The Lotus Cars Community banner
  • Hi there! Why not register as a user to enjoy all of the benefits of the site? You may register here. When you register, please pick a username that is non-commercial. If you use a name that appears on any search engine commercially, you must pick another name, whether it applies to you or not. Commercial usernames are for supporting vendor use only. If you want to become a supporting vendor and grow your business, please follow this link. Thanks!

Just rode in the FORCEDFED Turbo Elise. Wow. I've now earned my astronaut wings.

52K views 187 replies 62 participants last post by  keith86a 
#1 · (Edited)
All -
I just got back from ForcedFed's shop in Livermore ... We met Brett and his team and they introduced us to the car. We poured over the engine compartment. We did some Q&A. Then ... we went for test rides!

:crazyeyes: HOLY FREAKIN WOW, that thing is awsome :cool: !!!!!!!!!!

Ahem. ... must calm down ...
...

ok. all better now.

So...

I made the 40 minute trip over to ForcedFed's shop in Livermore California. It's located in an industrial park only a few miles from the nuke lab. I almost drive past the place but my peripheral vision picks up a dark colored Elise. I U it and pull in. There's a small gathering of people around a Graphite Gray Elise. I also recognize a particular Blue Liz parked nearby.

I park, get out, and join the group. The car is sitting there with its engine lid removed. We're outside the shop, there is a blue sky above, and the air is chilly. Folks are asking questions but I spent the first few minutes looking over the install before I join the conversation.

Yeah, the new slicks (edit: Toy R888's... not actualy slicks) look interesting - the wheels they are on look nice too (*shrug*). But what i'm interested in is located in the engine bay. :) Sure enough ... there's our familier engine. But around that engine are some new components. Over there's the cooler ... and over there is the intake ... peering down inside I can see the new exhaust pipes as well as the heart of the turbo. The welds look very good. It looks very clean and absolutely professional. It doesn't look like anything is cramed in either ... the parts all appeared to have generous clearance and the fit looks like Lotus themselves might have shipped it. I can see the Unichip controller. The engineering looks good. In the cabin there's two new gagues - whose look & placement arn't my style but oh well.

I hold in the drool and rejoin the group.
Q and A time...

Me: "How's the tune comming? Solve that dip?"
Brett's tune tech: "Yes, the dip's gone."

Me: "Oh yeah? Cool! Are you still doing VVTL?"
Tech: "Yes"

Me: "How's the speed?"
The tech with a big grin he can't hold in: "0 -> 100 is in the 8 seconds!" (edit: The tech might have been expressing a best guess or something. Since the tuning is not done yet I bet they themselves don't know yet. We need to wait for the track test for the final numbers.)

Me: "What!? Wow. How's the driveability?"
Brett then tells us that we're gonna see for ourselves ... we're gonna do TEST RIDES!

Kiyoshi climbs in to the passenger seat and they start it up.

It sounds different. A better kind of different.
Deeper.
Idle is more burbly. More purposeful.
Sounds like how my vette idles.

The car backs out and, at normal parking lot speeds, and makes its way out to the street. Now this is a big test for me because I want to make sure the thing doesn't sound or act ridiculous at normal driving speeds. My Liz is afterall my new daily driver. I'm impressed ... the Liz has a deeper voice but it's not shouting ... the thing has gone through puberty and its voice has changed but for the better. I decide that it would be fine on the street.

The car, on the main street now, dissapears behind a building and then we hear it launch. Hehehehe :D when you punch it folks are gonna know! Roar!

Eventually the car comes back and Kiyoshi is wearing a new grin.

My turn!
Yeah yeah ... driving out to the street ... yeah yeah, ... easing onto the deserted road .... yeah yeah ...

Brett eased up to about 25mph ... then launched it from there.
He floors it to the top of second...
Then floors it to the top of third...
We're climbing through fourth...
We keep going faster and faster and ohMyGodNowINeedToGoGetATowel.

Okay ... I've only gotten to know a 70's vette, my Supra, an RX7, a couple of Dodges. None of them were supercars. I'm sure many of you out there own some pretty darn fast cars and could do a much better comparison. But for me ... this was the fastest acceleration I've ever experianced - and I fell off a mountainside once!

At the top of third it was starting to get scary. I had a fleeting vision of being dead. These roads are deserted ... it's saturday in an industrial park ... but there are some slight curves coming up ... is Brett gonna slow it any???

Nope. We accelerate into the slight curves. I glance over and the needle's in the tripples.

The stock Liz is nothing like this. Now way. Now there's a monster in the boot. This is seriously faster. We come to a stop (our little Liz has some serious braking ability), U it, then do it all over again.

We then slow down to 70 and Brett puts it into 6th gear. He says 'watch this' ... then he floors it. The car launches forward in a way that my poor stock Saffron Liz could only dream about. No need to downshift!!

The drive gave me a new appriciation of the Liz's suspension and handling ability. The car was solid. I thought I knew were some of the car's limits were but Brett knows the car much better than I do. Brett must think I'm a nut case cause I was laughing out loud and saying 'oh my god' the whole time. I told Brett he could have charged me for that ride ... it was thrilling. Oh, and the not dieing part is good too.

THE SOUND
And there is an awsome new sound while the car is running hard. You can hear the turbo ... it's a sucking, screaming, blasting sort of sound that builds up ... like Darth Vader. Except ... it's a "Darth Vader Is Comming To KICK YOUR ASS" kinda sound. It is so sweet. At the shift it makes a phsssst! sort of sound. I like it.

This is now a different car. We get back and I told Brett I know he's got got at least one sale. I notice that we didn't do any standing lauches or really put any stress on 1st gear so I ask if they have a 0 -> 60 yet and he says not yet but that it's in the higher 3's and falling (I take it there's a little more tuning left to be done.)

I take a part and feel the welds with my fingers. Good craftsmanship. The indside of the seam feels good too.

Something I regret ... I had a video camera in my coat pocket BUT FORGOT TO USE IT! I did however take a few still images. I will attach them.

I'm sorry if my description is short on technicalls ... I'm not a gear head or a racer ... just a guy who loves cars and gets thrills off of quick acceleration & great handling. (I don't care much for top speed - I never use it *shrug*). Brett has some test equipment wired to sensors scattered through the system ... he held it up and read off some temperatures and seemed very happy with the numbers but it was greek to me. (When it comes to my cars I understand things like the throttle pedal, the shifter, and occasionally the gagues but if he says the temp is good then I'll have to trust him.) The number 'twenty degrees below zero' was used at one point. Also, 7psi I think.

What I want is a system that is install & forget ... and for that to work it has to be well designed and reliable. I think that's what we might have here. We discussed projected prices and I was pleased ... I was actually willing to go a little higher :) The install will be an additional charge on top of the kit. They said that if the car ever needed any servicing that they could do it.

You know that grin folks talk about when they talk about driving in their Elise? Well, I've now upshifed the Grin Level. My grin now goes to eleven. ;)

...

I'd like to thank Brett and his tech for letting us lay eyes on this thing, ask questions, and of course the test rides. They were nice, articulate, and willing to answer questions. I have never never ever accelerated that fast before and I'll never forget the ride.

Next step... convince Sara that this year's toy budget needs a little boost. :)

-doma

edits: various typo corrections
 
See less See more
#8 ·
>How much weight does the conversion add
>to the car and how much of it is up high? Have
>there been mods to the handling package too?
>Finally, how much was the entire job?


Just to clarify ... this is not my car. (n'fact I now recognize the car from an elise talk post long ago ... it has an interesting feature on its rear view window ;)) I hope to get the kit myself sometime this summer. Brett said the price is not final yet because the price on some of the parts are still being finalized. I bet the price will also depend on volume. *shrug* Weight? I have no idea. You'll have to hear from ForcedFED for that.
 
#11 ·
>The owner of the Elise must be happy. Was he present? Is he thrilled?


There were a couple people there who I didn't get introduced to but I don't think any of them was the owner.

One thing I left out of the review: Brett said they are going to add a fan to the cooler; it didn't have a fan when I saw it. I told him that I plan on taking the car to Phoenix occasionally to my family's place and that I need the car to run good in the worst possible 115 degree heat. He said that would be no problem and I hope he's correct.
 
#15 ·
The "Ride" was impressive! :clap:

The "transformation" is phenomenal, the character of the Elise is entirely different, no longer is just a "great handling" car that you have to admittedly answer when asked, "Well, it's quick". Instead you'll be able to say it's "FAST".

As Brett mentioned in other threads they will be doing some magazine testing next week. I'm going to try to get back there after that and shoot a few more pix and put together an article on their "kit".

Cheers!
Kiyoshi
 
#16 ·
I wanted to say a big thank you to the guys for coming out to our shop today in freezing(for CA) temperatures. It was great meeting all of you and I am glad we could give you a little taste of what the car is like now that it is making some turbo power!:) I look forward to talking to you guys again next Friday when we get back from our magazine shoot. Hopefully I will be able to post the results of the testing they are doing against a bone stock car. Thanks again guys for braving the cold weather!
 
#18 ·
tonyyoshi said:
Good write up! How much weight does the conversion add to the car and how much of it is up high? Have there been mods to the handling package too? Finally, how much was the entire job?
We scaled the car today and it weighed 1951 pounds. This is with 1/2 a tank of gas and a full luxury packaged car with the Ohlins suspension, our turbo kit, SSR competition wheels and 205/40/17 and 225/45/17 tires. I think that is around what the car weighs stock! If you get our dry cell battery option you will lose another 10 pounds from the rear of the car.
 

Attachments

#19 · (Edited)
cool right up. 0-100 in 8 s?! Maybe I'll buy one, too. Did you guys notice an lag or anything?


Brett,
About the sound of the exhausts, are you guys going to have one that is as loud as the Lotus Stage 2 and Quicksilver exhausts?
 
#20 ·
Intercooler effeciency testing today driving the car on public roads for extended periods(on an admittedly chilly 40F day) showed the intercooler temps no higher than 62F, dropping to 20F under boost! :huh: :bow: :clap: :eek: :D :nanner: -eek- :shift: :up: :drool: We are very happy with the driveability and look forward to getting this car back to it's (happy we hope) owner!
 
#21 ·
shay2nak said:
cool right up. 0-100 in 8 s?! Maybe I'll buy one, too. Did you guys notice an lag or anything?


Brett,
About the sound of the exhausts, are you guys going to have one that is as loud as the Lotus Stage 2 and Quicksilver exhausts?
I think our exhaust is still a fairly quiet system. The guys that came by the shop can be a better judge perhaps of what they thought sound and noise wise. We were driving with the engine cover off to monitor temps and boost, and the roof off as well. This made the car a little louder than if the engine cover was on the back. The blow off valve sounds awesome as it recirculates from one side of the car to the other!:)

As for 0-100mph in the 8 second range......we will see how close we get on Wednesday. Also a little note about a certain nice white twin turbo Supra that fell prey to us as we were doing some driveability tuning today. We did not mean to break your car when you challenged us at the light....sorry. The car broke it's driveshaft and shift linkage trying to keep us with us from a light!-eek- They had to call a tow truck from our shop and take it out on a flat bed. I hope you guys get it fixed soon. I have a soft spot for Supra's.
 
#22 ·
Forcedfed said:
We scaled the car today and it weighed 1951 pounds. This is with 1/2 a tank of gas and a full luxury packaged car with the Ohlins suspension, our turbo kit, SSR competition wheels and 205/40/17 and 225/45/17 tires. I think that is around what the car weighs stock! If you get our dry cell battery option you will lose another 10 pounds from the rear of the car.
1951 + 19 (hardtop) + 30 (5 gallons of gas) = 2000lbs.

My stock touring + sport weighs 1949 with a full tank of gas. Since the sport wheels weigh close to the same as the SSRs, I think the turbo kit adds around 50lbs to the car.
 
#23 ·
sleepless said:
1951 + 19 (hardtop) + 30 (5 gallons of gas) = 2000lbs.

My stock touring + sport weighs 1949 with a full tank of gas. Since the sport wheels weigh close to the same as the SSRs, I think the turbo kit adds around 50lbs to the car.
Which exhaust do you have on that car? Stock or a light weight sport one? We also are running much bigger 205/40/17 tires up front as well. I will have a weight break down for you guys soon to show how much weight was added to the car. When you drive the car you will not feel any additional weight penalty...trust me.
 
#25 ·
congrats...shame yo guys dont work on a Sunday - Im in Santa Clara all week and would have popped in for a look...would have been good to compare to our UK Elise conversions :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top