The Perfect Elan

[Hinch]

If you were to buy a standard Elan what changes or upgrades would you do to make it a much improved car? With all the differing thoughts and ideas on this site is it possible to come up with a concensus on the best most worthwhile upgrades and parts to use. I think something like this would be very useful for all new Elan owners and make make the whole issue of upgrades far less confusing.

Im not talking about a car for track use here, just for ultimate road use enjoyment.

Perhaps there could be a seperate section on this site for this purpose, to define the perfect Elan, the best parts to buy and the best place to buy them. This could be updated from time to time as better options became available.

Hinch

[theelanman]

hinch
simple......

1) brakes
2) exhaust
3) everest chip

that should give you about the 200bhp mark....
but youve gotta do the brakes first....better to be able to stop before being able to go faster

brake upgrades I'd replace the calipers and discs......
change to hi spec, wilwood, AP racing...depending on yer budget (hi spec and wilwood are about £500~£600...AP are about £1200 )
from feedback most people seem to have noted just changing the pads to greenstuff (or similar) and putting vented discs on makes little difference....possibly a bit better but nothing like the braking performance you get with the bigger discs and 4 pot calipers

the exhaust I suppose should be PECO......
for about £300 you get a 2.25" stainless system (not S2)....this will let your engine breath better and give you a marked increase in boost (about another 0.1 on the gauge IIRC.....so you get 0.75bar rather than 0.65bar

change the chip over to the everest.
£100 for the chip and it will allow your car to boost to 0.92bar...the whole thing has been remapped and is a propper job....
if you want more info on the tech side of the chip then ask Alan (aka ESM)

think thats a fair summary of where to start...also about the first £1000 spent once youve got the car

cheers
G

[Dico]

As above.
No more no less required

[dapinky]

Not so much an upgrade, but............







......... check the front TCA's and rear wishbones for rust!!!!

[tigerdog]

1) brakes
2) exhaust
3) everest chip

4) Air filter, intake plumbing and BOV (preserve the turbo with all that new boost...)
5) Pre-cat elimination (stiffy)

[RayD]

Considering the question was about a road car - I’m a bit bemused by the turbo…this is the first one I’ve had. When does the 0.92bar come into play and what effect does it have over 0.65bar. Is it possible to quantify it?
Ray

[Paul.P]

Ray, as far as i'm aware, there are no official figures to quantify the increase in boost, but 204bhp at 0.92bar is quite a bit quicker than 165bhp at 0.65bar !

[John_W]

Ray,
It's been quantified a lot, using ElanScan and dynos. Here are a couple of places, but there's lots more data if you have a trawl of the ElanScan, Mountain chip & dyno threads.

http://www.lotuselancentral.com/forum/v ... php?t=4517
http://www.lotuselancentral.com/forum/v ... c&start=11

John

[nitroman]

Visual explanation why you should first do a brake upgrade. Better wear your seatbelt or you'll bang your melon against the dash! Knowing you can "disprove" the laws of physics gives you the brio to drive like a madman (or if you are already mad, to at least justify that madness) far more than heaping on the horsepower... as the human instinct of self-preservation trumps all.

And, on that note, it may very well save your life, or at a minimum your car's life. Example: It is a fact that in Jacksonville alone 3 Elan's were totalled due to front-end damage... meaning the car couldn't be stopped in time. I would hazard a guess that it's the #1 cause of Elan death worldwide.

So, buy a brake; save an Elan. On the other hand, the fewer Elans on the road, the greater value mine will have. KINDLY IGNORE EVERYTHING I'VE SAID.

[davidjt]

The Everest chip transforms a quick car into a rocket; most common use on the road - overtaking safely in about half the normal distance: think lotus cornering on rails, motorbike in a straight line.

But do upgrade the brakes first.

[RayD]

Thank you for the replies…

Paul, I understand how 204bhp at 0.92bar is quite a bit quicker than 165bhp at 0.65bar but I assume another car of the same weight with 204bhp at 0.65bar would be equally quick. Likewise 204bhp and no turbo.

John, I was hoping for a short cut to my understanding – I might have to do some reading.

David, “overtaking safely in about half the normal distance” This is where I get confused… increasing the boost from 0.65 to 0.92 dramatically improves the acceleration…

My car is like a four wheeled motorbike, it accelerates like mad.

Remember it’s my first turbo… and I haven’t driven it flat out in terms of speed or acceleration.

When I drove it home on the first day I was surprised the boost gauge never moved, and it didn’t move for the first fortnight. Only accelerating quickly brought it into action, and it’s still the same.

I imagine you could steadily accelerate up to 130mph without the boost gauge moving. I imagine you could rev the engine steadily up to 7000 revs and it wouldn’t move?

The boost seems to be directly related to the speed of the throttle opening rather than the amount it is opened. If this is the case presumably to halve the acceleration time when overtaking you would need to floor the pedal and wait for the results. I tend to squeeze the throttle down in keeping with the response from the engine rather than using it like a switch.

The bit I was trying to understand was this…because the turbo boost is gradual from 0 to 0.92 and seemingly related to the speed of the throttle opening, at what point do you see the extra performance supplied by the 0.65 to 0.92 element. Is it that when you floor the pedal on a standard car you get acceleration in keeping with 0.65bar and after uprating the pressure you get the further benefit of an extra 4lbs/in² - right from the start?

Does it only apply to flooring the pedal? I haven’t took particular notice but I imagined you could overtake a car quickly without even reaching the 0.65. Mine seems to still be making its way up when it’s time to slow down again.

Or is it just the gauge that is gradual, and the turbo is instantly 0.65 or 0.92?

I’m referring to driving on the road, in keeping with the original question.

Thanks
Ray

[rip]

The turbo is a lightweight way to increase power. You could get 204bhp from an engine boosted with +.65 bar, but it would be bigger and heavier, or rougher/less reliable.

ESM chips change the way boost is applied. When my turbo cuts in, the boost rises very quickly to .65 bar. With an Everest, I would expect it to keep going for that little bit longer.
Remember that the turbo is actuated by exhaust flow as well as throttle opening. If you floor the car from 1500rpm, then the boost will pick up gradually with engine speed (or more accuarately, exhaust flow). If you floor it from 3500rpm, then the exhaust flow will already be there. You will just have to wait for the turbo to spin up (which is a lot quicker).

Check out here for more info on ESM's turbo mod chips.