vxmax Posted May 11, 2006 Posted May 11, 2006 My bro has an s1 elise which is in need of some new suspension. He has decided to go for the standard s2 setup as budget wont allow for nitrons etc. Looking at the standard s2 stuff it looks rather like standard vx220 kit. Now, I understand he will need some brackets to make s2 stuff fit, but will these brackets enable the fitment of vx suspension? Is the vx stuff different to the elise stuff due to car weights etc? Will it improve handling at all? I ask as I have upgraded my VX220's suspension so we have my standard stuff collecting dust up our loft. Basically, is it worth it or should he just go for standard s2 suspension?
Martin R Posted May 11, 2006 Posted May 11, 2006 Max, you have to change the rear top damper mounts on the S1 to accomodate the S2 Bilstein suspension. Knowing Lotus i would not be suprised to find the VX uses the same suspension. They built them at the same place after all. Best to check first though
Trixster Posted May 14, 2006 Posted May 14, 2006 Max, you have to change the rear top damper mounts on the S1 to accomodate the S2 Bilstein suspension. Knowing Lotus i would not be suprised to find the VX uses the same suspension. They built them at the same place after all. Best to check first though I seem to remember reading the original Elise S2 vs vx220 review in Evo and them saying the s2 had different suspension. Got this from the depths of my (sometimes) dodgy recolection though so it's 50% likely to be rubbish!
Martin R Posted May 14, 2006 Posted May 14, 2006 Might be an idea to PM Christurbo as he is a VX man as well. I would be suprised if its not some form of Bilstein suspension. I seem to recal a thread on SELOC about VX,s having differnt length springs. I may be wrong but if thats all it should not be a problem. In cases like this it may be worth a post on SELOC HTH.
christurbo Posted May 15, 2006 Posted May 15, 2006 The VX uses Bilstien dampers and Eibach springs. As the rear subframe is different to the Elise [wider etc to fit a bigger engine in] the rear suspension is therefore different to the Elise. Although the only way to find out is to compare side by side. Maybe contact Mike @ Horizon as he had had all my suspension off
vxmax Posted May 16, 2006 Author Posted May 16, 2006 Cheers for your replies, the general consensus on the vx forum is the rears arent the same so I think he's just going to get new stuff.
GCCK Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 Just to complicate matters, you CAN use VX springs & dampers on an S1. Basically the same as S2: Eibach/ Bilstein, but different lengths. I think Steve Butts provides (or used to) VX fronts when running at 110 or 100mm front. Tend to use S2 rears with new brackets though. Perhaps speak to Steve Butts ([email protected], or u2u on SELOC). He'll tell you what bits you could reuse, supply alternatives and/or adapters etc. You could DIY then. Or speak to Mike Foster - he's put his new Ohlins on VX's as well as S1 Elises and also fitted Bilsteins onto S1's. I believe he buys the brackets SteveB supplies from the same source too. By now, he should certainly know what goes with what, and since he has a spring compressor, should be able to do some adaptation too. Horizon would expect to fit as well, but that's no bad thing: most people when fitting Bilsteins put them on at 110mm front, 120 rear (original Konis set to 140/140 on early cars (parallel springs) or 160/160 on the later (barrel shaped springs). With such a change in ride height, a reset geo is almost mandatory.
JohnnyM Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 i had vx front springs on my original s1. i changed all the dampers myself, the rears were s2 std and the fronts had the shorter vx springs. i only recall changing the top mounts on the front. as Graeme said, you will need a geo afterwards.
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