So much for it being a cheap toy this time round...

[Del Lardo]

Just splashed out £400 on a set of Toyo R1-Rs and booked the Elise in for 3rd March to get new suspension fitted, new tyres fitted, full Geo and brakes bled ahead of my first Sprint on 14th March.


doh :facepalm:

[Justsomebloke]

Just buy Forza 3 & do it all virtually mate it's much cheaper & you can Drink & Drive. :cool:

[Del Lardo]

I wish, I have a copy but no S1 Elise available and what with me being heterosexual I couldn't buy an S2 ;)

[vix]

Where are you sprinting on the 14th?

[Justsomebloke]

Where are you sprinting on the 14th?

You're an Ace Bird you know that don't you !!! < Fact. :cool:

[Del Lardo]

Where are you sprinting on the 14th?

North Weald IIRC

[Zirax]

Nice, I remember Nitrons being talked about for the S1's (was a while back though).

[Del Lardo]

Nice, I remember Nitrons being talked about for the S1's (was a while back though).

I would love to fit Nitrons but they start at £1k, cheaper (though obviously not as good) are the Bilsteins from the S2 which are ~£550. In my attempt to go pikey this time round I managed to pick up a 2nd hand set with 10k on them back in December for £130 :)

[kaiowas]

Are you doing the whole championship or just a few rounds? Never know, might see you at Hethel ;)

[Del Lardo]

http://www.lotrdc.com/sprinting/ Piggybacking on a few of the B19 Sprints IIRC

[vix]

Ooh if you do Hethel we'll come and see you - if we don't compete :)

[Jonny69]

Don't talk to me about tyres. The whitewalls on the back of mine are £275+vat EACH!!! :shocked: :'(

[Del Lardo]

Suspension fitted
Geo sorted
Tyres fitted
Gear knob fitted
Sticky throttle fixed

Cambelt decided to part ways with the engine when being started up after a test drive :'( Don't find out the damage (physical or financial) until tomorrow. Gutted :'(:'(:'(:'(:'(

[Zirax]

*winces* :( Fingers crossed for you. Didn't lotus to trickery to the MG engines thus preventing you getting another lump and dropping in? There were guys dropping Hondas in at some point (although not sure how cheap they are)

[Flibster]

Ouch. Thats not good news.
Hope it's not too bad.

Still - could have been a head gasket failure. ;)

[Del Lardo]

*winces* :( Fingers crossed for you. Didn't lotus to trickery to the MG engines thus preventing you getting another lump and dropping in? There were guys dropping Hondas in at some point (although not sure how cheap they are)

I could drop another lump in but it would need to be a VVC engine from an S1 Elise otherwise there's all sorts of shenanigans with ECUs. Honda conversion would be an option as would the Audi 1.8T lump but I lack the £10k+ required to get it done :shocked:


Ouch. Thats not good news.
Hope it's not too bad.

Still - could have been a head gasket failure. ;)

I was just thinking (rather smugly) the other week that the engine has lasted 10 years and 82 000 miles without HGF :'(

[Zirax]

I could drop another lump in but it would need to be a VVC engine from an S1 Elise otherwise there's all sorts of shenanigans with ECUs. Honda conversion would be an option as would the Audi 1.8T lump but I lack the £10k+ required to get it done :shocked:

:shocked: I thought it was less than that!

[Del Lardo]

:shocked: I thought it was less than that!

Prices start at £8000 +VAT but realistically you are looking at £11k for the 275bhp Audi, £12k for the 220bhp Honda and £14-15k for the 300bhp Honda.

It's obviously a lot of money but in an S1 like mine the Audi would give you ~370bhp/ton. A Ferrari F430 has ~330bhp/ton ;)

[Flibster]

I could drop another lump in but it would need to be a VVC engine from an S1 Elise otherwise there's all sorts of shenanigans with ECUs. Honda conversion would be an option as would the Audi 1.8T lump but I lack the £10k+ required to get it done :shocked:

I wouldn't change to a Honda or Audi lump as they are really pretty heavy compared to the K Series.

I was just thinking (rather smugly) the other week that the engine has lasted 10 years and 82 000 miles without HGF :'(

Thats a bugger.

Well, as it's going to be apart anyway - get the thermostat positioning sorted and the headgasket and head bolts replaced

[Del Lardo]

Update:
Cambelt was shredded, my specialist is virtually certain that it wasn't changed 2 years ago as the receipt claims but is 5 years old which would explain the catastrophic failure. If the useless northern ***** hadn't already gone out of business I'd be waiting for them in the morning to give them a keyboard slapdown.

Confirmed today that there is no compression on two cylinders but still hopeful that it will just be a skimmed head and new valves.

Not a happy chappy :(

[Del Lardo]

Morning report - 8 bent exhaust valves, piston number 2 hit but it's OK and a head needs skimming. Not too bad.

Afternoon report - cylinder head is ****ed :'(

Popping in tomorrow to see the damage and run through the options. Gutted but at least it will be well sorted once it's done.

[Jonny69]

Ah no, that's a bit annoying. Hopefully should still be less than a whole new engine...

[Del Lardo]

Managed to find a new Trophy 160 VVC top end today cheaper than a recon'd one so am quite chuffed. It was rescued from Longbridge when they were closing down (would have been fitted to an MGTF 160) and should give me an extra 10-15bhp. Still not cheap but should give me another 80k or so out of the engine.

[Zirax]

It's still an arse but a bit extra power is never a bad thing :D

[Nutcase]

I've been round brands in an MGF trophy 160.

Definitely put it in your car - the MG was awful ;D

[Jonny69]

Extra 10-15bhp can't be worse than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick :D

[Del Lardo]

Extra 10-15bhp can't be worse than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick :D

Only £40 on insurance as well :)

Money sent off today so there is finally light at the end of the tunnel, I may even get my car back on Saturday though there is no chance of competing on Sunday as I will need to run the new top end in.

[Del Lardo]

Goddamn ****ing ****ty ****ing shipping agents. Missed their appointment yesterday so new top end won't arrive until Monday and due to other commitments probably won't be ready until Wednesday.

Still, I should have guessed it was never going to be ready for this weekend as the forecast is for sunshine :angry:

[Del Lardo]

Work should be completed by this evening but they want to do a shakedown so looking at picking up tomorrow evening.

Fingers crossed!

[Del Lardo]

She is home :) I'm just waiting for the call from my credit card company in the morning :'(;D

[Del Lardo]

Well at the risk of sounding like a madman talking to myself here we goes......

Went for a ~40 mile blast yesterday on some roads that I know rather well and initial impressions were good but as it was a bit damp I wasn't really pushing and really just used it as an excuse to get a few miles on the engine.

Today I went for a ~100 mile blast trying to keep it below 4.5rpm with a hard limit of 5k rpm as I need to get a few hundred miles and 8-10 heat cycles on the top end before I can properly go for it. Even with a limit of 4.5-5K rpm (where things start to get interesting) the engine feels a lot better, a little bit more torque is available and it idles properly which is a nice change. Very much looking forward to being able to rev it to 7250rpm.

New suspension is a bit of a tricky one, the ride is definitely less compliant but the car feels more controlled over normal surfaces. Over a very badly surfaced single track road the suspension started to feel overwhelmed but then I glanced down and realised that I was doing 60mph on a road that I doubt the Mundano would have done 40mph down. Turn in is far better than it used to be but I think this is mostly down to the new boots and geo.

So, the new boots! Rather than replacing the worn tyres with another set of Kuhmo or Toyo T1-Rs I decided to try the new Toyo road/track tyre the R1-R. Basically it is a track compound tyre but cut for the road and using some clever compound stuff they even provide good grip when cold. I suspect that on the road these tyres have far bigger balls that I do, I was no where near the levels of grip available during normal spirited driving and upon trying a few laps of a deserted roundabout I gave up before coming close to the edge of cohesion, on the old setup I would have easily pushed into understeer.


So all in I am VERY happy with the car at the moment, while I'm not going to sit here and claim it was good value for money I am not upset with the amount that I have spent vs. the very positive changes to the car. I'm really looking forward to the next Sprint/airfield day to find out just what the car is capable of. I'm also going to try and find me old GTech meter as I think the no1 spot on the 60-0 OcUK leader board should be mine ;)

[Zirax]

I was wondering if you had taken the motor out for a blast today :D Hmmm, how soft are these new Toyo's? Are they a harder R888?

I would have got the mr2 out alas the cold has killed the battery and even after charging it just didn't have the juice to crank the car..... bugger.

[vix]

Del, the Toyota Sprint Series are at Barkston Heath in Lincolnshire on Easter Sunday if you are free? it's pretty much a perfect track for the Elise.

Info here:

http://www.toyotasprint.com/tss/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=71