2007 Lotus Exige S - Page 8

**Murlo26** · 05-01-2013

Looking good mang, can't wait to see this thing in action.

**asshanson** · 05-11-2013

304whp peak when cool, 295whp when the intercooler was warm. Tq is in the 190 lb-ft range and very flat from 5000-8500rpm, I'm working on getting the graphs to post. Basically makes no power below 4k rpms then just screams up top, even wants to keep going way past 100mph which I wasn't expecting with the 1.8l.

The car was running stupid lean, over 13:1 on the old tune, it's a good thing I decided to get retuned after these mods. Car feels much more responsive now on tip in, and I am finally feeling traction control kick in for the first time. I didn't know what was happening at the autox today, thought it was stuttering on corner exit and the tuner told me to turn off TC next time.

After the entire day of autox (about 16-17 miles of track) I noticed my brake light came on which indicates brake fluid isn't completely full, and I saw some fluid around the front bleeders. Also I was having some trouble downshifting, like I was getting locked out, so I might have a leak in both the front calipers and the clutch slave. I may have overtightened them, or the previous owner did, they were nearly impossible to get loose when I flushed the system last week.

But the good news is I got best time of the day, and I kept getting a little bit faster as the day went on. My last lap I had a few really good turns in the fast sections but sloppy elsewhere, and it was still my best time by a half second. The car pushes a little bit so I'm going to adjust my front swaybar one notch stiffer and see how that goes.

For those of you who know Marshalltown, my best time was 1:22.06 for two laps, hoping I can get that into the sub-1:20 range with more practice and temps over 50* for some more traction.

BriK · 05-13-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by asshanson

The car pushes a little bit so I'm going to adjust my front swaybar one notch stiffer and see how that goes.

Most people would advise going the opposite direction-- softening the front swaybar to reduce understeer. Plenty of articles and resources on this so I won't get all techy here but, most simply, increasing the stiffness of a sway bar at one end of the car often has the most effect at the other end due to the bar's effect on lateral load transfer.

**goodhart** · 05-11-2013

Congrats on time of the day!

**scheides** · 05-12-2013

Got dyno plots yet? What kind of dyno was this on?

Nice to hear the car is running good! Maybe a bunch of air still in the brake lines after your rebuild project?

turbotalon1g · 05-12-2013

Nice to hear. That is sick power to weight.
I just bought a motive power bleeder ill let you know how it works out incase you were looking to get one.

Congrats on the power, I have a feeling the powerband is sick.

evotuner · 05-12-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbotalon1g

Nice to hear. That is sick power to weight.
I just bought a motive power bleeder ill let you know how it works out incase you were looking to get one.

Congrats on the power, I have a feeling the powerband is sick.

I have one and its pretty sweet, but I still don't mind having a buddy work the brakes though

**asshanson** · 05-13-2013

Yea that is what I meant, I was thinking about this last night and realized I had it backwards haha. Thanks for confirming.

Or I could just add negative camber to the front tires and just get more grip up front. I have to get an alignment soon anyway after I install my toe links.

BriK · 05-13-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by asshanson

Or I could just add negative camber to the front tires and just get more grip up front. I have to get an alignment soon anyway after I install my toe links.

I think that's a better route. You could also consider a spacer, even a very small one. I'm playing with a 3mm spacer up front to widen the front track a little without hugely effecting scrub radius.

simulatedwood · 05-13-2013

Push is a funny thing, You could try a softer spring setup or try adding camber, it really depends is this a high speed or low speed push? Also what are the condition of the tires? Tires is usually 80 percent of all issues. Suspension setup accounts for the other 20 percent as a rule.

**asshanson** · 05-13-2013

All new star specs with less than 500 miles on them. Don't really want to mess with shocks or springs yet, they are all stock.

They were all tight turns, like 20mph or so.

BriK · 05-14-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by asshanson

All new star specs with less than 500 miles on them. Don't really want to mess with shocks or springs yet, they are all stock.

They were all tight turns, like 20mph or so.

The newness of your tires could be a factor. You may know this already but, generally, it takes about 500 miles to wear off the mold release lubricant which hurts traction; that 500 miles is usually for easy, casual driving so you might be through that already. Also, full depth tires will squirm a bit more than worn tires due to the taller, more pliable tread blocks. It's subtle and Star Specs should squirm less than "normal" passenger tires, but it could also be a factor.

With this, and knowing Star Specs especially improve as they wear, personally, I'd give it some time before changing too much. Maybe play with tire pressures-- overall and the balance from front to back-- and see what that does.

The "nice" thing about understeer is that, to correct it, you just do less of what's causing it-- less steering input, less brake, etc. If it's happening under acceleration, try squeezing the throttle gradually as you unwind the steering wheel so you're unloading the front tires a bit more gradually.

I hope I'm not being too basic and saying things you already know, just trying to offer my thoughts.

simulatedwood · 05-13-2013

Did the front of the car feel like it was digging at all or just sliding? How does the tire wear look for a new set of tires?

**asshanson** · 05-14-2013

It wasn't too bad, felt alright but the front just doesn't have as much grip as the rear. Definitely wasn't sliding all over the place. Maybe I'm just comparing it to the corvette which seemed really neutral, if I gave it a little gas the back would come out just a bit. It seemed to have the opposite effect in this car, more throttle just made it push a little more, maybe I just need more throttle haha. I haven't checked the inside/outside tire wear yet.

simulatedwood · 05-14-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by asshanson

It wasn't too bad, felt alright but the front just doesn't have as much grip as the rear. Definitely wasn't sliding all over the place. Maybe I'm just comparing it to the corvette which seemed really neutral, if I gave it a little gas the back would come out just a bit. It seemed to have the opposite effect in this car, more throttle just made it push a little more, maybe I just need more throttle haha. I haven't checked the inside/outside tire wear yet.

Yeah, if the wear is on the more outside edge, I could see adding camber helping alittle bit. Pay attention to the motion of the car in a low speed situation, you might need to trail brake to keep more weight over the front wheels on lower speed turns. Be careful, Since this is a mid engine car the likely-hood of swapping ends can be high if to much weight is transferred to the front.

**asshanson** · 05-14-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by BriK

I hope I'm not being too basic and saying things you already know, just trying to offer my thoughts.

Not at all, I have very little experience and everything helps. I actually forgot to check my tire pressures ahead of time so that could completely fix the issue. Terrible n00b mistake, I know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simulatedwood

Yeah, if the wear is on the more outside edge, I could see adding camber helping alittle bit. Pay attention to the motion of the car in a low speed situation, you might need to trail brake to keep more weight over the front wheels on lower speed turns. Be careful, Since this is a mid engine car the likely-hood of swapping ends can be high if to much weight is transferred to the front.

I found this out the fun way. Braked a little too late for a 180* turn and also downshifted late since I couldn't get it into 2nd, and as I enter the turn and 2nd engages I do a quick end-swap. That was on my 3rd run of the day. It was close a few other times but some throttle quickly planted the car again, that was a blast.

Thanks a lot for the help guys, hopefully I can do another event or two before Proving Grounds to get these little things worked out.

**asshanson** · 05-15-2013

I started the toe link install tonight, I bought a kit from the shop that tuned my car. It's the cheapest, lightest, and strongest available but it requires drilling out the OEM holes for larger studs. The OEM ones are very prone to failure and I'm surprised the car didn't have aftermarket already since it was a track car.

Since I had the car jacked up I checked the front camber and there was one shim still installed. Previous camber was -1.85 and each shim is good for -.25*, so it will be around -2.1 now. Also I discovered the rear toe was 6mm (in) and should be just 3mm, so I will have that corrected when I get my alignment after the toe link install is complete. Also going to do 2mm total toe out on the front for better turn in and front grip. All these specs are what I have read online and also what my tuner suggested.

There are also a few shims in the rear but they are already at -1.6* camber, the inner nubs on the tires have worn down but the outer are still fully intact, which tells me I don't need any more rear camber (I think). Tire wear is almost dead even inside and outside on both the front and rear tires, but at only 500 highway miles and 16 track miles it's too early to tell I think.

The nubs on the front are worn both inside and outside, maybe need a little more tire pressure to keep them from rolling.

Thoughts?

**asshanson** · 05-18-2013

Got the rear toe links installed, first bought a cheap chinese cobalt bit and broke it immediately, then got a quality high speed steel bit and everything went super smooth. Stock holes were around .31", I drilled them out to about .44", so not a lot but enough for the bigger toe link bolt to go through.

Stock vs aftermarket, you can see the larger diameter bolt on the new one:

Stock installed:

New one installed:

How it looks from under the car, the bolt also holds in the lower A arm:

Rear wheel steering engaged, also liking the front camber:

Also I removed one camber shim from the fronts, and two shims from the rears, hope to get an alignment Sunday or Monday. But it should be a little over -2* camber on each wheel.

**asshanson** · 05-18-2013

Thought I would explain this pic, because I love learning about different suspension setups and maybe somebody else does too. Every one of my cars has been quite different (well I don't know anything about the V), but this one is especially different.

There are upper and lower A arms, and the upper connects via a ball type joint to a block which bolts to the hub. In order to adjust camber you add or remove shims between the A-arm block and hub. Unfortunately those are 8mm allen heads which suck, but I thought it was a cool design. I always thought the lop sided bolt/holes to adjust things were weird and would rotate in time, but I am just a suspension noob.

Front camber is normally limited to -1* if you remove all the shims. Apparently the previous owner milled down the A-arm block about 4mm because it is well over the stock adjustability at this point (little more than -2). BECAUSE RACECAR.

**scheides** · 05-18-2013

leave them sideways like that then light smoke bombs and zip tie to chassis...epic king-o-drift! But you only turn left.