Lotus Elise with K-series engine

The K Series is a bloody good engine when setup correctly. If it hasn't been done then get the remote thermostat kit.

I read a comment the other day (on parkers.co.uk IIRC, somewhere like that), that for some unknown reason Elises don't suffer from head gasket failure as often as other cars with the same engine.

It's not unknown. Lotus just obviously provide a decent cooling system.

I suspect it's more to do with the fact that Lotus hand finish the heads before fitting 'em.

I doubt the hand finishing is any more complicated than shaking it to get all the casting sand out, although this is more than Rover ever bothered to do. One of the common causes of K series head death is due to a build up of casting sand in the waterways. Casting sand that shouldn't be there.

( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

This URL came up in a different K-series thread the other day.

Fascinating.

In short - get a K, not a 111 - and make a couple of essential mods.

There is a lot of s**te talked about the K Series engine. It had two known faults, since cured. Read this:-

I should read the rest of the thread first. Adrian beat me to it. DOH!

I'd not read that article until Adrian posted it, as for the sand, I've seen quite a lot come out of K-series heads and I'm sure it ain't good...

A regular flushing of the cooling system deals with that one.