10x11 - Lotus Elise S2

[bunniefuu]

This time on Wheeler Dealers, I buy a
car that delivers Razor Edge handling.

It's absolutely intoxicating.

The Lotus Elise is a
performance legend, but

we need more from
this mid-engined racer.

People are concerned
often about the fact that they

are quite unreliable and
have a pretty bad reputation.

It gives the Lotus more driving ability.

Now the first place I'm
going to work some Wheeler

Dealers magic is in
here in the engine bay.

And I find ways of teasing more
power and performance out of the Elise.

So what can you do to
this head to make it better?

Can we end up with a road car
that can work magic on the track?

I buy iconic cars in need of rescue.

Come on!

Yes!

Ed's the mechanical wizard
who gets them together

and then we sell them
on, hopefully for a profit.

Lotus, a company that's
known for building light,

nimble and super handling
sports cars like the Elise.

Launched in 1996, the Elise
may look fantastic standing

still, but frankly, it's much
happier when it's going.

And it goes.

This top spec R version can get
you from 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds.

That's nearly as quick as a Porsche
911 Turbo, a car that costs 100 grand.

Handling is the calling card
of the Elise with a super stiff

aluminium chassis that brings
supreme grip and race derived feel.

So if you want a car to
have fun in, start the search.

The car I'm looking
for is a Series 2 Elise.

They're slightly
restyled over the original

car and I think there's
more scope for profit.

Now there's plenty
of them out there on

thousands of websites
and that's the good news.

The bad news is to try and find one that
needs a little bit of work at a keen price.

Well that's going to take some effort.

I'm wasting my time
looking at regular sites.

Elise's hold their money and are
mostly well maintained, so they're pricey.

I'm hoping to find a rough
trading that might be a

little bit cheaper, so I'm
contacting Lotus dealers.

Now after a lot of emailing
backwards and forwards with a lot

of people, I've actually made
contact with a guy in Suffolk.

Now he specialises in Lotuses
and he's taken one in party exchange.

He said it's a bit rough
around the edges and he needs

a bit too much work and
he doesn't want to retail it.

Now his number's on here,
so I should give him a call.

Yes, I'm interested in that Lotus of yours.

A reasonable West 2 knocks
on the door of 12 grand.

I'm hoping to spend under 10.

This dealer Greg has taken one in
as a trading and wants to move it on.

Perhaps I can do a deal.

Cheers mate, bye bye.

Now Greg is a lovely fella.

He really knows his stuff.
He's a Lotus specialist.

In fact, he knows his car.
He's done some work on it in the past.

He says that he's taken it in,
but he's got so many other cars in

stock that this one needs just
too much work for him to retail.

And he would trade it on to me,
which is a perfect dealer's car.

And he talks my language, so I'm
going to hit the road and go and see it.

Now the guy Greg who's
selling this car says that he'll have

no trouble selling it to
somebody else if I don't want it.

And I can well believe him because
a Lotus Elise with some issues

is a rare beast because most of
them are really well looked after.

So even before I get there, I do
feel slightly under pressure because if

this is a half decent car, I think
I'm just going to have to snap it up.

Well if I'm not mistaken, this
looks like the little Lotus Elise

I spoke about on the phone
with Greg. Let's go and find him.

Hello, you Greg?

Hi Mike.

Greg, how you doing mate?
Good to see you. I see you've

got a little love affair going
on with Lotuses in here.

Well you have done for 10 years now.

Fantastic isn't it? But
listen, this is the little

one I hope that we
spoke about on the phone.

Yeah, that's the one.
Looks alright, doesn't it?

It's a tidy little car to be honest.

So what's the back story?

Basically it was owned by a
father and then a daughter.

The father brought the car to us
regularly for servicing and then the

car was handed to the daughter
and we didn't see it for about two years.

We had a few problems
to resolve on the car. The

bill was a little bit more
than she wanted to spend.

So they asked us if we
could find a buyer for the car

so that she could offset
the costs of the repairs.

Right, and I was on the phone.

Exactly.

Well let's have a good look round it.
Shall we start with the engine?

Little K Series engine, is it a good one?

It is a good one. They're
a good engine if they're

looked after and the
maintenance schedules are kept up.

Just have to monitor
things like coolant and oil.

How many horsepower is that?

118 brake horsepower.
It's the later model of the K Series.

And this car weighs nothing
so I suppose it's pretty fast.

It's about 800 kilos.

They have a terrible
reputation these engines, don't

they, the K Series, for
blowing the head gasket.

They do. The main reason I think is just lack of
correct maintenance but there are some measures that you

can take when you look after the car to make it more
durable and just to keep the longevity in the engine.

Excellent.

And it looks okay down
the side, doesn't it?

I'll be honest with you, Mike, there's
a few bumps and scrapes and there

is a little bit of a chunk out of the
body underneath the sill down there.

Okay, so it definitely needs
a little bit of paint work then.

It does, a little bit all round I think.

Okay.

Inside?

It looks alright inside. It's got the
Alcantara seats, Alcantara dashboard.

Yeah, it's got the touring
packers fitted at the factory.

Yeah, fantastic.

Now these wheels, they
don't do anything for me.

Yeah, they're the standard
factory fit for this model.

They're okay condition though, aren't they?

All round, yeah, they're pretty good.

And the tyres look alright.

Yep.

When I walked up, I noticed
this almost immediately,

this nasty sort of
filler line through it.

Looks like somebody's done it with silicon.

Basically, this hasn't been repaired
correctly, not in the way that we would do it.

No, no, that hadn't he doing?

And it looks like somebody's
been rubbing this Lotus

badge so much with love
that they've worn it out.

Not very good at all.

What's going on here?

The headlamp rubbers
are all hanging out as well.

Again, where the bodywork
hasn't been repaired correctly,

they haven't been put
back in the way they should.

It's not going well, is it, Greg?

Now I know why you don't think
this car's good enough for you.

It needs a little TLC.

It certainly does, but you know what?

With this car, I suppose it's all about
that on-the-road experience, so is

there any chance I can grab the keys
off you and take over a little test drive?

Absolutely.

Top work.

I love these little cars, they're so good.

There is a reason why Lotus Elise drivers
walk around with a stupid grin on their

face, and it comes down to a basic law of
physics, and that's power-to-weight ratio.

See, if you've got a car with a
Pockelet engine and a car that weighs

as much as a thought, you end
up with a car that goes just like this.

And it's absolutely intoxicating.

Every single one of the 118 horsepower
can be wrung out of that engine.

Oh, you really feel it on the road.

Wonderful.

The Elise isn't all about acceleration.

This little car is all about the way it
handles, and it comes from a company

that really knows a thing or two about
how to make cars go round corners quickly,

because they've been experts
at it for many, many decades,

and this car is just so
flickable and so much fun.

If you've never tried an
Elise in your life, you must.

So I bet you're thinking,
come on then, Mike,

there must be some
downsides, and there is.

I mean, the car doesn't
have electric windows.

You can imagine as well, on a long journey,
this car is going to be very, very painful.

Also, there's the paint
work that Greg spoke about.

I don't think it's that bad,
but it certainly needs doing.

Now, the bigger issue
is, for me, is that I always

like to buy a car that
I can add value to it,

but this car seems pretty
much sorted, and I'm

trying to work out ways
to make this car any better.

But this car seems really reasonable
with its price, so what I might

do is buy it, and then I'll work
out after I have to add value to it.

But I want this Elise.
I want this car very, very badly.

Right. Fantastic.

Well, I do like the way that drives.
It's a good little car.

It certainly is. I've sort of made my
mind up that it's the car that I want.

It comes down to how
much we can have a deal for.

For this car, I'll be looking,
considering the parts

that need to be addressed,
around about the £9,000 Mark.

I was hoping more like £8,000.

I can throw in a few parts that
will help you along the way to

get some of the things resolved.
Maybe call it eight and a half?

The car's running on vapours
at the minute. If you give me

another £100 back for the fuel,
£8,400, I'll have a deal with you.

Come on!

Okay.

Yes! I've just bought myself a Lotus.

I've grabbed the Elise for a decent wedge
under retail price, but what do I do now?

I could sell the car on today
and grab at least a grand in profit.

Or I could transform
this Elise into a different

animal and win back
around twice that money.

The Lotus Elise is a
car with soul, and the

driving experience is
nothing short of incredible.

Woohoo! I love it! I love it,
love it, love it, love it, love it.

So we've got a great car
and the numbers stack up too.

Now I need to work out how we're going to
convert this Abel car into a strong profit.

A lot of people, they buy these
cars because they like to go and

have fun at the weekend, take
them to the track and doing a race day.

I'd like to strike the balance between what would
be a really good road car and what would be a

really focused car if you were to take it to the
track just to go and have a little bit of fun.

The first thing that strikes you
about this car is it's so standard.

It's got stock wheels,
stock paintwork, stock

engine, it's screaming
out to be upgraded.

And we could do that by doing
both the looks and the engine.

That way we could end up
with a really sensible motor

of one that could be
really attractive to punters.

Now I gave just £8,400 for this little
Elise, which I think is a bit of a bargain.

You know, Salted, this car
could sell for about £12,000.

I think there could be a
nice little profit in it for us.

And who knows, when I get
back to the workshop, even Ed

might have a few ideas
that he can throw into the mix.

Oh, look at this.

Do you want a hand, mate?

Come on.

All of this does fit into there.

That's very impressive.

What do you think, eh?

Very cool little Lotus
Elise, the Mark II, isn't it?

It's the one with all the sporty additions.

It's a proper car.

And I've got to tell you, Ed,
underneath what you see here on the

exterior is the proper heart and
soul of a Colin Chapman sports car.

It's wicked.

Fantastic. So how does it drive?

It drives like a little nutcase and
it puts a big smile on your face.

But I think the very
first thing we ought to

address is do something
about this little engine.

Because underneath here is one of those.

Classic little K series.

But don't worry, though,
because people are concerned

often about the fact that
they are quite unreliable.

They have a pretty bad reputation.

But Lotus seem to have kind
of got a good version, if you like.

They kind of played
around with it and it's OK.

It's pretty good.

If we can get this little engine
to produce a little bit more, I don't

know, different air filter, maybe
change the spark plugs, different oil.

We can even do a bit
of head work, actually.

That would be the thing to go for.

Porting could be kind of good.

I like the sound of that.

So that's extracting more
power out of the engine.

Basically, yeah, it's
getting more fuel and air

actually in and then, of
course, the exhaust out.

OK.

OK.

Right now, the inside is lovely.

Get yourself in there.

I'm not going to happen.

Go on, get yourself in.

I already know I don't fit in these.

It's a real bummer, but I cannot
actually fit as I currently can't drive.

I don't even know if I can
actually be a passenger.

Well, let me tell you, the good news
is there's nothing to do with the interior.

Well, that is a result.

Fair enough.

What about the handling, though?

This is what Lotus are all
about, is this fantastic handling.

This car feels like it's actually
stuck down onto the tarmac.

It feels absolutely amazing on the road.

See, my idea with this car is to
have it really sharp on the road,

but have it especially
sharp if somebody

wants to take it to the
track at the weekend.

That's fantastic.

We're going to do something
sporty to the engine.

Let's do something
sporty to the suspension.

We've got to sort out these wheels as well.

Maybe we should change the
colour or something, perhaps.

So I guess the next question
is how much did it cost?

I give under £9,000 for the car.

That's not bad going.

Yeah, it's not bad.

I reckon we'll have a load of fun.

There'll be a profit in it for us.

Wicked.

Shall we get it in the workshop?

That's fantastic.

It's good, isn't it?

I think you'll have to
drive, obviously, though.

Fantastic.

You wouldn't have to ask me twice.

I am really chuffed Mike
has bought us an Elise.

It is considered to be the very
essence of a beautifully engineered car.

It is a motor that looks good for
sure, but it's not really a pose mobile.

This Lotus is all about driving,

and many people believe this is one
of the best handling cars one can get.

And despite this reputation, Mike
has tasked me with giving a car

that's already pretty nimble
even more of an edge.

And that is going to be a challenge.

Mike saved two grand
on the sale of this car,

and that's going to be
my budget to work with.

So what can I do with the cash?

A plan is already forming.

Now, the first place I'm
going to work some Wheeler

dealer's magic is in
here in the engine bay.

Now, this is the rather famously unreliable
1800K series engine that plagued Rover,

but somehow Lotus have managed
to turn it into a pretty solid unit,

and it is fairly powerful with
just under 120 horsepower.

Now, in a light car, that's
plenty for a decent performance,

but there is one job I can do which will
give us even more power to play with.

And that is porting and
gas flowing the head,

which is a well-used tool by
tuners to extract more power.

The only flaw in the ointment is that
before you can start working on the head,

you have to remove it, and
that's a fair chunk of work.

A specialist would charge you
about 250 pounds for this alone.

It might seem a bit strange trying to take
the head off from underneath of the car,

but actually I need to remove all
this rather natty aerodynamic paneling

to actually get to the
bottom of the engine

so I can drain the
coolant out of the system.

But as you've noticed here probably,

some of these parts are actually a little
bit trapped between the ramp and the car.

So what I need to do is
undo as much as I can,

and then I'll drop the car down and put
out the last few little bits and pieces.

Lots of manufacturers
use fixings that require

special tooling to limit
punter intervention.

But not so on the Elise.

If you want to get busy with yours, you
only need a screwdriver and a socket set.

Once I release the bolts on the
ramp, I can get rid of the under-tray.

I've finally got access to the engine,
so I can partly drain the cooling system.

Now obviously I haven't
drained all of the coolant

out of the system, but
I don't actually have to.

If you imagine the head
is sitting above the block,

all I need to do is drain the
coolant down below the level

of the head gasket, and that
way, once I remove the head,

then none of that coolant is
actually going to flow into the engine.

It's a good idea to reattach the hose
now for when I top up the coolant later on.

The Lotus is full of nice design touches.

Although there's not much
space around the engine,

there is an inspection
panel deep in the wheel arch,

which I have to remove to gain
access to the side of the engine.

A top tip here is to
use a camshaft locking

tool to stop it rotating
while I undo the bolt.

Now at the top of the engine,

the next job is to disconnect the inlet
and exhaust manifolds from the head,

which ultimately governs the flow
of gas in and out of the cylinders.

Easily a few hours work.

Right, well we're getting there,

but the next thing I need to
take off is the exhaust manifold.

It's right down here on
the front of the engine,

and I can barely feel at
least some of the nuts.

So when I get a better look, I'm
going to use a mirror and a torch.

We're very lucky that
the studs and nuts are

relatively new and
are coming apart easily.

Fixing sheared bolts is something
I can do without right now.

Finally, the head is exposed,

but before I can unbolt it,

I'm draining the oil that's collected
around the camshaft followers.

Now a bit of a top tip here.

This head is held onto the
block using these stretch bolts.

Now they're quite special.

You can only use them once, and the reason
they stretch is to maintain the torque,

or the correct torque,
to hold the head down.

The thing is, whenever you change
the head, you must change these bolts.

Even if you wanted to save money, you
really must swap these little chaps over.

Well our K-series head
is now finally off the block,

and our cunning plan is
to get a bit more power

for our Lotus by gas
flowing or porting our head.

Think of an engine rather like a pump.

It's got air and fuel going
in and exhaust going out.

Well the problem is,
that flow of gases is kind

of restricted by the
tubes inside the engine.

So to think of gas flow in another way,

I've actually got here your bottleneck,

or your little port of a
standard engine, if you like,

and then one here that's
been gas flowed or ported.

And the idea is that
our fluid, in this case

water, is going to flow
through those holes,

but you're going to be able to
see that the one that's been ported

is going to actually
work much, much better.

So here we go.

I'll just spin them around a
little bit just to get them going.

So you can see here straight
away that the one that's

been ported is actually
flowing through much faster.

By making the holes bigger,
we're going to get more fluid,

more air and fuel going through the engine,

which of course means you're
going to get more power ultimately.

But the thing is, it's not
quite as simple as that.

You can't just make the
holes as big as possible

because you'll end up
then damaging the head,

which is why I'm going
to send this off to Mike.

so he can take it to a specialist.

Ed's asked me to get
our Lotus head polished

and ported for more power.

This engine builder in
Ipswich has a great reputation

and even undertakes secret
development work for racing teams.

Before we can get cracking,

Gareth the engineer
checks the head for defects.

What we're looking at
is these marks on here.

Alright, that little Ridge there.

That little Ridge there.

Well, we're looking to make sure there
isn't a big Ridge and that's pretty good.

What happens if there is then?

If there's a big Ridge, it
means head's gone soft

and the gasket's pushed
into it and essentially scrap.

Really?

Yes.

Okay, but this one's okay.

This one looks quite good.

Okay, well that's a relief.

Shall we get started?

Yes.

We're going to be smoothing the ports,

which take air in and out of the engine.

First, the valves are stripped.

The head is deep cleaned and then
checked for leaks using compressed air.

If our head can't pass,

we'll be looking at 500
pounds for a replacement.

Right, now this is Aidy, everyone,

and Aidy has got the,
well, the skill job here,

I'd like to say.

This is all about taking away
some of this material, is it?

Yep, yep.

So what is the process?

Well, basically, we're going to use this,

which is a burr,

and we're going to
remove all the sharp edges.

and any restrictions.

Alright, so do we need
to be wearing anything?

Yeah, there's the goggles here.

Lovely.

There you go.

I like these safety goggles.

Yeah, I look good in these.

Would you like to have a go?

I'd love to have a go.

Do you mind?

No, not at all.

Fantastic.

Removing only one millimetre of
metal uniformly takes a steady hand.

Aidy, who has decades
of experience in this job,

reckons it's going to
need another four hours

of hard work, so I'll
ask him to carry on.

The valve seats are recut and
then dropped back into place,

and now we have the
chance to actually measure.

the difference all this
work makes to the airflow.

So then, Gareth, what are we up to now?

Here we're going to
check to see how much

airflow we're getting
through this head now.

Okay, and what is this machine?

This is a flow bench.

It's essentially a big vacuum cleaner,

sucks at a constant depression,

and we've got the gear up here to
represent the cam opening of valves.

Right, I gotcha.

So this is simulating the
engine under acceleration

and how much air is flowing through it.

And we can get a measure then of how
much horsepower you've managed to extract.

Yeah, how much increase
you're going to get.

Okay, that's brilliant.

Alright, so do we get on with it then?

Yes.

First of all, you've got to
wear your ear defenders.

Oh, I've got to dress up again.

Yes.

Gareth works on one inlet valve at a time,

and with the machine wound up to maximum,

we can measure the
increased airflow on the screen.

Will that translate to
an increase in power?

Here we have, that's a standard head.

Yeah.

And that's your head.

No way.

In terms of horsepower,
does this sort of equate?

Well, you've got about
120 CFM of flow through

there, which does roughly
equate on most engines

to the horsepower.

You're kidding.

So the engine right at 120 horsepower?

Yeah.

But now it's up to way over 150 horsepower?

What a fantastic improvement.

I can't see how pleased I am with that.

That's great.

Okay, and we've not finished yet, have we?

No, we've still got the skim to go.

Right, cool.

Let's get on with it.

The final stage is a
quick skim at high speed,

which flattens the head
to a super high tolerance.

The cost for this entire headwork
comes in at only 400 quid,

which I think is good value for
the specialist work it requires.

Well, look at that. Fantastic.

It's been polished, ported,
the valve's put back in,

it's been gas flowed, and
it's had the head skimmed.

And I know that we've taken the
power from about 120 brake horsepower

all the way up to about
150 brake horsepower,

and that's going to make
that little Elise very happy.

I just hope Ed's happy
when I get this bubble

wrapped and delivered
back to the workshop.

We've added to the Elise
in the performance stakes,

but I know getting top
money for this car is going to

require serious attention
to the driving experience.

But how can we add to a
car that's already brilliant?

There's a sound you tend to hear
when a Lotus Elise drives past.

It's the sound of a driver having fun.

We've got a standard car,

and we're spending two grand
upgrading and improving it.

The plan is to turn this standard Elise

into a car that will
perform magic on the track.

And if we're to do that,

we need to work on our
car's stock suspension.

Lotus are a dab hand at making
cars which are happy on the track.

That's where their heritage lies.

But that's not to say that there isn't
room for improvement on our little Elise.

Now, suspension is
an area where you can

really extend the
ability of a car like this.

I've got plans to
upgrade the factory-set

fixed suspension for a
fully adjustable setup,

which allows the Elise to be
temporarily or permanently set

up for a track, which is where
we want this car to excel.

But before I even look at that,

I have one important
component to check out first,

and that's the tyres.

Now, you can spend a ton of money
uprating the performance of your suspension

and your braking system, but
there's no point doing all that

and then ignoring the quality
and condition of your tyres.

So the first thing to check is going to be

the actual depth of your tread
and the condition of your tread.

Now, if you go to an MOT test,

the chap there is actually going
to be using a device like this

to just see the depth and
make sure it's actually legal.

Now, in this country, that's 1.6mm,

but actually you want more like
3mm because the more tread you have,

the more water that will be dispersed,

therefore showing more of that
rubber contact patch to the tarmac.

Now, obviously, the more places you
actually check the depth of your tread,

the more accurate a picture you're going
to get of what's going on with your tyres.

But what if you could do
it every half-millimetre?

Well, I found a clever machine
that could actually do that.

This little gizmo here is a
digital laser tyre scanner.

On a typical tyre, it
measures the depth of the

rubber surface around
400 times across its width.

You end up with a highly
accurate cross-section of your tyre,

which describes the usable depth of tread

and therefore gives you
an idea of its life expectancy.

So I've now got these
nice little diagrams here,

and I can tell quite a lot from this.

For example, on the front right tyre,

it's actually quite low on
tread, which means perhaps

there's a little bit of
toe-out going on in the

suspension geometry, so
that's one thing to look at.

So this diagram is also telling
me that the rear right tyre,

which is this one, has actually
got a bit more wear in the centre

than perhaps at the
edges, which means in the

past it may have been
slightly over-inflated.

But essentially, we know that
our tyre depth is way above legal,

but not necessarily as
much as would be desired.

But tyre depth isn't the end of the story.

Although technically it's
legal, up close to the tyre,

I'm seeing something I'm not so happy with.

Now, these numbers here
indicate when the tyre was made,

and the reason that's
important is, unfortunately,

rubber degrades over time, so
it has a kind of best-before date.

And I can actually see
there are some cracks

between the tread and
the carcass of the tyre,

which really means that the car
perhaps may have been left standing

for a while, or it's been in a hot or
a cold place for a little bit too long.

So despite the fact that the tread is pretty
much OK and the age is pretty much OK,

the condition of the
tyres definitely aren't.

And bearing in mind we're
upping the performance of our car

and we want it to be a good
road and track day motor,

we are going to need to put
some new rubber on these.

I was planning to get the wheels
painted up for a meaner look,

so I'll remove them now
and get them sent off.

At the same time, we'll add some
mixed-use rubber to go with them.

If I was going for a pure track day set-up,

I'd have to fit wider
tyres and therefore new

wheels, but that would add an extra £1,000
and it might actually put off some buyers.

Now to the adjustable suspension.

First, I need to remove the upper suspension
arms and drop out the old coilovers.

You could do this at home or
give £100 to a garage for the swap.

Well, these are the
coilover units from R release

and you can see they're
in a pretty poor state,

particularly the Springs,
which are rather rusty.

Now, that's going to
affect the spring rate,

but also these aren't
in any way adjustable,

which isn't great in order to
set things up for your track day.

And just to cap it all,
these metalastic bushes

have a little bit of compliance
or movement in them,

so some of your suspension movement
is going to come from these deforming

rather than just from the
Springs and the shocks.

Now, if we move on to these
nice, shiny, brand-new ones,

all of these problems are solved.

First of all, you can
see that on the end here,

we have a Rose joint
and that won't move at all

and basically that means that all
the suspension you're going to feel

is going to be coming from this part,
which of course is totally controllable.

Now, you might also notice we've actually
got a little valve on the tip here.

Now, that's obviously to get the nitrogen
in, because they're nitrogen charged,

and the shock absorber is actually
fully adjustable as well, which is great.

But then perhaps the most obvious thing

is this kind of threaded
part of the shock itself.

Now, that's so you can set
up the preload of the spring.

There are normally two different
types of dual spring system.

Ours here is called a helper
spring and the idea of that

is under normal load it'll
be completely compressed.

Its job is actually to stop
the mainspring rattling around

when the suspension is
on full droop or fully down.

This new suspension kit
sounds top end, and it is.

Handmade in Sweden, they
usually fetch around two grand a set.

However, I got hold of a refurbished kit

taken from the manufacturer's
development car.

I paid half price, a
blessing for the budget.

They simply bolt into
place in around one hour,

and because they're designed for
this car, there's no messing about.

Well, our brand new
suspension is in position

and looks really rather good,
but we do have to set it up,

and for that, I'm gonna need
some freshly refurbished wheels.

But we are getting there slowly.

We're transforming our
little Lotus from a stock

but able road car into
something far more capable.

Ed, how you doing, mate?

I'm all right.

You all right?

Okay, what we got here?

Yeah, that's what I like to see.

A Lotus, exactly as it
was the last time I left

it, but you've just taken
the four wheels off.

What's the story?

I'll have you know, we
are now the proud owners

of a nice set of sporty
suspension units.

You can see these nice coilovers there.

They're now fully adjustable so we can
set it up for a track day or for road use.

Perfect, because I was hoping
to get a track-focused car,

but I don't want to alienate
those people that want

to set it up for the road
and be nice and comfortable.

Exactly, you can set
it up any way you like.

And also, having gone under
the trouble of taking the head off,

I'm kind of hoping this little chap
here has a little package for me.

In there is your refinished, reported,

re-cleaned, so don't
get it too dirty, head,

and once you screw this back on the car,
that's worth an extra 30 brake horsepower.

That is impressive.

Okay, well, I've got to get that back on.

I also need to sort of
set the suspension up.

And also, I've had a few ideas

about how to make the Elise a lot cooler.

Oh, that's good, because
when I got this car,

I was worried about how
we can make a good car

better, but it looks like
we're well on our way.

Don't say things like that.

It's bound to go wrong now.

Things are going pretty well with our
Elise, and now the wheels are back,

I can think about setting
up the suspension,

but also, Mike brought
back our gas-flowed head,

so before I forget how
that lot goes back together

again, I think I'll carry
on with that oily job.

The newly ported and skimmed
head came off our car, but

it's not a given that it'll
reinstall without any trouble.

You must take great care that there
are no imperfections on the block.

Otherwise, this will let
the oil join the coolant,

and you'll get that telltale white
sludge when you check the oil.

As required, I've got a new
set of engine stretch bolts

and the best quality head gasket
available, all of which cost 100 pounds,

and within two hours of fitting,

we have the engine back together.

Now I can get on with the suspension setup.

For that, I need some wheels.

Well, here is a newly shod set
of wheels in a much meaner color,

and once these are actually
on the car, they're going to

help pick out some of the
darker details on the paintwork

and make the whole thing
look a lot more purposeful.

The Lotus has great brakes as standard,

and I won't need to
upgrade them for track use,

and these new tires are really going to
help make the most of that braking ability.

So the wheels are now on
and bolted up to the right torque,

and the suspension is ready to be adjusted.

Now what I'm going to try
and do now is actually set up

the poise of the car, the
way it kind of sits on the road,

and what I actually
need to do is make sure

that the weight at each
corner is exactly right.

And to do that, I have some clever kit,

broadly known as corner weight scales.

These accurately weigh
the car on each corner.

I place a scale under each wheel,
and then use a computer to link the data.

Lotus advised setting the
car up with 75 kilograms

on each side to represent the
occupants and half a tank of fuel.

Some diehards prefer to set their
exact weight on the driver's side only.

The beauty of the adjustable
suspension is that you can choose.

The weight of the car on the combined
corners is just under 900 kilograms.

Now we can see from the scales the
weight exerted by each corner of the car,

and from that, its weight distribution is
60% on the rear and 40% on the front.

And this is with a car set
at the standard ride height

of 130 millimetres from
the sills to the ground.

Now my job is to get the left and right
side of each axle to weigh exactly the same,

and this is going to make the
handling as predictable as possible.

I need to get the front
wheels to equalise first.

Getting it right is trial and error.

If one side's too heavy,

I need to reduce the compression
or ride height in that spring,

which effectively transfers
the weight to the other side.

After every adjustment,

I have to allow the suspension to settle.

That's what these floating cups are for.

But some tuners will roll the car on
and off the weight to do the same thing.

Now that is looking pretty good.

It's almost exactly the same on
the left and the right on the front,

but unfortunately, while
I've been adjusting the

front up, the rear has
now gone a little bit awry,

so I now have to turn my
attention to the rear of the car

and then try and get those to
match up and see where we end up.

Suspension setup is a bit of a black art.

It can take up to half a day and cost
around £300 at a specialist garage.

That sounds a lot, but the Elise
is all about feel and handling,

and anything that improves
that has got to be good.

Now we've got the corner
weight set the way they should be,

our Lotus is going to feel so much
more focused behind the wheel,

and it's going to be making the
most out of the extra horsepower.

It would seem that our little Elise is
now turning into a rather a serious motor.

On a tight budget, we've
given the Elise extra power

plus improved handling
that will cut it on the track.

We want £13,000 or £14,000 for this car,

but there's still work to be done
before the Elise can fetch that price.

This is our Lotus Elise.

It's a car that loves to drive.

I love these little cars, they're so good.

But we'd love it to make some money.

The road to riches on this one is
all about cutting-edge upgrades.

We've shelled out more than a grand
on engine work and suspension tuning,

but Ed, as always, wants to go further.

So we've given our Lotus a
bit more oomph and some better

driving focus, but visually,
this car could do better.

I've got a few tricks up my sleeve,
but hopefully will make all the difference.

Now, the chap we bought our Elise from
actually tunes Lotus cars for a living,

and as part of the deal, he
chucked in this rear diffuser.

Now, of course, the idea of that.

is to actually give the car a little
bit of aerodynamic advantage,

a bit of extra downforce,
but as far as we're concerned,

it's actually going to make the
car look a lot more purposeful.

The diffuser replaces
the existing wire mesh

grille and it's an upgrade
you can do at home.

I remove the old wire frame from the
mountings and then the number plate holder,

which I have to get
into the engine bay for.

The diffuser kit mounts into the same
holes and takes half an hour to install.

New, these cost £200, well worth the money.

What's next?

Now, these functioning air scoops on
the side of the Elise are a great feature,

but we want to go for
something that looks a

bit more aggressive, so
we've shelled out £350

for a pair of these
genuine carbon fibre pods.

Now, they are super
light and made for the job,

and they're going to look fantastic.

It's another DIY install.

Remove the old grilles and
the pods just bolt onto the inside.

They only offer a bit of extra cooling,

but they give the Elise a more
aggressive, contemporary look.

I'm also fitting a new filler cap.

It's only 50 quid and since we're
all about matte black on this car now,

it's better than the old metal finish one.

When Mike bought this car,

the seller pointed out to him
that some of the areas of paint

weren't quite up to retail standards,
so I've actually got the paint shop

to go over a few localised
areas just to bring it up to scratch,

and a happy coincidence of that,

they've also refitted the
slightly dodgy-looking indicators.

Now, it's not a massive
transformation, but every little helps.

Our Elise has front fog lights,

which are factory standard,
but they look a bit weird.

By fitting units from the 2010 Elise,

the Lotus face looks less
bug-eyed and a lot cooler.

Well, the Elise is done,
and I'm really happy with it.

I've always loved that really
highly focused design ethos of Lotus.

After all, this is a
thoroughbred driver's car,

and we've taken what was
already a pretty brilliant car

and made it even better, and surely
Mike can't ask for any more than that.

Ed, how you doing, buddy?

I'm good, sir.

Yes!

Look at our little Lotus Elise.

It's looking very sharp.

Somehow you haven't painted
it, but it just looks so much better.

Well, thank you, sir.

I have gone slightly
over your original budget,

but we now have a few performance mods

and also some aesthetic
ones as well, which is fantastic.

I think it's a lovely little
package for the new owner.

Yet again, Edward, you have pulled it off.

The Lotus Elise is a wonderful
piece of automotive engineering.

It's designed to drive and handle superbly,

but with ours, we've
taken the best of a standard

car and made it into
something more purposeful.

It's a true dual-breed racer now.

Look at it.

It's nothing short of amazing.

I wanted an Elise with
issues to keep the price down,

and it was a specialist dealer who provided
the goods with an unwanted trade-in.

£8,400.

I'll have a deal with you.

Come on.

OK.

Yes!

The Lotus was achingly standard,

crying out for modification, and Ed
started in earnest, stripping out the head,

which I took to import it and
gas-flowed for more BHP.

Now it's up to weigh over 150 horsepower.

Yes.

We wanted to make
the Lotus fit for the track,

so Ed specs fully adjustable racing suspension
and set the car up to factory specs.

Our Lotus is going to feel so much
more focused behind the wheel.

The wheels and tyres were upgraded,

and a couple of exterior additions helped
to make the Lotus look leaner and meaner.

In a crowded market, the
details often make the difference.

So, the car costs £8,400.

Suspension came in at £700.

Haunting was £450.

Painting, £300.

And a salted part set us back £1,700.

The Elise now owes us £11,550.

Cracking value for a cracking car.

The Lotus Elise can
satisfy on a daily commute,

but have we transformed a
standard car into a track champion?

It's time to find out.

Well, I bet you can see
where this is going, can't you?

Absolutely.
We're going to take our precious car,

you're going to rag it around,
then I'm going to be violently ill.

Sort of.

No, this is Silverstone.

This is the home of British motorsport.

And this is the famous Stowe circuit.

This little circuit sorts
the men out from the boys.

And me and you, we're
going to have a challenge.

We're going to go head to
head and see who can go fastest.

Fair enough.

And I guess I'm not going
to bother with a coin toss.

You're just going to go first.

Of course. Why would we change that?

Each of us get a warm-up
lap before the stopwatch starts.

So let's put my foot down and let's
see if I can set a competitive time.

So here comes Mike now,
he's just doing his hot lap.

Here we go.

And we're on.

This car was already quick,
but now it's really quick.

And as for the handling,
whoa, this car is gripping.

It's pulling my face off.

That's a bit feisty.

A bit of tyre screeching,
so he's giving it some.

Oh, this car is really lively.

Such a hooligan.

Wow.

What a performance.

I mean, this car is so grippy.

Back down the start and finish straight.

Flat out.

Come on.

Awesome. Look at that.

One minute, 12.

Well done, the brewski.

Oh, yes.

Time for the tall man.

He promised me he
wouldn't fit in the Lotus.

Funny, though, for the
track, he's made it happen.

Right, Ed's done his warm-up lap.

You can see he's got his slipper down.

He's really coming for it.

Here we go.

This is obviously a
fantastically capable road car,

and we've just sharpened it up.

Excellent corner.

He's going quick, isn't he?

You can feel the power coming
from the little bit of headwork we did.

But the grip is quite brilliant, actually.

Come on, Ed. Put your foot down.

Oh, look at that.

Fantastic.

Really does handle beautifully.

Not far to go now.

Lovely.

Absolutely fantastic.

Oh, not bad at all.

It would be Ed's dream to come out on top,

but am I going to let that happen?

That was rather sporty.

That was fantastic.

You enjoyed that, did you?

Oh, mate, that was awesome.

It felt really, really rather fast.

This isn't the easiest way to
go out of a car, but there we go.

Did you enjoy that?

It's awesome. Awesome car.

I love the way, when
you're going around the

corners, that you just
slide ever so slightly,

but you get full confidence in it.
It's amazing.

It is very, very good, this little motor.

Absolutely loved it, but you're desperate
to know what kind of lap time you did.

Well, I am. You did, what, one minute 12?

Pretty fast. One minute 12 for me, yeah.

Come on, come on, come on.

Well, I was quite surprised.

You were going pretty quick down the back
straight, but you did it in one minute 15.

That's all right. That's not so bad.

That's not bad at all, but I said it
to sort the men out from the boys.

It's a great car.

It is a fantastic car,

but the thing is now, what
are we going to sell it for?

Well, a car like this, not only have
we turned out a good car for the road,

we've also proved that we've
turned out a good car for the track,

so I think I could sell this with
confidence for £14,000 for it.

Good luck with that.

Thank you.

Our Lotus Elise is a fabulous car,

but I wasn't too sure we were going
to clinch that £14,000 asking price

because there's loads of them
around on the edge of being greedy,

but just through word of mouth,
after a couple of days out there,

I got a sniff from this guy behind me.

He's called Stephen.

Stephen is a very, very busy man,

so I thought, because it's
a nice day and it is a Lotus,

I'd bring the car to come and show him.

Let's just hope the journey pays dividends.

So then, Stephen, you
do like this car, don't you?

Yeah, I love it.

Yeah, absolutely great.

It drives and handles exactly as
it looks, really sharp, fun to drive.

I love what you've done
with the suspension on it.

It's our second Lotus, so
we're used to driving them.

And, yeah, it's a nice motor.

Absolutely brilliant.

I love the side pods,
the colour of the wheels.

We've done a lovely job on this car.

I'm over the moon with it,
and it does drive like it looks.

So what would you do with it?
Use it for the weekends?

Yeah, it is a weekend car, but
it's actually a present for the wife.

Well, I'm asking £14,000 for it.

I want to get as near to that as I can

because I think there's been
a lot of effort gone into this car

and it's worth every penny
just for the grim factor alone.

What do you say?

It's more in the tune of £13,000 to me.

£13,000.

I can't let the car go for £13,000,
and I understand what you say.

I can let it go a little bit cheaper
because maybe I was being a bit greedy,

so I should be a bit more reasonable.

I'll let you have the car for £13,500.

What do you say?

Split the difference?

What, £13,250?

£13,250.

What about your hand?

Thank you.

You just bought yourself a Lotus.

Well done.

At a sale price of £13,250, I
can report 1,700 quid profit,

exactly where I want it to be.

Just goes to show, if
you upgrade a car right,

you can add some serious value.

I think you can see by
the expression on my face,

I really love this car.

I can't stop grinning.

I know Stephen and his wife,
they're going to love it too.

We've taken a good car and we've made it
even better, and we earned some purse on it.

If you want to see more iconic cars
being turned around by me and Ed,

join us again soon on Wheel of Dealers.

Tala!