EliseTypeR.com

Coolant

This is a big section of the build and requires patience, but its also very exciting to get the car running again.

Take the original Elise hose and chop it as seen above.

This is connected to the right hand side Sun coolant tube and bridges the gap between the Honda thermostat and the Elise chassis outlet.

The above pictures show the fitment from different angles.

Next, plug the vacuum hose and fit the Sun anodised 90 degree elbow. Some PTFE tape should be used to seal the thread. The thread is tapered so be careful not to over tighten.

Next, cut the supplied left hand tubing and install. Make sure that there is enough clearance between this pipe and the gear linkage mechanism.

Also, note - don’t fit the blue temp sensor on the Series 2 Elise (I can’t speak for the Series 1) - use the black one. Later I will describe how to drive your dials via the original ECU, for this you need the black sensor fitted.

A quick note - use genuine Jubilee clips - they’re not expensive and they work - SIMPLE!

Again - make sure the gear mechanism is not fouling on the coolant pipe.

Now, connect the expansion tank to the cooling system.

The kit comes with a one-way-valve to insert in the expansion tube. The valve should allow liquid to flow from the engine into the tank. Place two clips on this pipe, one to seal the one-way-valve and the other to seal against the top of the expansion tank. Also connect the bottom of the tank to the right-hand Sun tube using some 19mm tubing (not supplied).

Cool - literally! When filling the coolant system, please follow the guidelines in the Lotus manual. It explains how to bleed the system.

Heater Issue

Another quick note is that you’re heater probably won’t work too well - mine doesn’t. The way its plumbed in doesn’t provide sufficient pressure, but in the Great British spirit, we won’t let that spoil the day.  I have come up with two possible solutions:

1. Re-plumb the original Honda lines back in to the Lotus heater matrix. This could prove tricky and require some custom pipework.

2. Fit and electric pump to the left hand heater pipe. Lotus do manufacture a heater pump for the VHPD engine. It a Bosch item and I plan to fit this in the very near future. (Lotus part A117K0013F)

Solution to follow…

Wiring

The wiring, in my opinion, requires the most patience and really does seem to soak up the hours. The plugs are difficult to take a part and put back together without breaking them. I have done lots of work on my solutions to many of the ‘missing’ pieces of information. I think it would have been quicker to buy new plugs and fit from scratch.

This is probably the weakest part of the Sun kit and by default it only support the use of the tachometer. Please note that this information is as ever a guide and only relates to the Series 2 Elise. The information below provides fixes for the following issue:

1. A working Speedo.

2. A working temperature gauge, this will require the temp guage plug and wires from the original Lotus engine loom and the black temp sensor from the original engine.

3. Retro fitting the inertia switch to kill the fuel pump in the event of an accident.

4. A working MIL LED.

Things not covered as of yet, but soon to be sorted out:

1. Oil pressure warning light.

2. Battery charge light.

Wiring guide

The kit comes with a wiring guide and some reasonably good instructions on how to take plugs apart etc. I have modified the guide slightly in my installation so please compare my instructions with what you have.

Study the Sun manual and familiarise yourself with the each connector and mark them up using a paint pen.

Remove the plastic retainer with a small screw drive (above, seen on EHC1 connector).

Remove the wires as per the Sun manual and mark each wire so that you can clearly identify them later. Be patient as you don’t want to damage the connectors in anyway. If you do they simple won’t go back together.

You’ll get to a stage when you have all the wires free (and marked up) and you’ll be in a position to re-pin the EHC2 connector.

See the above EHC2 connector above, I wasn’t happy with the way some of the wires fitted. I ended up doing a complete re-wire of the EHC2 connector with a new one. These are not easy to get hold of and you may need to use an alternative. I have a few spare ones if anyone get really stuck.

EHC2 Connector specification can be found at the link below.

http://swsct.sws.co.jp/housing_e.asp?number_s=61890136hws&page_no=0

So, it should look like this if its done properly - nice and neat.

Use my diagram below for the re-pinning exercise.

As you can see from the above diagram, it shows how to re-connect the old Lotus ECU to drive the speedo and temp gauges. Also, you can see that the inertia switch is spliced into the fuel pump power.

The temp gauge requires the wiring from the original Lotus engine and it plugs into the C0914, simple unplug the ‘blue’ temp sensor connector on the Sun loom.

Do not use the Sun ‘blue’ temp sensor connector, instead use the original Elise one with the black sensor.

Take the C0914 connector from the Lotus engine loom and leave the temp sensor connectors attached.

Lotus ECU and Dials

You will need to retain the old Lotus ECU to drive your dials - this was a headache and I found some useful information on the Seloc forums (Elise wiring thread). Also included the pin-out for your Lotus ECU. I live in North Wales, the speed camera capital of the world so I was very keen to see my speedo working again.

Note: It is critical to splice Pin 19 (C0914) to pin 61 (C0159) - if you don’t the temp gauge won’t work and the speedo will behave erratically.

Inertia switch

To wire this in you will need to remove the inertia switch and its wiring from the loom. Then, splice it in to the fuel pump power line, its pretty straight forward.

EHC2 (male side / car) –> pin 8–> brown/silver <—- inertia switch —-> brown/silver

Tidy up and insulate

Insulate connectors including spare and cut wires.

It important to take some time to insulate them individually. We don’t want any fires do we?

Earth strap and starter

Believe it or not, Halfords do a good line in earthing straps, use one to connect the chassis to the engine.

As you can see the above picture, I used black and brown (from the original engine) earth straps. This may be overkill but I wanted to avoid any earthing issues. The white wire is the starter and alternator feed, since the picture was taken it has been insulated with good quality wrap to prevent any shorting caused by vibration and friction eating through the wire’s insulation.

Connect the starter wire to the battery.

Insulate this connection thoroughly as its the permanent 12v live connection. You can fit your 80A fuse here if you require one (I’ve not tested this yet, but I plan to do it in the future).

Connect to Sun Loom

Once you’ve finished the knitting you simple need to connect it all together, as you won’t have the rear clam on the car at this stage you won’t need to worry about routing the cables. When you start the engine start you can test the speedo (requires drive shafts) and temp etc whilst the car is jacked. I’ll describe how and where I fitted the other bits in the clam refit section.

Fuel

On the S2 I had to make a bracket to mount the fuel regulator and filter, see the engine fitment section.

NOTE! Before you go any further make sure all the fuel lines are tight and not leaking.

Once you have all the fuel lines plumbed in and the wiring done, its time to pressurise the fuel system. Check the inertia switch is set to the correct position by pressing the rubber button on top. Connect the battery and switch on the ignition, you should hear the fuel pump kick-in and the system will pressurise. Now, check and set the fuel regulator pressure it should be set between 47-52 PSI. Also, check again for any leaks.

Starting

OK - check and double check everything. Oil, Water, Fuel etc, nothing is leaking and you’re confident all the wiring is good.

So it looks a bit of a messy at this stage but its in and ready to go.

I plugged my laptop in via the ODBII connector and ELM-327 interface (readily available on eBay). Fire up some software and check the ECU with the ignition on. All ok?

Time to turn the key and ‘hey presto’ she fired up straight away.

WARNING! Make sure you are in a well ventilated area before running the car.

Now its time to massage your coolant pipes and follow the bleeding guide in the Lotus manual. Also, try and get the stupid grin off your face… you may find you can’t.

You will notice that a lot of smoke is released from the exhaust wrap - its nothing to worry about and quite normal.

Next, Cables and controls…