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Taking the advice of a wise older race driver, I slowly modified my 2005 Elise, starting with tires, suspension and weight loss. After three years of track driving I decided to finally add power. Dropped in the Katana SC from Sector 111, loved the speed and torque, forgot that the car is a unit and one thing does not exist without influencing the whole.
First unintended consequence: Relocating the alternator a little closer to the firewall and not changing the motor mounts from stock caused it to slam the firewall with the extra torque the Katana put on the engine and caused it to fail. Welcome to wiring and Lotus parts hell.
( See http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f129/alternator-harness-schematic-55155/ ) And CharlieX note that they had fried alternators during SC development as they are prone to fail with the increased heat.
Second: The increased torque overstressed the exhaust system and caused it to fail and the hot gasses caught the tail on fire (in fact two SC Lotus caught fire the same way in one track day!)
See http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f154/warning-track-guys-check-your-exaust-systems-58233/
Thirdly: The increased movement of the engine caused the oftimes difficult shift to and from third gear to become realy problematic and increased the missed shift problems.
After much time, down time and money I have finally paid attention to what I should have in the beginning. I replaced the engine mounts with much stiffer urethane mounts and the shifter with the LETSLA. Hopefully all this will get me to the track for the first time this year!
So, a word to the wise-think about the unintended consequences each time you change what Lotus gave you and realize it's a unit not a part you are changing.:wallbang:
First unintended consequence: Relocating the alternator a little closer to the firewall and not changing the motor mounts from stock caused it to slam the firewall with the extra torque the Katana put on the engine and caused it to fail. Welcome to wiring and Lotus parts hell.
( See http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f129/alternator-harness-schematic-55155/ ) And CharlieX note that they had fried alternators during SC development as they are prone to fail with the increased heat.
Second: The increased torque overstressed the exhaust system and caused it to fail and the hot gasses caught the tail on fire (in fact two SC Lotus caught fire the same way in one track day!)
See http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f154/warning-track-guys-check-your-exaust-systems-58233/
Thirdly: The increased movement of the engine caused the oftimes difficult shift to and from third gear to become realy problematic and increased the missed shift problems.
After much time, down time and money I have finally paid attention to what I should have in the beginning. I replaced the engine mounts with much stiffer urethane mounts and the shifter with the LETSLA. Hopefully all this will get me to the track for the first time this year!
So, a word to the wise-think about the unintended consequences each time you change what Lotus gave you and realize it's a unit not a part you are changing.:wallbang: