Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
duratek-alt-relocation

Duratec Madness – Part 1

By Joe Arico.

Mike Moore and I have been busy putting Duratec’s into our Elise’s. You will know Mike’s install well from all the great articles he’s written. While our builds use common components, they do differ quite a bit. The most essential ingredient though is the same – they are both built by a couple of car nuts in a shed.

After 18 months of work the car has been a runner now for about 4 months. The first couple of months were painful, sorting out teething issues with the tune. Fortunately, I did get it ready for the final round of the QLD Super Sprints in September (literally the night before!). It was a baptism of fire for the car but I’m glad to report that it survived a 400km round trip to the track and competed all weekend without issue. I even came away with a trophy.

So, let’s rewind back to the beginning. One of the biggest goals when I set out to do the conversion was to be able to retain the air conditioning. In the 8+ years I’ve owned the Elise I’ve put a lot of time into getting the AC to work effectively. I wasn’t going to let all that work go to waste! Besides, if you realistically want to use the car in summer in QLD you really don’t have a choice.

It very quickly became apparent that keeping the AC wasn’t going to be easy though. It was clear I was going to have to think outside the box and do something a bit different. The only way I could fit everything in was to move the alternator to the back of the engine and run it on a shaft. The AC compressor was easy – a standard Mazda 6 compressor bolts straight up to the engine block. I wasn’t making life easy for myself but I was determined not to give up on the idea and give it a go! I just had to make sure that everything else I did supported this design goal.

While I worked out what to do with the AC it also became clear (to both Mike and I) that the partial “kit” purchased out of the UK was not engineered to the level required. Most of the components supplied were good quality but the mounts put the engine in a position that was most definitely going to be problematic. To get acceptable clearance around the front of the engine they needed to be redesigned. This is where the project suddenly got a lot more complicated!

It’s worth saying at this point that when I set out to design all these parts I had none of the CAD skills required. I have a long engineering background but I had never used a 3D design package before. However, I had always wanted to learn. I was fortunate to have access to such a package through my work. It was a steep learning curve but after some head banging I eventually got the hang of it. It really is amazing what you can do with the technology available today!

I was also fortunate to have a good friend at work with a 3D printer so I prototyped many of the parts in plastic before committing to manufacturing in aluminum. After a bit of careful measuring I ended up redesigning the mounts to lower the engine 13mm in the car. This may not sound like a lot but it made a massive difference.

Anyway that’s where I’ll sign off for this issue. I’ll leave you with some pictures of early prototype plastic mounts.

LCQ member helps Porsche to 2nd title ICC Regularity Oct 2016

Related Posts

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

plus2-banner

Articles, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Technical

Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane

helmet-banner

Articles, Homepage, Racing

$10 HEAD/$10 HELMET

Random images

IMG_0008
Cameron-and-Margie
Adam-Kingstons-winning-Elise
sam-murphy
jag-lemans-badge
MG_9479
11.Elises-marshalling
DSC_0032
Moore_s_kitchen
IMG_0012
Secret women's business
IMG_0770
IMG_4283
IMG_8779
IMG_4857
IMG_4440
IMG_6750
IMG_6549
image_164
Garage-7
20220220_093714
07252021-copy1
Group-7.8-John-Barram-Lotus-7-A-Stevens
Group-1.1-first-laps-A-Stevens
Mitch-Ringuet-trying-hard-photo-by-Trapnell-Creations
Lindsay Close 2007 Lotus Exige - 2
Leigh Achterberg 1980 Porsche 944 - 1
The-Grid
img_1589
Shona
Adam
Name says it all
Last to Leave
Simon with Peter
dtc-8
Lotus Team
Lotus & devonshire tea
2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0085
Mar-main-23
Mar-main-16
Yum-Meat-pies
main-7
image005
IMG_0007
img_1058
2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0092
IMG_7752
IMG_0235_1
P1060122
P1060110
F1000012
Ploughman's Lunch
Ploughman's Lunch
IMG_0444
IMG_0308
Aug_F02_2393a
IMG_7415
32g
16b
IMGP7333
IMG_3045
IMG_0901
IMG_8048
IMG_0549
DSC03845
IMG_8571
20130814_092959
IMG_8508
122_2258_IMG
P9190113c1
IMG_5082
IMG_7366
Not Sure About That
Downforce One
Matt-Plowman-a-little-loose-through-the-flip-flop
20201220_092441
Beautiful-Lorraine-Dietrich-detail-by-Gavin-Goeldner
Judges-nitpicking-for-Concours-d’Elegance
P9270525-1
20201220_084641
Photo-of-the-flinstone-on-track-not-actually-at-AGP-or-phillip-I-lr
IMG_4358
jon-turns-up
8-Chris-Leigh-Jeff-Moira-Clive
Jons-roof
Dryer
Dick-and-Jon
Studebaker
smashed capri-2
phils-evora-2
MG_3958
main-16
Matt_gw
Post Event Glow
well-underway
IMG_7749
le-mans-badge
Transport-Museum-Dolomite-3
IMGP8551
main-118

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios