Yes, have done and would be. But you need really need to think about fitting a safety devices cage first, as that is the bulkhead panels that we have had made.
Yes, I know you aren’t going to fit a cage, as its not needed, as your neck muscles are really strong and your helmet is made of unbreakableum.
But you will be gutted to pay for it twice.
Plus a cage anyway.
To be fair though, get everything else sorted first. This may be the least of your worries sadly.
how much further does the harness brace come forward compared to a harness bar, my seats literally touch the bar I have them so far back to give me knees a bit of room.
If its no good, what options do I have, if the bar was cut off and then remade with a bend in it then the bulkhead would be different again and the diagonal brace would need remaking
basically if the only way that I can have a cage is move the seat further forward then i cant have a cage, unless I have a custom one made or as one member is going, weld the front section onto the existing rollbar.
My aluminium header tank came today, just need to get a cap for it before I fit it, should help me get the water away from the red hot downpipe
also been having problems with my boost trace since i checked it out on the data logging, spoke to emerald today and they suggest running a filter in between might help calm it down as at the moment its just a wiggly line so i dont know how much boost im running.
Ive put some jubilee clips on after the picture was taken, will hopefully work so will see over the weekend
Suggest you need to have a look at a few cars to get a feel for how much space there is to see if you fit with one. From memory the SD one has a harness bar that runs around the back of the cage, but the main hoop is slightly more upright with a X rather than a A to support it.
If that filter goes from the MAP sensor to the manifold, make sure it can handle the pressure, as it looks like a fuel filter from a carb fuel system, that will only handle 2-3 psi.
just been looking at the pictures of the elise cage, the harness bar looks fine, that and the roll over bar is similar to the stock setup but further back, if thats the case and your on about making a bulkhead to give you space wont the harness bar cause the bulkhead to be a similar position as the factory one
The X brace might be an issue, i originally put my drivers seat with a bigger tilt to allow my head a bit lower and see more of the clocks(280mm wheel) ive just bought a slightly bigger wheel so I might try and sit myself up a little which will bring my bum a little bit further back and bring my head rest further forward, if I can live like that and measure everything up and send it over to safety devices so they can give me a guide as how far the x bars ‘stick out’
What sort of cost im I looking at for a drive in/drive out fitment including cage, pm me if you prefer
Also the fuel filter is the same as a friend who uses his on a fuel injected engine(3bar pressure) with no leaks, so ill see how it goes,
You need to measure things up to see if you will gain anything, but pretty sure you will.
If you measure how much space there is between the current cage and the bulkhead, that is how much space you will gain, if you don’t change the hoop and cage. From memory, the SD cage and our bulkhead sits more vertically and is about a third of the way forward on top of the tank panel at the bottom, then steps forward above the harness bar. Its pretty difficult to gauge totally how much you would gain, but in this case every little will help.
As for cost, that’s a difficult one. It totally depends on how stripped the car is to begin with, and far together it needs to go once complete. It’s also loads easier with the engine out, as you need to have good access to the bulkhead all the way around, and ideally from both sides.
the car would come driven to you, i dont want to take the engine out myself, i can disconnect parts off the engine when its down there(manifolds, coolant tec) but removing the engine would down to you
Haven’t got a workshop at the moment. Have been working at customers places for a couple of months. Could do this at yours no problem, where are you beased? But currently booked til the middle of jan. Suspect that the longest lead time would be the cage from SD, unless Essex Autosport keep one in stock.
Am seeing a car on Monday with one in, so can take some rough measurements then and see if it helps.
The most annoying things with all these projects is timing and getting everything to fit and work together.
Timing is annoying, as if you are getting Dan to swap your box/clutch/flywheel you are half way there already.
Fitting is annoying, as you fit part A, B and C and it looks good. But then when you fit part K, L and M, you find that part B is already there!!!
The work has started on the suspension refurbish, these pictures are from dan, up to yet hes been great to work with and recommend him, he is gracious even when I am adding to his work pile and coming up with more crazy ideas
once these are done we will move onto fitting the quaife diff and EP lightened flywheel.
Ive also worked out what we are doing with the clutch, speaking to Helix, there paddle rover 220 clutch will fit on my flywheel and hold up to 400ftlb! strangely its the same one that adrian newey ran on his turbod elise.
Pulled the wishbones out…very crusty!
Hit them with the shot blaster
First coat of POR15
Also the ARB is getting done, all the suspension brackets and I assume the wishbone mounting points that go in the engine bay(ive forgot there name) also the roll bar braces are getting rubbed down POR15 and painted…least then ill have nothing left to go rusty again
Next we are going to fit spherical bearings to the lower wishbones so I can adjust my own roll centre to suit the car and i think im going get a Cornering Force rear ARB kit so that I dont have to run as hard a spring to help with my low speed mechanic grip and traction.
Then its a case of plumb in my bigger injectors and my chargecooler and get it on the dyno to see where we are at
rear clam off so the rollbar arms can be properly sorted out, when I first got it I just rubbed them down and spray painted them but to be fair it wasnt a great job, so they are being looked after properly with POR15 and paint, so it wont come back in the future to haunt me.
Also gearbox is now out, very mucky it is to
im looking forward to seeing it all clean and shiny, its just a shame the weather is so bad here, im always looking at MotoIQ articles and they are replacing parts on cars that are 10yrs old and the undersides look like new 
Im also hoping as it all goes back together that the gear shift is much improved as it was shockingly bad before
Got a picture today from Dan of a super clean gearbox casing and that all my gears have been given a clean bill of health so thats great news.
Need to put new diff bearings in replace one of the gearbox seals as there was alot of muck coming out of one that got pinched last time.
Having my roll centre bearing holders made next week so im looking forward to seeing how that works out, should in theory give me more camber gain under bump so might mean I need to run less static camber depending on what the pirometer says
My front clam vents arrived today after waiting a month from singapore as that was the only place I could find a set of vents I was confident would properly vent the arches by allowing a low pressure zone at the exit(all others I looked at didnt seem the best aerodynamically or cost a daft amount of money.
Also my new injectors turned up, 470cc should cover for up to 330bhp at 3bar of pressure and they flow well up to 4.5bar to get me up to 390bhp should I ever take the engine that far which is very doubtful seeing how much trouble the guy from NZ had to get his hold together at that level
All of the bolts, brackets and random bits get shot blasted and electro plated…
Then the box goes back together, clearances checked, new steel cage diff bearings installed and diff installed and checked for preload…
Then the lid goes on and the box looks better than new…
Gearbox mount also blasted and plated…
pulled the conrods out of there packet, seem to be everything they should be, checked the length and confirmed they were the new style ones, just need to sort out the ductile liners and pistons at the end of the month
nice rod bolts
Coming together nicely
little update,
Got a full new set of ball joints and the EP rear caliper adapter to mount a pair of brand new AP 2 pots on the rear, going to order a set of 4 304mm discs with brake bias and larger master cylinder at the end of the month…that should be all my braking sorted for the long term as the car is never going to be an endurance racer.
On a positive note changing all my brakes will save me about 8kg which is a nice saving as half of it is rotational
Im waiting on pro alloy to get back to me on what fuel pump will drop in there 48l tank, i think they said it was a walbro, but they are confirming it first.
Ordered some new faulkner springs, now the final weight of the car is targeted at 680kg, most of the weight has come from either in the middle of the car or in the rear and if anything ive added more weight to my front end than a factory elise so its sent my weight distribution further forward.
Im taking a guess at this, but with my front aero and bigger wheels/tyres I think my front end weighs about 300kg, where as my back will be about 380kg, this gives me a static weight distribution of 44/56 so in theory i would go for a similar distribution in the spring rates, but because the rear doesnt have an anti roll bar ive upped it a little to 41/59 which is 800lb/1150lb if i find im still getting rear roll i can always add a bit more up to 1250lb
Also got a couple of pictures from dan today…well i wanted them bright so I could easily check for damage/bent bits on track, look very funky
I think im going to paint my brake calipers the same colour, just need to takata green harnesses to finish the look
ball joints, rear caliper radial adapters and brand new 2 pots
Car not loud enough already 
Are you gonna be ready for the 1st round on the 6th April?
Do you know what else is on the bill,…I may call in.
Im afraid im not going to be ready it seems.
Im expecting the car back on the 22nd of March, once its back my list currently is this.
Modify my wing uprights
Take it for MOT
Take it to be mapped
Fit lourves in the front clam
fit AP 2 pots on the back with 304mm discs all around
Fit my roll centre adjusters.
Buy tyres
take it donnington for testing, theres one on the 16th of april that i would like to go to.
So the plan this year is to do 2 rounds as a One Hit Wonder, which will probably be cadwell and brands…dont think theres much point going silverstone as ill only have 250bhp and ill just be a mobile chicane down the straights to the point I just wont be able to make the times up in the corners.
I wanted to do a full season but time and funds mean i cant get the car done quick enough and have time for testing, no point the first time i ever drive the car in anger is the first event as ill just be to slow.
Im hoping when I go donnington there maybe a few people local to it who want to come and watch, be nice to meet a few people off here
would love to see someone like randy set a time in the car, not saying you’re slow (how would I know?) but be great to have a known wheel man in it.
well randy has offered as he is going to help set the car up, so he will get the best out it, i need a pro driver to drive it because it will help with 2 things…1 to know how to set the car up and know what changes to make to improve the car and 2 it will give me a bench mark to aim to, if he does a 1.13 around donnington and im doing 1.17 then i know how much i need to improve, rather than me assuming that 1.17 is the fastest the car can go…i know im an average driver at best, but to realise how far you are behind the ultimate lap gives you perspective.
yeah, I remember saying ‘f**k me’ after looking at the video times when Jamie Stanley took mine around rockingham and bearly 50%
I remember the first ever Time Attack at Donny when Thorney ran it and Randy/Scuffers drove Quo’s Honda’d car…wow that was quite a log time ago now!!
Randy drove the wheels off if it but was robbed by a Westfield XTR2. I remember the closing minutes standing on the pitwall waiting for Randy to come round and see him appear sideways out of Goddards knocking another half a second off 