GW 200 CUP (clubsport->racecar->v2)
- Thread starter LiamP
- Start date
LiamP
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EthanMenace
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LiamP
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The Clio sold, the new owner is looking to race in a few series this year (RoadSports / BRSCC) so will be good to see how he gets on.
Back in December I bought a Lotus Elise S1, I have been looking seriously for about 6 months but tbh I have dreamt of owning one since I was about 12 when seeing it in the back of one of Clarksons books.
It’s an ex Elise Trophy race car which has since been converted to road use, I messaged the owner by chance on insta after seeing it behind an F40 he also owned! Emotionally attached to the car but not driven for 2 years he allowed me to purchase with a view of getting it back on racing. It was a very competitive car in its day having won quite a few races and run by Rob Boston racing.
I made a very cheeky offer having not seen the car and he accepted, picked up a few weeks later whilst he was skiing. Completely blown away with how nice this car is, it looks like a show car and very hard to believe it ever raced.
Weighs around 700kg and about 150BHP at the wheels this should be about perfect for Roadsports / Club Enduro Class B (240/T with driver) No ABS, no TC, cable throttle, no brake booster and no power steering, I hope it drives like the saxo, raw, however I have only driven it off and onto a trailer so far..
It was converted about 3 years ago and then subsequently hasn’t been used for the last two so it needs a few things replaced and refreshed before it can get back on the track. To be perfectly honest if I had the space I think I would try and keep both and continue racing the clio but my hand was forced, I would like to continue this thread but understand if I lose a few readers..
Maidens1979
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R20BTG
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That’s lovely, please don’t disappear to the Lotus forum, I want to read the development thread for this!
Mardgee
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LiamP
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The Clio has continued its form, now with an upgraded driver it scored a pole and 2 wins at Donington! I actually really enjoyed watching someone else racing it, maybe that is telling me something.
Back to the lotus and I have severely underestimated the amount of work required, what I thought would be a refresh has turned into more of a restoration. I think this is probably to be expected considering the amount of time off the road and the various changes made to allow it to be road legal.
I like to think of this list as reasons why I didn’t finish a track day / race had I just gone straight to the track.
Back to the lotus and I have severely underestimated the amount of work required, what I thought would be a refresh has turned into more of a restoration. I think this is probably to be expected considering the amount of time off the road and the various changes made to allow it to be road legal.
I like to think of this list as reasons why I didn’t finish a track day / race had I just gone straight to the track.
- Cambelt / water pump changed
- Various seals changed
- Oil leak isolated to oil filter housing, have removed and working on fitting oil temp/remove pressure sensor setup
- Waiting on laminova oil cooler from HPE
- 2 loose spark plugs
- AN fitting welded to the cam cover to allow a simple catch can setup, just 5 helicoils required
- Roll pin in the selector shaft removed and replaced
- Starting to get dark thoughts about ecumaster ADU/PMU setup
- Throttle pedal assembly missing various parts
- Gaz monos serviced / sphericals and shafts replaced
- At least one bearing needs replacing
- FIA spec fuel tank (2.5k+) foam replaced and cleaned
- No cat fitted, also concerned about noise so might get creative
- ECU is incorrectly installed in the engine bay, wiring fixes also required
- Both driveshaft nuts welded on (2hrs+ just to remove)
- Clutch slave leaking / scoring
- Latest find is a leak from the main seal, so gearbox is coming off
LiamP
Paid Member
No idea where to start with this, since May it has been one step forward about 10 back every single damn week, highlights:
Laminova heat exchanger installed and plumbed in.
ECUMaster ADU / sensor install, got carried away but enjoyed this part.
Dampers rebuilt and every joint replaced.
Gear stick / linkages replaced / rebuilt / fixed.
So many dodgy fixes in the loom found and removed
New plugs and coils to fix a misfire when hot, two of the coils where completely wrong to the point I am not sure how the engine was even running.
It was at this point I released the valve seals had been leaking and the exhaust valves where in a very bad state so the head came off for new seals/guides and a clean up.
I then made a very stupid decision in seeing if I could get a head gasket to seal when the liners/deck surface looked like this.
It didn't work, immediate head gasket leak into the coolant when I tried a leaked down, pulled the engine and stripped it down.
Whoever originally build this engine liked RTV sealant as it was literally everywhere, including on the bottom of the liners. Liner 4 was a few weeks of rust away from a hole (there was even discolouration on the inside), I can only assume this sat with water in it for a while. Major thrust was a mirror finish so I have no idea how it was showing any compression.
To be continued...
Laminova heat exchanger installed and plumbed in.
ECUMaster ADU / sensor install, got carried away but enjoyed this part.
Dampers rebuilt and every joint replaced.
Gear stick / linkages replaced / rebuilt / fixed.
So many dodgy fixes in the loom found and removed
New plugs and coils to fix a misfire when hot, two of the coils where completely wrong to the point I am not sure how the engine was even running.
It was at this point I released the valve seals had been leaking and the exhaust valves where in a very bad state so the head came off for new seals/guides and a clean up.
I then made a very stupid decision in seeing if I could get a head gasket to seal when the liners/deck surface looked like this.
It didn't work, immediate head gasket leak into the coolant when I tried a leaked down, pulled the engine and stripped it down.
Whoever originally build this engine liked RTV sealant as it was literally everywhere, including on the bottom of the liners. Liner 4 was a few weeks of rust away from a hole (there was even discolouration on the inside), I can only assume this sat with water in it for a while. Major thrust was a mirror finish so I have no idea how it was showing any compression.
To be continued...
LiamP
Paid Member
We are now in August, brought the engine home and started cleaning, probably spent a week cleaning everything, the inside was just caked with oil.
Another week spent on the deck surface, this was first linished using a cutting stone to remove the coolant build up. The old liners had already been shimmed 5 thou however once the surface was cleaned I was able to remove these and get ~5 thou on the new Westwood liners. For some context the liner height is extremely important when it comes to the Rover K and is where a lot of the HG issues stem from.
The 160 pistons were within tolerance and tbh didn't want to have to upgrade, mainly because I don't want to have to increase the compression ratio you get with forged. Simply cleaned, measured, new rings, gapped, mahle motorsport bearings and ARP bolts.
Crank was lightly cleaned/polished and I then found out the reason why my main seal had continued to leak, an almost perfect strip of RTV/glue? acting like an oil extraction device.
I then tried to torque the bearing ladder, bolt 1 and 10 stripped the threads at 5Nm, after sulking for a week and racing at the 2CV 24Hr race I came back to helicoil all 10 which worked successfully.
Built the short block up whilst replacing everything that would help reliability such as the oil ladder, oil pump, any seals, bolts etc. Fed up of this taking so long I booked in at Emerald giving me about a week and a half to finish..
Another day or so of hard work and the car was back on 4 wheels for the first time since March, the engine started although I only ran it for about 3 minutes to confirm no leaks/oil pressure/bleed as I didn't want to glaze the new liners.
Turned up to Emerald on Monday extremely nervous about what pain the car was about to put me through but it was obvious I was in safe hands with Dave. Spent almost the entire day with me to get the car mapped perfectly from idle to full power, strongly recommend a visit if you have an Emerald.
The engine ended up making 180.6 BHP / 146.4 lbf.ft I was hoping for >170 so 180 is mega, any more and I would have issues meeting the BHP/T I want to race in.
This was at 7k, so likely a few more available if I wanted to rev higher but the torque curve is almost dead flat with the 285H cams and I like the idea of having more reliability considering this is going to spend most of its life high up the rev range.
Shakedown next..
Another week spent on the deck surface, this was first linished using a cutting stone to remove the coolant build up. The old liners had already been shimmed 5 thou however once the surface was cleaned I was able to remove these and get ~5 thou on the new Westwood liners. For some context the liner height is extremely important when it comes to the Rover K and is where a lot of the HG issues stem from.
The 160 pistons were within tolerance and tbh didn't want to have to upgrade, mainly because I don't want to have to increase the compression ratio you get with forged. Simply cleaned, measured, new rings, gapped, mahle motorsport bearings and ARP bolts.
Crank was lightly cleaned/polished and I then found out the reason why my main seal had continued to leak, an almost perfect strip of RTV/glue? acting like an oil extraction device.
I then tried to torque the bearing ladder, bolt 1 and 10 stripped the threads at 5Nm, after sulking for a week and racing at the 2CV 24Hr race I came back to helicoil all 10 which worked successfully.
Built the short block up whilst replacing everything that would help reliability such as the oil ladder, oil pump, any seals, bolts etc. Fed up of this taking so long I booked in at Emerald giving me about a week and a half to finish..
Another day or so of hard work and the car was back on 4 wheels for the first time since March, the engine started although I only ran it for about 3 minutes to confirm no leaks/oil pressure/bleed as I didn't want to glaze the new liners.
Turned up to Emerald on Monday extremely nervous about what pain the car was about to put me through but it was obvious I was in safe hands with Dave. Spent almost the entire day with me to get the car mapped perfectly from idle to full power, strongly recommend a visit if you have an Emerald.
The engine ended up making 180.6 BHP / 146.4 lbf.ft I was hoping for >170 so 180 is mega, any more and I would have issues meeting the BHP/T I want to race in.
This was at 7k, so likely a few more available if I wanted to rev higher but the torque curve is almost dead flat with the 285H cams and I like the idea of having more reliability considering this is going to spend most of its life high up the rev range.
Shakedown next..
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LiamP
Paid Member
Had a few small fixes to do and did a rough geometry with 80kg of postcrete courtesy of Screwfix as it's the cheapest 20kg you can buy. Started with 2mm out on the front which I reduced to 0.5mm out and 1mm in on each side on the rear which I kept.
Interior cleaned up with fixtures for GoPro, Garmin and final wiring for GPS.
AO52s bolted on with the new alloys, sorry to those that liked the gold but I prefer a more subtle look on cars.
Last minute track day booked at brands hatch a few Fridays back which was very busy, probably about 50% race cars.
First time this car had been on tarmac for at least 10 months and I believe about 7 years since it had been on the track so I was slightly apprehensive.
Straight into the sighting laps and the car felt tight right up until I pressed the brake pedal. I could tell it wasn't quite right immediately. I was hoping it was just rust or pad pickup but the pedal itself felt inconsistent and was getting harder as the fluid warmed. After 10 laps it was rock hard, never had bite, making modulation / heel and toe almost impossible, I don't think I even got the pads warm enough.
Had a few sessions with various attempts to bleed fluid, de-glaze pads, adjust the master cylinder pre load with not much improvement. At this point it was obvious that the master was failing to bleed pressure once warm, ironically this is one of only a few parts I haven't replaced (even had it in my basket with EliseParts at one point..)
Dampers kept at 8 clicks from hard (basically the middle) and tire pressures around 24/25 F/R as I spent the entire time focussed on the brakes. Frustrating but then happy that everything I had fixed/replaced/rebuilt worked faultlessly and the car setup felt good however I want to increase the rear toe to at least 2mm to keep it a bit more settled mid corner.
In hindsight I probably should have called it a day but pressed on in the hope of revealing any more problems, the data tells me that I was losing about 2mph a lap on the straight as the brakes started binding, this then ended with me having a slight moment into druids and calling it a day.
Since then I have had some time to look at the data, water temperature a very steady 80deg and oil peaking at 113deg after 15 minutes on the track. Laminova seems to be working well however I might modify it so that it slows the flow of water to try and take some more heat out of the oil.
I don't have a thermostat so it does take a while to warm up, not sure if I want to add one yet as it can take a good 10mins before I gets to 80deg. I was contemplating completely removing the current redundant pipe work to simplify the cooling package. Currently have millers 10W50, might require a bump to 10W60 in the summer and/or longer stints as the plan is 45min races.
Checked the catch can and it has a very small amount (<50ml) of oil/residue so the rings look to have been bedded in well, compression test on a cold engine revealed:
4: 207.5
3: 207.5
2: 212.5
1: 212.5
Before the rebuild it was averaging about 215psi when cold.
From a distance the oil pressure is a steady 60psi on the track however I could see dips, plotting it against the GPS G forces you can see the following.
High positive Y results in a drop of pressure, positive Y is right hand corners which is potentially pointing at the need for a baffle due to the pickup location. Frankly terrifying, not sure I have seen anyone else plot something like this?
- Speed / gearing is currently off on the speed sensor by 0.71 vs the GPS so I have a setting wrong, should be an easy fix.
- Fuel sensor did the job with usage around 0.55L per minute which is less than I expected as my Clio was much closer to 1L per minute.
- Voltage drops from around 13.1 to 12.5 when TPS is at 100%, could be numerous reasons for this as I think the ECU is currently chassis grounded but it's certainly another excuse for a rewire.
Overall pretty happy with the electrics/sensors I have added so far, very cool to be able to quantify some of the decisions made and get some visibility of what actually happens on the track. Time to rebuild the front calipers / master cylinder, add some brakes and get some seat time as this car certainly has the ability to be fast.
Interior cleaned up with fixtures for GoPro, Garmin and final wiring for GPS.
AO52s bolted on with the new alloys, sorry to those that liked the gold but I prefer a more subtle look on cars.
Last minute track day booked at brands hatch a few Fridays back which was very busy, probably about 50% race cars.
First time this car had been on tarmac for at least 10 months and I believe about 7 years since it had been on the track so I was slightly apprehensive.
Straight into the sighting laps and the car felt tight right up until I pressed the brake pedal. I could tell it wasn't quite right immediately. I was hoping it was just rust or pad pickup but the pedal itself felt inconsistent and was getting harder as the fluid warmed. After 10 laps it was rock hard, never had bite, making modulation / heel and toe almost impossible, I don't think I even got the pads warm enough.
Had a few sessions with various attempts to bleed fluid, de-glaze pads, adjust the master cylinder pre load with not much improvement. At this point it was obvious that the master was failing to bleed pressure once warm, ironically this is one of only a few parts I haven't replaced (even had it in my basket with EliseParts at one point..)
Dampers kept at 8 clicks from hard (basically the middle) and tire pressures around 24/25 F/R as I spent the entire time focussed on the brakes. Frustrating but then happy that everything I had fixed/replaced/rebuilt worked faultlessly and the car setup felt good however I want to increase the rear toe to at least 2mm to keep it a bit more settled mid corner.
In hindsight I probably should have called it a day but pressed on in the hope of revealing any more problems, the data tells me that I was losing about 2mph a lap on the straight as the brakes started binding, this then ended with me having a slight moment into druids and calling it a day.
Since then I have had some time to look at the data, water temperature a very steady 80deg and oil peaking at 113deg after 15 minutes on the track. Laminova seems to be working well however I might modify it so that it slows the flow of water to try and take some more heat out of the oil.
I don't have a thermostat so it does take a while to warm up, not sure if I want to add one yet as it can take a good 10mins before I gets to 80deg. I was contemplating completely removing the current redundant pipe work to simplify the cooling package. Currently have millers 10W50, might require a bump to 10W60 in the summer and/or longer stints as the plan is 45min races.
Checked the catch can and it has a very small amount (<50ml) of oil/residue so the rings look to have been bedded in well, compression test on a cold engine revealed:
4: 207.5
3: 207.5
2: 212.5
1: 212.5
Before the rebuild it was averaging about 215psi when cold.
From a distance the oil pressure is a steady 60psi on the track however I could see dips, plotting it against the GPS G forces you can see the following.
High positive Y results in a drop of pressure, positive Y is right hand corners which is potentially pointing at the need for a baffle due to the pickup location. Frankly terrifying, not sure I have seen anyone else plot something like this?
- Speed / gearing is currently off on the speed sensor by 0.71 vs the GPS so I have a setting wrong, should be an easy fix.
- Fuel sensor did the job with usage around 0.55L per minute which is less than I expected as my Clio was much closer to 1L per minute.
- Voltage drops from around 13.1 to 12.5 when TPS is at 100%, could be numerous reasons for this as I think the ECU is currently chassis grounded but it's certainly another excuse for a rewire.
Overall pretty happy with the electrics/sensors I have added so far, very cool to be able to quantify some of the decisions made and get some visibility of what actually happens on the track. Time to rebuild the front calipers / master cylinder, add some brakes and get some seat time as this car certainly has the ability to be fast.
