Lotus Elise Front Clam Grill Replacement Tip

Look Ma no....

The small grills that 'protect' the oil cooler are know to break off.  Replacing them requires removing the clam.  This is a process that takes hours so many folks simply live with a missing grill.  Jorge came up with a faster way to replace it but it does require drilling into a hidden part of the clam.  This is NOT a method for those of you who want to keep their car 100% original.  For those of you with Outlaws, this is a reasonable solution...

This Blog shows the images of the modifications without step by step written instructions.  This work should only be done if you are mechanically inclined with at least intermediate skills and appropriate tools.

Tools needed

A longer screw will be required

Note measure for hole position

Drill at an angle.  A long bit is required

Note position of hole.

Screw/washer is installed in this image

Screw is run through the plastic grill

Cover hole with vinyl decal or rubber plug

Lotus 2ZZGE Baffled Fuel Tank - New Design

We've started work on a new baffled fuel tank that is built from an OEM tank.  Over the years, we have offered a couple of different designs with pros and cons.  Our V2tank was built for us by Ralph@V2 and featured ATL trap doors that did a good job but were noisy.  When Ralph retired, we had to develop a new solution.  

This second product the 111tank, was modelled after the factory baffled tank that was no longer available.  This tank had no moving parts and proved to be a good solution - for most.  We had two clients who suffered fuel starvation, one with a Honda conversion and another with the 2ZZGE.  This made us relook at our design.

ProAlloy have been making baffled tanks for many years but they were patterned after the Euro tanks and were not a direct replacement for the North American tanks.  To maintain our emissions and safety plumbing, utlizing a factory tank was more ideal.  ProAlloy use a ball check valve in their design.  This simple design has been very effective and one that we've decided to follow.

This image shows our baffle design with the check valves.  We are using a stainless baffle and will attach the valves to it.  We will open up the end of the tank, remove the old baffle and then replace it with our design.  One challenge that exists with this design is that the float that registers fuel level could potentially interfere with the valve.  We will need to test this out and possibly move the location of one valve.

We are on track to getting the first prototype built and into our ArtCar2 by the beginning of 2026.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 11

 Aligning the car after the suspension install requires quite a number of steps.  The 911 features a fairly complex number of suspension components unlike the Lotus.  

We first set ride height on the car.  This proved to be fairly straight forward but did require some back and forth.  Our Elephant Racing kit comes with spacers that reposition the suspension to maintain the correct geometry on a lifted car..  We chose to measure ride height from the bottom of the subframe areas as defined by Porsche.

We've decided to use the USA ride heights as a starting point.  See above.  The spacers provided in the kit require subtrating their height (22mm) from the recommended ride height.

On the rear multilink setup, the camber and toe adjusters are on different links, but changing one absolutely moves the other.  The lower control arm (camber arm) changes the wheel’s lateral position when adjusted.  This movement shifts the toe link’s effective length.  The result: camber changes = toe changes.  The front MacPherson strut has camber adjustment at the lower control arm eccentric.  Changing camber alters the scrub radius and control arm position which slightly changes toe. 

We plan to run the car with this set-up and then experiment with higher ride heights.  Unfortunately the process is much more time consumming on a 911 compared with an Elise!  Fortunately we have a Hunter alignment rack that allows us to experiment...

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 10

The boys installed the new IMS bearing.  The generally accepted IMS service interval is to replace the IMS whenever you replace the clutch. This seems like a good plan though I would budget for this service immediately if I bought a used 996.  Gearbox removal is not as difficult as the 'box in a Lotus Elise so the cost is not really astronomical - unlike an engine replacement that may be required when the IMS bearing fails!

This IMS kit comes recommended by our friends at Slakker. I visited their shop a couple of weeks ago to learn more about their engine-building capabilities. They partner with Hartech in England for engine components, and they’ve invested in an in-house dyno to ensure every build is thoroughly vetted before installation. With Slakker as a trusted source for engines, we’re even more confident in servicing these cars.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 9

 

We bought an inexpensive short shift kit from eBay to test out on this car as the shifter was really sloppy.  The kit arrived and appeared to be nice but after installation, we noticed the lever was oddly positioned.  We had a 996.2 in the shop and compared the two saw that ours way off.  Further scrutiny revealed the the shifter came to us incorrectly assembled.  We took it apart and reinstalled it.  The forward gears all worked, though a bit shorter than I like.  The Reverse is hard to engage.  We are contacting the Supplier to see if we missed anything on the install.

We are attempting to find wheels that will be an inch smaller diameter - from 18" down to 17".  My plan is to increase the tire aspect ratio so we could gain some additional sidewall height for more compliance.  Originally I was planning on increasing the overall diameter of the tire but have now decided to stick closer to the original tire diameter.  Regardless we will gain some more compliance if I can fit a 17" rim.

The larger diameter Girodisc is making the 17" wheel a challenge.  We bought a wheel measurement tool that allows us to simulate the wheel diameter, width and offsets.  Now that we have the Elephant dampers installed, we broke out the tool to confirm clearance.

It appears that a 17" wheel can work at an offset of ET45 vs ET55 (stock).  We plan to go with a wider rim from 7.5" to 8"  as the tire will be 225.

We bought some new tires to install on the stock rims so we can test while we wait for the wheels to be sourced/secured.  Though they will lack some of the compliance I was hoping for, they should work well enough for us to see if the suspension needs to be retuned.  The Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ is an all season ultra high performance tire that should deliver good road manners in the dry or wet.  The treadwear rating is fairly soft (440AA A) so we should have decent life with acceptable grip.  As a comparison, the Lotus run on tires with approx 200 tread wear rating!