As you stated Jonny I completely get your plan, and its a great plan
A couple of things for you to think about :
Back in the day (before engine-conversions and mental levels of mods), the accepted wisdom was that Dampers/Emerald/Verniers made for a much more enjoyable and rounded ownership experience even for exclusively road cars (and this still holds true)
In 10/20/30 years time imagine there is two identical condition S1 Exiges for sale; one absolutely standard the other with Dampers/Emerald/Verniers (with the original bits in a box). Which one is worth more? Even if its the boggo one then it would only be the equivalent of a couple of grand.
You can see where I’m going huh…
At the end of the day though its your car now, and if you want to you can freeze your investment in carbonite Hans Solo stylie if you want to
I know where you are coming from Jonny about keeping it original, but mine has Nitrons & Alcon discs and cant see something like that effecting ‘originality’ and can always put the originals back if required.
I intend to also fit an eliseparts short shift kit as it is so much nicer than original, so a few improvements over oem to make the car an even better driving experience I don’t mind.
As to an investment it will be better than cash in the bank at the moment but if it goes up a bit it will be offset against tax, insurance etc. but at least you can enjoy driving it or going into the garage with a pack of tissues to look at it
Well I’ll tell you what…firstly Rob it’ll be driven when the rain stops and my sons broken shoulder heels, I’m doing the school run and taking 4 most mornings and secondly I’ll decide on where I’ll go after everything’s been done but the engine. The car will be a non runner and in bits for a few years…
Fair play Jonny. Wasn’t the S2 190 sport ECU a massive step on from the S1 setup, mind you its a different ECU plug I think. Don’t forget you have to chop the ECU plug off an S1 Exige to fit an emerald. I don’t think anyone does a converter, so that is pretty hard to revert back to standard from.
Don’t forget that John builds a mean K series engine mate, his don’t leak either
Standard suspension isnt bad for a road car, so if you can rebuild the standard ones, then fair play.
Dampers, 8 bolts and one hour and it is back to original. I could live with the lss apart from the yipping.
For the ecu, make an adapter loom, I purchased one and modded it to get more functions, and it it a quick job to switch back with no cutting or hacking of the original loom. I have a spare connector if you need one. You cannot see the verniers and it may not need them. The ecu does transform the engine.
Prrt, I just bolted one in.
The only other mod I have is the recirc pump which is fitted on aircon cars. I can manually switch it on so it cools the head after a track session. At moment it is controlled by a tiny switch but I will put it on to a clockwork timer.
The only mod you can see is the dampers. I even took off the lotuspower diffuser and put a standard one back on. Looks much nicer.
I hope I didn’t offend with my comments but I reckon - and this may be your plan which I have misunderstood - but enjoy it this spring/summer to appreciate its worth and then decide on a plan. Or not, as the case may be.
you know it lol