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I know this is off topic but if you think the vibe is strange then look into what powers a lotus elise.
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Lotus has used Toyota components for a very long time. They use parts from a number of other manufacturers too. Their chief designer designed the MR2's suspension and the company's lab worked on tuning it... It's argued that they also played a great roll in the initial frame work of the vehicle (Toyota needed to learn the tricks to build a mid engine car that they could get on the market fast and without a lot of their own $$$ going into R&D... and they just happened to own controlling stake in a company that specialized in it.)
Lotus uses Yamaha designed heads (same as the 2). Toyota owned controlling stock in Lotus for a long time and as such they both contributed to eachother's product development and implementation. Supposedly Lotus was also responsible for the fine tuning of the Supra's suspension although I don't know what generations and I've only seen it mentioned a couple times. |
And it seems that the next Elise will basically be the ft86, which is the car everyone thinks will be the next supra or as close as toyota will get to one.
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The early Elise had a Rover K series engine in it. I think the guy who designed the head gasket must be the son of the guy who worked out the Supra cylinder head torque settings. It’s more famous for blowing head gaskets than the Supra. It’s also used in the MG F, Lotus Elan and MG ZR, which is a shame really because they are not bad cars. The design was total wrong, the head aligning dowels where made of nylon, the head bolts ( about 12in long) go straight through the ally block and screw into a ally oil rail underneath. The recommended upgrade is metal dowels, thicker designed oil rail and a gasket as used on the Land Rover. Unfortunately when they go, they normally leak between the combustion chamber, oil and coolant resulting in big end failure as well. I’ve striped one down and done the mod, only lasted a 2 K miles then blew again. Goggle Rover K series head gaskets and you’ll see what I mean.
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One of those went bad in my Supra and he would not run unless the air intake was open full. Once a few one was ordered and received he was running again.
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