It was finally time to get the Elise out of hibernation once again and start with a quick check over and oil and filter change. Undertray off and hang on, not this again. Not water this time but hydraulic fluid. Didn’t take long to find the source. The clutch slave cylinder is up there. I […]
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S1 Elise – Front Brake Pads
Time for some new brake pads on the front. I chose Carbone Lorraine RC5+ Sintered Metal Pads from eliseparts.com. This is about as simple as a car servicing jobs gets. Some pics of the job… I got the apprentice to do the other side. Yes it’s that simple even a 4 year old can do […]
S1 Elise – Steering Rack Refresh
One thing I could have added to the list when doing the full suspension refresh was the inner steering rack joints. I could feel no play in them at the time I did the suspension refresh though so just kept an eye on them as I do with the whole car. During my usual end […]
S1 Elise – Polyurethane Upper Engine Mount Bushes
While I was replacing the timing belt and water pump I had a look at the upper engine steady bushes so I could work out what to order to replace them with something a bit better. I got some polyurethane replacements from an MGF parts supplier on eBay.
S1 Elise – Timing Belt and Water Pump Change
We’ll I certainly haven’t done the mileage to require a new timing belt / cambelt but they should be replaced on a time interval too so it’s gotta be done. As with any transverse engine this was going to be a bit akward so I wasn’t looking forward to it but it was fairly easy […]
S1 Elise – Windscreen Sunstrip
The Elise is a summer use car and just occassionally in the UK the sun comes out in the summer. What the Elise lacks is some sun visors. So an option is a sunstrip and I quite like the sort of race look of them so gave one a go. Proper clean of the screen […]
Forester STI – SWRD 3 Port Boost Control Solenoid
The OE Subaru boost control setup is not as good as it could be so when wanting to increase the boost and gain better control of the turbo actuator a 3 port boost control solenoid is really worth fitting. ScoobyWorx sell a known good 3 port solenoid with the correct plug adapter meaning I wouldn’t […]
Forester STI – Turbo Back Milltek Exhaust System
An important part of getting the most power out of the EJ255 in the Forester STI is improving exhaust flow. The factory catalytic converter (cat) is quite a restriction on flow and it being right at the outlet of the turbo will really reduce the speed the exhaust gas can flow through the exhaust turbine […]
Forester STI – Cold Air Feed
The factory inlet to the air box draws air from just behind the headlight down into a Y piece with a large air box underneath then back up into the filter box. The STI fog light covers have a useful grille section on them though that I thought could be used as a nice cold […]
Forester STI – Spark Plug Change
Time for some new spark plugs and while I’m at it an upgrade to a cooler running plug in preparation for more boost, more on that another time. From what I read, the spark plug to go for is the NGK ILFR7H. This is more of a job than with most other cars due to […]