Yawn! :sleep: Wes is back again with another Exige rally build . So I thought I better start a fresh thread as the other is getting a bit long.
After building the sport 190 Elise rally car and the Toyota Exige rally car you would have thought I would have been satisfied. Well…no.
The sport 190 S1 was nice and light but I craved after some more power and I really wanted an Exige. I decided to build the S2 Toyota as a bit of an all rounder for track, road and rally. It was an extremely well balanced car with good reliability. However the competitive bug got the better of me. At just shy of 900kg and the same power as the S1 it just didn’t Deliver the goods, especially when up against 250 bhp Escorts in our class.
I finally decided that kermit had to go. There was no point continuing to swim against the tide, the only way forward was a Honda powered S1.
Then I saw the unique beast S2 Elise chassis, Exige body and Honda power, everything I was looking for. I think Dave was a bit surprised when I phoned him within 2 hours of the advert going on piston heads and bought it there and then over the phone.
I haven’t weighed it yet but it should be sub 800kg. The K20 engine is a link up kit fitted by Dan (roadboy) at SPS. It has an RCB manifold and JDM cams. I havent had it on the rollers yet but TDi installed a map from an identical spec engine and ran a session on the road with the laptop to check the fuelling was safe. They estimated it to be a healthy 240bhp. All I know is that it goes like a rocket compared to the Toyota
Anyway, a lot of work to be done on it over the next few weeks before its competition ready. The T45 rally cage has been made by Elgan at Hotlap (more on that later) but I’m not fitting it until after Angelsey when I have the time to do a proper job.
Tonight I managed to fit the new Tillet B6F carbon drivers seat and the 6point Scroth harness. Just waiting for the passenger seat rail to come from Hotlap. I’m well impressed by these new seats, finally I’ve got 3" of head room in a lotus!!
Might weigh less now I’ve been ripping bits out left right and centre.
It’s a while since I’ve spent so much time in the garage. Mrs J has gone on a birds ski weekend As soon as the kids were in bed I was in the garage, they did think bedtime was a bit early at 4pm
Never mind Toys R us, they’re going on a fun trip to Demon Tweeks tomorrow, it’s got a great soft play area of sparco and corbeau seats.
Finally got round to installing the harnesses and drivers seat, just in time for Angelsey. This time I fitted full 6 point Scroth harnesses, they’re nice and light compared to my previous ones. It always makes you cringe to drill a hole in a perfectly good car but once I’d done the first eye bolt hole then it was christened. There’s a total of 8 along the rear extrusion for the harnesses.
The car already has a harness bar. Fine for now but it’s coming out after Angelsey ready for the full cage.
I was impressed that the Tillet seat and frame was a straight fit with no cutting and fettling like my last seats. The position feels good , a bit more reclined than normal to give more headroom.
I’m just waiting for the custom frame to be delivered for the navigators seat. Hopefully it will be here next week.
Amazingly the locking wheel nut tool arrived!! So if I get time I may fit the Ohlins next week.
[quote=wesj111]Finally got round to installing the harnesses and drivers seat, just in time for Angelsey. This time I fitted full 6 point Scroth harnesses, they’re nice and light compared to my previous ones. It always makes you cringe to drill a hole in a perfectly good car but once I’d done the first eye bolt hole then it was christened. There’s a total of 8 along the rear extrusion for the harnesses.
The car already has a harness bar. Fine for now but it’s coming out after Angelsey ready for the full cage.
I was impressed that the Tillet seat and frame was a straight fit with no cutting and fettling like my last seats. The position feels good , a bit more reclined than normal to give more headroom.
I’m just waiting for the custom frame to be delivered for the navigators seat. Hopefully it will be here next week.
Amazingly the locking wheel nut tool arrived!! So if I get time I may fit the Ohlins next week.
[/quote]
Which tillet seat is that? Is it fixed or adjustable I am in need of some seats
Steve, the eye bolts are secured to steel spreader plates underneath the floor with captive nuts. It’s an MSA requirement to use a steel or alloy plate of minimum size. It doesn’t do much for smooth underfloor aero.
Ade, it’s the new Tillet B6F. It’s FIA approved and a twin skin design. There is a lighter non FIA version if you don’t need a certified one. They certainly hug you and are much more supportive than the B5 type. You’re welcome to give them a try at Angelsey.
It’s mounted to a Tillet side mounted fixed subframe. There are quite a few slotted holes to get the optimum rake and position. I’ve set it as low and far back as possible.
Well I’m now acclimitised to the new car after 156 track miles at Angelsey. I’m delighted that it ran without fault. I’m not sure about the Geo and suspension setup as I struggled with understeer. Going to 20 clicks on the Nitrons helped but made it very wild on lift off oversteer, which amused me greatly
It’s now time to ready it for the cage. I managed to remove the roof, engine cover, seats, trim and rear clam in 2 hours tonight. I bet it takes me 2 months to put it all back together … If I can find the bits!
Hopefully Hotlap can start work on fitting the cage in the next week, it’s already manufactured. I’ve got plenty to do while the clam is off anyway - cartek cutoff. Extinguishers… Busy nights ahead.
After the motivation of doing a track day at Oulton last week in my friends Fezza i finally spent some time in the garage progressing the Exige.
As per my other post, the new Hotlap roll cage is fitted. Before refitting the rear clam I needed to run a new wiring harness for the Cartek cut off switch and the electric extinguisher. It’s all a bit like groundhog day since it’s only 3 years since I built the last Exige. Wiring isn’t my favourite sport but I took my time and heat shrink covered all the joints.
Red spaghetti!
Steady with that hole cutter
I mounted the extinguisher behind the seats (I have a handheld in the passenger foot well) then plumbed it into the engine bay. Before I could refit the rear clam I had to profile relieve it around where it goes over the front section of the cage. Dremmels rock!
The next job is to try and remove the grim adhesive left on the ally tub from where I removed the carpets, it’s left quite a mess. Any recommendations for shifting it?
After that I’m just waiting on the passenger seat frame to be fabricated then its just about ready to go for log booking
Phase 2 will be the change to 4 stud hubs and the fitment of new discs and AP4 pots. I also want to get the Ohlins modded to the correct lengths so I can fit them.
Thanks to Dave I’ve now got all the remaining parts for the next part of the project, swopping the 5 stud wheels back to Lotus 4 studs.
It’s amazing what you can get in an S-Max! “Let’s go for a trip to Yorkshire to see the folks my dear, oh and I need to meet a guy called Dave to pick up a couple of parts”
10 new Team Dynamics wheels
AP 4 pot kit with 308mm discs
New grooved rear discs
Wheel stud conversion kit
Pushchair
Bike
Two kids
Unimpressed wife
It’s going to be a push to get it all done in time for the Lotus Festival in a weeks time. I may just swop the hubs for now and run the existing brakes using some spare discs I have. The only tricky bit about fitting the 4 pots will be changing the hoses. I dont have time to take the clam off to access the top joints
It is possible to fit the callipers without changing the flexis use banjo converters, I did when I first fitted my 4 pots
Some of the flexis come with converters already so just take them off
. So I thought I better start a fresh thread as the other is getting a bit long.
S2 Elise chassis, Exige body and Honda power, everything I was looking for. I think Dave was a bit surprised when I phoned him within 2 hours of the advert going on piston heads and bought it there and then over the phone.
