CategoryLotus Elise (S111)

As I said in the reintroduction, I let my once pristine Lotus Elise sit in disrepair for 4+ years with a suspected head gasket failure. Now a simple repair has become much more involved. My intent here is to offer a summary of the repair and service steps I’ve completed thus far to catch...

I could write a book on the absurd amount of procrastination that went into letting my 06 Lotus Elise sit in disrepair for 4 years. It would be too kind to say I was busy when in reality, fixing a non racecar just hasn’t been a big priority. But as the years roll by, it’s started to...

The Larini decat and club sport exhaust serves two purposes on project Lotus Elise. For starters, this combo along with the rear panel delete can easily yield weight reduction values approaching 25 lbs. The other purpose is to wake up the exhaust on the Elise because frankly, a car like this needs...

This guide is a prerequisite for many of the Lotus tutorials on this site. Placing the Lotus Elise on jack stands is a little trickier than most production cars. Due to the Elise’s design and flat underbody there are really only 8 designated “safe” lift points. Also, since the Elise has an...

The Lotus Elise is one of the few production cars that comes with a full body undertray. So when you look under the Elise, instead of seeing exposed lines and pipes (fuel/coolant/brake/exhaust) what you are met with is a flat sheet that runs the length of the car. This design feature is a blessing...

This is perhaps the most difficult project introduction I have ever written. There is so much emotion wrapped up in this car that no matter what I write it just seems wrong. I want to tell the story of how I came face to face with a pristine Type 72D Lotus Elise that had sat on the dealers lot...