Lotus Elise 111R
Discussion
Thanks Gents.
@Flat6, I rather enjoyed my clam off experience but it did seem that as soon as I removed a part or looked under another, I found stuff that needed to be replaced!
I love Lotus to bits, but some of their choices in materials when building these cars was just shocking. You can excuse them for it with the S1 as it was so competitive price-wise, but the modern Elises' are knocking £50k and they've still got the same plaggy radiators and as far as I'm aware they'll all have rusty wishbones in a year or two! I'm not even convinced that the toe-link issues were authoritatively resolved...
I got my rad fitting kit from Eliseparts, pretty expensive for a bit of anodising and a few bolts but meh - 1000% better than OEM fittings.
My priority when buying dampers is not to compromise road behaviour too much, preferably not at all - and the feedback I'd read regarding Gaz Monos suggested that I should have ample adjust-ability for achieving this.
@Flat6, I rather enjoyed my clam off experience but it did seem that as soon as I removed a part or looked under another, I found stuff that needed to be replaced!
I love Lotus to bits, but some of their choices in materials when building these cars was just shocking. You can excuse them for it with the S1 as it was so competitive price-wise, but the modern Elises' are knocking £50k and they've still got the same plaggy radiators and as far as I'm aware they'll all have rusty wishbones in a year or two! I'm not even convinced that the toe-link issues were authoritatively resolved...
I got my rad fitting kit from Eliseparts, pretty expensive for a bit of anodising and a few bolts but meh - 1000% better than OEM fittings.
My priority when buying dampers is not to compromise road behaviour too much, preferably not at all - and the feedback I'd read regarding Gaz Monos suggested that I should have ample adjust-ability for achieving this.
There's been some progress over the last week or so, will start with the diffuser I think!
It's been looking a bit battered for a while, burn marks from the exhaust, corrosion from stainless+ally contact and generally just tatty.
I cleaned it up, removed the edging trim and then sprayed on some etch primer:
I'd be using some gloss black caliper paint, because I had some lying around! It should be heat resistant enough around the exhaust and also it's pretty tough - so hopefully will stand up to the odd stone chip.
I'd be complementing this with some brand new stainless fixings:
...and then completed the diffuser with some black edge trim.
Back to the suspension, my next challenge was the ABS bracket mount that was missing from the drivers' side GAZ bracket:
My plan for the weekend was to go dump it with a local fabrication company, but I slept in on Saturday so decided to punish myself by sorting it out myself. The ABS bracket is not really load bearing as such, in fact between the bracket and the ABS pump is just some rubber anti-vibration mounts that are actually glued together... so I'm not aiming for structural strength here, just enough to stop it vibrating and straining the brake lines I suppose.
Out came the dremel, and several hours and many cutting discs later I had what I needed from the original donor mount...
Another hour or so of grinding, filing and more grinding and I had the mount down to a size and shape that would work.
I mock fitted it up, and marked round where I'd be locating the mount ready for drilling:
My drill bits weren't making a scratch on the stainless, so thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime I got some replacements out for Sunday. Drilled through and temporarily mounted so that I could confirm fitment:
That nut/bolt arrangement will be going, I'm going to finalise with a very Lotus Glue+Rivet combination. For now though, I got the shock back on and had one more rideheight tweak.
When the mount comes off again, I'll glue/rivet it - grind down the edges a bit more to make it look nice then paint it all to make it look slightly less horrific!
I then took the car out for what's probably its last drive before the big strip down of the wishbones etc. Only went out for 12-15 miles but it was good to be back in the car! The shocks continue to feel and sound fine, still no nasty surprises so happy days there. I've got my ride height into the ballpark it needs to be, and my only concern is that the rears are pretty damn close to their limit of adjustability. I've had to wind the rear springs right down which is no doubt limiting how much droop I get when the shock is unloaded.
I still feel like I've got plenty of droop though, not far off the standard billies - so I'm sure this'll be fine.
After the 20min drive, of course I then needed a 60min wash before getting back into the garage!
It's been looking a bit battered for a while, burn marks from the exhaust, corrosion from stainless+ally contact and generally just tatty.
I cleaned it up, removed the edging trim and then sprayed on some etch primer:
I'd be using some gloss black caliper paint, because I had some lying around! It should be heat resistant enough around the exhaust and also it's pretty tough - so hopefully will stand up to the odd stone chip.
I'd be complementing this with some brand new stainless fixings:
...and then completed the diffuser with some black edge trim.
Back to the suspension, my next challenge was the ABS bracket mount that was missing from the drivers' side GAZ bracket:
My plan for the weekend was to go dump it with a local fabrication company, but I slept in on Saturday so decided to punish myself by sorting it out myself. The ABS bracket is not really load bearing as such, in fact between the bracket and the ABS pump is just some rubber anti-vibration mounts that are actually glued together... so I'm not aiming for structural strength here, just enough to stop it vibrating and straining the brake lines I suppose.
Out came the dremel, and several hours and many cutting discs later I had what I needed from the original donor mount...
Another hour or so of grinding, filing and more grinding and I had the mount down to a size and shape that would work.
I mock fitted it up, and marked round where I'd be locating the mount ready for drilling:
My drill bits weren't making a scratch on the stainless, so thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime I got some replacements out for Sunday. Drilled through and temporarily mounted so that I could confirm fitment:
That nut/bolt arrangement will be going, I'm going to finalise with a very Lotus Glue+Rivet combination. For now though, I got the shock back on and had one more rideheight tweak.
When the mount comes off again, I'll glue/rivet it - grind down the edges a bit more to make it look nice then paint it all to make it look slightly less horrific!
I then took the car out for what's probably its last drive before the big strip down of the wishbones etc. Only went out for 12-15 miles but it was good to be back in the car! The shocks continue to feel and sound fine, still no nasty surprises so happy days there. I've got my ride height into the ballpark it needs to be, and my only concern is that the rears are pretty damn close to their limit of adjustability. I've had to wind the rear springs right down which is no doubt limiting how much droop I get when the shock is unloaded.
I still feel like I've got plenty of droop though, not far off the standard billies - so I'm sure this'll be fine.
After the 20min drive, of course I then needed a 60min wash before getting back into the garage!
Phew, just finished the big stripdown over the last few days. It's taken a while mainly due to me only having the patience for a couple of hours at a time, but also not having the right tools or technique... more on that later. As a reminder, my goal was just to get the bits off the car and then send off to Chris & Jon at https://www.jonsealsportscars.com/
I got started last Saturday, got the car undertray off and jacked up on to stands.
I thought I'd start with the rear passenger side, as it was closest to the beer fridge.
Wheel off, first hurdle failed - I had the wrong size impact sockets for the hub nut. Amazon Prime.
I decided to strip what I could from the corner anyway. I managed to get both wishbones off the car, and the caliper off - so the upright/hub was suspended just by the driveshaft and a wire coat hanger.
I think I fell over some tools whilst taking this...
Only difficulty to note so far was getting the balljoints out of the upright once the bolts were undone. The bolts were sticky and hard to remove, but not impossible. The tapered balljoints however were proper stuck, and my wedge/fork type splitter was too bulky to get into the joint to start putting appropropriate pressure on. I managed to remove the top one by whacking it with a hammer s
t loads, and left the bottom one attached for Chris to sort out when he removes the bushes for me 
I made a note to order a proper balljoint separator, a scissor type one. Amazon Prime
Sunday:
Amazon Prime man turned up with an impact socket, so whizzed the hubnut off. Next up, the driveshaft was seized into the hub! I tried whacking it with a hammer st loads (with the nut on the end to protect it) and it just wouldn't budge. There must be a tool for it, so parked that for later. Amazon Prime.
I moved onto the front passenger side and got that completely stripped but it took HOURS. Balljoints were causing grief and even the TRE took an age to get out, again eventually successful by whacking it with a hammer st loads.
TRE left on, as I don't have replacements yet so can keep my tracking reference for now.
With the front upright off the car, I then had to seperate the hub (which I'd be keeping to paint up) and the upright which would be going off to Chris. It's bolted in with 3x 19mm bolts which whizzed out with the rattlegun fine, but then it was seized to the face of the upright. The technique I finally landed on was screwing the bolts back in a few turns then whacking them st loads with a hammer. Eventually the hub popped off.
Monday:
Amazon Prime man turned up with a collection of driveshaft/hub pullers. I bolted it on and started winding, eventually with a muffled pop - the driveshaft pushed out, yay!
That's the passenger side of the car done at last!
Tuesday:
Attacked the rear drivers side this time, started with the hub nut and driveshaft tool but my god I struggled to get that driveshaft out. I tried so hard, I actually stripped the thread on the largest of my driveshaft pulling tools. I was cursing my cheap £12 kit, and the poor Amazon Prime bd so I stormed upstairs to complain. After reading a bit, I found that I was actually doing it wrong! You don't keep screwing it to force the shaft out, you just bolt it up snug and then guess what... whack it with a fking hammer :lol:
After doing this, the other driveshaft came out a treat Unfortunately, I sustained hammer related injuries tonight.
Not only that but I broke my novelty hammer! The bottle opener (that replaces the claw) snapped off!!
Wednesday:
Night off...
Thursday:
I finished off the rear drivers side, my new balljoint tool working an absolute treat.
I then moved to the final corner and stripped it all down pretty quickly, leaving myself with just the ARB to detach. The ARB brackets are held on with 6mm allen bolts, I can access one with a ratchet but the other needs an actual 6mm allen key through a little hole:
Both of my allen key kits were missing just the 6mm key, brilliant :| I'll delay the finish line one more night.
Friday, Tonight:
Halfords on the way home, 6mm key bought and whipped the brackets off. I then needed to drill out the rivets holding a little ally plate over the gap to allow me to wiggle the bar out.
The final result:
Pile of st for Chris:
Stuff for me to clean/paint:
...and a garage that looks like it's had a bomb go off in it!
Off to see Chris tomorrow to dump my stuff, then I'll get on with the fun/therapeutic stuff of cleaning
I got started last Saturday, got the car undertray off and jacked up on to stands.
I thought I'd start with the rear passenger side, as it was closest to the beer fridge.
Wheel off, first hurdle failed - I had the wrong size impact sockets for the hub nut. Amazon Prime.
I decided to strip what I could from the corner anyway. I managed to get both wishbones off the car, and the caliper off - so the upright/hub was suspended just by the driveshaft and a wire coat hanger.
I think I fell over some tools whilst taking this...
Only difficulty to note so far was getting the balljoints out of the upright once the bolts were undone. The bolts were sticky and hard to remove, but not impossible. The tapered balljoints however were proper stuck, and my wedge/fork type splitter was too bulky to get into the joint to start putting appropropriate pressure on. I managed to remove the top one by whacking it with a hammer s
t loads, and left the bottom one attached for Chris to sort out when he removes the bushes for me I made a note to order a proper balljoint separator, a scissor type one. Amazon Prime
Sunday:
Amazon Prime man turned up with an impact socket, so whizzed the hubnut off. Next up, the driveshaft was seized into the hub! I tried whacking it with a hammer s
t loads (with the nut on the end to protect it) and it just wouldn't budge. There must be a tool for it, so parked that for later. Amazon Prime.I moved onto the front passenger side and got that completely stripped but it took HOURS. Balljoints were causing grief and even the TRE took an age to get out, again eventually successful by whacking it with a hammer s
t loads.TRE left on, as I don't have replacements yet so can keep my tracking reference for now.
With the front upright off the car, I then had to seperate the hub (which I'd be keeping to paint up) and the upright which would be going off to Chris. It's bolted in with 3x 19mm bolts which whizzed out with the rattlegun fine, but then it was seized to the face of the upright. The technique I finally landed on was screwing the bolts back in a few turns then whacking them s
t loads with a hammer. Eventually the hub popped off.Monday:
Amazon Prime man turned up with a collection of driveshaft/hub pullers. I bolted it on and started winding, eventually with a muffled pop - the driveshaft pushed out, yay!
That's the passenger side of the car done at last!
Tuesday:
Attacked the rear drivers side this time, started with the hub nut and driveshaft tool but my god I struggled to get that driveshaft out. I tried so hard, I actually stripped the thread on the largest of my driveshaft pulling tools. I was cursing my cheap £12 kit, and the poor Amazon Prime b
d so I stormed upstairs to complain. After reading a bit, I found that I was actually doing it wrong! You don't keep screwing it to force the shaft out, you just bolt it up snug and then guess what... whack it with a fking hammer :lol:After doing this, the other driveshaft came out a treat
Unfortunately, I sustained hammer related injuries tonight.Not only that but I broke my novelty hammer! The bottle opener (that replaces the claw) snapped off!!
Wednesday:
Night off...
Thursday:
I finished off the rear drivers side, my new balljoint tool working an absolute treat.
I then moved to the final corner and stripped it all down pretty quickly, leaving myself with just the ARB to detach. The ARB brackets are held on with 6mm allen bolts, I can access one with a ratchet but the other needs an actual 6mm allen key through a little hole:
Both of my allen key kits were missing just the 6mm key, brilliant :| I'll delay the finish line one more night.
Friday, Tonight:
Halfords on the way home, 6mm key bought and whipped the brackets off. I then needed to drill out the rivets holding a little ally plate over the gap to allow me to wiggle the bar out.
The final result:
Pile of s
t for Chris:Stuff for me to clean/paint:
...and a garage that looks like it's had a bomb go off in it!
Off to see Chris tomorrow to dump my stuff, then I'll get on with the fun/therapeutic stuff of cleaning
Ryan_T said:
Really enjoyable read bud. I've recently got myself an '06 111R so I'll be following your progress like a hawk!
Have you thought about dyeing the grey alcantara on the dash/wheel black? I did it myself today and it personally I think it really transforms & modernizes the interior.
Also, I don't suppose you've got a link for the fabric used for the side sill covers? How is it holding up? Mine are cracked so will be looking to do something similar in the near future.
Cheers!
Thanks Ryan, as long as people enjoy it - I'll keep writing. Meh, I'll keep writing anyway, I frequently look back at my Subaru pictures/info so it's good to keep a log.Have you thought about dyeing the grey alcantara on the dash/wheel black? I did it myself today and it personally I think it really transforms & modernizes the interior.
Also, I don't suppose you've got a link for the fabric used for the side sill covers? How is it holding up? Mine are cracked so will be looking to do something similar in the near future.
Cheers!
I need to do something with my wheel as the leather is rather worn, but thinking of just replacing the wheel with a quick release or something... will think on that.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIRE-RETARDANT-FAUX-SUED...
That's the stuff I bought, holding up absolutely fine so far but hasn't really been through much. Bought enough to recover it about 8 times over if I have a problem...
Whilst my wishbones and uprights have been away with Chris, I've had a few hours here and there just tinkering and cleaning stuff up and preparing myself for the big re-assembly.
First up was to finish the damper/abs unit bracket modification off. Just swapped the little nuts/bolts with some epoxy and some rivets:
I've since painted them, so it looks slightly less horrible.
Next up, all my plastic arch liners got some loving. Just scrubbed them down and then cheated a bit with some tyreshine on a rag.
Discs got a rubbing down and then a light coat of VHT silver... no finished photo for some reason, but they'll pop up later!
I was cleaning up the Gaz dampers and I noticed that on one of the units, that one of the bearings seemed a lot free'er than the others. Upon inspection, it was missing a rubber o-ring to protect the bearing from grit/dirt. It probably fell out whilst I was messing with the shocks, so I headed to Amazon to find a replacement. It cost me less for a kit of hundreds (£13) than it did to buy two of the specific size I needed!
My Calipers have been treated to a good scrub down, then some VHT gloss black. Also added new fittings (nipples and crossover pipes) to finish the job. I had one drama (as usual when I'm messing with brakes) in that one of the nipples seemed to drag with it half a thread on its way out
Maybe cross-threaded in a past life, as it didn't really stick when I was undoing it. I managed to clean the top couple of threads up with an appropriately sized tap, and the new nipple has hopefully seated nicely. I'll obviously check for leaks when refitting, worst case scenario I can get it drilled out and an insert stuck in.
Post man has brought a steady stream of bits and bobs, still waiting on some parts from Lotus but I got the bulk of the fixings ready for the refit.
First up was to finish the damper/abs unit bracket modification off. Just swapped the little nuts/bolts with some epoxy and some rivets:
I've since painted them, so it looks slightly less horrible.
Next up, all my plastic arch liners got some loving. Just scrubbed them down and then cheated a bit with some tyreshine on a rag.
Discs got a rubbing down and then a light coat of VHT silver... no finished photo for some reason, but they'll pop up later!
I was cleaning up the Gaz dampers and I noticed that on one of the units, that one of the bearings seemed a lot free'er than the others. Upon inspection, it was missing a rubber o-ring to protect the bearing from grit/dirt. It probably fell out whilst I was messing with the shocks, so I headed to Amazon to find a replacement. It cost me less for a kit of hundreds (£13) than it did to buy two of the specific size I needed!
My Calipers have been treated to a good scrub down, then some VHT gloss black. Also added new fittings (nipples and crossover pipes) to finish the job. I had one drama (as usual when I'm messing with brakes) in that one of the nipples seemed to drag with it half a thread on its way out
Maybe cross-threaded in a past life, as it didn't really stick when I was undoing it. I managed to clean the top couple of threads up with an appropriately sized tap, and the new nipple has hopefully seated nicely. I'll obviously check for leaks when refitting, worst case scenario I can get it drilled out and an insert stuck in.Post man has brought a steady stream of bits and bobs, still waiting on some parts from Lotus but I got the bulk of the fixings ready for the refit.
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 
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
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
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.
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!For the first time I find myself looking at the classifieds!
This one looks about right?
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...
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...
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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!
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
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
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
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
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 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?
Generous, but still plenty I'd like to do on this car given the time! When is the SC going on?
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
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
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.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
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
Edited by Fonzey on Monday 10th April 15:55
Quick pre-trackday update.
I went to Malton on Easter Sunday for the annual car meet, great weather and good turnout as usual but I had a slight drama en-route as my drivers side front indicator flew out, till tethered by its wiring it then started smacking into my clam :!
I pulled over on on a shoulder-less dual carriageway and quickly unclipped the wiring and carried the indicator the rest of the way, inside the car.
Mercifully the clam sustained no damage, not even any marking. The indicator is lined with a plasticky rubber trim which I'm guessing took most of the contact. Either way, happy boy. The cause was known to me before I even pulled to the side of the road, the indicators are infamous for snapping a clip and flying out. I knew my passenger one had previously come out and been bodged as it has a makeshift clip on it from a previous owner.
There are a few documented workarounds involving home made clips and tethers, the clip closest to the camera has been snapped off:
...but there is enough of the stub left to drill a hole into:
I then used some particularly hi-tech string to tie it to part of the clam mounting... hopefully preventing this from happening again but without resorting to less temporary fixings such as glue/sealant which some people use...
With a small amount of tension on the string, the indicator actually sits better into the clam than it ever has before - so I may replicate on the passenger side when I have time!
Other than that, the car has had a clean and a final spanner check before Cadwell tomorrow. GoPro mounting has been tested (got a new GoPro over winter, with 4K capabilities this time...) and everything seems to be good.
Hopefully nice weather tomorrow, some good pictures/footage and a safe drama free day.
I went to Malton on Easter Sunday for the annual car meet, great weather and good turnout as usual but I had a slight drama en-route as my drivers side front indicator flew out, till tethered by its wiring it then started smacking into my clam :!
I pulled over on on a shoulder-less dual carriageway and quickly unclipped the wiring and carried the indicator the rest of the way, inside the car.
Mercifully the clam sustained no damage, not even any marking. The indicator is lined with a plasticky rubber trim which I'm guessing took most of the contact. Either way, happy boy. The cause was known to me before I even pulled to the side of the road, the indicators are infamous for snapping a clip and flying out. I knew my passenger one had previously come out and been bodged as it has a makeshift clip on it from a previous owner.
There are a few documented workarounds involving home made clips and tethers, the clip closest to the camera has been snapped off:
...but there is enough of the stub left to drill a hole into:
I then used some particularly hi-tech string to tie it to part of the clam mounting... hopefully preventing this from happening again but without resorting to less temporary fixings such as glue/sealant which some people use...
With a small amount of tension on the string, the indicator actually sits better into the clam than it ever has before - so I may replicate on the passenger side when I have time!
Other than that, the car has had a clean and a final spanner check before Cadwell tomorrow. GoPro mounting has been tested (got a new GoPro over winter, with 4K capabilities this time...) and everything seems to be good.
Hopefully nice weather tomorrow, some good pictures/footage and a safe drama free day.
Good news, I survived another trackday with the car in one piece!
Cadwell was a great day, cracking weather (for once) and I ended up really enjoying the last few sessions. It was a slow burner though, I didn't feel comfortable all morning and wasn't enjoying my time on track much at all...
It was MSV organised and dominated by Ford Fiesta, some of which were incredibly quick running boost and slicks in some cases.
I'm not sure what it is about Cadwell, but this is my third time there (first in this car) and I've never felt like I was driving quickly around it. I was VERY slow the first time there in my Subaru, similarly slow the second time and this trackday wasn't feeling much better.
I think it was a combination of confidence in the car (ie, are the brake calipers going to come flying off next time I stomp on the brakes at 110mph...) and poor track knowledge despite all of my time there so far. I faffed around with tyre pressures a bit, which made a bit of difference but I was in so much of a fluff that I was setting my fronts higher than the rears as I would have done in the Subaru... rears should be slightly higher pressure in the Lotus, doh.
By 11am I went into the MSV office and booked a tuition session for 12:10 as I still wasn't feeling it, and needed to try something.
The tuition went really well, and the intro lap that I did with the instructor was actually pretty good which set the tone for the session nicely. He bought me LOADS of speed through the Park/Chris/Gooseneck section and set me at ease a little bit.
After lunch I had loads more fun, though I'm still miles off the pace of this car - for once I came away from Cadwell feeling like I wanted to go straight back and keep building up. Previously I've just been happy to survive it :lol:
The MSV photographs were excellent, and as I've only ever run with Lotus on Track up until now I've never had on-track photos of my Lotus... so they had some of my money for this lot:
The car was great, still some tweaking to make to damper settings and tyre pressures but I'll do this in a more familiar environment like Blyton Park. I had some scrubbing on the left hander into Mountain which you can see in the pictures, so not sure if I need to stiffen up or add more ride height... will see what the damage is like to the arch liners and take it from there!
Oh, video of a few laps too - in 4K for those with appropriate monitors/TVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiY3ikZRdds
Cadwell was a great day, cracking weather (for once) and I ended up really enjoying the last few sessions. It was a slow burner though, I didn't feel comfortable all morning and wasn't enjoying my time on track much at all...
It was MSV organised and dominated by Ford Fiesta, some of which were incredibly quick running boost and slicks in some cases.
I'm not sure what it is about Cadwell, but this is my third time there (first in this car) and I've never felt like I was driving quickly around it. I was VERY slow the first time there in my Subaru, similarly slow the second time and this trackday wasn't feeling much better.
I think it was a combination of confidence in the car (ie, are the brake calipers going to come flying off next time I stomp on the brakes at 110mph...) and poor track knowledge despite all of my time there so far. I faffed around with tyre pressures a bit, which made a bit of difference but I was in so much of a fluff that I was setting my fronts higher than the rears as I would have done in the Subaru... rears should be slightly higher pressure in the Lotus, doh.
By 11am I went into the MSV office and booked a tuition session for 12:10 as I still wasn't feeling it, and needed to try something.
The tuition went really well, and the intro lap that I did with the instructor was actually pretty good which set the tone for the session nicely. He bought me LOADS of speed through the Park/Chris/Gooseneck section and set me at ease a little bit.
After lunch I had loads more fun, though I'm still miles off the pace of this car - for once I came away from Cadwell feeling like I wanted to go straight back and keep building up. Previously I've just been happy to survive it :lol:
The MSV photographs were excellent, and as I've only ever run with Lotus on Track up until now I've never had on-track photos of my Lotus... so they had some of my money for this lot:
The car was great, still some tweaking to make to damper settings and tyre pressures but I'll do this in a more familiar environment like Blyton Park. I had some scrubbing on the left hander into Mountain which you can see in the pictures, so not sure if I need to stiffen up or add more ride height... will see what the damage is like to the arch liners and take it from there!
Oh, video of a few laps too - in 4K for those with appropriate monitors/TVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiY3ikZRdds
Crikey, I've been neglecting this thread!
I've been using the car as much as possible, starting with a drive down to Hethel for the Lotus on Track track day there back in April(?!) The car was bang on all the way there, back and during the track day. I didn't get any GoPro on the day, no idea why - must have been an SD card cockup.
Next up I had a track day at Blyton, again with LoT and we had a bit of a drama... causing my first ever red flag! Luckily the issue wasn't too serious, but it has resulted in a bit of a job list on the car...
I came round the final right hander before the start/finish straight (just before pit entry) and heard a great big thud in the back of the car. I backed off, then part way round Lancaster the car started kangeroo'ing before coming to a complete halt. I got a tow back, after finding my battery had come loose in the boot and had tipped upside down and disconnected itself.
Despite a very under-booked track day (13 runners all day!) I had no shortages of offers for help, and a few hours later I had a new battery and enough straps/cable ties to allow me to finish the day:
After the track day, I thought for a few days about a permanent fix for this - if you remember I had to previously bodge my battery anyway due to a failing in the OEM clamp so I wanted something proper. I eventually decided to go lightweight, and fit a smaller battery with a proper bracket.
I've fitted it with an isolation kill switch on the negative lead, so when it's parked up during the week I don't put any unnecessary drain on the wee thing.
Again, no decent footage due to all of the days dramas - but ultimately a successful day.
Aside from the track days, I've been out and about as much as possible - and hope to get out this week if the weather sorts itself out.
Couple of random pics to remind you what it looks like...
I've been using the car as much as possible, starting with a drive down to Hethel for the Lotus on Track track day there back in April(?!) The car was bang on all the way there, back and during the track day. I didn't get any GoPro on the day, no idea why - must have been an SD card cockup.
Next up I had a track day at Blyton, again with LoT and we had a bit of a drama... causing my first ever red flag! Luckily the issue wasn't too serious, but it has resulted in a bit of a job list on the car...
I came round the final right hander before the start/finish straight (just before pit entry) and heard a great big thud in the back of the car. I backed off, then part way round Lancaster the car started kangeroo'ing before coming to a complete halt. I got a tow back, after finding my battery had come loose in the boot and had tipped upside down and disconnected itself.
Despite a very under-booked track day (13 runners all day!) I had no shortages of offers for help, and a few hours later I had a new battery and enough straps/cable ties to allow me to finish the day:
After the track day, I thought for a few days about a permanent fix for this - if you remember I had to previously bodge my battery anyway due to a failing in the OEM clamp so I wanted something proper. I eventually decided to go lightweight, and fit a smaller battery with a proper bracket.
I've fitted it with an isolation kill switch on the negative lead, so when it's parked up during the week I don't put any unnecessary drain on the wee thing.
Again, no decent footage due to all of the days dramas - but ultimately a successful day.
Aside from the track days, I've been out and about as much as possible - and hope to get out this week if the weather sorts itself out.
Couple of random pics to remind you what it looks like...
Edited by Fonzey on Wednesday 31st January 09:32
...another late update.
I did another Carlimits.com circuit training day at Blyton this month which was far more successful than my last attempt in which heavy fog and torrential rain pretty much killed the day.
The focus of the day is not on lap time, it's never even discussed - but it's about raising confidence in the car which will passively gain you lap time anyway. It's suited for all ability levels, I understand that established racing drivers occasionally attend and are able to get value from the day - as it's only 4 to 1 tuition, there's plenty of opportunity for custom exercises and feedback.
I've done a few track days in my Elise now, felt I was getting somewhat comfortable with it but I would never push myself or the car anywhere close to the limits because I wasn't sure how it would respond. I'd watch more confident drivers chucking their Eliges around all over the place and was a bit envious tbh as I knew I wasn't getting the most from my car.
We had an hour or so of "open pitlane" at the end of yesterday where we could put the various exercises to use, I wasn't focused on getting a good lap time but was concentrating more on finding the limits on each corner, stepping just beyond them and then recovering. Even with this more "playful" approach to driving, I can see from gopro footage that I'm still a full second clear of any previous lap I've done around Blyton. I think with a full open pitlane track day in the near future I would bring that down considerably more.
I'm not talking about full on WRC drifting around corners, just pushing the car to understeer and then tightening the turn with throttle and steering angle to carry momentum. Using subtle lift-off oversteer to rotate the car into tighter turns and generally not being too scared of the car. I've still got a LOT of work to do to find the perfect balancing point between sliding and momentum, but I now feel that I've got enough confidence and capability to at least start exploring that... hopefully that confidence is not dangerous!!
Here are a few clips from the final hour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_YOJEvWEHE&t=
Aside from that, I'm going through a difficult patch atm considering listing the car for sale. This was always intended, my financial situation over the last few years has been a little bit odd - I bought my first house at the worst possible time (5mins before the economy died) so I lost almost 30% of my value which never recovered in the 7 years that I had the house. I outgrew the house (met my wife) and we had to sell up, borrow money to settle the mortgage and then rent somewhere, our current house until we could recover again.
In the meantime, I had been building up money in my cars by borrowing and aggressively paying off before borrowing again to upgrade. Through my car purchases I have ended up with the Lotus that owes me nothing, and in parallel I've paid off my previous mortgage. Yay!
As for the intended bit, I've also been delayed from having another mortgage due to being self employed - but as of next April I should be in a position to get back on the ladder again. The plan was to sell the Elise, add to our savings and then buy in Summer 2018. I considered selling the car now, as it frees up ~£70 of tax/insurance each month and I can get about 30p worth of interest on the money over winter. The trade-off to this is that I'll be miserable for the best part of 7 months, bored - and I'll be in danger of blowing the money on other crap to keep me distracted!
I'm now leaning towards keeping it until Spring, maybe it's worth a few hundred quid more in spring - or at the very least is an easier sale. I get to maybe do a couple more drives out before winter settles in - and maybe a cheeky trackday too! There are a couple of odd jobs I can do to it over winter to tidy it up ready for sale, and SORN'ing it in November will further reduce how much it's costing me to have sat around.
Sad times, but as soon as I get the keys for a new house - needless to say I'll be back with another project. Probably another Lotus, I have unfinished business with this type of car especially after my lessons learned with Carlimits this month.
I did another Carlimits.com circuit training day at Blyton this month which was far more successful than my last attempt in which heavy fog and torrential rain pretty much killed the day.
The focus of the day is not on lap time, it's never even discussed - but it's about raising confidence in the car which will passively gain you lap time anyway. It's suited for all ability levels, I understand that established racing drivers occasionally attend and are able to get value from the day - as it's only 4 to 1 tuition, there's plenty of opportunity for custom exercises and feedback.
I've done a few track days in my Elise now, felt I was getting somewhat comfortable with it but I would never push myself or the car anywhere close to the limits because I wasn't sure how it would respond. I'd watch more confident drivers chucking their Eliges around all over the place and was a bit envious tbh as I knew I wasn't getting the most from my car.
We had an hour or so of "open pitlane" at the end of yesterday where we could put the various exercises to use, I wasn't focused on getting a good lap time but was concentrating more on finding the limits on each corner, stepping just beyond them and then recovering. Even with this more "playful" approach to driving, I can see from gopro footage that I'm still a full second clear of any previous lap I've done around Blyton. I think with a full open pitlane track day in the near future I would bring that down considerably more.
I'm not talking about full on WRC drifting around corners, just pushing the car to understeer and then tightening the turn with throttle and steering angle to carry momentum. Using subtle lift-off oversteer to rotate the car into tighter turns and generally not being too scared of the car. I've still got a LOT of work to do to find the perfect balancing point between sliding and momentum, but I now feel that I've got enough confidence and capability to at least start exploring that... hopefully that confidence is not dangerous!!
Here are a few clips from the final hour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_YOJEvWEHE&t=
Aside from that, I'm going through a difficult patch atm considering listing the car for sale. This was always intended, my financial situation over the last few years has been a little bit odd - I bought my first house at the worst possible time (5mins before the economy died) so I lost almost 30% of my value which never recovered in the 7 years that I had the house. I outgrew the house (met my wife) and we had to sell up, borrow money to settle the mortgage and then rent somewhere, our current house until we could recover again.
In the meantime, I had been building up money in my cars by borrowing and aggressively paying off before borrowing again to upgrade. Through my car purchases I have ended up with the Lotus that owes me nothing, and in parallel I've paid off my previous mortgage. Yay!
As for the intended bit, I've also been delayed from having another mortgage due to being self employed - but as of next April I should be in a position to get back on the ladder again. The plan was to sell the Elise, add to our savings and then buy in Summer 2018. I considered selling the car now, as it frees up ~£70 of tax/insurance each month and I can get about 30p worth of interest on the money over winter. The trade-off to this is that I'll be miserable for the best part of 7 months, bored - and I'll be in danger of blowing the money on other crap to keep me distracted!
I'm now leaning towards keeping it until Spring, maybe it's worth a few hundred quid more in spring - or at the very least is an easier sale. I get to maybe do a couple more drives out before winter settles in - and maybe a cheeky trackday too! There are a couple of odd jobs I can do to it over winter to tidy it up ready for sale, and SORN'ing it in November will further reduce how much it's costing me to have sat around.
Sad times, but as soon as I get the keys for a new house - needless to say I'll be back with another project. Probably another Lotus, I have unfinished business with this type of car especially after my lessons learned with Carlimits this month.
Cheers Rick/Tickle, appreciate the comments on the car but I really do view it as unfinished business. Don't get me wrong, it would be a fantastic car to buy (hint hint!), all of the 111R and generic Elise weakpoints I feel have been addressed - but so much more potential to get from it in regards of my usage for it.
This weekend hasn't helped my dilemma, we got some nice weather - so took the car out for some lunch and spent Sunday just tinkering around on it. I took each corner off, gave it my twice monthly (or so) spanner check that I can't stop doing since the suspension refresh. It still looks really fresh under there, and there are so many reminders of the work that I put into the car last winter.
@ Rick I don't for a minute think that keeping the car over Winter will represent any kind of financial gain, but the way I see it - my losses are going to be minimal. The car will cost me £5-600 just to have sat there in tax and insurance, granted - but compared to what I could spend in that same length of time just trying to entertain myself doesn't bare thinking about. I get satisfaction simply from having the car sat in the garage, and can easily fill my time tinkering around on it and keeping it clean! There's also no guarantee that I can step into a mortgage come April 18' anyway, and although I'm in no rush - and could easily wait another year for a house if I needed to... I'd be bloody gutted to have to sit through a summer without the car and with another year added to savings... I could probably/maybe/almost/I hope buy a house AND keep the car(!) Some serious man-maths have gone into this, but my Wife can't bear the thought of me being miserable for six months... so she votes that the car stays, for now.
Let's see if I could get a trackday in before winter...
This weekend hasn't helped my dilemma, we got some nice weather - so took the car out for some lunch and spent Sunday just tinkering around on it. I took each corner off, gave it my twice monthly (or so) spanner check that I can't stop doing since the suspension refresh. It still looks really fresh under there, and there are so many reminders of the work that I put into the car last winter.
@ Rick I don't for a minute think that keeping the car over Winter will represent any kind of financial gain, but the way I see it - my losses are going to be minimal. The car will cost me £5-600 just to have sat there in tax and insurance, granted - but compared to what I could spend in that same length of time just trying to entertain myself doesn't bare thinking about. I get satisfaction simply from having the car sat in the garage, and can easily fill my time tinkering around on it and keeping it clean! There's also no guarantee that I can step into a mortgage come April 18' anyway, and although I'm in no rush - and could easily wait another year for a house if I needed to... I'd be bloody gutted to have to sit through a summer without the car and with another year added to savings... I could probably/maybe/almost/I hope buy a house AND keep the car(!) Some serious man-maths have gone into this, but my Wife can't bear the thought of me being miserable for six months... so she votes that the car stays, for now.
Let's see if I could get a trackday in before winter...
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