Upgrades

[lotty]

hi everyone!

 

i'm a little new to this site and recently purchased my s2 elise in september 2003.

A little change from my corsa gsi

 

i'm thinking of spending a little cash on upgrades and am after some advice on where to start and whats worth doing and whats not etc!

 

would be very grateful of any advice!

 

cheers DANNY!

[MattyB]

I'll tell you what everyone else will tell you

 

Consider things like a Sports Exhaust + Decat/Sports cat for the improved sounds - maybe even a Hurricane induction kit. But aside from that...I wouldn't bother until...

 

You've seen Mr Walsh - http://www.1stlotus.co.uk - who will do more for your abilities and enjoyment of the car than any modification. Speed/Chassis mods will be wasted if you can't make the best of what you already have.

 

(Although I'm a fine one to talk, I've not been to see him yet)

 

Congrat on dumping the Corsa btw Oh, and welcome to MLOC!

[lotty]

Cheers for the advice will have to pay them a visit when i have some cash saved!

[Mark H]

I agree, best bit of money that can be spent on the car is learning how to drive it with Andrew

[Kris H]

Basically I'd second what Matty's said but put things in this order:

 

1st lotus

sports exhaust

hurricane or ITG

Sports cat or CRP

 

May also want to look at braided brake hoses which are quite cheap and easy to sort.

 

After that likely to get reasonably expensive if you start looking at suspension set ups or head work - such as adding on nitrons or an RS150.

 

Kristian

[GCCK]

Yes, start with training and make the best of what you've got. It's far more than just about anything else on the roads and a 120Bhp Elise will embarrass a 240Bhp Porsche on a twisty track.

 

After that, it depends if you want show or go.

 

Kris's list will get the engine making a nice noise but will do little for performance (but more than nothing at all). For go, the head is the place to start, from either PTP or Racespeed.

 

The PTP140 upgrade is the most "official" since it is the same head job as used in the Lotus 135-spec engines, although PTP also offer much higher states of tune. Racespeed have more variety of "kits" and appear better value for money but are more "aftermarket".

 

Be worth looking at the Racespeed table of kits and power outputs. The table is useful as it corelates budget to bolt-on's in a very constructive & balanced way. Hence no point doing cams & ECU's if you don't plan going above 165Bhp. The most basic head job is under £1K fitted but will liberate twice as much more power than ITG/ Hurricane induction, plus Exhaust mods combined, for around the same price.

 

It is also true to say however, that once you've opened out the restrictions in the head, you've got a much better basis for improving breathing for Induction & Exhaust and those bits can be added DIY as & when budget & inclination allow. Plus, with only a head job for starters, your insurers couldn't tell a mod-ed engine from a std one.

 

Unless you plan to become a track day hero, steer clear of any mods involving cams, ECU's & DTH throttle bodies because the trade off will be poorer driveability and mid-range torque.

 

Worst part of the S2 std set-up is the narrow front wheels & tyres, resulting in excessive and restrictive understeer at important moments (just ask Kris...). Get onto 195 fronts and appropriate wheels ASAP. When you're feeling flush, the two routes for S2 suspension upgrades are the Lotus LSS (which includes the uprated OZ wheels & Yoko tyres for £2K+) or Nitrons (ask Simon G, on here) for around £1K.

 

Oh yes, get your hoses replaced with braided ones and Pagid RS14 pads for heavy work.

 

Happy hunting!

 

Graeme

[Kris H]

Everything that Graeme has said is valid actually, especially the understeer on the S2 which is a pig, and something that I need to sort out...

 

Really what you get done and in what order kind of depends on what you're trying to achieve. Are you after strictly performance elements or sound/performance? Most people will do the sports exhaust, which is good for performance and sound, and is relatively cheap. If you start messing with head work if you're still in warranty, you will almost certainly be on dodgy ground though. Several of the RS kits have sports exhaust/cat etc included, or will deduct the cost of those from the package price if you've done them already. Probably also true of PTP kits, but don't know much about them. There are also TT kits to consider for turboed big BHP but don't think anyone on here has much experience of these.

 

I've done the stuff on my list above, except for the hoses which I need to get round to, and am genuinely happy with all of it, but the S2 111s has particularly restricted breathing and therefore benefits from these mods quite significantly. I'll probably do the nitrons or lss next, and won't be doing any head work but then the car started out at 156 bhp anyway...

 

Kristian

[lotty]

cheers!

 

have plenty of food for thought there and will take the advice about using what ive got at the moment and paying 1st lotus a visit!

 

but great advice thanx again !

[Scott_Mac]

There is a thread somewhere on here with links to different exhaust sounds too.... they can make a lot of difference to the noise also (which makes you feel like you are going faster) Mine however improved the throttle response a lot and both the mid and top are improved markedly (S1 goes to 6500 willingly now)

 

Clips on my webby if you can't be arsed to search... CLICKY!