The story starts in Modena, Italy, where two brothers bought her from a dealer (an Italian
with a Norwegian wife, no less!) on July 11th, 1998 as they couldn't stand to wait the 6
months it took to get a new Elise in Norway at the time. The dealer's name was Giovanni
Stagni, the company Autospeak. I've got the original Italian receipt as well! After a lot of
hassle to get a temporary insurance to drive her back to Norway, they finally got one, and she
was on her way to Norway. She was registered in Norway on July 31st, 1998.
Six years later the two brothers were busy having children, building houses etc., so they
didn't have the time for her anymore. That's where I come in...:-) After seeing her
advertised I did some investigation on her, and wrote a lot of e-mails to the
brothers. One of the brothers was actually working for Hydro, the Norwegian company that supplies Lotus with the
aluminium chassis. After they bought her, he was responsible for making the tools
used to make the chassis.
May 29th, my girlfriend and I jumped on a train to Bergen, and some 8 hours later we were
driving her over the  mountains, back home...smiling all the way back! :-)
Bear in mind I've been wanting an Elise since they first came on the
market, and I've been saving up for one for the last four years, so no
wonder...:-)
I have to admit that the main reason I wanted her, and not the others on the market at that
time, was the colour. Mustard yellow...I just fits the Elise! The fact that she was 100%
original also helped a lot, but the killer was the colour...:-)
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Previous
service/modifications history:
- Engine oil and filter fitted by Formula One in Newcastle, UK (24/10/1998)
- New fuel pump, modified harness and new filler cap for the coolingsystem (recall by Lotus)
fitted by Formula One in Newcastle, UK (28/10/1998)
- New sparkplugs fitted by Persson Motor (at 20000 kms)
- New airfilter fitted by Persson Motor (at 20000 kms)
- Engine oil and filter fitted by Persson Motor (at 30000 kms)
- New rear tyres - Kleber (at 32000 kms)
- New front tyres - Hankook
(autumn 2003)
- Replaced the rubber gaiters in the front suspension, they'd cracked (19/05/2004)
Current
service/modifications history:
- Polished her, Meguiars (31/05/2004)
- Removed the rubber mats in the footwells, lots of (smelly) moisture there! Seemed OK though,
no corrosion. Removed the sticky tape and put in some new carpet mats I had lying around
(03/06/04)
- Tune-up:
Changed oil (to Mobil-1 5-50), filter (Rover/MG orig.), and sparkplugs
(Rover/MG -type). When I was about to change the airfilter, I
discovered a drop-in K&N-filter, much to my delight! Cleaned it
and put it back. :-D Cleaned the airbox as well. Removed the seats to
get rid of any and all debris stuck. You really need a good toolbox to
get to the bolts...but I did it. Check the images below (12/06/2004)
-
Replaced
the cambelt at Bennets Sportsvagnservice in Gothenburg, Sweden. Cheap,
good work and good guys! :-D (24/06/2004)
-
Went
on the Nürburgring! She behaved very well, but I've got to do
something about the suspension and the tyres... Pictures here
and videos here! (27-31/07/2004)
- Replaced
red Koni's with shiny new Nitrons, 325 lbs front, 400 lbs rear. More
pictures (and full-size of the ones below) here!
(16/01/2005)
- Replaced standard exhaust with
www.eliseparts.com
High Flow Sports Exhaust, check out the noise here!
More pictures (and full-size of the ones below) here!
(17/01/2005)
- Replaced
airfilter with a Hurricane Induction system. More pictures (and
full-size of the ones below) here! (17/01/2005)
- Stiffer
adjustable Anti-Roll bar with slider drop links.
More pictures (and full-size of the ones below) here!
(23/01/2005)
- Went out
for a small trip testing my new suspension, parked the car, found
coolant on the floor...yep, HGF, Head Gasket Failure! Great...
Fortunately, changing the gasket isn't that hard, and with a little help
I did the job myself. Unfortunately, when we started her up again, the
car still leaked...somewhere else...! Off with her head! Again... Seems
we managed to damage the new gasket with the cambelt tensioner when we
put the head back on, doh! Second attempt went fine, no more leaks. See
more horrid pictures here!
(7-28/03/2005)
- New parts
installed include new pressure cap, rotor, distributor cap, remote thermostat kit, Magnecor spark plug wires, sport 160
TB, cylinder head long bolts, exhaust-/intake gaskets, cam seals, water pump, Mike
Satur head gasket and steel dowels. Also installed new steel filler surround.
Changed the coolant, oil, oil filter and brake fluid. See all the new
parts here!
(28/03/2005)
- Changed
the battery (to a blue Varta) which didn't make it through the winter storage (06/04/2005)
- Changed
the o-ring
(Rover part no. BAU5325) where the fuel inlet pipe meets the fuel rail,
it had shredded when putting it back together after the HGF (16/04/2005)
- Changed
the side repeaters from the original orange ones to new white ones. Got
them at my local Opel dealer, as they are from a late Opel Corsa, for
NOK 140,-. The Opel part number is 1713240 - see bigger images here
(16/04/2005)
- Got me
some used Speedline magnesium wheels! They are seriously lighter than
standard wheels; 6x15@6.0 kg front and 8x16@7.2 kg rear. Included in the deal were also 2 standard S1 rear
wheels as well as 6 Dunlop R-tyres - see bigger images here
(15/05/2005)
- Got two new Yokohama A048's in size 195/50/15 for the fronts, as one of the Dunlop's were worn out (26/05/2005)
- Went to
the Nürburgring again, the car was fantastic compared to last time! All
the mods have delivered! ;-) Developed a small leak from the camshaft oil
seal, but no biggie. Pictures
here and videos
here!
(15-22/09/2005)
- Got the
camshaft oil seal leak fixed, also replaced the 4 lower ball joints and
put an eliseparts uniball toe-link kit with dustcovers on her (07/11/2005)
- Winter
storage (07/11/2005)
- Out of
winter storage! (20/04/2006)
- Complete
geo - done with me in the car, fuel tank half-full (20/04/2006):
- Height:
Front 115, rear 120
- Front:
Camber -1 deg., toe -0.2 (total) - -0.1 per side
- Rear:
Camber -2 deg., toe 2.5 (total) - 1.25 per side
- New
oil filter and oil, Castrol 10w60 (22/04/2006)
-
Professionaly pressure tested the cooling system, passed with flying
colors! (08/06/2006)
- New
rubber mats, self cut from a larger, standard set - se picture with fire
extinguisher below (24/03/2007)
- Fire
extinguisher in front of the passenger seat (24/03/2007)
-
Finally changed the infamous red clutch hose for a Eliseparts steel
braided hose (03/05/2007)
- New
oil filter and oil, Mobil 1 5w50 (03/05/2007)
-
Eliseparts oil temp and oil pressure gauges (03/05/2007)
- New
Dunlop Direzza 225/45/16 sticky tires on the rear (10/05/2007)
-
Replaced wiper with S2-version (10/05/2007)
-
Replaced original, clear stone protectors with Eliseparts' black ones -
visually much nicer, but they're much thinner, so can't withstand stones
as good as the original ones. ;-( (10/06/2007)
-
Changed the exhaust manifold gasket which had developed a leak
(10/09/2007)
-
Had the heater matrix replaced with a new OEM. The old one leaked badly (13/05/2008)
-
Installed fan temperature controller, set it at 87 deg. C. :-) (13/05/2008)
-
Changed the rear screen rubber seal (23/05/2008)
- New
oil filter and oil, Castrol 10w60 (26/06/2008)
- New
bling-bling oil cap and spark plug cover from Moto-Build (26/06/2008)
-
Replaced the drop link brackets for the ARB as they had cracked with some new black anodised slider drop link aluminium brackets (25/07/2008)
- Added
a harness bar and a
4-point
street legal harness, Luke Motorsport LMS,
with custom made brackets for belt-to-seat (25/07/2008)
-
After owning
my Elise for 4 years I finally managed to get that (/¤#&"( coinholder
off, and guess what's been driving me crazy all these years...
(24/08/2008)
-
New A048s at the front (10/07/2009)
-
Got some air trapped in the clutch hose, so bled the clutch and the brakes as well (26/07/2009)
- Finally, my own garage, with room for the MR2 and it's cousins! (24/10/2009)
- Out of winter storage (13/04/2010)
- New battery - Biltema this time, exactly the same size as the previous Varta, but with 45Ah rather than 43Ah (29/05/2010)
- New oil, Mobil 1 5w50, oil filter, spark plugs and brake pads in the front - finally replaced the original ones from '98 (!) (07/06/2010)
- Replaced the (too long) 4-point harness with a new one suited for the Elise from Eliseparts (07/06/2010)
- New oil, Mobil 1 5w50 and oil filter (14/05/2011)
- New rear tyres, Yokohama A048 225/45/16 (19/05/2011)
- Changed cambelt, tensioner, water pump, pulley (new lightweight from EP), alternator and alternator adjustment arm which had cracked (!) (29/06/2011)
- A whole list of modifications and service items (done during winter/spring 2012)
- EP quickshift kit
- EP quick-release wheel with Momo wheel
- Driving lights (not fitted before)
- New grille to fit the driving lights
- Replaced the horn with the one EP sells
- Tightened the rails of the drivers seat
- Replaced gear cables with Yvo's motorsport cables
- Fabricated new fittings for fire extinguisher in front of passenger seat
- New overlay for the Stack from Bob van Melzen on Seloc
- New all-alu radiator from EP
- New gasket around the rear window
- New gear knob from Yvo
- Mobile phone holder from Yvo
- Replaced orange turn signals in the front with grey ones
- Painted the tow bar
- Replaced the door support and spring plates
- Fixed rattling clutch pedal
- EP improved throttle linkage
- Fixed wiring for cigarette lighter
- New upper rear cambelt cover
- Changed coolant
- Changed oil and filter
- Cleaned the air filter
- Welded cracked support bracket for slave clutch pump
- Just in time for winter I got my second HGF, so it was time to get the head ported and flowed by Kiwirog in the UK. Also changed cam belt, inlet gasket, head gasket, manifold gasket, installed S2 manifold and downpipe ported by Kiwirog (05/04/2012 - installed)
- Changed the brake fluid (11/04/2012)
- New rear tyres, Yokohama A048 225/45/16. Changed rear brake pads and wiper. Changed oil (Mobil 1 5-50) and oil filter (22/04/2013)
- New stereo incl speakers (30.04.2012)
- Shift light from Elisparts installed (20.05.2013)
- New stone protectors from Eliseshop.com, much better than the Eliseparts ones. Also added side scoops (22.05.2013)
- Installed new Denso alternator from Eliseshop.com, the old one plus the replacement I got from Elisparts bit the dust (08.09.2013)
- Fixed leaking water elbow with hightemp gasket. Changed oil (Mobil 1 5-50) and oil filter (01/05/2014)
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