CedNBHTL

"Hope not a repost" Taken from Car and Driver Superfour Challenge - Super Car Challenge 2005

Yea, this maybe a year old but I still look back at the artilce . I would drive one. Wouldn't you?








2005 Hondata/Prototype Racing Lotus Elise
Street drivability: superfour_star.gifsuperfour_star.gifsuperfour_star .gifsuperfour_star.gif
1/4-mile: 12.2 sec @ 116 mph
Road course: 48.7 sec
140-to-0-mph braking: 594 feet
Total course time: 105.9 sec

As good as it is, the Lotus Elise isn't immune to improvement, and the Hondata version is proof. The key element is a simple engine swap by Prototype Racing—a Honda (Acura RSX) K20A 2.0-liter DOHC 16-valve aluminum four and six-speed manual transmission in place of the stock 1.8-liter Toyota four and six-speed. The engine swap alone ($11,000) would enhance the Elise's hustle, but the addition of a Jackson Racing supercharger ($3000), Hondata ECU ($1000), Prototype Racing intercooler ($1000), and limited-slip differential make it a formidable street fighter.

The sum of these mods was a claimed 320 horsepower, at 9 psi of boost, yielding a succession of sub-four-second 60-mph runs and low-12-second quarter-miles. We were also impressed by this car's tractability on the street. Power delivery was linear, plentiful, and easy to manage. There was only one downside, but it was highly audible: At full song, the supercharger could be heard in the next county. One tester thought it sounded like "a Stuka flying a raid over Warsaw, circa 1939." This spawned love or hate in all who experienced it: the gratification of boost tempered by a deluge of decibels.

0511_superfour_eliseh_engin.jpgAlthough the Hondata car gave a good account of itself, in the end it seemed something of an unfinished symphony. The Elise was equipped with a $6000 set of Öhlins adjustable shocks, but the spring rates were stock. Similarly, a set of Yokohama Advan Neova tires enhanced grip, but stock wheels limited the contact patch, and worse, stock brake pads limited braking performance. This last was the Elise's undoing. Only the HKS Evo was quicker through the road course, but vast stopping distances, as well as a fourth-place high-speed-acceleration time, kept the Hondata entry off the top spot on the podium. —Tony Swan

Vehicle type: mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door targa
Price as tested: $72,654 (base price: $71,804)
Engine type: supercharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block and head, port fuel injection
MODS engine/transmission: $20,840 suspension: $6270 brakes: stock wheels/tires: $834 body/interior: $850
Displacement: 122 cu in, 1998cc
Power (mfr's claim): 320 bhp @ 8500 rpm
Torque (mfr's claim): 220 lb-ft @ 7200 rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Front brakes: stock 11.3 x 1.0-in vented, cross-drilled discs;
stock 2-piston calipers
Rear brakes: stock 11.3 x 1.0-in vented, cross-drilled discs;
stock 1-piston calipers
Brake pads: stock
Wheelbase: 90.5 in
Length/width/height: 149.0/67.7/43.9 in
Curb weight: 1935 lb
Weight distribution, F/R: 38.6/61.4%

Yumcha

Not quite a repost...but a merge may suffice?

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ght=elise+k20a

Moog-Type-S

Shoofin

I wouldn't drive it on a daily basis, that's for damn sure! Too harsh!

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

I definitely would. The Elise is on my short list

Yumcha

I definitely would...even when the big-time snow falls.

CCColtsicehockey

that one of the few cars I plan to own that is an actually possibility. I would definitly love to do the K swap in it.

phipark

I'd drive it. But, $11k for just the engine swap? Sounds like they overpaid.

fsttyms1

Sweet, but for that price id take a C6 ZO6 or a Ariel Atom with the SCed honda motor on it

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

^

I wouldn't do the swap. Just buy the car and enjoy it as is

srika

I would take a C6 Z06 over it. I remember a video of a turbocharged Elise at the track and it looked ridiculous - way too much damn power for that small a car.