Hello everyone, new to the forum.
I took delivery of this modified 2008 Exige last week:
http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f94...-drs-turbo-build-street-track-monster-219657/
After the transporter delivered the car I took it for a quick drive, it was about to rain so I did not go far. I could feel some hesitation and the engine felt like it would bog when I tried to accellerate. This was very odd and when I rolled up and stopped at the first red light the car idled erratically in neutral then died. It cranked back up and I immediately pulled into a nearby Shell station and topped off with Premium 93 octane fuel. I was not familiar with the Racepack gauges so I thought perhaps the fuel was low and that was what the issue was. I proceeded back home and parked the car in my garage.
I contacted Kris at DRS who responded to me quickly and suggested it may have been bad fuel (which I had already tried to convince myself it was) and that put me at ease. He gave me information to download software to log data and he offered to take a look at it and perhaps adjust the tune. That was exactly what I wanted to hear so I felt really good about it. The next few days it rained and rained, I could not drive the car so I detailed it and went through everything which gave me a chance to appreciate just how much work went into this car, it is truly impressive. The car was put together so well and with great care, I was so impressed with everything that I genuinely forgot about the issues on the test drive. When the weather cleared I had to travel for work and could not drive the car so yesterday I finally decided I should start it and let it run a while.
I started the car and noticed it was not idling very smooth, I got out of the car (first time I had been outside of the car with it running) and could faintly hear a tapping from the engine compartment. I opened the hatch and listened at the valve cover for valve tap but it seemed to be coming from the manifold area. I removed the manifold thermal cover and the sound immediately got louder.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jesavCmhJCg
This is my first Lotus so I am by no means an expert but that sounds bad to me.
Unfortunately Kris from DRS is gone for a Lotus Cup race this weekend so I can not get feedback from him until Tuesday.
Experts, please let me know what I should do next?
Thanks in advance!
-Justin