LINCOLNSHIRESLUPOGTI

I used to run quite low back in the good 'ol days. Lots of inner arch modifying and chassis leg grinding but all was well.

Interesting thread. Nice to see another turbo-charged Gti after the awesome Clifford-mobile disappeared to become his garden statue! Just going to second / put some evidence to his quote above really. I ran 8000rpm with my throttle body conversion from 62,000 miles to 78,000 miles with absolutally no problems at all. The revs were limited for two reasons really, the weakness of the roller rockers and also balance as the bottom end was standard and had not been lightened or trim balanced.

Hope they are split rims for that price. I had a set of Schmidt revolution specially made in 16's and they came in under a grand!

I just removed the heating element from the breather pipe and removed the pipe right back down to the bottom of the engine. Add the filter there and you will not get the "oilly smell" anymore as the fumes simply pass under the car. Worth remembering to clean the breather filter out from time to time.

Another "old member" replies here. I kind of agree with Tigz comment earlier on, in the early days the club felt a much closer knit group of people. We seemed to all know each other personally rather than just as a username. I sold loads of stuff on here (most bought by Tigz may I add) and really only sold it as it was nearly all new and too good to just bin it...and if it would help another club member then that made me happy. Some good memories 1. The rolling road day previously mentioned. Was at Jamsport, me and Twisty had not had our cars long. Fin's low-riding Gti on 17's made me real jealous and I soon copied his wheelchoice. 2. Meeting Fin at a cruise in Great Yarmouth to show off my Kahn's.....which were the same as his apart from the offset. 3. The BBQ at Sarah's house after Gti festival. Was this the same day TDW (Tim) crashed his Gti and bent the front suspension/steering? 4. Racing Twisty down the strip at Pod. My next run was against a dragster who spat a conrod right accross my lane in front of me...glad that did not come through my driver's side door then! 5. All the swapping bits with Tigz outside my (parents) house to the amusement of my parents. 6. Trax 2004 when my car had an inlet valve stick. Flames and bang aplenty...Snoop cured it with Vagcom wen we got there...only for the fault to occur later on the way home...free head work from VW to follow. 7. The whole process of fitting the throttle bodies...the best bit was the Saturday afternoon when the car fired up and sounded like nothing I have ever heard before as it echoes around the small unit we were working in. 8. Andi and Emma's wedding. Brilliant, brilliant day, evening and night. And the worst moment ever...the day I sold the car. I can honestly say the Elise is no giving me as much enjoyment as the Lupo did...it is too much the same as all the others and I have had very little on my own input into it. Edited to add point 8.

I paid a few quid under a £1000 when I had mine done. I had to do the console, handbrake, gearknob, steering wheel and rear shelf though. The trimmer only did the seats and headrests.

I had an AX GT is 1997 as my second car. It was totally mint (and anyone who knows me knows how I keep my cars). It was two previous owners, 66,000 miles and full service history. Red, not faded, no scary history and proved totally reliable, only fault was the battery died but that is not the cars fault! Would have another straight away for a second car if only I could find a non abused and tidy white one as everyone I now see is a rough old dog. I am not into all the "my car is faster stuff" but at the time a friend had a Nova 1.3SR and the AX was way quicker, about on par with his later bought Nova Gte although the Gte was slightly quicker as the speed got to three numbers.

Make sure you go to the Bananabar!

Awesome. So funny when "stealth" cars spoil peoples day. R32 is cool, looks standard and I am sure it surprises many who think they have a fast car.

Front seats are extremelly heavy. Rears less so, most noticeable change is the increase in sound with no rear seats fitted. With regard to lightening the rear end of the car. Add some wheel spacers to increase the rear track slightly and soften the rear bump setting. Will make the rear more forgiving and do abit to reduce oversteer.

Unsprung weight has a big impact on handling. Lowering the unsprung weight (fixed) will mean the dampers have an easier job of controlling suspension movement (less inertia for them to damp) and basically you can keep your wheels on the road more of the time. Lowering unsprung weight (rotating) has the same benefit as above and also means there is less inertia for the engine to have to accelerate so vehicle acceleration improves. Granted only a little and probably not noticable really unless it is a big weight reduction. Easy way to do this is to chose wheels carefully. Some alloy wheels can be over 10kg each...as a guide my Lotus forged wheels are 5.5kg each on the front! I think you had a spot on point in there though. Much cheaper to lose "lots of cheap kg's" by removing trim from the car rather than remove "1 or 2 expensive kg's" by trying to reduce unsprung weight.

Thats exactly what I was saying. I fully understand where you are coming from Will with the vandalism thing but like Si says, all new "flash" cars are a target for scum to attack. I very rarely take the Elise anywhere where it has to be left for long periods of time (apart from work and families houses where it goes straight in the garage) but even with the Lupo I was the same. A very clean and smart looking anything is a target. You could leave the car filthy and discreet all the time...lol. Buy the car you want and keep the Ka to hack around in.

You know what I am going to say..... Elise 111r. Best drivers car in your list by a country mile, nothing come close. Sub 5s to 60mph, 13s quarter mile and fantastic handling, feedback, involvement and FUN straight out the box with no need to do any modifications (read: spend more money on the car). M3 would be my second choice, so nearly bought a CSL instead of my Elise but I really wanted a convertible and the M3 convertible is too compromised...and not a CSL! Rwd is where it is at! I fully take on board your point about being worried where you leave the car, to be honest I would not leave the M3, Mk5 Gti or the Megane in a rough area...I didnt leave my Lupo anywhere! Can be diverse and say VX220?

Worst (with the throttle bodies on) 120 miles on a tankful of V-power. Best (with the throttle bodies on) 245 miles on a tankful of V-power.

Something you are not telling us Andi? I have not bothered to join a Lotus forum yet. Enough background reading for me on Pistonheads (everything has been asked before so I can just search old threads).

My preferences although not in any order. Can you tell I mainly like old cars before manufacturers started filling them with loads of weight adding extras? 1. Lupo Gti 2. Clio Williams (could get a minter for your budget) 3. Clio 172 (so you dont have the silly exhausts of the 182) 4. Golf Mk2 16v / G60 / VR6 (conversion) (could get a minter for your budget) 5. Peugeot 205 Gti Mi16 (could get a minter for your budget) If you prefer (slightly) newer stuff. 1. Audi A3 1.8t (might be able to get an S3 even now) 2. Ibiza Cupra 3. Alfa 145 Cloverleaf (very under rated performance although very correctly slated for reliability) 4. Civic Type R (if you really must get such a horrid looking car) 5. Focus ST170 6. Astra mk4 Gsi turbo (doh I suggested a Vauxhall)

When I had my throttle bodies fitted I had the Motec ECU mapped for 98 RON (Optimax at the time). When V power came out (99 RON) I used that all the time and the car ran great. Tried Tesco 99 RON once and it caused a mis-fire everytime I used full throttle at medium to high revs. Was so bad I had to top tank up with V power every time it got to 3/4 full until I had diluted all the Tesco rubbish. Tried the BP stuff too and that made the car feel sluggish and down on power. Slightly off on a tangent. In my old Merc I tried some Total 97 RON (just being randon as I usually put normal 95 RON in) and aginst all my expectations the car ran really nice on it and returned slighly improved economy too!

I think you do right keeping the VW ecu in place. I left mine where it was and left it controlling all the non-engine functions of the car and the dash lights. The Motec controlled the engine functions and sent any data required by the VW ecu to the VW ecu. I never actually even took the clocks out the dash as we never needed to disturb them although we did have the lower dash out to get to the wiring behind the fuse box and also to some wiring under the passenger airbag.

Thats it now Jen...once you lower the coilovers once, you do them again, and again, and..... Looks real good on the Bathursts, with some wheel spacers Bathursts may even be THE wheel to have. Clean as always too.

MattyB My mate has a S2 sport135 in yellow. It was the first Elise I drove and I instantly knew I wanted one (well I wanted one since they were released) but after a drive in the series 2 I was hooked more than ever. I really like the series 1 sport160 or series 1 VHPD190 but I wanted reliability at least close to the ultimate dependability the Lupo gave me. The 111R is fast, very fast but certainly less raw than the series 1 and perhaps a little bit too far from the original Elise concept for some although it is just right for me...well it is now it has the stage 2 as it was too quiet standard.

I have nothing more to say to you. Except get one bought mate. You can get a series 2 for quite a good price now, although it does depend on if you can live with the Rover K and I know I certainly couldn't after the total dependability my Lupo gave.

IIRC the early cars had "LOTUS" accross the back in silver stickers. Then MY04 they changed to the Lotus roundell same as the front of the car. Customer feedback said they preferred the letters so Lotus returned to "LOTUS" across the back but in chrome letters as opposed to stickers. The rear round badge was only MY04 cars I think. I have heard lots of the brackets failing on the stage 2 because of poor welding but then it is covered under warranty so I dont mind, I will keep getting new ones if they break. The sound it makes is excellent, after 4000rpm when you lift off the exhaust bangs like a turbo car on the boost limit, can do it to order everytime. Also really raspy like a race car at about 8000rpm (so yes I have used second cam now...all the way to nearly 9000rpm!). I have been offered the ECU modification, just a reflash of my ECU for about £350. I dont want it though, I like the aggressive cam change point and the fact I have to keep the revs high, moving the change lower and softening the change is taking away the feel of the car...in my opinion anyway.

Where do you find them Mitch??? G60 brakes and then slammed on some 16" Schmidt modern lines for me please.

I really like these. I looked at a couple (one in grey and one in that yellow/mustard) before the Elise and if I had been going for another hot hatch it would have been one of these of MK5 Gti. Nice to see you are modifying (all good modifications too) and I love to see such mint cars. Some black Turini's would be cool, maybe spaced out slightly to give a wider track. Car is making good power too, obviously your modifications are all working well. As much as I STILL love the Lupo Gti, if I had what you have now, I am not sure I would go back to the Lupo after all the work on the Renault.

.....and before anyone else mentions cleaning! I Zymolled the entire car (inside and outside) the first weekend I got it. Then last weekend decided it was not clean enough, so I Zymolled it again. I have driven 950 miles, its got slightly wet once but been washed 4 times and Zymolled twice! I am not losing my cleaning touch.....it is a lot easier than the Lupo to clean though. So glad I sold out of black paint, grey is so less fussy with smearing and swirling.