Project Nirvana Has Arrived

Project Nirvana (Driving Bliss) - our normally aspirated Lotus project car has been secured today. Many of you know we sold our Exige recently to fund this project as well as the upcoming Black Widow. This car is pretty exciting for me as it brings us back to our roots: 'Performance Through Lightweight'.

We intend to build a lighter Elise with our best parts. Our intent is to keep Project Nirvana as a street friendly car but track capable. It will not have some of the extreme mods we installed on the Exige. In fact we plan to leave the power unchanged.

We know the forced induction cars have gotten much of the attention these past couple of years. The beauty of the NA cars is the added reliability from a powertrain that is not taxed to the level of the FI cars.

This is an '05 Elise with 14,000 miles on the odo. It came with the Sport Pack & Hardtop options only. The lack of the Touring Package saves us some weight immediately since it lacks the added sound insulation. The previous owner, Bill has taken good care of this Elise and only made one mod: the microMIRROR.

We have a long list of tweaks that aim to make the car an overall better performing package. In fact we will highlight many of Ralph from V2 work including: V2linx, V2 Fuel Tank, & V2arms. Project Nirvana will also be the lucky recipient of Nitron GT3 suspension and our ULTRAdisc brakes. The car needs to be ready for the next LCS event at Laguna Seca: July 16 & 17. We've got a bunch of work ahead of us!

Fuel Starvation Fix - Modified OEM Tanks from V2

Ralph has been busy sorting out the fuel starvation issue inherent in most Elise/Exige when tracked. This has not been a street issue but one that manifests itself on the track in high G corners. The stock tanks have a baffle that is coming loose as the sealant is failing.

Ralph has been collecting fuel pressure data on an Exige 'S' that he is crewing. The stock tank is running dangerously low even before the driver feels the cut out. The resulting lean conditions have blown more than one Elise/Exige motor that we know of.

V2 is taking stock fuel tanks and modifying them as follows:

1. Open the end of the tank
2. Thoroughly clean out the failing sealant
3. Weld in their new baffle - 99% sealed and featuring some proprietary venting
4. Install trap doors (see above)
5. Weld on end plate
6. Pressure test the tank for 24hrs (see picture below)

They have tested this tank in race conditions with slicks and found they can run the car down to 1 gallon of fuel with no problems. This solution maintains all of your emissions and safety parts that exist with your stock tank.

We will offer this solution on an exchange basis. Contact us to get your car sorted.

Track Testing - HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!!

We took the Secant Exige to Spring Mtn this last weekend for testing. Official temps were 98degF on Sat and 100degF on Sunday. Steve, Ryan and Dave from Secant took a methodical approach to testing and taking measurements. We learned quite a bit as we tried various modifications to keep her cool. We will discuss more at our LOG29 Tech Seminar.


Needless to say 300+hp makes tons of HEAT!
A big thanks goes out to my friend Jack Fried for his help this weekend.

Ecotec Update

Steve completed street and dyno tuning since we finished the swap. The car was running great. We met up at Buttonwillow and exchanged Exiges for a week. My drive home was limited to mostly highway driving. The torque of this powerplant was clear - it just pulls like mad. 80-100mph dashes were executed smoothly and quickly -without a downshift. The downshift from 5-3 @80mph resulted in getting thrown into your seat like no other Lotus I've experienced. Steve from Secant has mapped the ECU so this downshift results in intoxicating acceleration!
We went to the track this past weekend for some hot weather track testing. The details will follow tomorrow once I download some pix.

Ecotec Transplant is Complete - 325hp Here We Come!

We completed the engine transplant this weekend.  Our motley crew consisted of of Abel and I along with the Steve, Ryan and Dave from Secant.  Ryan led our efforts as he has completed this swap a few times and developed the integration.  We got started at about 9am on Saturday and started up the new engine at 1am on Sunday (see last pic below).  We also had a few visitors who checked out the swap.  

Essentially we removed the old engine, bolted the TVS blower onto the new built engine along with the old transmission and few other bits.  The 'Devil is in the Details' so I will post some details of the mechanicals later.  Needless to say I was impressed with the use of OEM components that result in a factory- looking engine bay. 

We buttoned up the car on Sunday after finding a couple of loose hose clamps.  Steve had already completed a rough engine calibration so the car was safe to drive.   My driving impressions were limited as the engine still needed to be broken in.   We drove around on Sunday keeping the rpms under 4k.  The Exige can be driven around at very low rpms very easily.  It just drives smoothly and idles beautifully.  We put the car into 3rd gear and tooled around at 1500rpm with ease.  Ryan had previously spent a significant amount time getting the shifter sorted so it shifts nicely and easily.  

Steve drove off to San Francisco at about 3pm Sunday.  He will complete the engine calibration and bring it back down for additional track testing in a couple of weeks.  We then plan to take it to LOG29 and show off the Stage II kit.  We are slated to give a Tech Seminar at LOG on Sunday at 3pm so please join us.

New Atom Brakes

Girodisc has been testing out some new brakes for the Atom.  Some of the Atom 2 have weak brakes.  The Alcon equipped cars, like mine, are fine but the Base & Sport brake package cars

suffer from too little rear brake.  These cars  respond very well to improved rear brake.

Secant Stage I Power vs Stock Lotus

Horsepower:

Torque (ft-lbs):

Secant Exige's Engine Bay

325hp+ Powertrain Swap with Secant

One of the products from our partnership with Secant Engineering is a full powertrain swap for the Elise/Exige + power ehancement for the Atom2. The Secant boys have done an exceptionally nice job in integrating the Ecotec powertrain into their Exige. Their OEM-like approach is evident when you see how clean the engine bay looks. The powertrain looks like it belongs in a Lotus (actually a derivative is in the Europa). An interesting fact is that this engine was developed in part by Lotus Engineering. My friend Kiyoshi aptly pointed out, we now have a 'Lotus' engine in a Lotus Elise/Exige.

Secant has already commercialized their Stage 1 kit. It produces 280hp & 241ft-lbs of torque. Learn more here: Secant Stage 1 Specs The power of this kit is impressive BUT so is how docile the car is around town and in day to day use. This powertrain swap is available now - just contact us.

The engine shown above was built for us by GM Racing. We will be plugging it into Secant's Exige. We're undertaking this minor surgery at our shop this weekend. This motor is fully built to withstand the added power that will be generated thx to the new TVS supercharger that we are bolting to it. This is the same blower on the new ZR1. It is very efficient and can move massive amounts of air. We'll also raise the rev limiter to 7,500rpm.

We are shooting for approx 325hp. Our ultimate goal is to offer SAFE and RELIABLE power upgrades. We're confident that our aero, brake & suspension solutions are ready for this level of power. Delivering a balanced solution is high on our list.

Yes, we have another engine being built by GM Racing for my Atom. 8^)