Lotus Elise

Lotus Elise and Caterham 7

Autocross is Still Fun!

I used to autocross a lot until I started wheel to wheel racing. Autocross is more available, cheaper and much less demanding on resources. It may not be as exhilarating as racing; but it is a great way to learn…

Lotus Elise: Rebuild Part 1 (Where to Start)

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…

Lotus Elise Larini Decat and Club Sport Exhaust (6in)

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…

Lotus Elise Jack Stand Guide (The “Step” Method)

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…

Lotus Elise Engine Oil and Filter Change

Changing the oil in the Lotus Elise is a relatively simple proceedure but first you will have to remove the rear undertray. Also, you can skip to the bottom for my recommendations on oil type and change intervals. Tools and…

Lotus Elise Rear Undertray / Rear Splitter Removal

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…

Introducing Project Lotus Elise

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…