Supercharged Elise

[kayc]

Ive been looking ay buying an Elise for a long time however ive always been put off by the 'characteristics' of the 111r toyota engine..i have heard that the 08 model will now be supercharged..my question is where are they going to put the intercooler etc and if the new gubbins fits without major change will the supercharger 'kit' be possible to fit in an older model 111r?

[mike_knott]

I don't believe the Elise will be intercooled, in order to keep the power output 20 bhp below the Exige, which does.

I also believe that Lotus is not planning to offer a conversion, probably to force people splash out on a new car.

Somebody will be along soon who knows what they are talking about.

Mike...

[Sam_68]

mike_knott said:

I don't believe the Elise will be intercooled, in order to keep the power output 20 bhp below the Exige, which does.

Mike is quite correct in saying the new car isn't intercooled, but I don't think it's necessarily due to a strategy by Lotus of keeping the power output below the Exige (though they would, doubtless, have 'managed' the power output to keep a differential between models).

The lack of an intercooler is more likely just a matter of packaging - on the Exige it sits above the engine, meaning there is absolutely no rearward vision, and on the 2-Eleven it sits where the boot space is on the Elise. There's simply not enough space in the current Elise to locate it anywhere else.

[kayc]

Sam_68 said:

mike_knott said:

I don't believe the Elise will be intercooled, in order to keep the power output 20 bhp below the Exige, which does.

Mike is quite correct in saying the new car isn't intercooled, but I don't think it's necessarily due to a strategy by Lotus of keeping the power output below the Exige (though they would, doubtless, have 'managed' the power output to keep a differential between models).

The lack of an intercooler is more likely just a matter of packaging - on the Exige it sits above the engine, meaning there is absolutely no rearward vision, and on the 2-Eleven it sits where the boot space is on the Elise. There's simply not enough space in the current Elise to locate it anywhere else.

Is it known what the bhp/torque the new Elise going to be because i was lead to believe(by 2 dealers) that it would have the same output as the exige s?

[purpleperil]

Sam_68 said:

The lack of an intercooler is more likely just a matter of packaging - on the Exige it sits above the engine, meaning there is absolutely no rearward vision, and on the 2-Eleven it sits where the boot space is on the Elise. There's simply not enough space in the current Elise to locate it anywhere else.

Not quite true - mine is located underneath to very good effect.

You should consider getting an older Elise and getting it converted which should save £££'s against a new Elise SC - and you'll get a lot more power! I went with Silverstone Performance, but there are others on the market, so take your pick.

HTH

[kayc]

So just to confirm there is no 218bhp supercharged Elise coming out this year even though the dealers say there is?

[Boggy]

kayc said:

So just to confirm there is no 218bhp supercharged Elise coming out this year even though the dealers say there is?

As far as I know you should be able to order one now?

Boggy

[subaqua]

kayc said:

So just to confirm there is no 218bhp supercharged Elise coming out this year even though the dealers say there is?

No, not quite. There is a supercharged elise coming out, albeit one with no intercooler, which is supposed to produce (around) 218bhp, which coincidentally is the same as the previous, intercooled, Exige S, which is being repositioned at 240bhp, with intercooling.

Just out of interest, you say you were put off by the nature of the power delivery of the unsupercharged toyota engined cars, but have you tried driving one yet? You may be pleasantly suprised!

[kayc]

subaqua said:

kayc said:

So just to confirm there is no 218bhp supercharged Elise coming out this year even though the dealers say there is?

No, not quite. There is a supercharged elise coming out, albeit one with no intercooler, which is supposed to produce (around) 218bhp, which coincidentally is the same as the previous, intercooled, Exige S, which is being repositioned at 240bhp, with intercooling.

Just out of interest, you say you were put off by the nature of the power delivery of the unsupercharged toyota engined cars, but have you tried driving one yet? You may be pleasantly suprised!

I have actually and found i was chasing the second cam all the time..i also tried an elise s and found it in certain ways more pleasurable to drive but too slow..i will wait for a test drive and see what the new one feels like,thanks for your advice.

[NathanE]

I love the looks and what appears to be a more refined power delivery of the new S/C Elise. I might have to buy one! When do dealers get their demonstrators?

Edited by NathanE on Wednesday 9th January 11:35

[Snapper7]

kayc said:

Ive been looking ay buying an Elise for a long time however ive always been put off by the 'characteristics' of the 111r toyota engine..

Different system

I had the Exige S2 and the ECU upgrade transformed the car. It will also work on the Elise. (Note it works with the sports exhausts, but I had loads of issues with the ITG and ended up ditching it)

[NathanE]

Snapper7 said:

kayc said:

Ive been looking ay buying an Elise for a long time however ive always been put off by the 'characteristics' of the 111r toyota engine..

Different system

I had the Exige S2 and the ECU upgrade transformed the car. It will also work on the Elise. (Note it works with the sports exhausts, but I had loads of issues with the ITG and ended up ditching it)

Only problem is it costs a bomb (£400 or so??) for what is a essentially a piece of software that took all of 5 minutes to produce. I still want it though

[kambites]

NathanE said:

Only problem is it costs a bomb (£400 or so??) for what is a essentially a piece of software that took all of 5 minutes to produce. I still want it though

If you think it took 5 minutes to produce, why don't you rewrite the software yourself? I work in embedded systems (albeit not on cars) and these things can be substantially more complex than you'd imagine.

[NathanE]

kambites said:

NathanE said:

Only problem is it costs a bomb (£400 or so??) for what is a essentially a piece of software that took all of 5 minutes to produce. I still want it though

If you think it took 5 minutes to produce, why don't you rewrite the software yourself? I work in embedded systems (albeit not on cars) and these things can be substantially more complex than you'd imagine.

It's the T4e ECU, the little 'e' stands for "encrypted". I think so anyway? Meh that's irrelevant.

And it blatently did only take 5 minutes. They just got the source code from Toyota then did a search through it for "6200" and replaced with "5750". Then recompiled, re-signed with the encryption certificate from Toyota, then uploaded to the ECU to test it. Job done.

Edited by NathanE on Wednesday 9th January 12:16

[Boggy]

kambites said:

NathanE said:

Only problem is it costs a bomb (£400 or so??) for what is a essentially a piece of software that took all of 5 minutes to produce. I still want it though

If you think it took 5 minutes to produce, why don't you rewrite the software yourself? I work in embedded systems (albeit not on cars) and these things can be substantially more complex than you'd imagine.

Interesting point, whenever I ask one of my mate's to work on one of my properties (Building, elec, Plum etc etc) they suck there breath in and quote high rate's, but then when I say that's £500 quid you own me for working on your home system they go through the roof? why do they think that IT is cheap? it isn't!

Back on subject

Boggy

[beez]

I think i'm going to treat my self to the ECU mapping soon, I've had the 111r for about 1.5years now and love it. But having all the power over 6,300rpm is a bit annoying.

Also thinking of swaping to an Honda SC elise but that may have to wait for the finances to recover from christmas!!!

[VladTheDad]

I'm having my ECU done soon. It seems to be getting quite well known and common to have it done. I think it'll get to a stage soon where people looking in the second hand market will be asking for cars with the ECU upgrade done.

[NathanE]

VladTheDad said:

I'm having my ECU done soon. It seems to be getting quite well known and common to have it done. I think it'll get to a stage soon where people looking in the second hand market will be asking for cars with the ECU upgrade done.

Yeah I wish I asked for it now but generally when you are buying a used car there are more important things to worry about

[Frimley111R]

A Katana s/c from Sinclairs seems the best bet at the moment. Power up from 154 at the wheels to something like 211 and all for £4K + VAT. Great though my 111R is the peaky power is a pain. On the road I have mostly found very little perceived difference that my car and any other Elise. So, just £4K+VAT to find for me now!

[Cino]

I wonder how much faster the SC version will feel over a standard 111R. Is 189 to 218BHP such a massive increase? The 218 is presumably right at the top of the rev range where you don't stay for long anyway. After all, standard 118BHP S1s pull away plenty quick enough, perhaps quicker than the 111R initially until the revs get higher. What would really make a difference is more torque/power at say 2-6000 RPM, where the 111R is only getting out of bed. I'd be interested to know how much it improves (or should that be 'changes') the engine's torque characteristics