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Elise and the Katana 2 SC long term

8K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Mobius97 
#1 ·
As many of you have read in the past, I've had my Katana 2 for many years. I have always touted how reliable it has been and a great kit......for it's time. We all know these days there are better options out there for a marginally better price, sorry @shinoo! I love the kit and it has been very reliable but after several years and getting the car into working order again over the last month, here are the faults I have had. Keep in mind that this is after several years of hard street use...I have a heavy right foot. :). My troubles started 2 summers ago, the many years before that had been perfect, I discovered a sheered intake manifold bolt accompanied by a loud high pitched whine. Shinoo and team were quick to react after seeing my post and sent me a new stud right away free of charge (back then and now...his team's customer support is awesome, so please don't take this as a knock to them). Not wanting to deal with it, I packed it away for the summer 2yrs ago. A month ago I decided to get it fixed, what was discovered was not 1 but 3 broken intake manifold studs. These failures *may be chalked up to the S/C's support bracket that was also broken....the one on the throttle body side which broke in half and leads us to believe caused the failure of the 3 intake mani bolts. I am lucky they were all able to be extracted or it could have turned into further expenses. Getting the car back, I was very happy, all seemed to be in working order and the loud vacuum leak gone.

After a day...I noticed another whine, this time low key and much quieter. I couldn't exactly recall since it had been so long since driving the car but the butt dyno told me...I've lost power. Turned out to be another vacuum leak robbing me. The S/C's bypass valve is now leaking. Just so happened a solar yellow Elise with silver stripes was in for repairs on their Katana kit....go figure a leaky bypass. I will be getting the car back this week but wanted to ask. I feel this is not really a fault of the Sector kit but what could be causing this stress on studs? My first guess are engine mounts and movement. Would love to hear any opinions and thoughts.
 
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#2 ·
I have had mine for close to 5 years now but its been in the car since 2009. My only complaint is the excess fuel it burns. I have a stage 1 muffler (not recommended) and cams were inspected. Looks like the plugs take a hell of a beating, unless 5 years for plugs is all I can get. There was not much left of them and replacing them seems to help a bit but I still blow gas on occasion not tied to anything in particular other then 5k +.
 
#4 ·
Why do you say that, was it something Mobius97 said or in your own advice?

I guess I should add this: I get a grinding noise at high rpm 6k + a better way to describe it is of I were to drop a lot of beebee's in a metal can. I'm almost sure its the SC but not %100 on that.
 
#6 ·
Mobius97, we had some issues with our last generation of brackets cracking. We redesigned these in-house and beefed them up several years ago. The studs can shear if they are not torqued correctly and/or the brackets break. The vast majority of KATANA2 owners have not suffered these issues.

I'm guessing the valve that we sourced for ParkPlace is going on your car. Feel free to call me with any questions.
 
#9 ·
Yep that was for me. Picked the car up earlier this week and she is back in tip top shape! Thanks for getting the bypass valve out so quickly! Much appreciated! I've had the kit for many years, so yes...old bracket version. After talking to the tech and Brian....it does seem the root cause of the broken studs was the snapped bracket and no support. They fab'd another one for me.

Car feels great now, like new. I knew there was something going on as it didn't have the go I had remembered...but it had been a long time since I had driven her. New vavle worked out perfectly and no more dang whistling sounds ?
 
#8 ·
I had a katana 2 bearing failure within a year, which resulted in the two impellers colliding with each other and sending a spray of aluminum shards and powder into the engine. Some day I may move up to the TVS supercharger.
 
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