S2 Elise Refurb Project

[Nick S1]

Had my Elise for a little over a month and making progress with the refurbishment project.

The car is a 135R with relatively low mileage and has stood for around 6 years with little to no movement.

As it arrived

First job was to fit a new cam belt, water pump etc as there was no record of it ever being changed. All changed okay, car started and ran up to temperature

 

Next job was to strip out the interior, remove front clam and make a start on the suspension that looks a little like its been stored on the Mary Rose

All now stripped off and I have a nice pile of bits ready for cleaning, refurbishing, coating etc

 

 

Ive dropped the Bilstein shockers off at Bilstein service entre in Leicester and now waiting for for an update as to whether they are serviceable and a cost to refurbish them.

Not decided what to go for wishbone bush wise, keep to the OE Lotus bushes or go for something a little fancier such as HPE bearing kit.

Plenty of jobs to crack on with, Ive noticed the heater control is seized so I guess the heater matrix box is probably rotten and needs to come out.

 

[Elisemadray]

Great Stuff Nick looks like a labour of love 

[Nick S1]

Thanks Ray, it certainly is a labour of love, good thing being I am enjoying doing it.
The problem is knowing where to stop, the more I get into it the more I can see that could be done. Don’t think you’ll see it out on a Sunday morning run for a few months!

[stockhome]

Fantastic work, very standard looking car, I love a 135r

[DeanB]

Will love watching this progress! Please keep posting Nick

By the way I would go oem bushes unless you are racing. 

[Italian Job]

Enjoying the updates, looks like you are making good progress. Are the height adjustable Bilsteins standard on the 135R?

[Nick S1]

9 hours ago, DeanB said:

Will love watching this progress! Please keep posting Nick

By the way I would go oem bushes unless you are racing. 

Thanks, I dont intend using the car for anything more than road and possibly occasional track day so I guess standard bushes will be fine. The problem is an attraction to shiny things and trying not to convince myself I need them because they must be better! 

Regarding the Lotus OEM bushes, any opinion on the Elise Parts OEM spec bushes which are quite a bit cheaper than the Lotus ones? 

[Nick S1]

1 hour ago, Italian Job said:

Enjoying the updates, looks like you are making good progress. Are the height adjustable Bilsteins standard on the 135R?

Yes the height adjustable Bilsteins were standard on the 135R. When I took them to the service centre in Leicester the guy that runs the workshop (Dave Masters) actually remembered doing work on them for Lotus back in 2002ish.

I would like to keep them to maintain the originality, Dave did have concerns the body may be too corroded and they will end up replacing a large part of the shocker with new, in the end it will depend on the price they quote for the refurbishment.

[Nick S1]

Mr Will on here has been kind enough to lend me his ball joint removal tool, thanks Will, put it straight to work this evening and removed all 8 ball joints without any problems.

I have had the wishbones sand blasted prior to removing the ball joints, planning on taking them to Sandwells and having them coated with Xylan and Fosgard

[DeanB]

1 hour ago, Nick S1 said:

Thanks, I dont intend using the car for anything more than road and possibly occasional track day so I guess standard bushes will be fine. The problem is an attraction to shiny things and trying not to convince myself I need them because they must be better! 

Regarding the Lotus OEM bushes, any opinion on the Elise Parts OEM spec bushes which are quite a bit cheaper than the Lotus ones? 

I have the Eliseparts bushes and they are great. Gav at Unit 4 Vehicle Services who looks after my car recommended them, and he has experience of most.

[Italian Job]

Its going to be a cracker when done. Cheers for sharing.

[Nick S1]

Progress update on my Elise project.

Collected the wishbones, uprights etc yesterday.

All very nicely packaged.

Very pleased with the result considering what they looked like originally!

 

Also had the tow eye/srut coated

One suspension refresh kit ready to assemble and put back on the car.

Decided to use standard OE bushes, purchased the refresh kit from Seriously Lotus. 

 

Brake calipers stripped, cleaned and painted. The actual colour is darker than they look in the picture.

 

Couple of hours spent cleaning with magic sponges and pleased with the results.

 

[Nick S1]

Latest on the shock absorbers from Bilstein is they are probably not worth reconditioning.

The cost to recondition is the same price as a new set on Nitron Street Series, and Bilstein are currently that busy the turnaround time will be a couple of months. While I could wait I really need to be able to move the car so I think a new set of shocks it is.

I dont want to spend thousands on new shocks so would be interested to hear opinions on Nitrons or alternatives, at around £1k everything I read seems to point to the Nitrons

[DeanB]

I had Nitron Street Series and never liked them. The car always rode badly on them, although in fairness the rest of the suspension needed a refresh.

Now I have Nitron NTRs which are much better, but if I wasn't doing the odd track day I would probably have gone for new oem Bilsteins because the springs on the Nitrons are a lot stiffer and it does affect the ride.

You are welcome to have a drive in mine to get an idea. Pm me.

[Nick S1]

Thanks for the offer Dean, I’ll keep it in mind 👍