[JamesAllen]

So, I get a call from my mechanic yesterday who was taking my 05 Elise into his shop to install a few cosmetics and he's on the side of the road broken down. Looks like a failure at the front oil cooler, but won't know exactly where until Monday. Regardless, before he could get it shut down the engine went BOOM and turned off, so he's pretty sure it's toast.

I have a 10k budget to replace and upgrade the engine. I had planned on putting a VF supercharger on in the spring, as Jermaine is located just 30 minutes from my house. I've talked to a couple guys on LT, however, and they've both strongly encouraged me to consider the BOE system instead.

As to replacing the motor, I've found a stock, low mileage motor from a forum member that would run me 2500 with an LSD transmission as part of the package. If I add a VF system to that and budget a couple grand for the shop I can probably get it all done in budget. The BOE system would put me over a couple thousand, which I really don't want to do.

Any advise? Maybe there is someone out there looking to do a Honda swap that has a supercharged system they want to sell?

 

[lotus90]

Did you have oil line recall done? lotus might do the motor fix for you depending on oil line recall

 

[JamesAllen]

Did you have oil line recall done? lotus might do the motor fix for you depending on oil line recall

Yes and no. The line actually failed in 2006, but that time I got the car turned off before any damage. The car was towed to Criswell who did the service.

Fast forward five years and I get the recall notice in the mail. When I called EuroMotorcars, however, they said the service records from Criswell indicated that my lines were already replaced and that I didn't need the new fittings (or whatever they were replacing). I took the car down anyway for the recall on the ECU/VIN issue, and at that time they had me sign a decline on the oil recall.

How can I tell if the failure occurred because of the parts being replaced in the recall? You think Lotus would take any responsibility if it was a related failure, given the history on the car?

 

[komiko]

oil line failure= get it towed to Lotus dealer/shop only. That way they own that repair for life. You will get a replacement motor from Lotus in the event of a failure. A few board members have had their lines blow twice, once before the recall, and again after they had the recall done by Lotus - they each got two engines replaced from Lotus iirc.
It will be interesting to know, specifically How/Why did the Criswell fix fail? Did they pull the clam to service the line connecting the 2? coolers?? Is it a 2 cooler car? I think Lotus might have an argument for "no liability", but i wish you luck.

 

[Formula313]

There is a katana system for sale on the forum. I think 2 grand? That's an mp62 which is equal to stock or VF. It looks nice just needs the belt and an intercooler kit form RLS and it's set


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[GR82DRV]

Hmmmmm... What are the odds that the oil line fails on its own the minute you hand the car over to someone else?... I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but consider the time you spend driving verses all others. BTW, how many miles on the odometer?

Was this guy a Lotus mechanic, or just a guy who is good with cars?

Especially if he was a certified Lotus mechanic, I'd say that you should be covered for a new engine by Lotus, even if it is the second line.

 

[JamesAllen]

Car has two oil coolers and it was the line that connected them that blew off. Mileage is 26k.

The 'guy' is Albert from Milex in Frederick. He ran the performance unit at Criswell before he opened his own shop, so I trust him implicitly and highly recommend him to anyone in this area who needs work on their car. Funny enough, he actually did some of the work on my car back in the Criswell days.

I don't have details on what was replaced or how it was done and since Criswell is no longer a Lotus dealer I don't expect any help from them. I will reach out to Euro on Monday, however, once I have a better sense of the status of they motor.

Regardless of who pays for the engine, any thoughts on Vf vs BOE? My car is a dailyish driver, so I value trouble free ownership over top top performance.

 

[sturgeongeneral]

Hopefully he has not touched anything yet. If he hasn't, tow it to a Lotus dealer and they should replace the motor for free. I'm not sure how the oil line repair waiver will affect the outcome though but worth asking. Good luck!

 

[XHILR8N!]

Thanks for posting this, many of us will want to know which way you decide to go and how it develops.

Our motor is fine afaik, but we sure do run her hard :shift:

 

[turbophil]

My 2 cents. If you're comparing our REV300, objectively, we offer much simplified plumbing/hardware and much, much, much more advanced software/tuning/electronics that include diagnostic features, customization, DIY ECU flashing, etc... In addition, you'll have the ability to expand the performance to the rev400 system which is unparalleled as far as bolt on kits go.

Yes, our kits cost more and yes, you will get "more"...

-Phil

 

[RichardNHCooper]

I live on the other side of the world so no axe to grind from me. I have an 06 111R that I fitted with the BWR kit and loved it until I took it out one cool night and the power was fantastic. Then I realised what intercooling could offer so fitted the VF stage 1 kit that I later took to stage 2. Excellent setup. A friend fitted the Rev 400 kit to his unopened motor. Early on and with a large pulley we had about the same power. On an on ramp we both floored it together, he was 15 metres in front before we matched each other. The difference between the remote A-A on the VF kit and The Rev kit means about 3/4 sec lag. I soon replaced the VF with the rev 400. My other kits have found good homes around Perth.
Phil's followup is excellent.

 

[andy7777]

Sorry to hear about your trouble James and right after you got that car looking good with Craftsquares!

I dunno about the Lotus replacement engine. You did sign a waiver. Just sayin.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

I would first bring the car to a Lotus dealer and ask if Lotus will cover the engine because of an oil line failure. Worst case, they say no and you're back to where you are now. Better case, they say yes and replace the engine and line ends.

 

[addertooth]

Any waiver is only as good as the circumstances; let me explain. If you sign a waiver at a race track, but the track owner does not use the "expected" reasonable care, then the waiver is useless. All waivers are signed with the expectation "reasonable care" or "due diligence" will be performed by the other party. Two oil line failures, in less than 30K miles does not rise to the standard of "reasonable care", it does not demonstrate the vendor performed "due diligence" in their design of the fix, or execution of the repair. In short, any waiver or release is not worth the paper it is written on, for your specific case.

 

[aztec1382]

That's a great price on the engine and tranny


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[JamesAllen]

Sorry to hear about your trouble James and right after you got that car looking good with Craftsquares!

Ain't that the truth! Drove the car stock for six years, then the moment I go buy a new Larini exhaust (Trevor), vinyl (Keith), mirrors (Andy), cf splitter (ebay) and a few other bits this happens. Insult to injury, the car was fully detailed, waxed and buffed the day before...

Thanks for all the advise. I will post updates as I have them.

 

[komiko]

BOE. There is no substitute.

 

[bpfergu]

For what its worth going with a system from Jermaine/VF is perfectly fine. Just because he isn't constantly on these forums to defend himself/bash the competition doesn't mean that he doesn't offer a quality product at a competitive price.

If I was so close to one of the vendors that offer kits I would definitely look into them very closely. Close proximity to someone who can easily diagnose potential issues is priceless IMO.

 

[komiko]

Good point. That's why I researched my azz off for a year while looking for my car. I needed to plan on not having any problems. Ended up at BOE. While no guarantee, my research has born itself out. Zero problems, what I was shooting for. I'm sure VF & Jermaine are great to deal with, and if I lived next door - sure. But since I am far away from any of these guys, I had to choose based on my perceived "problem rate". I did all that reading LT.

 

[steve-elise]

The VF kit is okay but has inherent limitations both in performance and reliability.

Here in Australia we couldn't be further away geographically from both vendors and quite a few of us ran VF kits with old-style tuning (Charlie-x etc) and 'back then' it was okay, it was what was available at the time and we coped with the downsides.

But now we live in a different world and we are beyond 'back then'. Do your research and look at the Huge progression in research, engineering, supercharger technology, intercooling technology and especially tuning technology that has occurred. We are talking worlds apart here.

In the end, up to you, but I couldn't vouch more strongly for the excellent systems and incredible support we've had from BOE & the personal service Phil provides.

Cheers
Steve







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