goelise

Probably not. Its going to be huge too!

ok, so here is another shot of the epoxy glued (not welded) frame. I feel it is the heart and soul of the whole car:



and this one gives you a good idea how small this car is. Taken with the front and rear clam bodywork off. Its is a street legal kart!


for those wondering - There is a rollbar that was also taken off and not pictured above and with the doors on there is a additional bar(look closely at the first pic) providing side protection as well as the frame itself.
Here is a pic of the door hinges:

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Wow, awesome pics and info! THANKS!

Big fan of the Elise. WEIGHT IS THE ENEMY!

I have a poor man's Elise - an '07 MX-5 Miata.

UberNoob

sweet car

ive always got a thing for lotus elise
in fact, this has been my desktop background for the past few months or so

goelise

Thanks for the nice words bitkahuna! btw...I love the MX-5 Miata!


Thanks for the pic UberNoob! Lotus Elise Type 79 John Player Special.
This was the 2006 color lineup:

a few colors have come and gone but a lot of these remain.

At the time Lotus was researching which powerplant would be suitable for the lightweight chassis of the Elise, they looked for the powerplant that was lightweight yet produced the most hp for its weight:


Its is known that Lotus approached Toyota 3 times to get thiis engine into their Elise for US Import. All Elises imported into the US are designed Type 111R.


The bottom of the Elise chassis has a front panel, rear service panel and rear diffuser that is remove-able with a 8mm socket. There are lots of them and the job is made easier with a electric screwdriver. The panels when installed form a totally flat surface underneath, view from front looking towards the back:


The air exits out the back with this 3 element rear diffuser. This is the stock aluminum one:


There are, of course, aftermarket 5 element carbon fiber ones.

gshb

is it as noisy as all the reviews say? i have 2 coworkers who seem to daily drive their elise to work, but i cant imagine it being comfortable.

goelise

The engine is a high revving 4 cylinder sitting pretty much right behind you. The intake is a few feet from your left ear. Some Elise owner (me included) take out the factory snorkel and put a velocity stack in to further bring out the intake noise!


Its a sportscar first, and in this they have minimized the use of sound deadening materials which unfortunately mean adding weight.

Personally I love the sound of the engine burbling and popping behind me especially when the throttle is closed after high revs.

The suspension is tight and not always 'comfortable' over significant bumps.

Some say ingress and egress is tight < I do not think this is an issue but this may vary from one person to another.

The AC is not all that strong. Its a fairly lightweight unit adding only 22 pounds to the car. Still, Lotus charges you $350 to DELETE the AC.
My wife demanded I keep the AC or no Elise. If you have a hardtop on the car the AC effects are maximized.

There are rattles and such found on the stock car. I have found that a lot of this can be sourced to the wheel liners and the not-quite-up-to-the-task flimsy stock fasteners. Replacing them with wellnuts eliminated I would say 80% of the rattles I used to hear.

kit cat

iTrader: (6)

i hate that intake box!! took my friend and I like 30min trying to put back the box together on his exige.

and for what it is, i think its comfortable.

hass

Yes but it's nice noisy, i prefer that sound over the radio.

gshb

are there such things as deals? i visited the los gatos dealer of lotus, but havent talked about numbers or anything. im weary of buying from a dealer where the lotus is the cheapest car they have. service would be brutal im sure...

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

whats a potus, o wait you mean one of the best handligncars in the world, i didn't know there were lotus owners on this board, sweet, i love lotus, rather have one over cayman or boxster, thats for sure

wolverine

iTrader: (9)

i always wanted one of these. if i ever sell my mr2 Ill replace it with this.

goelise

This is a natural move for many MR2 owners (btw I love the MR2 series):

newr

Nice car but I prefer the one in the back ground.

vboy418

By buddy has a nice orange one. Beautiful pics!

Hartawan

iTrader: (1)

It looks quite uncomfortable to drive. Back pain much?