Sector111's Tasty Innovations Blog

STREETuprights Weight Savings

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:01:00 +0000

stock rear upright = 5.6lb

We have received the STREETuprights from our machine shop. They are based on our race winning raceUPRIGHTs. Both of these deliver significant unsprung weight savings. As it turns out, our STREET weighs the same as the RACE versions and deliver 8.8lbs of weight savings.

stock front = 5.7lb

rear STREETupright = 3.9lb

front STREETupright = 3lb

These uprights also provide additional mounts for clients who want to install a 2 piston AP Caliper to the rear. This can be especially useful for owners of cars with the factory front 4 piston caliper with 308mm rotors. Adding a 2 piston caliper to the rear has proven to be a great way to balance the brake bias.

We will be installing these onto a car to confirm fitment and performance. We can then move to production.

Wishbone Bushes - Avoid the PUR variety on Tracked Cars!

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 21:33:00 +0000

An Exige Cup car came to us for service. Upon inspecting the car, we noted the wishbone bushes were failing. Sadly the installation was also poorly done on this car so the subframe was maligned as well.

Closer inspection revealed the car was fitted with Polyurethane (PUR) bushes. The factory bushes are known to fail and we have posted about this: HERE and offer suitable replacement solutions: OEalt, MONOballs, and UNIballs.

The bushes that were installed on this car did not hold up the track use but I suspect they would fail on the street as well. If you look at the end of the wishbone, you can see that the PUR bush has been ground away. Ultimately the wishbone made contact with the subframe and damaged it.

The mount tabs on this subframe were also distorted during the install by the shop that put these in. This is not necessary for any properly developed bush option.

Bent tabs and crumbling PUR

The good news is that we are correcting this with a set of our MONOballs. The car is getting it's Nitrons rebuilt so will handle better than ever.

Lotus Emira Turbo Tuning

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 01:02:00 +0000

Brent has been tuning the Emira Turbo and getting good results. The car has three modules that can control the power: ECU, GCU & CPC. We initially focused on the ECU after getting it unlocked. This is done out of state by a trusted vendor. We can then tune it.

Brent's Tech Talk

The first tunes felt like the car was making good increases. Putting the car back on the dyno revealed we weren't making much more than stock. Torque is what most of us feel during acceleration. Our initial tune made an additional 10 ft-lbs. Interestingly, another Emira Turbo client was able to try this out and he noticed that difference.

A few additional days of tuning uncorked more, much more. See below.

We will release the car to the client who will drive it and give us some feedback. We can make additional changes as needed. The OBDII port has been unlocked through our service so in the future or plan is to be able to flash through this port. For now, we are bench flashing the ECU.

The CPC module is getting attention now. It is not like the CPC modules found in the AMG cars so we have some work to do to unlock it. These modules also control full output and will be key to making more power than what can be achieved with the ECU alone.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 15

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 20:09:00 +0000

We've made some great progress on the 996RR with the exterior almost complete. The arrival of the wheels/tires plus the completion of the bodywork allowed us to start bolting the car together.

One of the more controversial ideas that we have is to use bed liner on the fascias and the rockers. These areas get alot of stone impact and are prone to be damaged with canyon/track use. This car's fascias/rockers were pretty rough and in need of paint so we chose to bed liner them instead!

I believe 'form follows function' and decided to add ventilation holes to the rear fascia where the exhaust/mufflers reside. It allows heat to flush out the back more effectively. I have not seen anyone in the Porsche community doing this so I suspect we may get some push back...

We first did this on the Elise by opening up the rear of the car to expose the exhaust. This application is not as aggressive looking but still something that not all folks will like - we think over time, people will get on board with this idea.

Of course we decided to pull out the heat shielding as well to save some weight. We lined the inner fascia with heat shielding that we have used over the years on our race car and Drakan builds.

Here are some graphics ideas that we rendered. Final concept is TBD...

Yes, I like the Mobil Pegasus!

New Rear Brake Caliper Testing

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:49:00 +0000

The stock rear brake caliper has been replaced with a 2 piston caliper that resembles the stock front. This one has a smaller piston so the brake bias should be acceptable.

Since we have installed a brake bias adjuster in place of our ABS module/block, we have the ability to further tune the bias. Recent testing at the track proved we should be able to dial this in.

As we have written in the past, Black Ice Mode, is one of the weaknesses of the stock ABS system. This is not a great performance biased ABS system so we have been defeating it for years on our track cars - first on our ArtCar1 with great results.

KATANA Bracket Revision

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 20:08:00 +0000

We are always looking to make improvements to our parts based on feedback - often times our own techs will develop ideas from installing our parts. The nose bracket we developed with the KATANA3 has now received some TLC and attention as a result.

We've added an additional notch to the bracket that eases clearance and improves fitment. A small change but a good one!

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 14

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 21:37:00 +0000

Yes, the front wheel styling is different from the rear - a bit like our Drakan!

The Braid wheels have arrived and they look amazing. Of course we had to weigh them. Our wheels are 102.2lbs (all 4 wheels) vs 108lbs for the stock 18" rims. Our front wheels are considerably lighter but the rears are heavier.

We chose two different wheel styles as discussed in a previously post. Our Drakan Spyder was the first car that I've used different wheels - front to rear. We chose the light weight option that adds some additional machining to the face of the wheels to shave off more weight.

Frankly I am happy that the fronts are so light as that will help with feel. Braid are known to produce strong wheels - which is more important to me for a car that must negotiate broken road surfaces.

Since we went with the 'inch-down' on these wheels, we are looking at tire options that will work. I've decided not to go with bigger diameter wheels as the additional tire sidewall height provided by the smaller wheels should be enough to meet our compliance needs. I expect the turn-in to be a bit slower but thanks to the GT3 swaybars, we should have improved turn-in response anyhow.

111tank2 - Track Testing Results

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 01:31:00 +0000

We had great results on track this past weekend after two days of track testing. Our new baffled fuel tank for the S2 Lotus Elise/Exige now features a ball check valve. ProAlloy have been successfully using this design on their tanks for years. We've installed several of their tanks onto Cup cars and 211s with excellent results.

We ran the car on two days on two different track configurations at SMMR. Mansell C is shown below.

We ran the exact corner where the car fuel starved with half a tank in Dec. See above. This is Pahrump 2 - which is a fast left hand sweeper that starts right after the equivalent right hander. The picture of Nick's Elise is at the spot shown on the track map.

Now it runs perfectly down to about 1.5gallons remaining BEFORE it starts to sputter. We experienced that twice and in both cases, the car took 8.5 gallons of fuel when we went to fill it up. I am happy that this solution will be a good one for most of you running on the street and track. It retains the factory safety and emissions plumbing and fixes the starvation at the source of the problem.

We will go into production on this latest design. It will now be called the 111tank2.

Lotus 111 Uprights - Street & Track

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 18:23:00 +0000

We have kicked off production of our street uprights. One of our goals this year is to look for more obscure ways to save unsprung weight on the Elise/Exige. Unsprung weight savings have been a major focus of ours for over 20years. Our ULTRAdiscs and RS343 are the lightest components of their type for these cars. The uprights are the next opportunity that we need to address - at least for street cars.

These are a derivation of our raceUPRIGHTs. Our raceUPRIGHTs are a proven solution that we introduced on our first ArtCar (see above) that we campaigned in Lotus Cup. We saved nearly 9lbs with these uprights. These allowed us to run the cars even lower while leaving the suspension geometry intact. You can lower these cars too much and ruin the handling of the car. Our raceUPRIGHTs allow the car to run low so we can get the benefit of a low CG and better aero. Another cool advantage is that our uprights allow you to bolt on the front 2 piston calipers onto the rear. We did just that plus our 308BBK in the ArtCar and could out brake 211s!

Street cars don't need to run that low. But unsprung weight savings is still a nice thing to have as there are really no reliability issues that you will face. Of course durability can be an issue if you attempt to go too light - we don't want it to break just as you cross the finish line! 😉

We are producing our first set for testing. Ours will also allow you to install the 2 piston caliper at the rear - though we may ultimately offer this as an option since it will add additional weight to the uprights. I think that most street cars run perfectly fine with the stock rear calipers - assuming good pads are installed. This picture below is the machining that is underway. We will be testing them later this Winter.

The ArtCar2 above also runs the raceUPRIGHTs

EV Conversion: Delorean

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:24:00 +0000

We've started to make progress on the EV conversion on the Delorean. This will be the first Delorean that has been converted in the US. Electrogenic have developed this kit on a car in England and ours will be the second in the world. We have completed three of their kits on: S1 XKE, D90 and S3 XKE. This DMC is the fourth kit for us.

This one is especially interesting as Colin Chapman and Lotus were hired to develop the original car. The chassis shares the design with the Lotus Esprit.

The car came to us with the original powertrain removed. Jorge took inventory of the parts and began the install. The motor was fitted and most things lined up well. He has dry fitted the rear battery to determine wiring lengths so we can terminate them for final install.

battery box dry fitted

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 13

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 02:20:00 +0000

The 996RR received a few new upgrades including a new front tube bumper, fabric tow straps, mud flaps and a front fascia - with a special coating.

We had the 'new' front fascia coated with bed liner used on trucks. The front of most sportscars get hammered - especially when following other cars in the canyons or tracks. Instead using clearbra, we thought we would try this textured coating.

The front tube bumper was refabbed and extended a bit from the original. It will get powder coated black onced we finalize the mounts for the Baja Designs DOT legal lights arrive. I'm excited about improving the lighting on the car as the stock headlights are now 26years old. These older cars really benefit from updated LED lighting.

The mudflaps we installed are pretty low. They are scraping on even the slightest incline. The noise is pretty annoying! We will cut them back and then extend them with rubber sheet.

The rear tube bumper is still a work in progress...

We also have Braid wheels on order:

Front: Fullrace A = 17x8 ET40
Rear : Winrace S = 17x10 ET40
Lightweight machining on all wheels
Lighter Gold

The offsets are 10mm pushed out from stock. I plan to run stock diameter tires so these specs should work for our needs. Note the different spoke count? Influenced by the Drakan Spyder. Yes, we like to be different!

front: Model Fullrace A

rear: Model Winrace S

Emira Collision Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 01:04:00 +0000

Months of waiting for parts has been frustrating for all involved. Finally we are getting close with this collision/repair. I would estimate that we are 95% of the way.

We reinstalled much of the interior including the side curtain airbags.

The rear boot of the car required some fitment in order for the rear fenders and hatch to line up. This took a fair amount of trial and error. We had the rear glass removed from the original hatch and reinstalled onto the new hatch after it was painted. Over all it is coming together nicely.

We had Lee clean things up including removing some adhesive that remained from the tow yard after the accident.

2025 Year-End Summary & 2026 Projections

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:54:00 +0000

2025 Year-End Summary

2025 was a full year—sometimes rewarding, sometimes challenging, and rarely boring. The economy did what it does best these days: kept everyone guessing. Despite that, we launched new products, expanded our service capabilities (including entering the Porsche market), hosted and supported events, and continued building cars the way we think they should be built.

Our commitment to analog sports cars remains unchanged. The Elise and Exige are still at the center of what we do, even if the rest of the world seems increasingly convinced that steering feel is optional. With Lotus experiencing yet another downturn, our expansion into the Porsche 911 market will provide stability and allow us to keep supporting the cars—and the people—we care about without compromise. We remain Driver Focused, slightly stubborn, and fully committed to doing this the right way.

Parts

I coined the term 'Tasty Bits', back in 2004, to blend US & British slang to describe what we do. Part development is still key to who we are. We launched several new products in 2025 for the Emira, Evora, Elise, and Exige, while continuing to refine existing offerings through a Kaizen-driven mindset. I first learned this approach in the mid-1980s while working at the Fiero Assembly plant, and it remains central to how we design, test, and improve our products.

The QUADloc Harness Bar for the Lotus Emira stands out as a highlight. It delivers a safe, functional solution while preserving rear storage—something rarely achieved. We’ve been building harness bars since 2005, and this is easily the most innovative design we’ve produced. Our Nitron suspension development for both Emira variants has also been extremely rewarding, with owners reporting meaningful improvements in control and confidence.

Our longtime friend and partner, Brent@Xclusive continues pushing deeper into Lotus ECU development. While our calibrations were already strong, continued learning has allowed us to extract even more from the factory ECUs. The 500 hp kit we previously released for the Evora is now producing additional power with improved drivability as well.

We also introduced the KATANA275 and NA215 power kits for the Elise and Exige. Both have been running on our own cars since summer with excellent results. The balance these provide is excellent and provides options for clients who want forced induction or for those that want to remain naturally aspirated.

Additional product launches included ULTRAdiscs for the Emira and, for the Elise/Exige, oil temperature and pressure kits, ignition 111coils, OCDpipe, the 111key for ’06+ cars, CAIs and further refinements to the KATANA3 bracketry and to our beloved shiftR 2.0s.

The launch of LotusRestored.com, in partnership with AutoEurope, marked an important step toward long-term support for the Lotus cars we value most. This initiative will continue to grow, ensuring these cars remain viable on both road and track. Expect expansion into Evora and then Emiras in the future.

Service

We serviced dozens of Lotus cars in 2025, including several that were close to being written off. OE parts availability remains inconsistent, but we remain persistent. LotusRestored will become an increasingly important source of quality, used components, allowing us to keep these cars alive and usable.

We expanded our shop capabilities with new equipment, including an additional lift and an A/C machine. We became the first shop to install Nitron’s Front Axle Lift system on an Emira.

Cars continued to arrive from across the country as transport logistics become simpler. We recognize that competent shops willing to work on older sports cars are becoming harder to find, and we take that responsibility seriously.

This year also marked our formal entry into the Porsche 996/997 and earlier markets. The 996RR project accelerated our understanding of IMS bearings and related systems. A 964 and a 996.2 also passed through the shop, each requiring a different approach and scope of work.

We’ve been servicing Vanderhall three-wheelers for several years, and in November the factory invited us to become an Authorized Service Center. We’re now carefully integrating these vehicles into our workflow.

Our blog, active since 2008, saw 36 new posts in 2025. Many focus on service and technical education for owners who work on their own cars or want deeper insight into how they function. Based on feedback, this resource continues to play an important role for many of you. We introduced ~11 new videos on our YouTube channel and dozens of shorts from our shop. We remain active on Instagram with our Facebook activity needing some attention!

Many of you continue to schedule appointments on our Session with Shinoo appointment feature. Since 2004, I have talked with 1000s of enthusiasts, and it is truly one of the things I enjoy the most with this business. Don’t hesitate to book a free Session!

Niche Cars

The most significant new project this year was the 996RR. This build confirmed that our tuning philosophy and supplier network translate well into the Porsche world. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and reinforced what we already suspected—there is a strong crossover between Lotus and Porsche enthusiasts. The 996RR is a true analog sports car, and it delivers exactly what we value most.

Kit car registration in California has become increasingly difficult due to regulatory changes and unresolved gaps in the process. As a result, we registered a Drakan in Michigan with help from our friends at AutoEurope. The car is currently in Florida, being shown to prospective clients during the winter months.

After over a four-year wait, we finally received an Atom 4. It represents a meaningful step forward over previous generations, and we’re looking forward to another arriving soon.

We also completed two Electrogenic EV conversions this year: a Series 3 Jaguar XKE and a Land Rover Defender 90. These builds, along with last year’s S1 XKE, were also upgraded with new hardware and software enabling Level 3 charging. Electrogenic continues to demonstrate a long-term commitment to this niche, and their steady improvements have earned our continued trust.

Events & More

2025 was full of well-attended events. We hosted multiple technical seminars, including Brake Tech, Upholstery, and an in-depth look at the 996RR build, along with the Hocking Hills Road Rallye with AutoEurope and several 2econd Saturdays gatherings with my other company, BrandXTR.

We also sponsored LOG44 in Pittsburgh and Lotus vs. the Dragon in Tennessee. This driving event is a must attend - Josh puts on an amazing weekend! LOG44 was especially meaningful this year, highlighted by the announcement of LUG—Lotus United Gathering—a joint event planned for 2026 with the Golden Gate Lotus Club. This is something I’ve hoped to see come together for over 20 years.

I made one international trip this year, visiting long-standing Lotus suppliers in Japan. After more than two decades of working together, it was a privilege to finally tour the factory producing our forged wheels—arguably the finest available for the Elise and Exige.

I also visited a new domestic engine builder specializing in Porsche 996/997 platforms. Given the known challenges with these engines, aligning with a reputable partner was an important step toward properly supporting our Porsche clients.

2026 Projections

In 2026, we’ll continue investing in service to ensure analog sports cars remain supported. A new Shop Foreman will be joining the team, bringing decades of experience with Porsche and older English vehicles. Growth into the Porsche segment should allow us to add another lift and technician by year’s end.

While Porsche will receive increased attention, Lotus remains central to who we are. This will never change.

New products are already in development, including Emira Stage 1 tuning and additional calibrations for both variants. We plan to introduce street-focused uprights for the Elise and Exige to further reduce unsprung weight. Depending on demand, additional suspension options for the Emira—and possibly the Evora—may follow. A new baffled 111tank is being installed and will be tested in January. Heck, we had to produce a rear subframe brace for our 996RR build. New parts for Porsche are inevitable...

A new website is underway that will support international shipping quotes and orders

Two more EV conversions are underway: a DeLorean scheduled for January and another Series 3 XKE planned for late winter. While the broader EV market has cooled, these conversions remain a practical way to keep otherwise sidelined classics on the road.

Closing Thoughts

At our core, we’re sports car enthusiasts. We like driving, we value mechanical honesty, and we still believe a good road can fix a bad week. Our goal remains simple: keep these cars alive, supported, and driven as intended—especially the Elise and Exige—for as long as we’re able.

To do that, we’ll continue evolving in ways that keep the business sustainable, even as the broader market gets distracted by trends, screens, and features that no enthusiast asked for. Since 2004, we’ve weathered multiple economic downturns, navigated shifting regulations, managed currency fluctuations and waited on more backordered parts than seems reasonable—yet we’re still here, tools in hand, lights on, and ready for the next challenge.

Thank you for your on-going support, we could not have made it this far without you!

Have a great New Year, and we hope to see you on the road, the track, at an event, or in the shop in 2026.

Best regards,

Shinoo

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 12

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:33:00 +0000

The seats are getting changed on our 996RR build. The stock seats are worn out and in need of rebuild and reupholstery. We also decided to replace the shifter and cables. This was the perfect time to do both. Of course there were a couple of surprises...

We decided to look for seat options and found some period correct Recaros. The Cross Sportster CS seats seem to fit the bill. They are comfortable, work on a slider and will tilt forward with a simple release. These seats are essentially the same seats found on early Lotus Evoras so remain period correct on our 996. Recearo seat supply in the US is very lean so we found them from a company bringing them in from Japan.

Though we sourced a bracket that should have made the Recaro slider compatible, it limits the travel forward. This can be an issue for drivers with shorter legs that need to slide all the way forward. We will modify the bracket to fix that issue. In fact we will probably weld in a bracket that is in double shear so that we can make the seat belt recepticle more secure.

Recaro CS + slider + bracket

The stock seats are powered and quite heavy at 59lbs with slider. Our Recaros with the slider and seat bracket is 48.85lbs. Lighter by just over 10lbs each. So that's a 20lb savings with both seats! We'll take it. I would have loved to have installed a race-style fixed bucket but practicality was still a requirement.

I'm especially smitten with the gear knob....😁

The Numeric shifter kit with cables has been installed and the car now shifts much better. We installed it at the mid point so the throws are shorter but not too short. I will drive the car this weekend and will be able to make a proper assessment.

Lotus Elise Front Clam Grill Replacement Tip

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:28:00 +0000

Look Ma no....

The small grills that 'protect' the oil cooler are know to break off. Replacing them requires removing the clam. This is a process that takes hours so many folks simply live with a missing grill. Jorge came up with a faster way to replace it but it does require drilling into a hidden part of the clam. This is NOT a method for those of you who want to keep their car 100% original. For those of you with Outlaws, this is a reasonable solution...

This Blog shows the images of the modifications without step by step written instructions. This work should only be done if you are mechanically inclined with at least intermediate skills and appropriate tools.

Tools needed

A longer screw will be required

Note measure for hole position

Drill at an angle. A long bit is required

Note position of hole.

Screw/washer is installed in this image

Screw is run through the plastic grill

Cover hole with vinyl decal or rubber plug

Lotus 2ZZGE Baffled Fuel Tank - New Design

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 02:11:00 +0000

We've started work on a new baffled fuel tank that is built from an OEM tank. Over the years, we have offered a couple of different designs with pros and cons. Our V2tank was built for us by Ralph@V2 and featured ATL trap doors that did a good job but were noisy. When Ralph retired, we had to develop a new solution.

This second product the 111tank, was modelled after the factory baffled tank that was no longer available. This tank had no moving parts and proved to be a good solution - for most. We had two clients who suffered fuel starvation, one with a Honda conversion and another with the 2ZZGE. This made us relook at our design.

ProAlloy have been making baffled tanks for many years but they were patterned after the Euro tanks and were not a direct replacement for the North American tanks. To maintain our emissions and safety plumbing, utlizing a factory tank was more ideal. ProAlloy use a ball check valve in their design. This simple design has been very effective and one that we've decided to follow.

This image shows our baffle design with the check valves. We are using a stainless baffle and will attach the valves to it. We will open up the end of the tank, remove the old baffle and then replace it with our design. One challenge that exists with this design is that the float that registers fuel level could potentially interfere with the valve. We will need to test this out and possibly move the location of one valve.

We are on track to getting the first prototype built and into our ArtCar2 by the beginning of 2026.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 11

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:51:00 +0000

Aligning the car after the suspension install requires quite a number of steps. The 911 features a fairly complex number of suspension components unlike the Lotus.

We first set ride height on the car. This proved to be fairly straight forward but did require some back and forth. Our Elephant Racing kit comes with spacers that reposition the suspension to maintain the correct geometry on a lifted car.. We chose to measure ride height from the bottom of the subframe areas as defined by Porsche.

We've decided to use the USA ride heights as a starting point. See above. The spacers provided in the kit require subtrating their height (22mm) from the recommended ride height.

On the rear multilink setup, the camber and toe adjusters are on different links, but changing one absolutely moves the other. The lower control arm (camber arm) changes the wheel’s lateral position when adjusted. This movement shifts the toe link’s effective length. The result: camber changes = toe changes. The front MacPherson strut has camber adjustment at the lower control arm eccentric. Changing camber alters the scrub radius and control arm position which slightly changes toe.

We plan to run the car with this set-up and then experiment with higher ride heights. Unfortunately the process is much more time consumming on a 911 compared with an Elise! Fortunately we have a Hunter alignment rack that allows us to experiment...

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 10

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:55:00 +0000

The boys installed the new IMS bearing. The generally accepted IMS service interval is to replace the IMS whenever you replace the clutch. This seems like a good plan though I would budget for this service immediately if I bought a used 996. Gearbox removal is not as difficult as the 'box in a Lotus Elise so the cost is not really astronomical - unlike an engine replacement that may be required when the IMS bearing fails!

This IMS kit comes recommended by our friends at Slakker. I visited their shop a couple of weeks ago to learn more about their engine-building capabilities. They partner with Hartech in England for engine components, and they’ve invested in an in-house dyno to ensure every build is thoroughly vetted before installation. With Slakker as a trusted source for engines, we’re even more confident in servicing these cars.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 9

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:53:00 +0000

We bought an inexpensive short shift kit from eBay to test out on this car as the shifter was really sloppy. The kit arrived and appeared to be nice but after installation, we noticed the lever was oddly positioned. We had a 996.2 in the shop and compared the two saw that ours way off. Further scrutiny revealed the the shifter came to us incorrectly assembled. We took it apart and reinstalled it. The forward gears all worked, though a bit shorter than I like. The Reverse is hard to engage. We are contacting the Supplier to see if we missed anything on the install.

We are attempting to find wheels that will be an inch smaller diameter - from 18" down to 17". My plan is to increase the tire aspect ratio so we could gain some additional sidewall height for more compliance. Originally I was planning on increasing the overall diameter of the tire but have now decided to stick closer to the original tire diameter. Regardless we will gain some more compliance if I can fit a 17" rim.

The larger diameter Girodisc is making the 17" wheel a challenge. We bought a wheel measurement tool that allows us to simulate the wheel diameter, width and offsets. Now that we have the Elephant dampers installed, we broke out the tool to confirm clearance.

It appears that a 17" wheel can work at an offset of ET45 vs ET55 (stock). We plan to go with a wider rim from 7.5" to 8" as the tire will be 225.

We bought some new tires to install on the stock rims so we can test while we wait for the wheels to be sourced/secured. Though they will lack some of the compliance I was hoping for, they should work well enough for us to see if the suspension needs to be retuned. The Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ is an all season ultra high performance tire that should deliver good road manners in the dry or wet. The treadwear rating is fairly soft (440AA A) so we should have decent life with acceptable grip. As a comparison, the Lotus run on tires with approx 200 tread wear rating!

Porsche 964 Refresh

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:54:00 +0000

We received a 1992 911 in for a mild refresh. The owner loves the car and plans to keep it forever. He wanted us to go through and identify anything that needed repair and address a few items that were bugging him. The first was the ride quality. His wife refuses to drive in the car as it is too rough. Two things were obvious fixes: old tires and blown original dampers.

The tires were an easy fix but first I attempted to convince the client to go with smaller wheels. The car came to us with 18" rims vs stock 16". The consumer market likes cars that have BIG wheels and are lowered. This car was set up that way. This owner does not track the car nor drive it overly aggressively. So I am trying to convince him to consider stepping down to 17" rims to bring back some compliance to this car.

Since the car is not being tracked, we decided to install a set of the Bilstein PSS10s. These dampers are pretty popular and considered a single adjustable with a clicker located at the base. This makes them quite easy to adjust with 1-10 clicks. 1 = softest and 10 = hardest. We are aligning the car with the RS spec ride height but with a stockish alignment.

We also took the opportunity to have the undercarraige dry ice cleaned as it was also nearly as nasty as our 996RR! The corrosion that we found required a hard brake line replacement as the fitting was frozen. We changed out all the rubber brake lines as they were original - 33years old!

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 8

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 21:53:00 +0000

IMS bearings are cited as a weak link of the 996 cars. The market has punished their values significantly because of this issue. These IMS failures, which will take out an engine, affects less than 10% of the cars. We plan to offer this IMS replacement service as I feel the cars are great sportscars that can be had at a great value due this perceived, yet correctable, weakness,

We are testing out a rear chassis brace

Our car did not appear to have ever had an IMS change. With over 100k miles on it, we decided to swap it out. This also gave us a chance to inspect the Rear Main Seal and the clutch.

With the gearbox out you can see where the IMS resides. We used a special puller tool to yank out the IMS bearing after setting the engine to top dead center. This is not a job for a beginner as it requires some specialized tools and certainly some clear knowledge of these engines.

We inspected our bearing and found it was in good shape. You can see it shown below with the seals off. Ours was the dual row bearing that is known to be better than the single row. You can also watch a bit of the removal and inspection process in our YouTube Video.

We have sourced a replacement bearing recommended to us that we will install soon. The clutch and flywheel are worn so will get replaced when it all goes back together. The rear Main Seal was not a source of any leaks but will get changed as it is old.

We are contemplating pulling the engine to fully inspect and clean it. The dry ice cleaning took care of the underside but now that we can see the top of the gearnox and engine, the grime and gunk needs to be addressed!

Tomorrow we are hosting a Tech Seminar about this build at our shop. You will be able to see all of these bits in person. Come join us!

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 7

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:29:00 +0000

We have been playing around with bumper ideas for this build. Most of the Safari-style tube bumpers are more aggressive that we want - and heavy.

stock bumper is hidden behind the rear fascia

Our goal is to create smaller bumpers that are effective and can support lights and tow straps. We decided to build some bumpers that would attach to the factory pistons that the internal bumper bolt to.

The stock internal extruded Al bumpers are pretty cool. The rear, shown above, has additional extrusions that attach to the rubber bumperettes that are visible on either side of the license plate. The front is a bit simpler and shown on the left. Both have threaded bungs for the factory towing loop. The rear requires license plate removal to access it.

too big!

We tried several ideas and landed on small bumpers that I think should do the trick. The front bumper attaches to the factory pistons and deletes the internal Al bumper. The rear attaches to the bumperette mounts and is a bolt on solution that requires no permanent modification to the car. Our tube is easily as strong and since it is external to the fascias, we should be able to take a bump or two without damage to the body.

We want to mount two driving lights from the bumper and hang a fabric tow strap.

The rear bumper will get a rear fog lamp and also a two strap. The final design is still in the works but I think we are getting there...

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 6

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 23:31:00 +0000

We installed the Girodisc 2-piece rotors as the car needed new brakes. I wanted to save some weight if possible - which we have. But I want to do down to 17" rims. We bought a wheel measurement tool to better estimate what offset/width and diameter could possibly work.

GiroDisc weights:

Front: 17.95 lb each
Rear: 15.25 lb each

Our stock rotors were worn so I searched for better weights.

OEM-equivalent weights (ours):

Stock front: ≈ 23.1 lb each (18.7lb)
Stock rear: ≈ 14.6 lb each (12.55lb)

Weight deltas (per rotor → per axle → total)

Front: 23.1 − 17.95 = 5.15 lb saved per rotor → 10.30 lb per axle

Percent change: 5.15 ÷ 23.1 ≈ 22.3% lighter per rotor

Rear: 15.25 − 14.6 = 0.65 lb heavier per rotor → 1.30 lb per axle (heavier)

Percent change: 0.65 ÷ 14.6 ≈ 4.5% heavier per rotor

Net vehicle change (all four): −9.0 lb unsprung/rotational mass (mostly from the fronts).

What that means on the car The fronts deliver the big win: ~10.3 lb unsprung + rotating mass off the nose, plus larger diameter and better cooling. The rears end up roughly stock-like in weight (slightly up), which is normal for upsized rear rings on two-piece kits.

Girodisc upsized their rotors vs the stock sizes. Why? The rear stock rotor houses a drum brake for the handbrake. To clear this, Giro have to make their rotor larger. They then enlarge the front as well to maintain the brake bias. The benefit is larger brakes for more over heat capacity and performance. So overall, a good tradeoff - lighter unsprung weight and more performance.

The wheel tool that we used suggests that a 17"x8" rim could work for us at the front. This would be great as we would like to run tires with more sidewall. Once the Elephant Racing dampers arrive, we can install and do a proper measurement.

Emira Collision Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 14:49:00 +0000

We've received a few parts with this collision repair but many parts are still back ordered. One key part that we have been waiting for was the rear box. It arrived but the hardware to fully attached is still missing.

Lotus have this car in production so parts should not be so hard to secure. They did have a massive layoff at the factory so it is possible Lotus Cars USA have been caught up in this financial cash crunch. We've ordered parts directly from the UK as a result.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 5

noreply@blogger.com (tech) — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 17:15:00 +0000

Clean - Dirty

Cleaning the underside of the car was high on our list as it was pretty nasty. The results are pretty impressive. Dry ice is sprayed onto the parts that needed cleaning. The operator varies the pressure and other variables to dial in the spray. Supposedly this system can remove the ink from a business card - so can also work very gently.

Our car had a fair amount of grime and grease built up. Cleaning it all makes for an easier car to diagnose (leaks) and for a tidier disassembly and reassembly. Since the suspension and brakes are all coming out, along with the gearbox and possibly the engine, it made sense to invest in the thorough cleaning.