Lotus Elan Central

by **Sy V** » Thu 29.09.2005, 08:21

...looks like some smartass has beaten me to it (there's obviously a dearth in shoulder problems at the moment). :wink:

by **Costas** » Thu 29.09.2005, 19:06

While doing the VboxIII tests last week 2 problems messed up Sh4rks numbers.
1. Slippery weather conditions
2. At every shift of gears while at full acceleration, we encountered a small delay in response that costed 0.5-1.0 secs in every shift we did.

Today Greg did all sorta of diagnostics and discovered that the fuelling was too rich (was set for 1.6bar + use of NOS) and as a result the engine was drowning in fuel for a bit. We lowered the fuel pump regulator boost from 3.3bar to 2.8bar.

My NOS specialist Victor just came back from a trip to USA and brought many "hop ups"

We ll see how it goes now....

Bytheway Nitroman, I saw your installation of purge lines and in a glance mine seemed primitive compared yo yours. I would be very interested of a set of yours (purge lines, adapters, holding points etc)

Costas

by **Costas** » Wed 05.10.2005, 10:35

Just bought the October Issue of FasteR Tuning magazine with the Sh4rks' 8 page dedication.

I am very excited and very happy of the comments anf of the total presentation of the car, cant wait to share it with all of you.

Unfortunatelly I am travelling to Romania this afternoon for a 2 week business trip and dont have the time to scan and post the pages and also translate them, but I will do so first thing on my return.

Despite the fact that it is all writen in Greek it has noumerous pictures, so if anyone is interested I can send a copy of it. Just let me know.

Costas

by **lotos** » Wed 05.10.2005, 20:42

If we wanted you to purchase copies for us, what do they cost? I have a large collection of Elan magazines.

by **nitroman** » Mon 10.10.2005, 06:36

Costas wrote:
By the way Nitroman, I saw your installation of purge lines and in a glance mine seemed primitive compared to yours. I would be very interested of a set of yours (purge lines, adapters, holding points etc)
Costas

Costas, thanks. I assume you just used the poly-ethylene (flexible black plastic) which comes stock with purge kits. I looked on the invoice which is the best I can do to help. I'll list all the Earl's part numbers which you can look up using Google; for instance: http://performancepartsexpress.com/catalog/product.php?TCID=5&SCID=196&PRODID=3315

Anyway, here we go:
ERL-600103
ERL-982203
ERL-581803
ERL-982403
ERL-581903
ERL-600103
ERL-600003
ERL-981603

Hope that helps, your friend, Matt

by **Costas** » Wed 19.10.2005, 10:41

Matt thanks a lot, my NOS specialist and Greg are allready on to it, your installation really made us envy your superPro work

Lotos it will cost nothing at all, actually its my pleasure that you are interested even though its all in greek. You ll just buy me a beer at Donington next year

just PM me your mail address and I ll send a copy to you.

Obviously same goes for anyone else interested.

Now, I am back from 2 weeks in Romania (you wouldnt believe the status of cars those ppl drive) and tommorow I will scan the pages of the FasteR magazine.

Black Badge has arrived and allready installed

All black baby!

by **Costas** » Sat 22.10.2005, 21:18

Ok here they are!!!

All the pages binded in low resolution to fit this thread, but if you want to DL a high resolution version then go to Literature Section of the Forum and you will find all the pages singles or binded in high resolution.

Translation is ready and will be posted ASAP (give me one more day time), final checks are done, few missing points due to luck of technical vocabulary. With Red text Colour will be my own comments. For the moment I just posted translation for frontpages.

TRANSLATION
Caught at Sharks’ Jaws
The small shark sticker at the rear panel is not there just for fun. Costas didnt chose it in random as a symbol for this famous Elan. Hold your breath, because as soon as Sh4rk smells your fear he will attack you with no second thought done. Sh4rk will not spare anyone.
I am refered as Lotusakias, my nickname in Athens, meaning the Lotus Fanatic, but instead I use my real name in translation.

by **Enright** » Sat 22.10.2005, 21:56

Absolutely great stuff Costas, and particularly good to see the LEC logo on the article pages! Well done for getting that included.

by **Doc Fizzix** » Sun 23.10.2005, 00:19

This is GREAT! Very nice, all your hard work looks beautiful in print

by **TheBard** » Sun 23.10.2005, 03:01

Stunning stuff Costas, can't wait to read the translation...
The Shark looks utterly amazing in print :clap:

Ian

by **F1 LOTUS** » Sun 23.10.2005, 07:09

WOW

Incredible job :clap:

You must feel very proud

Well done

by **Houdini** » Sun 23.10.2005, 16:25

WOW Incredible job
You must feel very proud
Well done

I second that, but it's all Greek to me! (Pun intended)

Can't wait for the translation, an outstanding job. :cheers:

by **Doug** » Mon 24.10.2005, 08:48

Awesome, Lotusakias !! :wink:

by **Costas** » Mon 24.10.2005, 09:11

Translation (continued...)

Page 3

Its been a long time since Lotus Elan was burning hearts at the early 90s. Small in size, 2 seater, elegant and fast had only 2 negatives. First of all at the engine cover next to “Lotus” there was a word that the British would love not to be able to read it, ISUZU, shame... (but that has been taken care of by DSP as you can see on the engine picture), secondly it was a front wheel drive (that cant be changed) yet it was, and still is, a milestone for front wheel drive handling and drive-ability. The chassis (technical description of chassis I cant translate) has amazing limits of grip and Elan is great fun to drive. Yes, its exactly like this, and keep in mind that we are talking for a British roadster that is about 15 years old.

The Sh4rk
It is Black, it serfs at the streets of Athens & Greece, and bites hard. Costas is a well-known adrenaline street racer with a history of lots of small car bombs like the Lancia Y10 Turbo and the Golf GTI Turbo by Oettinger. His Lotus Elan S2 for a kickoff got a remap and an increase in boost pressure by Gregory Despotopoulos of DSP (a close friend of Costas), and produced 200hp. But as some say “life starts at 200”, hp or km/h doesn’t matter, the best to come is beyond 200.

ENGINE
Its a rare case, there are not many engine modifiers worldwide that have tried to improve this engine. The lightening of the crank by 600gr and the handmade flywheel that is also lighter by 800gr help the engine to increase rpm faster. The responsiveness in throttle is very good but the big IHI VF34BB Turbo needs a bigger load to operate and in that area the lightening of the moving parts of the engine didn’t help. As a result the max torque is at 5000rpm as it is shown on the dynogram. A very thorough search has been done on the engine gusget, the stock one is of 1.4 mm thickness while the handmade one that is made by DSP is of 3.1 mm thickness so as to drop combustion ratio. It is made by outer layers of permanite (? cant find translation) and inner layers of copper. The forged pistons by JE are a guarantee for reliability and for the same reason the Air-conditioning is removed and replaced by a second in line oil cooler. On the Engine cover (technical description I cant translate) and according to Greg of DSP no change needed to be done to the stock Intercooler, and the results prove him right!

Engine Picture
Tremendous detail on everything, perfect work on all pipes and a big story inside the engine.

Blow Valve Picture
Handmade Blow off valve, open type (?) with self lubricated piston.

Page 4

Not just improved but one of its kind.
At the Lotuselancentral forum Costas’s project is well known. Many do enjoy the mods he has done but some dont agree at all since they dont side with the fact that he modified a collectible car and especially a Lotus car.

Its not just the engine that was torn to pieces but the whole car was. Especially from the dashboard and frontgoing there is no part that hasn’t been replaced with an aftermarket or custom made part that is modified and upgraded. Same goes for the rear end panel that has been drawn, designed and built by DSP from scratch and it really gives to the Elan the look of the later generation of Esprit. It is unique and it is one of the very few exterior look modifications that we have ever seen that not only find us agreed but its a perfect job. It really looks like if it is a Lotus factory line job in detailing, adjustment, building quality and color painting.

Enough with the blah blah
At the initial briefing a target in power Hp wasn’t set, it was a “lets do it and whatever may” project (2). The engine cover was treated (technical description I cant translate) As far as it concerns the engine inner parts? Panic! Rods, crank and flywheel were lightened and microbalanced, 4 forged JE pistons were installed but the rpm limit wasn’t changed from 7200. The hp gain wouldn’t be accomplished by raising the rpm limit but instead by installing a bigger Turbo which was fed by the also bigger Tomco fuel injectors. The exhaust is handmade as well and because the human nature is never satisfied, a NOS installation was also added behind the seats.... just in case! With all these mods done, the dynometer went crazy and all who learn that a 10 year old Elan is not just healthy but it is modified at its limits and produces 362hp and 42kgm of torque go crazy and amazed about it.

Picture of purge valves
The Sh4rk is pissed off and snores!

Picture of rear panel
No, its not an Esprit Roadster, its an Elan

To be continued in page 5...

--------------------------------------------------------------
I will add the rest of translation ASAP
Costas

by **chris.t** » Mon 24.10.2005, 10:56

I luv it - good work and a plug for LEC to

"The Sh4rk is pissed off and snores! " - i don't think so it will bite yer fekking hand off

Costas - you've got to get her to Donington!!

by **Costas** » Mon 24.10.2005, 11:26

chris.t wrote:Costas - you've got to get her to Donington!!

Allready looking for a proper co-passenger :wink:

by **chris.t** » Mon 24.10.2005, 12:25

Costas wrote:
chris.t wrote:Costas - you've got to get her to Donington!!

Allready looking for a proper co-passenger

with nerves of steel i guess :wink:

(or the fittest figure :shock:

)

by **chris.t** » Mon 24.10.2005, 12:28

lol lol - just noticed your avatar :clap:

by **Dave M** » Mon 24.10.2005, 14:58

I agree on the nice incorporation of the LEC sticker. Very cool.

One question: do you have any datalogs of intake temps? I question the following: "and according to Greg of DSP no change needed to be done to the stock Intercooler, and the results prove him right!" Pumping ~1.5 bar through the stock IC with no change needed? I think you'd see a bit of a bump in HP (not that you need it) or at least you'd be able to run the same HP at a lower boost level with a better unit. Just something to work on when you need a new project... :wink:

by **Costas** » Mon 24.10.2005, 16:10

Actually Greg says that a bigger IC could help (not much bigger though) but I dont really need it and its not a "must" do. All my temps (oil, water, downpipe) are great so far even at 1.6boost constant running for over 2 hours at high revs, so nothing to worry about at least for now.

Keep in mind that the car has been running for over 6 months on daily basis and under hard conditions and all is perfect, thus the "results prove him right" comment.

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