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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Coming Soon!


Stumason10

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I used to own an Elise, raced it, crashed it, raced some more, gave to a garage, disappeared for 9 months, however, I had news at the weekend from the guys now entrusted with fixing it I should get it back in 2 weeks!!!!

Excited is not the word!!

Be the first drive in 2013 and in over 1 year!!

When it's back Ill bore you with the details. But having engine all balanced, total strip and nut by nut rebuild, lrv ladder, new gaskets bearings, tensioner, the works. Can't wait!!

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Bit of history. Car was a std S1 years ago then I modified it for racing in the Elise Trophy.

 

Car has done 40 races and had all the scars to show from that.

 

The engine was originally built by DVA to K13a spec. 165 bhp.

 

Ran for 3 seasons with no issues. Then it had a top end rebuild to fix an oil consumption issue. Which was not resolved then rebuilt again by another chap which fixed that but steadily more faults started occurring. Crank oil leaks a few times, water leak.

 

Then finally last year I had a big off at Anglesey. Patched it up to race and then it dumped all the oil out. Fixed for Donnington and then in race 2 blew all the oil out again. So I gave it to a garage to fix up again. But decided to retire from racing due to the cost in time and money. With that in mind I'm having the car tidied up cosmetically. Now done. And mechanically refreshed.

 

Interesting fact. I raced at Donny and the car never felt right. Found out at the weekend from current restorers that the rear hub was shattered and only held together by the calliper bracket. This damage must of been done at Anglesey!! Bit worrying to think I'd tested and raced at Donny. Not nice if that had let go on the many right handers!!!'

 

Finally got car back off garage 1, and bodywork completed a couple of weeks back.

 

The car is now with Datum Motorsport who look after the Lotus Cup UK Supersport Championship winning car (last weekend) and I'm having the following done.

 

Complete engine strip, measure, fault find, fix and full rebuild.

 

New seals, pumps, Gaskets, cambelt covers. Balanced crank (needed a grind after small damage found from running dry). New shells. Land rover oil rail. New crank gaskets plus mod to keep in place. Might also get a mild remap to make road driving easier.

 

New windscreen.

 

New rear hub. New bearings for toe links. Refurb pedal box.

 

Investigating a half cage so I can dump petty bar and relocate fire extinguisher.

 

Think that's it!!

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The crank gasket mod is to hold the crank seal in place at the fly wheel end. If you get a bit of blow by ( crankcase pressure ) it pops the seal out. They drill and tap the block and hold the seal in place with 2 small pins.

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There is also a mod you can do to relieve the crankcase pressure. It involves a vent just below where the dipstick tube joins the block. You should not get any on a new / recon engine though. VHPD,s are particularly prone to this. Possible due to the poor fit of the forged pistons when cold?

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Stu what's the thinking with the oil rail? Do those that prepare engines for the Elise Trophy find them to be an improvement?

Also, who is doing the balancing work - and are you having any heavy metal inserted (ooh-er)?

 

It's good to know what the experts advise and those that run these engines in races ought to know what's what.

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Hi Dean,

 

when I first built the engine reliability was my main aim with an uplift in performance. I achieved both without the Land Rover Oil Rail. However it is supposed to improve stability of liners and strength of the block and the guys building engine swear by it. It maybe a frivolous expense but Land Rover were adamant it improved things. I had no HGF issues when racing and many track days. The key points I resolved from research and DVA recommendations were the following.

 

Remote PRT the LRV one,84 degrees. On circuit with old rad, it sat bang on that no matter the weather or the spanking.

 

Keep max revs as standard. Mine runs std 120 pistons and I rev to 6800. At 7200 (test with limiter off I made 170 bhp) wound it back for reliability. Trophy 160 pistons are a legal (in ET) mod that means you can rev them harder and are more durable. More land between piston rings.

 

If own car and not racing, but, lots of track work might be worth adding forged pistons. Cheaper now than sourcing Rover pistons. I have left my rover ones in as you never know I might get tempted again!!

 

Liner heights. They should be proud of the block by a couple of thou. Most are under flush with the block which makes sealing difficult and main cause of HGF from what I understand. So I had my block 'decked' by DVA to cure this.

 

Replace plastic dowels with Steel ones. Stops the head shuffling about.

 

The multi layer gasket, not sure which one was used, but there are a few options including the new ones being used by MG now.

 

Not sure which if not all of the above made biggest difference, but, all I can say that Bucket had a hard life on track and not once did I get HGF! (the engine had previously as the old owner told me). So all the above sorted it.

 

There are known porosity issues too in the head and mine was checked after the head work and was fine. There are various fixes for this. Smacking the head with a ball hammer is one, more politely called peening.

 

No idea about who or how with the crank. regs for ET state no heavy metal inserts though, removal of material only allowed way.


'Bucket' should have a long and healthy retirement after all that Stu, I guess you'll still be doing the odd track day in it though?

 

 

Hi Phil,

 

yes odd trackday and hopefully a long and reliable retirement!! You still tracking yours?

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Yep, still like to get mine on track every so often, usually just a couple of times a year. Donington of course and this year tried Cadwell for the first time which was great so will definitely be returning there again. Hopefully we'll meet up at some point and I'll be able to wave at you each time you lap me laugh.gif

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  • 1 month later...

Just had the invoice through.....Now feel ill and excited! But, looking at pretty much a whole new engine and refreshed gearbox, plus plenty of cosmetic tinkering to make easier to use on the road. Also had a full mapping session done too to iron out cold start and low rev driving. Fine above 4k which we mapped extensively for the racing, but, now most of its life will be under 3k when cruising made sense to do as was running rather rich and cold start map was non existent which I bet my neighbours loved (me revving it up until warm, or kangarooing off down the road). So should improve fuel economy too. (man maths there as at 3k pa its going to take 30 years to pay off the mapping!).

 

Passed MOT with minor advisories which is amazing considering the tough life.

 

My logic is, I bought her for 8, spent 5 modifying, spent zillions racing and destroying it, spending x fixing it up after 40 odd races and numerous smashes. Which was is still less than buying another (just). So bucket lives again! So does the bank loan! Lol!

 

Once back and I've driven it I'll post a full update and some pictures! Body work still not A1, but, not too worried about that.

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