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[quote][i]Originally posted by Kyle T[/i] Covid Update: After the first trackday I got a bit obsessed with the air intake temps due to the naff intercooler positioning on the OEM layout. I'd done a load of reading and found some modifications that would add some more airflow. I was intrigued so got stuck in. Plan was to add aux ducting into the IC shroud fed from the sidepods: [img]https://i.imgur.com/c13NpHi.jpg?1[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/j3ZcYS9.jpg?1[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/idy7Mgj.jpg?1[/img] I then took the car to France with the local Lotus Owners club which culminated in a trackday at the Folembray Circuit. Ace track, sort of like Blyton but with a bit of elevation. I did some data logging too to see if the IC ducts had made much difference: [img]https://i.imgur.com/8VxyYYv.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/pKUNG4Y.png[/img] I was fairly satisfied with that, despite much higher ambient temps the charge temps were a fair bit lower. Video from Folembray, we pretty much had the circuit to ourselves - cracking day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmJkQDy3LRU Shortly after returning home I did a Donington Evening day which was a complementary trip for booking so many LoT days in 2019. Unfortunately it was an absolute washout, a few cars span out on the sighting laps and the standing water just made it horrific. I pretty much did the sighting laps and just watched after that... so no video. The car felt undriveable in the wet, plenty of grip at the front but it was like the rear was on ballbearings. Took the tyres off the following weekend to find them looking a bit worse for wear: [img]https://i.imgur.com/RokFqHP.jpg?1[/img] So got all four tyres replaced with some barely worn ZZRs I snagged on eBay. I added oil catch cans, in theory to further assist the intake air temp project (no oil lining the innards of the IC, hopefully boosting it's efficiency) [img]https://i.imgur.com/Gw8gQmG.jpg?1[/img] Did another trackday, this time at Croft. Met up with the new owner of my old Elise and had the obligatory photo: [img]https://i.imgur.com/tXh0eYg.jpg?1[/img] In hindsight I'm not sure I was really feeling it at Croft that day. We were the first event to be held after it got resurfaced for the touring cars and it just felt really hard to read all day long. I was driving the car a bit too nervously, even though it felt 'fine' on the day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X41oFQun610 It also didn't help that the day was attended by some seriously quick machinery that day, making me feel even slower. Even an innocent looking Elise that I was roughly matching my pace to turned out to have the best part of 300bhp, and the Audi S3 which should have been easy fodder turned out to have almost 500bhp :lol: For the next trackday I did I decided to get tuition. Not just the 15mins for £20 session with the TDO but a proper all day session with somebody who knows what they're doing. After asking around I ended up inviting along a friend from the Lotus owners club who does a bit of racing and has been trackdaying Lotus' for years. We ended up at Blyton with Javelin and the day was just what I needed, really got confidence back in the car (Donington seemed to really shake it I think) and I ended up going faster than ever around Blyton. I quickly followed this up with a solo trackday (again at Blyton) so I could put my practise into use. I can honestly say that I felt held up by the later V6 Exiges that were in attendance and I think I only had to let one car past all day (a Rob Boston racing Elise). I did a session following round a V6 for a handful of laps, he clearly had better traction than I did and so pulled away at the start of most straights, but towards the end of the straights it actually seemed I was reeling him in, and catching right back up on corners. When he (finally) let me past, I went about 4secs a lap quicker(!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofzxgO_pTJE At this time my wife was 8months and 3 weeks pregnant, so that was likely to be it for 2019 trackdays... My end of year IAT logs: [img]https://i.imgur.com/Ae4Fs17.png?1[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/mIp0jWi.png[/img] Until the driver training at Blyton I was having thoughts about selling the car, I felt that when I had my Elise I was pushing it much harder and having more fun as a result, whereas I tiptoed around the Exige a bit too much. The two Blyton sessions around October fixed that, I really finished the year on a high so decided to put to bed any thoughts about selling it by getting in way too deep financially. After baby was born I picked up a few bits: New steering wheel [img]https://i.imgur.com/nTGl4nf.jpg?1[/img] Some spunky Nitron Clubsports [img]https://i.imgur.com/EcNiq1s.jpg?1[/img] My reason for buying these was less to make it a better track car and more to make it a better road one. The Elise Bilstein OEM shocks were brilliantly judged, made for a great road car but were ever so slightly a bit too soft when you went on track with sticky tyres. The Exige is the other way around, fine on track but awful on the road - so the Nitrons let me have my cake and eat it. Finally the culmination of my IAT obsessing... I bought a charge cooler and uprated engine rad to go with it. [img]https://i.imgur.com/fSm00LF.jpg?1[/img] Here commenced a December/January and most of February of tinkering - thoroughly enjoyed it, can't be bothered to detail it all here but my PH thread has a blow by blow version of it. In summary the front clam came off, heating system was fully refurbished to pre-emptively fix some known issues with it, braided brake lines went on and of course the CC kit went on. This is about the most I've ever dismantled anything in my life, was getting quite scared about how it went back together... [img]https://i.imgur.com/mCHGwn6.jpg?1[/img] Charge cooler made for a sandwich with the engine rad and (also new) AC condensor. [img]https://i.imgur.com/7U77PL9.jpg?1[/img] Had to route the water pipes through the OS sill which was a bit of a mission, but not quite as bad as the internet says it is. Then finally the nice bits go in, obviously my previous DIY ducting came out. [img]https://i.imgur.com/c74Sk3t.jpg?1[/img] I had a few dramas along the way, had to replace a fair bit of the AC system as it just wouldn't come apart without damage and ended up putting a new fuel pump in because I was unsure about the one the car came with. In hindsight I could have left it alone as it was fine for my spec. I had the interior out to do the fuel pump, so used it as an excuse to get rid of the cheap prosport gauge and put a SPA one in. [img]https://i.imgur.com/pkQgcW5.jpg?1[/img] I did some other odd jobs too, fixed a slight oil weep on the crank seal which was more unexpected expense - found the leak was likely caused by a damaged crank pulley - so swapped that at Toyota for far too much money. Chucked some new coils and plugs in as it looked like the old ones had been arching, coils covered in burn marks. Had to then replace two wheel bearings, think I damaged the ABS/speed sensor wiring when fitting the Nitrons but eventually it was taxed and back on the road for March. I took it to get a Geo and Dyno session at HPE Automotive, I'd measured all the parts I'd added/removed and calculated a 13kg gain by adding the chargecooler and coolant. [img]http://i.imgur.com/nh11Z65.jpg?1[/img] I had been expecting the car to be best part of 950kg based on the wikipedia "book" weight of 930kg plus my additions. Looks like those stats were for the later airbag cars, as it seems mine would have been <900kg from the factory. I've got 10-15kg more of 'easy' gains to make with some decent wheels etc, so not too shabby really. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEBrWpMSjbc Car went on the Dyno to make sure the chargecooler was working and that my AFRs were still healthy. The CC is advertised to make an extra 20bhp without a map, but I think this applies more for a stock 220bhp car rather than mine in 260bhp trim. I expected no gains, and was correct - the car dyno'd at 255bhp. It did however make a big chunk of torque over another intercooled 260 car that he had on file in the midrange. I know of other 260 cars that have made 270-280bhp on stock intercoolers but with different exhaust systems, so that's perhaps something I can investigate next. The charge temps however were the star of the show. [img]https://i.imgur.com/FbsUTHt.png?1[/img] Peaking at 23degrees (8 degree ambient) on a poor airflow (dyno) environment was pretty impressive. I had some logs from previous "road pulls" and they peaked at 40degrees in matching ambients. [img]https://i.imgur.com/laAta1C.png?1[/img] I'm fairly certain that this will be a huge improvement on track, eliminating heatsoak should allow me to run much longer (and faster). Following the dyno/geo day I had a 3hour early morning run out to the coast, saw sunrise at Scarborough then back home across the North York Moors. Ace drive out, car seemed to get faster and faster as the morning dragged on. Made all sorts of plans, then 24 hours later we got told to stay in our homes for the forseeable future :lol: Since then I've machine polished the car, changed an idle pulley (noticed one had a bit of a wobble on it) and took my Exhaust off to get measured up for potential replacements. More on that later! [/quote]
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