About two years ago, we decided to run a 15/17” wheel stagger for more tire selection, and in doing so, we had to install smaller front calipers (More detail on that here). The Cup brakes that our S240 came with were too big for 15” wheels. We were able to get a few 15” wheels to fit over them, but it required running some large wheel spacers. The set up we decided on were the AP Radical front calipers and the OEM 2 Pot calipers in the rear. Since the changes, the brakes never felt as good as the stock set up. The larger calipers require more fluid volume, and with the stock master cylinder, that meant the pedal had more travel and felt softer. We also noticed more ABS “ice mode”, which could be related to the change in brake bias and front to rear tire diameter.
I am thrilled to announce the return of Toyo Tires to our race program for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. I have had the pleasure of working with Toyo for many years previously, and this partnership renewal marks a commitment on both sides for shared success.
You’ve probably already seen the results online, 3rd in class (E1) and 9th overall. But what you don’t know are all of the details, the drama, the trials and tribulations and the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this past weekend. Fortunately, that’s what this blog is for…so please, read on.
This year seems to be just flying by. We last raced at the end of March, and since then the team has been busy with a wide variety of cool projects at the shop. Personally, my calendar has been filled with work, travel, and everything in between. One event in particular that transpired during this time was the official launch of the Yokohama A055 tire.
Before doing anything K-swap related to the new chassis, we started by transferring parts over from the original tub to the new one. Since this was a low mileage car, it wasn’t difficult selling the drivetrain. Timing worked out perfectly as there was another Elise in our shop needing a motor due to a failure.
Back in February of 2020, our longtime Lotus customer reached out about potentially building an Elise from the ground up. The idea was to build a car to his exact specs, a reimagined Lotus Elise. The plan was to buy a brand new tub chassis from Lotus and hand-pick, or fabricate, custom parts for one goal: his perfect “streetable” track day car. Most of the drivetrain and miscellaneous bits would be taken from his current 2011 Elise.
When we left off in part one of the K24 swap, we had the engine in the car and started getting things connected. Although it seemed like it was close to being done, there was quite a bit left to do. We decided to keep the factory dual oil coolers. This may change in the future, but we wanted to make sure the temps were stable even on extremely hot days. Moving along on the track is one thing, but following closely behind another car in “dirty air” and it can get hot pretty quickly. Because these cars are known to over cool engine oil, we installed a thermostatic sandwich plate with a 200F thermostat to help maintain proper temps.
If you grew up in the 90s and were into cars, then you’ve heard of the Honda B-series engine and how amazing it was. It was the “hot rod” engine of its time and my gateway into modifying cars. The planning, researching, parts sourcing, building, and then seeing how it improved the car’s performance is what got me hooked. In the early 2000’s, Honda came out with something even better..
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