alreet

[Shug]

Unlike an elise that is far more road-use friendly

Depends on the Elise... ask pizzaboy

Welcome along, by the way.

[koopa]

i would disagree. Have you owned an exige and used it as a daily commuter?

I owned an elise before my exige and also drove a 135R S2. although i think the ride comfort level is quite similar, the exige is less forgiving in the wet (not just because of the yokos). Whereas you can control a slide quite comfortably in the wet in an elise, an exige is more prone to a bit of understeer before suddenly snapping into oversteer. Quite scary.

Then you have the oil consumption of the VHPD (must be rare as feck castrol RS 10w 60, not the boggo mobil one pish water), it needs run on super unleaded, the driveability issues (i.e a VHPD will not drive smoothly from cold. it needs to warm up first or you will bunny hop embarrassingly along the street due to the poor factory cam timing. Not good in traffic.) of the car even when warm can be annoying. The engine does not like to lug in traffic and will overheat far more rapidly than the normal K due to the poor ventilation in the engine bay. Dont get me wrong, on an open stretch of dry twisty road...an awe inspiring car. In the wet or in traffic etc...give me an elise.

[Shug]

Heh heh...

Paul (shooomer) has had a few motors...

Including an S1, S1 Exige, 340R, M3 CSL, Radical Prosport...

What he's saying (quite factually) is there's not a lot of difference in the setup of the cars - Exige is just an elise with LSS, sticky tyres and a VHPD. There's a lot of elises out there that are in much more extreme trim than an Exige.

To make it far more user friendly, there's a few things you can (reasonably cheaply) do - the reliability and oil usage on a VHPD will always be an issue though. You need to get the cams timed properly - will make the world of difference if you commute in it - makes it into a different car.

As for the understeer/snap oversteer issue - get the dampers looked at and the geo checked - sounds like something is tired or out of spec. Shouldnae get much understeer in an Exige (even in the wet) unless you're talking second gear hairpin push-on territory (which any car would do) Bit of driver upgrading sorts that out.

As for comfortably controlling slides in the elise - it's just because the slide tends to happen at lower speed in the elise and it IS the tyres that make it more difficult to catch. A road tyre will regain grip better and more progressively on a wet road than a semi-slick.

[koopa]

and all that guff i just typed excludes the fact that you are far more likely to clear a speed bump and drive up/off a ramp in an elise

[Shug]

Depends on the ride height!!! (Take a look at the underside of my front clam when we finally meet!)

'Tis funny - when you first get an Elise/Exige, you're paranoid about every chip and scrape - it's not long before they become badges of honour...

[koopa]

Depends on the ride height!!! (Take a look at the underside of my front clam when we finally meet!)

'Tis funny - when you first get an Elise/Exige, you're paranoid about every chip and scrape - it's not long before they become badges of honour...

Damn right!! I look over at guys in their spanky new S2's all armourfended and shiny and say PAH!!! Wheres yer battle scars pooftah look at this rock i took to the roof scoop back in march baby!

Also, with all the noise going on around you...aint it funny how you can fine tune your ears to pick out the slightest irregular sound?

[koopa]

I must have got lucky with the VHPD, never had any problems you list.

There's probably very few S_E cars left with stock suspension/geo, engine or tyres anyway

agreed

Is it an exige you have shooomer? Everyone that has a factory standard VHPD or even the 192 upgrade engine like mine will experience these faults with the engine. Its due to the factory mapping. Only way to get it to idle and behave properly is to have it remapped with an emerald ecu. You will get a true 190hp out the engine then too If you dont get the bunnyhop firstthing in the morning you dont know what your missing

[Shug]

Does sound like you've got one that needs some fettling Koop.

I'd seriously think about buying a set of verniers (not that they're technically necessary) and getting the timing done. What mileage is on it?

Get over to Willie at CLCM in Edinburgh (has seen more Elises/Exiges than I've had hot dinners) and get the geo re-set - but not before checking there's no balljoints/bearings on the way out.

[koopa]

nah, mines fine. Ive drove a couple and they all behave like that. Its done 27k now but had a rebuild at 22k miles by lotus.

I thought about getting the verniers and ecu map done. Will i have to go to emerald to get it done or is there anyone up here i can use??

[Shug]

For starters, if you want to get it mapped, then you'll have to buy an Emerald ECU (ITRO £500) There's a few places up here who can map it, probably the best is Dastek in Dalgety Bay.

As for verniers, you technically don't need them. The standard pulleys can be re-positioned, it's just more of a pain than doing it with verniers. If you must put a set of verners on it, they will cost about £150 (IIRC) and then you need to get them timed. Ask Dave Andrews (http://www.dvapower.co.uk) for the right settings and you can even buy your emerald and verniers off him.

Drove a couple? Have you driven a sorted one though? Major difference. Get in touch with RoxTeddy and Uldis (both on the Yahoo group and exiges.com) who can be of more Exige specific help.

[koopa]

im a member on that forum mate. Yup ive driven a sorted and not so sorted exige, the difference feels like 100bhp

my car belonged to a senior exiges.com user before me so i know the history of the car etc. Once the car is 40C plus in temp it is very smooth. My issues with driveability are not uncommon with the VHPD from cold, trust me

[Shug]

It really is as big a bag o nails as legend has it then

Mine has ITRO 180bhp and is a smooth as a baby's arse from cold...

Still thinking of an engine swap? If so, keep me in mind should you want to shift the VHPD/gearbox on - I've got another engine build project in mind....

[jj]

koopaworld looks interesting

For the not so easily offended.

BINT!

[koopa]

koopaworld looks interesting I'll have to register.
Paul

oh but it is

Bints, slags, pornstars, glamour models, arguments, nights out, piss takings...ive got it all on my forum mwahahahaha