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 […]
elise
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Fitting Caliper Brackets and Pressing in Drive Flanges
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 […]
S1 Elise – Removing and Refitting Headlamp Covers
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 […]
S1 Elise – Refitting the Headlamp Brackets
While I had the Elise apart for the suspension refresh I was on the lookout for anything else that might need some attention. I had already noticed the dirt that had got behind the headlamp covers and that one side was letting water in so I was going to have to deal with that. What […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Fitting New Ball Joints
If you happen to have arrived here looking for info on how to replace a ball joint with the wishbone still on the car then check out my other post here. Having fitted the Elise Parts wishbone bearing kit I could move on to pressing the new ball joints in but just before getting stuck […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Fitting New Wheel Bearings and Lacquering the Hub Carriers
After a few days wait my mate Steve turned up with a box for me. π I’m really happy with the colour, it ties in nicely with the original red seats in the car and means they will stand out a little under the car. Though nobody else is likely to ever see them I […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Aluminium Hub Carriers Cleaning and Anodising
When the Lotus designers decided to build the Elise using extruded aluminium they really ran with the idea and used it for more than just the chassis. The suspension uprights or hub carriers are one such example as extruded aluminium hub carriers was and still is out of the ordinary. My guess is that nowadays, […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Nitron Shocks Freshen Up
The Nitron Street Series, fitted to my Elise by a previous owner, are very well liked by Lotus owners for road use and they certainly feel pretty good to me. So as I only intend to use the Elise on the road and the dampers had only covered 11k miles I didn’t see any reason […]
S1 Elise – Inspection for any Chassis Corrosion and Painting Steel Inserts
Corrosion of the Elise/Exige/VX220/Evora chassis is a thing and it’s something that I think should not be ignored by anyone looking to buy one of these cars. Also anyone who owns one that’s done a fair bit of winter road miles or is just a good few years old now should consider inspecting their chassis […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – A Few Other Parts Get The POR15 Treatment
The POR15 treatment went pretty well on the wishbones and various other parts of the running gear so I thought I’d go over a few other parts on the car. Firstly, I should have removed these lower rear wishbone brackets and put them through the whole process with all the other parts I’d removed. No […]