sounds awesome. Maybe they will set up shop in the U.S. now.. How much can I get for trade in of a barely used Toyota engine Since my father is a Honda/Acura dealer I would have obviously preferred a Honda engine....
Seriously what can you get a K20A for with the harness?
Anyone who is interested in doing an engine swap here is a suggestion for you. The S1 elise is only about 1650 pounds. That is almost exactly 300 pounds less than the US elise. You can pick a clean one up in Europe for well under $20k. Depending on you state you have a shot at getting it registered as a homebrew (something I know a bit about).
So even assuming $10k for the engine and work you are looking at $30k and a machine that is going to a lot faster and more agile (though also more raw) than a US S2. Also a lot more work.
I thought after the litigation for the guy selling elises in FL, the govt. created specific regs to bring ANY non US sanctioned elise in with or without engine, for road use?
Check out some of the threads over on the other forums on this subject.
I can't remember the exact details but I think the guys in FL where bringing in cars under the program that lets foreign national bring in non compliant cars for up to one year and then they were selling them. Clearly not legal.
There are a number of exemptions that are fine however. For example completely homebrew cars have their own catagory and are exempt from most if not all of the DOT regulations (I have a friend who built his own car frame and all and registered it in NY).
The FL cars were not legal and those guys were shut down.
The Sun International cars were imported as rolling chassis, Honda engines put in, and registered according to each state rules. For CA its a "specially constructed vehicle", which is what kit cars and replicas (e.g. Cobras) get registered as.
My car is listed as an "Elise Replica" and has a US VIN number, CA Smog sticker and CA licence plate. The process isn't trivial but I know four Sun International owners in the Bay Area who got through it all, and one more guy who built a super-light bike engined Elise himself and got it registered as a kit car.
You could DIY using the Prototype Racing kit and get it registered yourself, but realistically, you will have spent $40K or more by the time you are done, and you should just buy the US Spec car.
Did you get the B18C engine or the K20A? I seem to remember that pretty much all of the conversions Tom did were the B18C is that correct?
I am curious as to the reason for your advice to just go for the US spec car. You are right for someone just looking for a wonderful all around great sports car, that is probably the way to go. But the hard yields a way different vehicle. For someone looking for the experience of minimum weight and maximum raw (and with lots of time on his hands) it might make for an amusing project.
Also wondering how things have worked out with your car and the others you might know about? Have you been happy with your purchase?
One really specific question. Do you know if anyone has had any failures with their MMC brake rotors? There have been an number of catastrophic failures in the UK, though pretty much all have been either on the higher powered cars, the track during hard use or both.
Given the higher output of the Honda lump I was wondering if anyone had a similar problem here or are most people running on iron?
Maybe we should put a group together of US based owners so we can exchange information if there is sufficient interest. Perhaps even a special place on this board if the owner is willing.
I am curious as to the reason for your advice to just go for the US spec car. For someone looking for the experience of minimum weight and maximum raw (and with lots of time on his hands) it might make for an amusing project.
Also wondering how things have worked out with your car and the others you might know about? Have you been happy with your purchase?
One really specific question. Do you know if anyone has had any failures with their MMC brake rotors?
Given the higher output of the Honda lump I was wondering if anyone had a similar problem here or are most people running on iron?
Maybe we should put a group together of US based owners so we can exchange information if there is sufficient interest. Perhaps even a special place on this board if the owner is willing.
The suggestion was that you could DIY for less money, and while you can get a more raw car, I don't think it can really be done for less money. My car (based on an old exchange rate and a new car) was $55K (the price Sun International quotes) plus about $10K of options. At todays exchange rates, you might be able to get a second hand car with a second hand engine together for $40K plus a lot of time but you need to upgrade the brakes and suspension to cope with the extra performance.
MMC was only used for the first few years. All the converted cars I know of are '99 or '00 models with the iron discs. My own car has the Lotus Sport Suspension, plus Motorsport brake discs, pads, braided hoses, sport 160 seats, hardtop, headlamp covers, spoiler.
I have driven it hard for two years, 15K miles, a bad (honda/inner) CV joint and cracked muffler mount brackets is all I've had to fix so far. I'm happy with it. Other cars I know of have mostly been driven less. The conversion is well engineered and works reliably. The main complaint we had at the time was that it took a very long time to develop and debug the conversion and deliver the cars to us.
There is an email alias for Sun/Elise owners, some of us keep in touch, and plan to be at WCLM Tahoe in May.
@ Fast Spider
Can you show us your actual torque curve and give us some details concerning the modifications made by Spoon ?
I am mainly interested in the compression rate because I want to supercharge a Honda engine and for doing so the CR has to be decreased by installing shorter and forged pistons though the fuel we get here has 100 octan
I'd like to become part of the list if that is ok. Email me at [email protected] and I can give you my direct email address.
Sorry but I didn't know Spoon was involved in this. The cars I know (I think) were all done by Sun. They got paperwork so the cars are street legal and I am just wondering if the same is true of Spoon?
BTW there were at least 4 cars I know of that were 97/98 and had MMC rotors. One in ID and 3 more in CT.
I've noted before that I love the results of my Torque200 tune, but one of the drawbacks is the hard start. It takes 2-3 cranks before it now whimpers to a start. How many folks experience this same issue?
Step by step of radiator removal. Hope this helps the next person in search for help on replacing there radiator.
radiator replaced with proRAD from sector111
PDF format
Since I had the engine mounts out while replacing my clutch, I went ahead and installed front and rear Powerflex engine mount bushings. I have a very noticable increase in vibration in the cabin at while idling. Vibration seems to go away above idle. It's bad enough I'm thinking of removing...
Hi all,
Did an engine swap a few months back into my 2006 Exige, engine built by BOE - 2ZZ w/ stage 3 cams, arias race pistons, nikasil cylinders. It is a used engine so I get that it's unknown, but according to the previous owner should have 1 season of competitive auto-x, 4 HPDE's and a couple...
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Since my father is a Honda/Acura dealer I would have obviously preferred a Honda engine....
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