I've had this for a while but always felt its a little too new for on here.
However if there's interest then i'll keep this updated
I had a rover engined elise for 3/4 years running at about 165bhp which is supposedly the sweet spot, however I had always lusted after a Honda converted car. Well I had the opportunity to pick one up and leapt at the chance.
So thats a ~750kg car with a 225bhp engine, not a bad ratio.
It would later turn out that the Honda conversion was undertaken by a previous owner and sold before it had really had all the little niggles worked out. This first post is me being slowly surprised by each one(!)
Briefly I had a very happy driveway
Where the magic happens
Better picture in sun light
I went to a track day at Cadwell and blew 107db on the noise meter..finally managed to get it under 105db by wedging some restrictors into the end of the exhaust. After the day I discovered a potential source of my issue..
Hmmmmmmmmm
Not the finest welding in the world then.
And here's the main culprit for the noise, not a lot of exhaust packing left
I replaced that with Acoustafill (sorry no pictures) which is fantastic stuff and has now been on the car for 3 hard years with no issues (98db last weekend).
Wasn't a particular fan of the splitter, it hit the road quite often and I wasn't convinced it was doing anything functional, the look underneath didnt change my mind
Now you see it
and now you don't
Much better
Arty shot warning
With that fixed I just wanted to drive it, so here at Lotus's 70th birthday
Here as my wedding car
And then the next challenge...
hmmm looks damp?
Yup that would do it
The Honda conversions in these cars are quite notorious for destroying cv boots and joints as they work under quite a lot of angle all of the time and also quite a lot of load. Over the years the "off the shelf" engine mounts have adapted to minimize the joint angle to the point that good quality joints and very high temp grease just about resolve the issue. Touch wood since this joint was replaced i've not had any further issues.
While driving I heard a large bang/rattle. Stopped looked the car over and couldn't see anything immediately obvious that would explain the issue. As I continued driving the alternator began to intermittently flash.
I guess that explains the noise.
Something is not right here
Lets take a closer look at that bracket
Fantastic decision to countsink the bolt heads makes the remaining material very thin.
Note to self, avoid ktuned parts in the future.
I had a local fabricator repair the bracket with a thicker bar and add a supporting leg to reduce any flex that led to the cracking in the first place.
Spoiler alert. It didnt work.
The issue here is my car was running an Electric Water Pump, which was okay but it meant I was stuck with the ktuned alternator mount as the original honda mount is part of the water pump housing. Long story short after the alternator mount failed again the EWP was taken off the car and a mechanical pump refitted with the original alternator mount.
Solved.
A summer of incident free track days followed
The eagle eyed may have noticed I am missing a wing mirror. It was broken off in a car park :/
So with a big trip coming up I managed to find a replacement
Took me most of a weekend to fit as there is barely any access to the bottom bolts that attach through the door, they are behind the crash protection and the window runners.
I couldn't face doing the other side so she was lop sided for a while.
Anyway, the trip.
What do you do if you want to go on holiday for a week in a two seater car with a passenger and no boot space?
Boot bag.
Bit of a motoring mecca apparently??
That would be the Isle of Man for those that didn't recognize it, fun drive out with the lotus club.
So err... 4 months later I did the other wing mirror. I had to cut the old one off so I "made good" with some red paint, that apparently wasn't quite the right colour. It'll do for now.
Out for a drive with the big boys
Finally some comfortable seats!
And then out of nowhere it wouldn't start.
Chased it round for a while with no joy and then tried a compression test
Not good
Errr am I doing this right?
This is weird
Well that's better. Sort of.
Firstly i'm thinking I have an expensive problem here, but unusual for all cylinders to be affected.. hmm
Timing looks good
Turns out it was valve clearances! The exhaust side were soo tight that the valves were being held open.
Sorted
And that pretty much brings you up to Monday's track day at Cadwell
Very cold in the paddock
But at least the sun came out
And here's an onboard lap
Thats the main highlights but plenty more has been going on in the background that I can dig into if there's interest
However if there's interest then i'll keep this updated
I had a rover engined elise for 3/4 years running at about 165bhp which is supposedly the sweet spot, however I had always lusted after a Honda converted car. Well I had the opportunity to pick one up and leapt at the chance.
So thats a ~750kg car with a 225bhp engine, not a bad ratio.
It would later turn out that the Honda conversion was undertaken by a previous owner and sold before it had really had all the little niggles worked out. This first post is me being slowly surprised by each one(!)
Briefly I had a very happy driveway
Where the magic happens
Better picture in sun light
I went to a track day at Cadwell and blew 107db on the noise meter..finally managed to get it under 105db by wedging some restrictors into the end of the exhaust. After the day I discovered a potential source of my issue..
Hmmmmmmmmm
Not the finest welding in the world then.
And here's the main culprit for the noise, not a lot of exhaust packing left
I replaced that with Acoustafill (sorry no pictures) which is fantastic stuff and has now been on the car for 3 hard years with no issues (98db last weekend).
Wasn't a particular fan of the splitter, it hit the road quite often and I wasn't convinced it was doing anything functional, the look underneath didnt change my mind
Now you see it
and now you don't
Much better
Arty shot warning
With that fixed I just wanted to drive it, so here at Lotus's 70th birthday
Here as my wedding car
And then the next challenge...
hmmm looks damp?
Yup that would do it
The Honda conversions in these cars are quite notorious for destroying cv boots and joints as they work under quite a lot of angle all of the time and also quite a lot of load. Over the years the "off the shelf" engine mounts have adapted to minimize the joint angle to the point that good quality joints and very high temp grease just about resolve the issue. Touch wood since this joint was replaced i've not had any further issues.
While driving I heard a large bang/rattle. Stopped looked the car over and couldn't see anything immediately obvious that would explain the issue. As I continued driving the alternator began to intermittently flash.
I guess that explains the noise.
Something is not right here
Lets take a closer look at that bracket
Fantastic decision to countsink the bolt heads makes the remaining material very thin.
Note to self, avoid ktuned parts in the future.
I had a local fabricator repair the bracket with a thicker bar and add a supporting leg to reduce any flex that led to the cracking in the first place.
Spoiler alert. It didnt work.
The issue here is my car was running an Electric Water Pump, which was okay but it meant I was stuck with the ktuned alternator mount as the original honda mount is part of the water pump housing. Long story short after the alternator mount failed again the EWP was taken off the car and a mechanical pump refitted with the original alternator mount.
Solved.
A summer of incident free track days followed
The eagle eyed may have noticed I am missing a wing mirror. It was broken off in a car park :/
So with a big trip coming up I managed to find a replacement
Took me most of a weekend to fit as there is barely any access to the bottom bolts that attach through the door, they are behind the crash protection and the window runners.
I couldn't face doing the other side so she was lop sided for a while.
Anyway, the trip.
What do you do if you want to go on holiday for a week in a two seater car with a passenger and no boot space?
Boot bag.
Bit of a motoring mecca apparently??
That would be the Isle of Man for those that didn't recognize it, fun drive out with the lotus club.
So err... 4 months later I did the other wing mirror. I had to cut the old one off so I "made good" with some red paint, that apparently wasn't quite the right colour. It'll do for now.
Out for a drive with the big boys
Finally some comfortable seats!
And then out of nowhere it wouldn't start.
Chased it round for a while with no joy and then tried a compression test
Not good
Errr am I doing this right?
This is weird
Well that's better. Sort of.
Firstly i'm thinking I have an expensive problem here, but unusual for all cylinders to be affected.. hmm
Timing looks good
Turns out it was valve clearances! The exhaust side were soo tight that the valves were being held open.
Sorted
And that pretty much brings you up to Monday's track day at Cadwell
Very cold in the paddock
But at least the sun came out
And here's an onboard lap
Thats the main highlights but plenty more has been going on in the background that I can dig into if there's interest
