coldel

Exhaust vid, apologies there are kids shouting in the background, little playground next to our house (soon drown them out though!)

Being tempted to go back to Norfolk built cars Neil? :-)

Sure you want me to take you for a spin Will! I was driving through Frimley yesterday actually, will sort out a time to pop over one weekend you are only about 25 mins drive away

Will fire it up and record soon and drop on here, its pretty meaty and the chaps on the kent run next week will get to hear first hand!

Yes Darren also mentioned the Exige wheels, although that will be at quite an expense so will hold back on those for a while whilst I get used to it as standard. The wife wouldnt be too happy with another big outlay so quickly! And yes the cover is vital, otherwise you end up with coolant bottles leaking which is never a good thing. Turbos were available Arran but for equivalent quality I was looking at an extra £5k on top, also I like the NA drive, the turbo's do just boot the boost in and on such a light car you need talent to keep it on the road if you are using all the power, talent I don't have

As seen on another thread I am invading the realms of zedland with my cheap Vauxhall tat...well actually it is just an S2 Elise with a different bodykit and a few sensible extras...it is a brutal drive, decent straight line speed up to about 70 but the handling is epic, you can chuck it round corners at speeds which seem unbelievable. Not as powerful on the open road as the Zed but would easily drive away from most cars on twisty B roads. the feedback through the steering wheel is amazing, you totally feel everything, every stone every slight slide, you are correcting all the time so it is hard work but very rewarding. And it looks very unique. I spent about 6 months waiting for the right one, ended up with a 50k miles 02 plate 2.2 NA. It is highly specced with: VSE (Vauxhall Sports Exhaust) which is pretty bloody loud, but sounds terrific Interior extras, centre bracing, gear gaiter and knob which are all restricted distribution options Rear diffuser Otherwise very standard, which is perfect. Here she is: Have been tinkering with it last couple of weeks, first up was to tidy up the engine bay. It came with an engine cover off an Astra which is bulky and nasty, so I sprayed it Silver and Red, although looks a bit naff still. Reason for them is that water can get in through the grill and flood the spark plugs, there is an ingress plate option which I will be installing soon. I also took some time to polish the engine up a bit and spray the oil and coolant caps. Also the dash fascia was a bit scratched so got some cheap ebay vinyl to test wrap it, looks ok, might get a brighter red on it though Also a key mod, insulation tape around the door pins! They are about 1mm too small for the doors so rattle when driving along, a few wraps and fixed I have got a set of elise door pins which do fit properly but there is a chance you can lose washers down in the sill if you are unlucky, so wimped out! Interior is in good condition, not much wear on the leather, the door cards need sorting out but otherwise looks very good Also stuck some 'No Step' decals on the sills, any weight on those and your foot will go straight through! But after a few weeks ownership am loving it - the weather obviously helps and in winter it will probably be un-driveable but it is a fantastic piece of kit. It is about on par with a Zed accelerating but clearly the cornering is its strength. There is a £3k supercharge upgrade option which would make it blisteringly quick but really at the moment it has more than enough pace especially living in London! So apart from making it into a supercharged flying machine mods to do are: 1. More engine tidying, engine plates etc 2. Fezzus heater (guy on the VX220 forum who has built after market heaters which blow hot air!) 3. More interior tidying up, wrapping etc 4. Replace the V and badge on the front grill with the 'splam' option, again a forum member who builds replacements that simply clip on 5. Maybe powder coat the wheels black 6. Active subwoofer of the very thin variety Stay tuned

Haha I did think of you Steve when I was looking at red cars! Remember Ian working on yours last year when I popped over and thought actually I love red!

Brake dust can hide marks or damage. If I were trying to sell these yes I would clean them up and make them look like they are worth the money!

Imagine what it was like for the Twingo or whatever that blue box is in the shot!

Drove by me on the outside lane, car looked like it had spent all morning being cleaned and polished

Very aggressive - although not sure why the side skirts rise towards the front? Looks a bit odd, although I am super OCD.

It will be some sort of little and large show! Am very much enjoying the 'top down' experience at the moment with this sunshine. Just back from another drive out, hope the weather stays intact for next Sunday! Am pulling together my build thread as we speak lol

I dont drive daily, work in central London, but use it for getting to football in the week and weekends, doing random drive outs, visiting the parents etc - although it hasnt started snowing again yet which might put the mockers on it

Yeah it was a bit leading the title! My favourite photo of it now is: Will put up a project thread Pete, if I am allowed!

Yeah will let you know on the plate front mate - would you be keeping it on retention?

The steering is phenomenal - no power steering so you feel everything just like an S1 (although never driven one - they are even lighter than a VX I believe) so every stone every slight change in road surface you pick it all up through the wheel and can drive accordingly. I love the small cockpit feel as well, really feels like I have been strapped into a race car and gives that 'I am part of the car' feeling Like I said above I haven't had the courage (or skill probably) to really test the handling capabilities to their fullest, will book myself into a car limits course to do that.

Good post Bock. Hadn't seen this thread till now - hope all works out mate - I have had a similar experience over the last year or so in certain areas of my life, I was losing jobs and having financial problems (which meant selling the Zed), having other people tell me I can't do this and that and allowing them to control how I felt and also what I believed I could achieve. Certainly in a better place now, but more importantly, feel a stronger and better person for the experience because I have discovered how to deal with it my way. The light is always there at the end of the tunnel mate

Yep intend to post a 'living with a go kart' thread at some point - the V on the front is a challenge, there is a forum sourced replacement option called a Splam grille but I am not sure, it looks like the car is smiling at me

Yep a Europa is a VX220 also, only about 400 built or something. The Elise S1 was the forerunner to the VX220, when new safety laws came in Lotus had to remake the Elise and got support in the shape of GM who branded it Vauxhall here and Opel in Europe of course (where its called the Speedster). Lotus though stuck with the K-series engines which are very prone to gasket failure if not maintained properly (later replaced with Toyota engines) whilst the VX got the 2.2 Vectra engine. Apparently these engines did have timing chain problems but when put on a VX220 which weighs nothing at all there have been no reported problems over the years on the forum - apparently they will start 'ticking' long before any snapping and given the layout of the car its quite obvious whats happening and plenty time to sort it out before any failure. I actually could have gone for an S2 Lotus but the VX220 just seemed the cheaper more reliable option. And it had airbags Looks wise, the VX looks a bit old hat on photos, it just happens to be one of those cars which doesnt photo well, in the 'fibre glass' it does look a lot better, the back end for sure more than the front. Europas again are really rare though, and although they are buffed up a bit to look more comfortable, you are still sliding in and out of them like an Elise except you cant take the roof off. A lot of guys do make the VXs on the forum more comfy, adding carpeting etc. but even 20 or 30 kgs makes a massive difference to the feel of the car. DBlock mate, so timing chains generally reliable The VX220 is in two versions NA and Turbo, which are known as a VX and a VXT. The NA although not as quick as a VXT has a better handling setup (they passified it when they launched the VXT to try to appeal to a wider audience). The VXR was a limited run of 85 cars I think it was with upgrades on the suspension, engine mapping to higher bhp, racing seats/harnesses etc. Uber rare they go for about £15-£20k a time. I did a bit by saying I had upgraded, just an easy dig at K370 (and it worked) - the Zed certainly has its qualities over the VX, the torque, the ability to modify extensively AND safely, the car has aged pretty well looks wise etc. But she is a heavy beast as she is a GT car, which is why I wanted to try something very different. The VX is quick, still a sub 6 second 0-60 sprint (but runs out of legs after that) but I would say I still haven't even used more than 50% of its handling capability even after really throwing it about, I will be going to an airfield to discover how far it can really go. As for what its doing on here on 'your' forum K370: 1. I like the guys on here and have actually met quite a few of them at meets and would class them as mates, I attend Zed meets to look at the Zeds after selling mine turning up in the family focus - I like Zeds 2. I know a lot about Zeds, and like to think I can still offer help to newbies on here, I'm a helpful bloke actually 3. I posted in the 'Other Cars' section which even though its a 350z/370z forum is actually for, other cars...

Why would you build a car just to do that - its mental!

Must say this is getting a bit random!

I was going to keep it under wraps, but just didn't want to rock up to a meet and have a load of people boot me straight back out the car park You know what though, they do cracking side steps and front splitters for these

Oh dear.................... Haha yeah I know, kids eh

Yeah Turbos were a bit out of the price range I wanted to go to - I also prefer the NA drive though, less likely to toss you off the road at a roundabout etc! I did go out in a stage 4 VXT, about 360bhp I think it was (so putting it at about 500bhp per tonne), christ almighty that was quick, far too quick for my meagre driving skills. Like you say though it can corner like you wouldnt believe and is a far more involving drive than any other car I have owned.