I would be very interested in feedback from memebers on Pilbeam racing upgrades for the exige…
… is anybody running the suspension uprights hubs and triangulation etc from pilbeam on there exige ?
is anybody using the Pilbeam 315MM Big ally rotor and AP racing 4 pot
setup on there Exige S1 ?
Azrael runs them on his car I believe… And rates them very highly
They are not cheap though!
Yeah i had the chance to speak to mike pilbeam yesterday V nice chap i quizzed him on a 4 pot setup for the fronts and putting my current eliseparts 290mm ally bells fronts on the rear this needs a hydraulic piston setup as handbrake is missing to make it work.
mike is looking into it for me
Anybody got feedback on the front brake swaps to rear ?
Pilbeam has an anti bump steer mod that looks interesting as well
…
I know Mike Pilbeam , and have done for years, he used to design and build ( and drive) very successfully , Chamionship winning, single seaters, if he is a first class designer, and has moved his business onwards and upwards, would highly recommend
I run everything Pilbeam has for the Elise/Exige!
The uprights are very strong and very stiff, have bigger bearings that look like they’ll last forever. The wishbones are again very strong and stiff but also very light. All of it is beautifully fabricated.
One thing you MUST keep in mind is that these uprights/hubs etc are designed around S2 measurements. So getting the hubs with the S1 PCD on is a bit of a waste of time. Fitting S2 wheels isn’t ideal either. I ended up having to get custom wheels to make it all fit my S1. The uprights have a 40mm rideheight drop designed in, so worth knowing when assessing what you’re going to use them for. You also have to use spherical joints in the wishbone outer ends to fit these - they cannot be fitted to standard tapered ball joints. - None of this is an issue for me with it all being on a racecar, but never been a fan of open bearings on a roadcar though as there’s no effective way to seal the outer wishbone bearings.
I have the 315mm front and 295mm rear discs with AP 4 pots front and rear - though the front ones are larger, all matched to a balance bar pedal box. Simply awesome, I swear I can almost pull stoppies! That said, I’ve only ever experienced them with race tyres.
Years ago I ran the Lotus Sport uprights/hubs with the 4 pots on the front and 2 pots on the rear,295mm discs all round, combinded with the uprated master cylinder it was a really good and nicely balanced setup. It also had the multi position lever for adjusting balance, but all it effectively did was limit rear brake force by varying amounts and as I think the whole setup needed slightly more rear bias I wouldn’t bother with that if I used this particular setup again.
When you say bumpsteer mod I’m not sure if you mean the steering arms or the toe links. Luckily I’ve used both on my roadcar for years. 
They do 2 different versions of the steering arm that fit to either spherical bearings or taper joints on the upper wishbone. 2 big positives of this kit is that 1. It puts the steering rod end in double shear. 2. The rod end itself is imperial, not metric. Imperial rod ends are still far superior and longer lasting than metric ones.
The toe link mod makes the toe link clevis part of the wishbone so removes the need for the bolt/rivet on bracket on the subframe, this is beneficial for strength, ease of adjustment and a small weight advantage. It does NOT remove bumpsteer - that only comes from adjusting the height of the outer joint and can be done with any toe link setup.
You’re making me do an awful lot of typing lately Crazyhorse!
Sorry about the cramp on your typing hand Azrael !
but i cant thank you enough for all this informed info , i just want to get a great setup on my car so at the moment i am in CRAZY mode so as to buy the right bits ! 
i specced up another big Brake kit via GSM seem good value
for the s1 using racing Hi spec racing 310mm rotors , anybody used these ?
Thks for the info, yes calm, helpful and informed a real pro.
IIRC the high spec brakes are meant to be s***e
[quote=crazyhorse]
i specced up another big Brake kit via GSM seem good value
for the s1 using racing Hi spec racing 310mm rotors , anybody used these ? [/quote]
Mate I’d honestly stick to tried and tested. I acknowledge what Azrael says about brake-bias is correct but many of have found the setup he alludes to pretty awesome. OK I’m more interested in chasing tens than tenths 
but my setup came off SeanB’s racecar following its win in Elise Trophy.
All of them? Or was it just their handbrake calipers that weren’t particularly great. I know of quite a lot of the Esprit and Elan crowd who have fitted Hi-Spec brake kits and really rate them. Though I’ve no direct experience of really using them myself.
Benja is right that the 4 pot front, 2 pot rear setup is very, very good. The thing that messes up any kit for road use is the handbrake requirement.
Now, I think I need to go out and buy some popcorn for when Crazyhorse asks about dampers or pad compounds…
It look like they’ve moved on since I last had some, but I found them to be failure prone on a mk2 golf I had years ago. Back then I dont think they were dust sealed. All IMHO of course, however I do have first hand experience of them.
I personally would be looking to use the AP Racing ones, lotus spec or the aftermarket ones with a pedal box.
All of them? Or was it just their handbrake calipers that weren’t particularly great. I know of quite a lot of the Esprit and Elan crowd who have fitted Hi-Spec brake kits and really rate them. Though I’ve no direct experience of really using them myself.
Benja is right that the 4 pot front, 2 pot rear setup is very, very good. The thing that messes up any kit for road use is the handbrake requirement.
Now, I think I need to go out and buy some popcorn for when Crazyhorse asks about dampers or pad compounds…
[/quote
the hi specs where the uprated race calipers not the road ones…
if not a tarox brake setup with 4-6-8 pots ?
they do 315-320-325-330mm grooved rotors plenty of choice
brake pads i’m on performance friction…they seem fine
The dampers ?
… that will be another thread
yes looks very possible that will be the way for me just got to get the hydraulic cylinder on the back to actuate le 2 pots as a handbrake. probably put the 315mm Pilbeam sourced AP 4 pots on the front . Cant find bigger although the wheels seem to be able to go to 325-330 rotors i got 4.5 cm clearance on the fronts with the current 290mm ally bells.
do some reading around re: hi-spec
seems experience is largely pot luck
2 pot or 4 pot luck ?
[quote=Azrael]I run everything Pilbeam has for the Elise/Exige!
One thing you MUST keep in mind is that these uprights/hubs etc are designed around S2 measurements. So getting the hubs with the S1 PCD on is a bit of a waste of time. Fitting S2 wheels isn’t ideal either. I ended up having to get custom wheels to make it all fit my S1.[/quote]
Surprised to hear this. Whats the reason behind it? I thought AndyD/Russ’ old car had the Pilbeam set up (or is it just wishbones?) and DaveOz/Wombat 1 too and neither had bespoke wheels made? Although I seem to remember Dave having problems during fitting iirc.
Theres nothing Pilbeam on the Orange car … its has JSR rose jointed standard wishbones and Motorsport uprights
Ah, I misread something in the past them. Must have been referring to the M/S uprights. Thanks for sharing/correcting 
Pierre
Pre the LOT Race Series, Russ’s car (now Andy’s) did have some trick Pilbeam bits, but they had to be ditched to comply with the LOT Regs.