Dj Wilmas T Series 111S S2 400Bhp Ish

[DJWilma]

End of year at work is manic so had no real time, even managed to turn 40 but still look 28 so all is good ;-)

 

Got to the bottom of the alternator belt the lower bracket failed

 

Have re- welded it and will take it to a friends garage in the new year for a proper go as the rear of the alternator isn't braced so will add a bracket in as it flexes

 

 

Also got some quali session used ZZRs from Andy at Maidstone Sports Cars was too good a deal to say no and have a spare set of wheels so will try and get a track day organised

 

[DJWilma]

Having a busy time at work so the failed alternator bracket / belt has taken for ever 

 

However i quickly realised the bracket wasnt man enough and the belt had been hitting the cam cover, so we have fabricated a new bracket

 

 

 

Still work in progress, but fitted the alternator yesterday fired it up and it hit a heady 11.9 volts. Best bit was the alternator has no numbers and is an unknown origin. One i purchased for the 620 Ti isnt right so i hope second time around to have the right one

 

Also took the chance to make a few holes to let heat out, as the turbo sits close the bulkhead and high up it has nowhere to exhaust and when stationary i have a fan to circulate air but it just fires it out the drivers side vent, where the air filter is. So this will help

 

I am thinking about some additional vents on the body but i'd like to keep it vent free and std ish looking

 

[DJWilma]

Firstly apologies to the nice fellow that spotted my Elise at Tech1 in Poole and asked for an update.

 

Work and family have meant no time for me to spend on the elise.

 

Finally found the electrical problem the cobra siren had gone open circuit and caused all.sorts of weird problems

 

New alternator is fitted and cars running well

 

Put a new oil temp.sensor into the sump and temps sit nicely at 85c but hit 112c on a spirited run so need to keep an eye. Dash only logs highest data so may just of been a spike.

 

 

Was of course on a track at the time

 

Also had a little mod done to the front as only ever got hot air through the vents and as long as I am.moving it's worked well.

 

 

 

[DJWilma]

Couldnt see diddly out of the dipped head lights so swapped for Philips 55w 150+% bulbs and had the very very scratched headlights cleaned. 

 

Found lots of primer / paint on the lenses too

 

I can now almost see when driving.........

 

 

 

[DJWilma]

Have been getting terrible mpg 60 litres and 150 miles which I just put down to the right foot giggles 

 

But decided to re calibrate the AFR gauge and it's made a massive difference, thought the fuel gauge was faulty at one point but it's now moving

 

Odometer was zero'd so fairly happy if thats the end result

 

 

Next post I am sure will be a i ran out of fuel one

 

Next issue is body work, I have the same problem on both sides a horizontal cracking on the lower section 

 

Any idea why 

 

[DJWilma]

It seems the infamous blowing of the main fuse is back

 

Looked at the log and it spiked at 16.9Vs

 

Whats more annoying its its not part of the loom that i have touched, its still the standard elise wiring

 

Popped a new fuse in and meter reads 11.1volts, but the red light is not on. 

 

 

So, the alternator was stripped and inspected

 

No heat damage, no signs of over speeding and the regulator and diode packs are blown. They are connected so.....only a few things that blow these. Heat, overspeeding, bad earth and bad positive 

 

So will run an earth from the chassis to the alternator case and see what happens.

 

Decided to tidy some things up, Randy mentioned it once and it's been annoying ever since.

 

The before photo

 

 

Added in an Ali plate below the charge cooler so most of the air passes through

 

 

 

I have never had an issue with the Rad always sat high and had a lot of gaps, and the chargecooler rad had gaps behind it so thought about moving thing around.

 

 

Reason for this was std fans were installed for the charge cooler, but these restricted flow to the main rad and did little when stationary. So removed these and reset the main rad lower 

 

 

Next was the charge cooler pump, it used to fly free but added a bracket to the pump. Orientation is terrible.but best we could do

 

 

Next was the windscreen wiper, purchased a new motor and fitted it. Same as before, intermittant is 2/3rds of the screen and stops wherever it wants and high speed does nothing.

 

Assume this is the relay so will change that

 

[DJWilma]

Well work is horrible at the moment, oil price is low and sales lower so its been all hands to the pump.

 

So i have had little time to play with the elise

 

I am also moving next week so i thought i would spend an evening on it

 

Bad news was, it blew the new alternator i fitted. So thats 3 its been through now. So its not an earth, not a live, not overspeeding or heat. So latest idea is that its load on the alternator. It blew whilst stationary in traffic at 95C. This is when the water pump duty goes to 100% and the fans kick into high speed. With all the pumps going i think it asked for more than the alternator can give.

 

So a 120amp alternator has been ordered and hope to have it fitted this weekend

 

This time just the regulator, the diode pack went later this time

 

More worrying is that the car wont start, nothing when the key turns not lights off nothing.

 

Thought this was the immobiliser so removed it and bypassed it

 

 

Didnt work

 

Thought the starter had blown but live to the solenoid and she runs fine

 

MFRU is clicking when the key turns but starter isnt moving. 

 

Thought it was the alarm, so managed to find a 8186 on ebay new and unused. 

 

The alarm has been playing up recently too, the fuse to the siren was removed as it was open circuit. Central Locking had failed and the LED on the Stack no longer worked. 

 

So today i spent the fitting the 8185 module.....horrible

 

 

 

Finally found the module, thanks to Junks and Sportomotive, it was behind some cheap foam

 

Changed the Module and central locking is fine, led works but engine still wont start. The new immobiliser has a different plug so need to get a wiring diagram

 

LED flashes 7 then 8 times, instructions say this is a Serial Line Data Link.......

 

Pulled the old alarm to bits and found that it had got hot and had blown an electrical component thingy

 

 

 

Had enough and went to collect my son, who asked where the Lotus was and why it was in hospital again

 

Drinking now :bc 

[DJWilma]

Well this is starting to get on my tits......

 

Moved house, collected Elise got to my new home and thought i would run up to the next junction as its de-restricted to clear the engine out :bc 

 

Foot down in third, big smile, engine lost power......looked at new 120Amp alternator voltage and 13v. Dumped clutch, engine cut out all lights on dash on. Clutch up, and engine revved back up, lights went out no power and no noise.

 

Pulled over, popped bonnet

 

The fuel rail regulator had literally popped off the rail and started to fill the boot with fuel........

 

 

Its held on with a stupid clip, refitted and realised the o ring had also gone awol

 

Phone my friends at recovery..........called wife and explained.....got shouted at as house needed moving

 

 

Today i received, the wrong, fuel damper. But wasnt too worried as could fit the fuel in to the end of the rail.

 

Released jubilee clip gave it a tug and the fuel rail snapped

 

 

At this moment i'd sell the bloody thing as just dont have the time or worse the inclination......as stressy job and just moved house.

 

Rant over

[Alex B]

 

Well this is starting to get on my tits.....

 

At this moment i'd sell the bloody thing as just dont have the time or worse the inclination......as stressy job and just moved house.

 

Rant over

I know this feeling!

Hope you sort it out.

[DJWilma]

I will just as soon as i get the time.........but arrrgggghhhh

[jonnyfox]

You're not allowed to give up unless the engine blows, so onwards and upwards. Pull your finger out ;-) as Modonna said in Desperately Seeking Susan.....keep the faith.

[DJWilma]

Blew the engine last year

 

Worked out today it's worth more in bits and can't be bothered to break it.

 

So will just man up and get a new fuel rail (on monday)

[DJWilma]

Well work and the house move have calmed down and i have had some well deserved time off so i actually had time to do somethings to the Elise

 

Firstly i Jacked it up on gravel, didnt think this was a good idea, so tested to see if it would hold and it fell off the jack ! I now have a nice jack sized indentation on the drivers side sill......numpty that i am !

 

Anyway after cursing and explaining to myself its fun when you drive it i got on with things

 

The fuel rail was first, i did some research (text Drew at roverdose, thanks again) and he advised to fit the old style fuel rail as this has the regulator on the end bolted in and not the crap top mounted with a clip.

 

 

Was sent one the next day and fitting was easy ish, even if i did have to bend the rear clam to get the inlet off

 

 

The alternator wasnt working so i charged the battery and took her for a little spin, came off a roundabout floored it and smelt coolant. Looked out the back window and it was covered in condensation.......parked up got out and......

 

 

A small hose from the turbo coolant outlet was touching the turbine housing and had just given up with all the heat

 

 

 

Luckily the hose from the header was too long so cut it and re-positioned the new hose and all is well again. I may add a metal extension to take it away from the housing completely.

 

 

So the battery had dropped about 0.2 volts in a few mins driving so i thought i would take the car to help my brother start his new engine, only 10 miles away, and arrived with only 0.5v dropped. This tells me its not a short or a faulty piece of equipment as the battery held up well. Charged it up as it was dark when i left 

 

 

So i purchased another 120amp alternator and had this fitted at the ever Helpful Tech1 Performance in Poole. They are ex Ktec and Paul has done some top class fabrication for me on my metro before and they as a norm deal with Modified cars etc so they were more than happy to help

 

 

I also had the Battery tested it was only holding 11.8v and 330ah so was advised to get a new one> Same model and the new one was 12.6v and 550ah

 

I also changed the negative terminal from a quick release to a hard one, just in case.

 

Was in two minds as to whether i should wire up the alternator but changed some settings on the ECU so the FAN and PUMP didnt both come on a the same time and thought what the hell

 

Car made it home but the voltage dropped from 14v down to 12.1v over a 30 min period. Let car cool started again and straight up to 14v battery was 12.4v before starting.

 

So i thought it may be a bad connection so wire the battery straight to the alternator, so a 170amp 120" cable was ordered and "bodged" on

 

 

This made a big difference and voltage with everything on i could press or twist, dropped to 12.8v (the DTA Volt meter is a long way down the cable so i expect voltage drop) and 13.2v direct on the battery.

 

This weekend i have done 250 miles in the Elise and no electrical problems. I even managed to convince the Drop Zone owner it would be a good idea to take him for a spin up the runway at the end of the day with the roof off managed the below on low boost setting :bc 

 

 

So, for now, i am all happy again its even done the 250 miles on half the 60 litre tank of fuel including a couple of high speed runs :clp 

 

Only casualty is i now have no front grill, the charge cooler is definitely too small (known from the start) and the placement of the air filter means it sucks in hot air from the engine bay not cold ish from out

[jonnyfox]

Good stuff, really glad you've got it sorted now. Need video of those runs...... ;-)

[Meister]

Keep posting, I always enjoy the updates!

Mark