Drove a Honda JDM engine elise
Discussion
I was on my way along the M40 today and thought I would pop in and see Simon at Brooke Kensington to enquire about the S2 Honda conversion vs an S2 exige. He threw me the keys and said "go play and I don't mean for 10min only". The car is running a lowered ohlins suspension with oz's and yoko 048's.
All I can say is "UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!" It makes my S2 111s look like a diesel. Being i-VTEC, it is much less peaky than the S2000 engine or the 111r yota. The midrange is WAY BETTER than any elise I have been in and on top end with the close ratio box is phenomenal. This is what an elise should have been. I will defy even a porsche turbo to stay anywhere near you on a track with that car. The conversion is really neat. It was also running an exige stage 2 zorst. Phenomenal sound too. I have not been that excited since I first got in an elise. I have driven my 111s for 18 months and still found the car exciting (till today). Booked a locum while on my way back as the first step to affording the conversion.
I don't think I want to go near bogie's SC monster!
By the way, in my excitement, I forgot to return the keys to Simon and drove back to reading with them in my pocket. So if you want a silver S2 JDM honda elise, the keys will be auctioned on ebay later....
All I can say is "UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!" It makes my S2 111s look like a diesel. Being i-VTEC, it is much less peaky than the S2000 engine or the 111r yota. The midrange is WAY BETTER than any elise I have been in and on top end with the close ratio box is phenomenal. This is what an elise should have been. I will defy even a porsche turbo to stay anywhere near you on a track with that car. The conversion is really neat. It was also running an exige stage 2 zorst. Phenomenal sound too. I have not been that excited since I first got in an elise. I have driven my 111s for 18 months and still found the car exciting (till today). Booked a locum while on my way back as the first step to affording the conversion.
I don't think I want to go near bogie's SC monster!
By the way, in my excitement, I forgot to return the keys to Simon and drove back to reading with them in my pocket. So if you want a silver S2 JDM honda elise, the keys will be auctioned on ebay later....
Simon says it is 220 - 228 bhp. Torque I think was around 160 ftlb. However, it is not peaky like the 111r and in 4th pulls way better than an r in 3rd. It is light years faster than any off the shelf elise I have been in. Also the grip with the ohlin's and 048's was ridiculous - no understeer whatsoever. I really had to try to provoke the back end - stuck like sh*t to a shoe.
Bogie's car is the standard type R engine (normally 200bhp), but supercharged - gives about 300bhp and loads of torque through the range. It is probably not noticeably faster to 60mph (he said it, not me) because it is difficult to get the power down without overwhelming the grip. At higher speeds it must be utterly manic!
>> Edited by shangani on Tuesday 8th November 16:27
Bogie's car is the standard type R engine (normally 200bhp), but supercharged - gives about 300bhp and loads of torque through the range. It is probably not noticeably faster to 60mph (he said it, not me) because it is difficult to get the power down without overwhelming the grip. At higher speeds it must be utterly manic!
>> Edited by shangani on Tuesday 8th November 16:27
LOL - they are pretty impressive if you are 'only' used to a 160bhp Elise 
200bhp in an S1/S2 (sub 800kg) Elise makes for a very quick car indeed...mine is 300bhp and 200lb/ft...having the SC on makes it even more flexible - pulls 6th gear from tick over no problem and you struggle to change gears fast enough through the 1st 4 gears.
As Shangani says - up to 60 theres no much in it - rough performance figures I would say are
NA - 0-60 in low to mid 4's and 100 in sub 10secs and about 160-65mph flat out
SC - 0-60 in high 3's and 100 in 8-8.5secs and about 170-75mph
its really the in gear times and from 80mph up that the SC car will pull away from an NA...on track you need somewhere with some good straights to pull away (with equal drivers)
overall the performance is awesome..the only other road going Elise thats as fast (maybe faster) are the Audi conversion cars with 250-330bhp.
200bhp in an S1/S2 (sub 800kg) Elise makes for a very quick car indeed...mine is 300bhp and 200lb/ft...having the SC on makes it even more flexible - pulls 6th gear from tick over no problem and you struggle to change gears fast enough through the 1st 4 gears.
As Shangani says - up to 60 theres no much in it - rough performance figures I would say are
NA - 0-60 in low to mid 4's and 100 in sub 10secs and about 160-65mph flat out
SC - 0-60 in high 3's and 100 in 8-8.5secs and about 170-75mph
its really the in gear times and from 80mph up that the SC car will pull away from an NA...on track you need somewhere with some good straights to pull away (with equal drivers)
overall the performance is awesome..the only other road going Elise thats as fast (maybe faster) are the Audi conversion cars with 250-330bhp.
Viva la revolution baby! You've expressed my sentiments exactly with this post shangani. Vs a 111R or Exige the Honda is in a different league. Whilst only having a few BHP more it will demolish almost everything that it's likely to come up against on road or track, and nothing comes near it for the price (including donor car).
With the i-VTEC it pulls consistently across the revs and torque is superb.
All being well financially next year, the Sport 160 will go and a Honda'd S2 will follow... and that decision is made on the basis that I've only been a passenger in one so far. I can't wait to test drive one but daren't until I have some cash available because I know exactly what will happen about 30 seconds of me arriving back at the showroom!
>> Edited by S Works on Tuesday 8th November 17:50
With the i-VTEC it pulls consistently across the revs and torque is superb.
All being well financially next year, the Sport 160 will go and a Honda'd S2 will follow... and that decision is made on the basis that I've only been a passenger in one so far. I can't wait to test drive one but daren't until I have some cash available because I know exactly what will happen about 30 seconds of me arriving back at the showroom!
>> Edited by S Works on Tuesday 8th November 17:50
probably will be a few there (im at a wedding otherwise would have been there) ..try www.lotus-on-track.com to see whos going with a HOnda
Actually the 3 key differences I was told yesterday are that the JDM engine conversion includes a limited slip diff - though 300 bhp bogie said he didn't find it necessary. Also the JDM engine is a slightly higher compression ratio - may be a problem with a SC (though ariel use the JDM in the SC atom) and the gear ratio's are shorter. I didn't find this a problem on the N/A JDM, but they might be a bit short on the SC conversion. I do recall bogie saying he was really having to change gears quickly to keep up - and that is on the longer ration UK engine (SC).
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