I obviously didn’t start the Elise during the few weeks I spent doing the suspension refresh. This was long enough for the battery to discharge so when I finally got it back on it’s wheels it wouldn’t start. I pulled the battery out and topped up the cells with some de-ionised water as they were […]
I thought I’d take a few pictures of everything freshly reassembled after the suspension refresh, as a record of it’s condition, before I cover it all with ACF-50 and it ends up with a layer of brake dust and road grime over it. Now I can get the Elise back on it’s wheels! π
As part of the dismantling for the Elise’s suspension refresh I removed the wheel arch liners. Removing the fuse box from the liner was, predictably, a bit of a fight as the fixings were rusted stuck, see here for some about that. But it was worth the effort as it meant I discovered some wiring […]
With the front finished it’s time to start assembling rear suspension components back onto the Elise. Pretty much the same as the front with a few small differences. Starting with these chassis brackets for the lower wishbones. A bit of corrosion block grease applied too. Right hand lower wishbone on. Upper one on. Damper mount. […]
Now the wishbones are on and the bolts all torqued up… …I moved on to assembling the rest of the front end. As usual with these things ‘refitting is the reverse of removal’. The ball joint plinths need fitting to the ball joints first. I used a bit of copper grease here to help prevent […]
Having read a little about Elise wheel alignment it sounds like the best thing to do is to get as much caster angle into the front hubs as possible. More caster angle means increased weight and ‘feel’ in the steering and should increase grip at the front when cornering. The available caster adjustment on an […]
While I had the rest of the suspension apart I figured I may as well replace the 20 year old rubber anti roll bar bushes with something a little better. So as I was already ordering a list of parts from EliseParts.com I went for some of their Nylatron ARB bushes. The bushes and grease […]
Just a couple of bits to assemble before parts go back on the car. The rear caliper brackets need to be fitted to the hub carriers before the drive flanges can be pressed into the bearings. This is because access to the allen head bolts is restricted when the drive flange is in place. With […]
After a lot of dismantling, cleaning, painting and a bit of assembly of parts it’s finally time to start fitting parts back onto the Elise. There’s quite a few parts though which includes a fair number of nuts, bolts and washers. So first I took the time, with the help of my glamorous assistant, to […]
The headlamp covers had been fitted with the usual sticky black butyl type adhesive so removing them wasn’t a big problem fortunately. It just requires a little bit of heat to soften it then once I had an edge lifted with my fingers the covers peeled off quite easily. Most of the adhesive was left […]