Lotus Elise 111R

Author
Discussion

james_gt3rs

4,816 posts

190 months

Monday 6th February 2017
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Top work on the suspension! I did drop links this weekend and that was hard enough.

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Monday 6th February 2017
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Nice work, always makes me cringe seeing Elise wishbones after a few years of use

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Monday 6th February 2017
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Good progress dude. smile

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Tuesday 7th February 2017
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Cheers team, really running out of odd jobs to do now. Got the exposed parts of the chassis cleaned up a bit, and drilled out some old knackered rivets ready to be replaced but other than that I'm just waiting on parts from Lotus and my wishbones to come back!


DavidTillyer

38 posts

182 months

Saturday 18th February 2017
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How is the faux-alcantara holding up? I'm thinking of doing the same thing.

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Monday 13th March 2017
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DavidTillyer said:
How is the faux-alcantara holding up? I'm thinking of doing the same thing.
Fine, but at 6miles over three months I've not really tested it biggrin

Finally some progress to report!

It's been a quiet few weeks due to holidays, waiting for parts from Lotus etc but finally I've been able to start attaching stuff back onto the car smile

The big arrival of course was the suspension components back from Chris @ Jon Seal Sportscars after the powdercoating, rebushing and new balljoint treatment.

Before


After


Also got the hub uprights done in black, they look lovely. Oh, the ARB is red too.

With regards to the actual hubs, they've been bothering me for a few weeks. At least one is feeling VERY rough but I wasn't sure what kind of tolerances these things have got. The last thing I want is to button the car all back up, then have a hub bearing fail... so I've put an order in for four new hubs to rule that out!

I got some bits of progress done this weekend between various other things going on. I've pretty much got all the wishbones connected, bolts not done up tight yet (need to torque at correct ride height) and got the track rod ends swapped over, Oh - ARB fitted twice though... upside down the first time biggrin

Hopefully I can get the hubs early this week, get those put together onto the uprights then I'm ready to get some brake fluid in.




Rick101

6,959 posts

149 months

Monday 13th March 2017
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You best get spannering if you're bringing it tonight wink

GE90

359 posts

119 months

Monday 13th March 2017
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Fantastic read, I love Readers Cars!

For the first time I find myself looking at the classifieds!

This one looks about right?

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...


Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Tuesday 14th March 2017
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GE90 said:
Fantastic read, I love Readers Cars!

For the first time I find myself looking at the classifieds!

This one looks about right?

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...
Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

I'll check that link out this evening. They're great cars in general, most are enthusiast owned and as a result there are relatively fewer lemons out there compared to other cars of the same age (IMO).

Off to pickup my hubs tonight, hopefully get those all assembled this evening too - then it's going to be a case of getting the car sat at rideheight so that I can torque up all the wishbones.

Doing that safely will be a challenge whilst still granting me access to the nuts/bolts with a torque wrench...

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Wednesday 15th March 2017
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Bit more progress last night, popped back through to see Chris @ Jon Seal Sports Cars to pickup my hubs and a couple litres of brake fluid.

Once home, I didn't have much time (as usual) but I got 3/4 hubs assembled and attached the rears to the wishbones. Everything that's not a wishbone pivot (or driveshaft nut) was torqued and locktite'd where required.

Assembled hubs:


Rear side looking something like:



I'm going to have about an hour at best again tonight, so I'll aim to get the fronts similarly hooked up and get the calipers bolted on - then Friday it'll be brake fluid, handbrake cable and get everything torqued up at rideheight.

Saturday morning hopefully I can finish off any odds/ends - and get it MOT'd... which I still need to book/find somewhere with availability.

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Had a bit of a halt to progress, in fact I went very much backwards!

Following my last update, I noticed that my balljoints didn't sit quite right in their tapers. Maybe only 1mm proud, but it wasn't right.

I thought it was maybe powdercoat inside the tapers, but that was a dead end. I contacted Chris at JSS to ask his opinion, he compared with a set that he had lying around and found exactly the same... so bad batch of balljoints frown

The result was that I needed to fully strip the car again, get the wishbones back to Chris and have him replace the balljoints. Big pain in the ass for us both, but he turned them around real quick and last weekend I was finally able to finish the job!

I started on Saturday morning immediately following the F1 Qualifying - so got to work at around 7am.

I tackled the fronts first, as the caster shims are the only real difficult/fiddly part but they didn't resist too much... I've got a bit of a technique now involving a hammer biggrin

As per before, everything was done up with barely any torque - as the bushes needed to be sat at their "normal" rideheight before being nipped up.

By mid morning I was ready to get some brake fluid in, so gave it a preliminary bleed. These calipers are a bit of a PITA to bleed properly when they've been emptied completely as the inside piston seems to hold an air bubble. I need to bleed again before it's MOT time.

I took almost no photographs during the process as I just wanted to crack on - but by lunch time I was ready to drop the car on its wheels for the first time in three months!

My plan was to roll it out of the garage, get the suspension settled in and then roll it back in to get everything torqued up. As it happens, it was very sunny and the car was very dirty... so I couldn't resist giving it a quick wash biggrin



It was good to be doing something other than spannering the car for a change...

After a lunch break, the car was back in the garage and I took measurements hub to wheelarch at each corner. That allowed me to jack the car back up, back onto stands and then jack each corner in turn up to the appropriate rideheight, and then get torquing.

The torquing was all a bloody farce. Once the suspension is back on the car you can't bloody access 90% of them with a torque wrench... so it turned into a series of best guesses tbh redface

I managed to get the drivers' side of the car all done up and part of the passenger side.



I got dragged out of the garage at 17:00 on Saturday night as it was time to go out... I'd be back on Sunday.

Immediately following the GP on Sunday morning, I was back in the garage to finish off. By 11:00 I had the car back on its wheels, floor was back on and front undertray all done up.



The front toe angle is hilariously out, but went for a drive anyway. No nasty noises, in fact it's much quieter than I ever remember... so good news there. The car obviously drove like crap with my front wheels being all cross eyed, so I won't judge it yet.

I've got MOT booked for Friday this week, so I'll get the brakes fully bled properly on a week night and then it's ready for geo. MOT place will sort my front tracking out just to stop me from smashing my tyres, but want it properly seeing to before I go for a proper drive.

Happy days!


Rick101

6,959 posts

149 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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Very nice. I think this will be one of the best remaining 111R's by the time you have finished.

When is the SC going on? wink

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Sunday 2nd April 2017
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Rick101 said:
Very nice. I think this will be one of the best remaining 111R's by the time you have finished.

When is the SC going on? wink
Generous, but still plenty I'd like to do on this car given the time!

I'm happy to report that the car sailed through its MOT on Friday, and I had the MOT station give it a quick £17(!) front toe alignment as that was my major concern... nothing else really has been adjusted over winter.

On the drive to the MOT station, the car felt awful to be honest - sharp tweaks of the steering when going over compressions or rises, but I got there in one piece.

As said, it sailed through though this is all a bit of a farce on these cars - as most checks can't be complete due to the flat floor or maintenance panels blocking the view, heh. I collected the car at hometime and the drive home was fantastic, both fronts were toe'ing in a bit when I handed them the car and they reset it to dead-ahead (after a proper geo, I'll probably have slight toe-out) but it completely transformed the car. The feeling of stability has returned and I was properly satisfied.

On Saturday I had the car back up on axle stands (!) to change the oil. Why didn't I do this in the THREE MONTHS of axle stand time I've just had? I hear you ask.... well I fully intended for the car to go for a service following my efforts over winter, but I've simply run out of time this month. I've got two trackdays coming up very soon, and the oil is getting a bit long in the tooth now (it's done the last two trackdays that I did last year).

Plugs and coolant is all very new after the bunny incident, so I decided to get the oil and filter changed DIY to get me through April - then I'll book in at JSS for a proper service once I can breathe again.



Today I went out with the Wife, and put 80 or so miles on the car to go the long way around for some Fish n' Chips smile

We set off with the dampers set in my arbitrary "track day" starting point, which is 7 clicks from hard on the front and 9 clicks from hard on the rear. The car felt marginally stiffer than stock and over certain bumps like sunken drain covers it was a little bit harsh.

For the way home, I dropped it 2clicks all around to become a bit softer and the difference was significant. The car felt much more compliant now, and it took the sharper bumps with much more grace. I always use cats eyes as a test when comparing suspension settings back to back for compliance - and the car substantially smoother with the new settings.

Using a couple of roundabouts to lean on the car a bit, the body roll certainly felt less than pre-winter which is a step in the right direction - and generally no handling gremlins showed their face all day.

The car also sounded much, much less like a kit car and more like a factory built road car. The creaks, rattles and clicks are now all but silenced and as a result my mind makes the car feel like it's "tighter" and it makes me trust it more. I don't know how much of this is bushes, balljoints or coilovers - but I like the end result.

I've got geo, cornerweighted ridehight setup and a general all round spanner check booked for the 10th April, bring it on smile

james_gt3rs

4,816 posts

190 months

Monday 3rd April 2017
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If the car is being lowered, don't forget to consider raising the steering rack to correct the bumpsteer. Made a big difference to the handling of mine, and only takes an hour or 2 to fit the rack plates.

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Monday 3rd April 2017
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james_gt3rs said:
If the car is being lowered, don't forget to consider raising the steering rack to correct the bumpsteer. Made a big difference to the handling of mine, and only takes an hour or 2 to fit the rack plates.
Cheers James, I'll check that out and discuss with the guys doing my Geo. I've experienced bumpsteer and the subsequent correction of it on my Subaru, achieved with taller BJs and TRE's in that case. It certainly was worth doing, so I'll see if my changes to the Lotus warrant the same.

JS1500

579 posts

176 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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Just read your thread start to finish (well, this point) and enjoyed it a lot.
Great car and good work on it, it looks fantastic... But, won't the new carpet clash with the exterior colour? wink
Fonzey said:

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Thursday 6th April 2017
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Haha Cheers, glad you've enjoyed the read.

The new foot mats are certainly a grower!

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Monday 10th April 2017
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Today I went to Track Torque to get my geo properly checked out including rideheight tweaks on the corner scales.



Car weighed in at 849kg with half a tank of fuel and the roof still on - which is a little under what I expected! The lightest version of the 111R was 860KG and the heaviest with A/C and full carpets way up to 916KG. Mine is a non-A/C car but does have carpets.

The TD wheels may be a bit lighter, and I saved 5KG when swapping the exhaust... so maybe that's enough, or Lotus book figures include a brimmed tank.

Pretty much bang on 50:50 weight distribution left to right and around 40:60 front/back.



My readings, BEFORE:

Caster:
L: 4.56'
R: 4.33'

Front Camber
L: -1.06'
R: -1.00'

Front Toe
L: -0.05'
R: -0.02'

Rear Camber
L: -3.24'
R: -2.30'

Rear Toe
L: -0.02'
R: -0.05'

...and afterwards:

Caster:
L: 4.30'
R: 4.12'

Front Camber
L: -1.06'
R: -1.00'

Front Toe
L: -0.01'
R: -0.01'

Rear Camber
L: -2.34'
R: -2.30'

Rear Toe
L: 0.16'
R: 0.16'

Ride height was tweaked slightly, just to reduce the rake angle that I'd put on DIY - and that was that, no massive changes at least according to the numbers.

On the drive home, the car felt much "heavier in my hands" whilst doing motorway cruising speeds, whereas previously it felt a little more skittish. I pushed on in a couple of b-road corners close to home and the car feels much nicer than before.

Nothing left to do now mechanically before my trackdays start, so time to relax - and maybe give it one more clean smile

Edited by Fonzey on Monday 10th April 15:55

Rick101

6,959 posts

149 months

Monday 10th April 2017
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Now that's all done, how many bolts did you have left at the end?

Fonzey

Original Poster:

2,056 posts

126 months

Monday 10th April 2017
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A Curry and a Spag Bol's worth...

Maybe this is where the 10kg went to?!