What a load of old tut

I dunno, I like the colour combination and the fact that it's got the
slightly more durable non-turbo engine.

Well, it's a Lotus. They're better at making cars out of fewer parts
because they're fewer bits to fall off.

 

Timo Geusch wrote:
..

I'd stock up on head gaskets first.

 

Didn't he say something about it moving under it's[1] own steam?

[1]I have no idea whether the ' is feral or not. I blame the cider.

 

Assuming it hasn't already been done, he should only need just the one
replacement head gasket rather than buying them in bulk.

And no, not because he'll probably sell it or stuff it into the armco
on a trackday long before the head gasket has a chance to fail.

Land Rover used the K Series in the Freelander and it would appear
they got so sick of failing head gaskets, they went off and produced a
vastly improved gasket which can be used instead of the crappy one
used by Rover.

That, and all the head gasket sets I've seen for these in recent years
have come with metal locator dowels rather than plastic ones, as the
latter tended to deteriorate in old age.

 

I wouldn't get too excited - the standard Rover manifold is like
that. ;-)

That, or invest in some ear plugs until you can get it up on the ramp
at a certain garage.

 

Actually, I think Lotus developed their own head gasket for the K
engines they used, and it cured the problem.

 

It has been done...

.... at least twice.

They also introduced a new thermostat with associated plumbing that
reduces the risk of HGF. It doesn't look like the Elise has that one
fitted but if it doesn't it'll have one very soon.

IIRC early ones like the engine in my Elise has metal dowels as well,
but the heads then got damaged when the head got thrown on the block on
the assembly line...

My research suggests that:

- The cylinder liner protusion needs to be checked if the head gasket
blows again. If they're too low that needs sorting otherwise it'll just
keep blowing

- Heads can go soft, much like the owner's.

- You really want the above mentioned pressure relief thermostat like
the one used on the Freelander

- Latest gaskets with the metal shim that Rover denied it needed and
then introduced are a necessity

- If it's got plastic dowels the head can move about (not helped by the
long head studs) so they need to be replaced with metal if someone's
put the plastic ones on.