeps the VTEC-esque rev feel of the NA engine.As always the temptation to go for more power and the SC is understandable.
Word of warning though, I had a S1 Elise with a K20 which was SC and CC, in the end though I wished it had been N/A as the headline figures of 350 BHP also mean, more weight, more heat and more to go wrong, they also heat soak quite badly on track so do not hold their power for long. Also the SC is loud and I struggled to get quiet enough to go on track, in the end I gave up and sold it but I have a feeling that I might have stuck with the car if it had stayed N/A. Clockwise motion and Dan Webster are the people to speak to before you do it too. Enjoy!
Butter Face said:
I assume you had a JR charged car, an intercooled Rotrex would have been a lot different and it also keeps the VTEC-esque rev feel of the NA engine.
Yes similar, mine actually had one of these https://magnumpowers.com/product/sapien-sed/ - when it worked it was nuts but that sadly was not often enough, maybe the Rotrex is a better option, but it's still in a mid engined application which means heat and lots of it, these are not straight forward builds. My only point being go in with eyes open, speak to others who have done it and have built these cars and have used them as intended that's all.
Rocket. said:
Yes similar, mine actually had one of these https://magnumpowers.com/product/sapien-sed/ - when it worked it was nuts but that sadly was not often enough, maybe the Rotrex is a better option, but it's still in a mid engined application which means heat and lots of it, these are not straight forward builds.
My only point being go in with eyes open, speak to others who have done it and have built these cars and have used them as intended that's all.
I definitely hear what you're saying, a stroker kit to 2.2 is the other I think significantly more expensive option. Although the Exige rear clam and roof scoop does give a lot more room to ensure adequate cooling, meth injection as well as the CC that comes with the Rotrex is a fall back too. My only point being go in with eyes open, speak to others who have done it and have built these cars and have used them as intended that's all.
Car is currently away having some bits and bobs done. Saw Reverie Carbon Canards and fell in love so they've been put on.
Also pictured is a front splitter mock up as I don't think the standard one does anything to aid front underbody airflow and get the diffuser working. The mock up is water cut wood made for an Exige race car so its gonna get trimmed down.. A lot.
It extends about a foot under the car and is fixed directly to the chassis so doesn't put any load on the clam. It was just tried on to make sure it can fit under the current splitter as didn't want to lose it.
Gonna wait and see what this does to the balance of the car before deciding if a bigger rear wing is needed, felt some extra front downforce might be beneficial as it has so much rear grip on corner exit it washes into a bit of understeer so shifting the balance forward might aid things.
Also pictured is a front splitter mock up as I don't think the standard one does anything to aid front underbody airflow and get the diffuser working. The mock up is water cut wood made for an Exige race car so its gonna get trimmed down.. A lot.
It extends about a foot under the car and is fixed directly to the chassis so doesn't put any load on the clam. It was just tried on to make sure it can fit under the current splitter as didn't want to lose it.
Gonna wait and see what this does to the balance of the car before deciding if a bigger rear wing is needed, felt some extra front downforce might be beneficial as it has so much rear grip on corner exit it washes into a bit of understeer so shifting the balance forward might aid things.
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