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Secant Vehicles has begun offering an engine conversion for the Elise/Exige, swapping in a 280hp (241 ft-lb torque) supercharged version of the GM Ecotec four cylinder (a motor that has been pushed way beyond these power levels so appears to have a lot of potential). Cost is $20k, which compares favorably with less-extensive modifications like a turbo ($10-15k). Read more at EliseTalk or Secant’s website.

I attended the Elise/Exige tech session led by Nick Adams at LOG27 in Apsen/Snowmass this past weekend. He didn’t have any material prepared for the event, it was just a huge Q&A session. I couldn’t think of a better way of running that session - the questions were intelligent, insightful, and plentiful (we ended up getting kicked out, the session was going too long). Some memorable ones:

- Nick explained the design details and philosophy of the 2007 bumpers…it’s classic Lotus, they closely reviewed the rules and interpreted them in a creative manner. New part numbers for various items, new descriptions…the clamshells are now ‘bumper skins’ and allowed to be damaged in an impact! Lol. Likewise, the rear panel where the foam bumperettes are located is a license plate holder, and rear impacts will damage that part as well as the bumper skin (clamshell). The rear panel received some additional bracing to help carry the load to the subframe; the front bumper skin (clamshell) received some fiberglass reinforcement to again help carry the load and ensure the crash structure was not damaged at all in a minor impact.

- The biggest reason for the sponginess in the 2005 brake pedal is the pedal linkage, and is something Nick admits was a mistake. Since they wanted to use the aluminum pedals, but needed to revise the linkage, they inserted a steel part in the linkage system (to save cost over using aluminum). Due to mismatched thermal expansion of that and the aluminum bits, they used rubber bushings in the linkage, which give us some sponginess. The 2006+ pedal box is superior (does not have this design), but is in no way retrofittable to the ‘05. When asked if the ‘05 linkage could be redesigned using aluminum parts with solid bushings, he avoided answering directly for obvious liability reasons (no company in their right mind would ever consider selling such a modification to a critical safety system). It seems like it’s something that could be easily engineered and produced for personal use.

- He suggested using a crow’s foot extension when checking the torque of the suspension bolts (many/most cannot be accessed using a simple torque wrench and socket).

- He expects that Lotus will sell a supercharged Elise eventually, it’s an obvious progression yet has no idea when that would happen.

- The button you press to open the doors (from the outside) originates from a trunk release used on another vehicle, this is why there’s no mechanical connection between that lock and the central locking system, there just aren’t provisions for it in that lock.

- The 211 uses a fourth iteration of the Elise chassis (first was S1, second was S2, third was federal Elise, fourth is the Fed Elise with higher side sills). Front upper a-arm is unique to this vehicle, as are the steering tie rods, to restore the suspension geometry (since the car is much lower than an Elise).

- He considers the 2007+ headlight unit to be much better than the ‘05-’06…better optics, it wasn’t just a simple fix to get it to pass the fed requirements. Not retrofittable to earlier cars (though I imagine with some soldering and maybe trimming of the clamshell behind it, it could be done?).

- The roof scoop of the Exige is quite inefficient as the inlet is far back from the windshield header. The GT3’s roof scoop is much better; I think he said the roof will be available in the US at some point? There’s always the Sector111 roof option too, similar front scoop extension that will improve efficiency.

- He didn’t seem to be a big fan of a lower cam change, thought it wouldn’t be best for performance.

- That’s all I can remember right now; I wish I had videotaped the session as it was very informative! A couple questions that did NOT get asked were regarding the clutch disc failures we’ve seen, and hesitation when cornering on a track.

The latest issue of ProActive, the free newsletter published by Lotus Engineering, is now available for download here.

Sector111 is now taking orders for their supercharger kit designed to fit the Elise or Exige. The $5500 kit gets you a 53rwhp and 24 ft-lb gain, and uses a reflashed ECU for ease of installation (also ensures that the ECU’s learning ability remains intact). The only downside is it’s named after the Elise owner who helped a lot with the R&D early on, a guy that goes by the screen name ‘Ronin’ and was banned from EliseTalk for his “f-you” attitude. Other than that, it looks like a great kit. It’ll have some competition later this year though, as December 1st Blackwatch Racing will start selling their own supercharger kit, which sounds very similar to the Sector111 one except for the custom intake manifold and lower price ($4950). The Blackwatch Racing kit will be CARB-legal; no word from Sector111 on the legality of their kit.

The May/June 2007 issue of the free Lotus proActive newsletter is available for download here. This issue covers various news from Lotus and the automotive industry in general, the advantages of reducing vehicle structure weight (and how to go about it), the robot-piloted Elise used in an upcoming DARPA competition, CO2 emissions reduction.

This kit has been in development for quite some time; I thought it had been for sale already but this is the first time I’ve seen the website advertising it. I really need something like this; a few months ago I moved from near sea-level in California to 8500 feet elevation in Colorado, and the power loss has been noticeable. Not to mention all the hills around here where I could use a little boost. Cost is $4500 for 2005 model years, $4750 for 2006 models (the drive by wire in those models necessitates the difference). This gets you a 50hp boost of power. For another $1k you can get the ECU reflashed with a lower cam changeover (5750rpm) and disabling of the learning feature.

Just a heads up for all you Elise and Exige owners, a new potential problem is surfacing that everyone should watch out for. There have been several failures of the rear suspension due to loosening bolts; some are the hub carrier bolts, some failures are the inside upper control arm bolts loosening. Until this is figured out for sure, it’d be wise to check the torque of all these fasteners on your car before driving it anywhere. You can read more about it in this thread over at EliseTalk.

What’s kinda scary are rumors that Lotus made a change at some point (’07, I think the rumor goes), to replace the control arm bolts with one of a higher grade. Supposedly, it’s something that’ll be retrofitted to older models ‘as needed’, which is kinda scary as they begin to get out of warranty later this year (the early ones, at least), at which point issues like this are not likely to be covered.

Finally, after the car’s been here for almost three years, companies are finally offering performance ECU modifications in the form of a ‘reflash’, where new code is flashed into a chip that must be soldered in place of an existing one on the ECU (hence this is not a DIY project). So far, the primary modification is to shift the cam changeover point from 6200 rpm to around 5700 rpm, which owners report is greatly improving drivability and enjoyability of the car. Lotus is even jumping in the game with their own offering.

The options are:

PES

$795
Dyno graph can be found here, showing slight gains in power (~6hp). Users are reporting very noticeable gains (one user did a 3rd gear acceleration run from 3500rpm to redline and reported a one second gain). Of note is that, due to the shifted cam change, they claim a 21hp gain at 6250rpm.
They say they also offer special maps for cars with a cold air intake.
More info here.

Blackwatch / HRM

This is, as far as I can tell, the same product being offered by PES. More info here.

Sector111

$550
~5700rpm cam changeover
No claims of any amount of power gains.
They’ll have future ECU reflash options to help maximize performance gains from intakes, exhaust, etc.
More info here.
This is the tune that EliseTalk user CharlieX has been working on; Sector111 has a 12 month exclusive license to it.

Lotus

Lotus Sport T4 and T4e ECU – Track Optimised
Description
A Lotus ECU with the cam switch point optimised for track usage (switch point revised to 5750 from 6200 rpm). This allows the driver to maintain the use of the high-lift cams during track driving, whilst avoiding unwanted switches to low-lift cams. All other functionality of the original ECU program is retained, preserving the full European emissions compliance of the powertrain.

Applicable vehicles
Elise 111R Non Federal
Exige Non Federal
Features
Transition to high-lift cams at 5700 rpm (standard set at 6200 rpm)
Simplistic installation
Full retention of European emissions compliance
Part(s) supplied
Lotus T4 Manual ECU AL53M0215F
Lotus T4e Electronic Throttle ECU AL53M0244F
Prices:
$795 for 2005 model year cars
$995 for 2006/2007

So, which is better? Good question. The Sector111 reflash has the price advantage, but if the PES reflash really does help optimize the car for a cold air intake, it’d be the obvious solution for owners with that. Personally, I’m going to hold off on doing this until reflashes are available that help take advantage of intake and exhaust modifications.

Issue 19, the March/April 2007 edition of Lotus Engineering’s newsletter proActive, is now available for download here. Among other things, this issue covers the Geneva motor show, some global warming issues, and the 2007 Lotus Sport GT3 race car development.

While not officially an option, it IS possible to remove the roof of an Exige and fit an Elise’s soft top instead. Here’s a link to someone at EliseTalk that did this.