EliseInfo.com

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.

Quicksilver has unveiled a 4-2-1 exhaust header for the Elise 111R (which is the only one sold in the US). Naturally, it features equal-length primaries and is made from stainless steel. No dyno info is avaialble. You can find it at Hanger111.

From the July 1994 issue of Car and Driver:

1. Select Proper equipment

2. Recognize the threat early

3. Maintain good daytime scan

4. Maintain a good night scan

5. Practice Stealth, deception, and “hiding”

6. Beware of slow moving “clumps”

7. Avoid unprofessional and provocative behavior

8. Maintain a high level of attention at all times

9. Behave correctly when stopped

A user over at EliseTalk has posted a link to a great write-up on how to install a ForcedFed exhaust header on an Elise. You can check it out here.

Legendary exhaust maker Borla is finally shipping an exhaust for the Elise and Exige. $800 gets you, well, pretty much what you’d expect. 304 stainless steel, claims of more power, million mile warranty, and dual through-the-diffuser exhaust tips. You can read more over at Borla’s website.

UPDATE (via EliseTalk):
- Weight is ~29lbs
- Straight through design, perforated core
- Designed to meet SAE J1169 noise standard of 95dB
- Shipping in Early 2007
- Summit Racing is selling this for $719, with a ship date of 1/9/07
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I heard that Lotus recently updated the spec for the inner toe link torque, up to 60N-m from 50. So, it’s now 44 ft-lbs. Be sure to check these at every oil change, and before every track day! (via EliseTalk)

Tim Mullen posted a good writeup, with pictures, of how to bleed the brakes on an Elise or Exige; you can find this over at EliseTalk. He mentions it may be possible to bleed the brakes without raising the car and removing the wheels, and it’s that approach that I’ll be trying when I tackle this project this winter.

Are you looking for a particular part for your Elise or Exige? Or, just curious how everything fits together? Lotus publishes a part number guide, with exploded views of different areas of the car, and with the part number for each part shown. They were kind enough to hand out CDs with this PDF for free at a Club111 event a year or so ago; you can find the PDF available for download in EliseInfo’s gallery section here.

Composite World (not a very creative name, huh) has an interesting article about Lotus using plastics in a vehicle’s crash structure. Hopefully all you EliseInfo readers already know that the Elise makes great use of this up front, where a glass fiber composite crash structure lies ready to dissipate a huge amount of energy to protect the car’s occupants. You can read the article over at Composite World.
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Many Elise owners have experienced occasional stalling, usually when the engine is cold. The leading theory was that the throttle quadrant was not properly adjusted, and this did prove to be the case for most of the cars exhibiting these symptoms. The rest gradually cured themselves, the problem went away and was thus attributed to the ECU needing to learn and adapt to the engine and environment. Well, some people at Pico Technology did a very detailed analysis of the problem, and found that corrosion in the throttle position sensor was actually to blame! During normal use, the nature of the TPS ensured that this corrosion would eventually be scraped away, thus making it appear like the ECU was learning, when in reality it was anything but. You can find the article here. (via EliseTalk)
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