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Almost 20 Years Later - State of Support for Elise - To Supercharge or K-swap?

4K views 31 replies 15 participants last post by  itsagoodday 
#1 ·
Hello everyone!

After owning my 2005 Lotus Elise for 9 years now, I am at the point where I want more power, but am somewhat torn whether to "press the easy button" and supercharge the stock engine, or go nuts with a built Honda K24 swap. I am extremely handy and do all my own work on the car.

Goals
My car is a time attack car that's been a winning car in the NASA TT4 class and I've been fortunate to put 3 track records on my office wall. I will never fully cage this car and go wheel-to-wheel as I have another car I do that with. NASA TT1/2/3/4 class has all but dried up in my region, and Gridlife seems to be where TONS of competitors are going. Keeping it a somewhat street legal time attack car is the direction I'd like to head.

BOE and Inokinetic Still the Main Players for Aftermarket?
Based on the rule set, supercharging the 1.8L 2ZZ-GE and keeping the car light seems to be the way to go unless going full-retard in the unlimited classes. I haven't been around in a while, but are Shinoo and Phil @ BOE still in this game and available to help? I've had awesome experiences with both, but this engine is getting relatively old that I worry about where to get good support. If I were them, I think I would retire by now as it seems the 2ZZ-GE is in the rearview mirror and it's all about the Evora & new Exiges.

Is Phil still around supporting Rev 300/400 kits? What the hell happened to the Nikisil blocks? I know he had a kid a few years ago, and am betting from personal experience that he sold the business to spend more time with family, but maybe I'm wrong!

Is Shinoo still supporting?

Honda K24 Insanity
I have to admit this is the final end-game I have in mind for the car. All-motor baby. But I'm not foolish and realize this will take many more months to complete as it's a much more complex integration mechanically and electronically. What is really attractive about Honda to me is the incredible aftermarket size and network of support. Especially with tuning! The lack of that for the Toyota 2ZZ-GE is the main reason I have apprehension about spending more money on a supercharger setup.

Curious to hear from all the Lotus Talk veterans!
 
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#2 ·
Phil is still around and he's still involved to an extent. But priorities seem elsewhere.

Anyways, I went boe400 build and blew my motor and now going k24. My opinion is to do it right the first time and just go k24. It's a better platform to work off.

The build is really simple. Mine is just taking forever because the shop hardly works on it. I have a newborn at home. So I haven't put the pressure on them to finish.
 
#3 ·
Phil is still around and he's still involved to an extent. But priorities seem elsewhere.

Anyways, I went boe400 build and blew my motor and now going k24. My opinion is to do it right the first time and just go k24. It's a better platform to work off.

The build is really simple. Mine is just taking forever because the shop hardly works on it. I have a newborn at home. So I haven't put the pressure on them to finish.
How much power were you tuned for? I was thinking of going for the Rev400 kit, only so there is a front-mounted cooling circuit, and being conservative with boost.
 
#6 ·
I realized I was going to swap before buying, so I bought someone else's K24 swapped car for about the price of a stock car. Even if the motor is junk the expensive stuff is still there. Even with the issues I'd have had to get through them regardless so whatever. Even with an NA K series goal, I'd go this route vs even starting to spend money on an NA 2ZZ. Just my 2c.
 
#9 ·
After owning my 2005 Lotus Elise for 9 years now, I am at the point where I want more power, but am somewhat torn whether to "press the easy button" and supercharge the stock engine, or go nuts with a built Honda K24 swap. I am extremely handy and do all my own work on the car.
Aftermarket forced induction is rarely the easy route. Not that a swap is any easier I guess. I think this kind of car would be really fun with an S2K type normally aspirated revver. I'd assume it'd be lighter and the trans would be better too.
 
#11 ·
I have a REVX with 425hp at the wheels. Couldn't be happier. It is such a beast on the track. Some will talk down the 2ZZ-GE and how they destroyed their engine. They are not giving you all of the details on exactly what they did to destroy their engine.
 
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#13 ·
I love the simplicity of the "mild" aftermarket supercharger options, but i feel it takes away from the spirit of this car. I feel this car needs to be driven at 8000 rpm, and doing that with a supercharged 2ZZ, appears to be a catastrophic failure waiting to happen. A built K series making 200+ at the wheels while full tilt at 8000 or 9000 rpm sounds like music to my soul, but I don't want a "track rat", I was a dual purpose car that has a "seamless" and "factory" transformation which seems challenging and pricey.
 
#15 ·
Yeh. The na builds are pretty insane. They just get pretty pricey and I don't know how well they hold up for sustained track abuse.

A moderate na build will get you somewhere in the range of 225-250whp. Pretty reliably. That's the route I'm taking.

And if I decide on more power, a low boost setup will get me somewhere in the lower half of the 300s pretty easily. Ultimately I figured a cheaper motor with a low boost setup should hold up better than a high strung na motor. Might be wrong.
 
#25 ·
But I'm not foolish and realize this will take many more months to complete as it's a much more complex integration mechanically and electronically.
If you're doing this yourself, you could swap it in a long weekend if you're willing to put out a lot of money for engine harnesses, adapters, etc. The entire swap is a pretty standard affair at this point, with various companies providing everything you need to make it a simple swap.

The hardest part is NOT wanting to drive it everyday, everywhere.
 
#32 ·
Here is the thread.

 
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