Alex's Verde Ithaca Evora GT Journal

[eriegz]

Autumn foliage is in full force here in DE! Took some rolling drone footage that I'll be editing soon.

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Great shots!! You always manage to find every great angle on this car.

There's a yellow Evora GT currently for sale in Canada, and given all the positive experiences that you've shared with yours on this forum I'm sooooo tempted to just jump on that car instead and be done with this crazy train (but then still log in every day to read Emira updates! ). But one of the things that bugs me in the yellow example is this (IMO) goofy-looking split rear wing:

I see that yours has a different (IMO much better-looking) rear wing that's integrated with the rear deck lid? Was this only available via the "carbon pack" option when ordering the car?

 

[VL3X]

Great shots!! You always manage to find every great angle on this car.

There's a yellow Evora GT currently for sale in Canada, and given all the positive experiences that you've shared with yours on this forum I'm sooooo tempted to just jump on that car instead and be done with this crazy train (but then still log in every day to read Emira updates! ). But one of the things that bugs me in the yellow example is this (IMO) goofy-looking split rear wing:

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I see that yours has a different (IMO much better-looking) rear wing that's integrated with the rear deck lid? Was this only available via the "carbon pack" option when ordering the car?

Correct. That was part of the carbon pack, which also includes the roof and front access panel. The rear bumper is also all carbon with exposed parts (without paint) on the carbon pack GTs. I'm not sure if the rear bumpers are full carbon and just painted on all GTs or not.

Aerie sells an oem look carbon hatch, but it's not cheap! There may be other options out there too. You can always get that and then wrap the roof and front access panel in carbon look ppf. I hear the little cutout fender piece behind the front wheel and a pillars are also carbon from factory but fully painted.

FWIW, you're so close to the Emira.. Probably 4-5 months at most (hopefully) and will arrive just in time for spring. I know.. I know.. We thought that last year too, but things are moving along finally.

 

[eriegz]

Correct. That was part of the carbon pack, which also includes the roof and front access panel. The rear bumper is also all carbon with exposed parts (without paint) on the carbon pack GTs. I'm not sure if the rear bumpers are full carbon and just painted on all GTs or not.

Aerie sells an oem look carbon hatch, but it's not cheap! There may be other options out there too. You can always get that and then wrap the roof and front access panel in carbon look ppf. I hear the little cutout fender piece behind the front wheel and a pillars are also carbon from factory but fully painted.

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying that. So that explains why your car looks so much cooler. Haha. What a difference those pieces make! And what great fortune that your 1-of-1 car had that option already!

FWIW, you're so close to the Emira.. Probably 4-5 months at most (hopefully) and will arrive just in time for spring. I know.. I know.. We thought that last year too, but things are moving along finally.

*siiiggghhhhhh* I know you're probably right. I will continue hanging in there. In the meantime, it's always fun seeing updates from you in this journal thread!

 

[VL3X]

Edited some drone shots into a slick little reel.

 

[VL3X]

No major updates, but I've been having a lot of fun! Temps started dropping down into the 30s at night so it was time to swap off the Cup 2 tires for the Michelin Alpins. I also flushed my brake and clutch fluid with some fresh RBF600 (the oem stuff was really dirty). Lotus of Philadelphia came through and honored my warranty by replacing my headlights with brand new OEM parts and even applied fresh XPEL PPF on them. The factory Evora lights are known to get hairline cracks and Lotus is on their 4th vendor for these, so I figured it'd be good to get a claim in before my warranty expired (mine had extremely minor flaws in the plastic).

Yesterday, I attended a MASSIVE charity car event called Phil-a-trunk supporting our local food drive. We were just outside the Eagles Lincoln Financial Field and there were probably ~3k vehicles in attendance. Loaded my trunk up with non-perishable foods, made my donation, and enjoyed an awesome day seeing some really amazing vehicles. Below is a pic of me leaving that show.

In early December I'm excited to be participating in the annual Nemours Children's Hospital Toy Drive. It's a great event where the participants, local car dealers, and other businesses collect new toys throughout Nov-Dec, which we then collect and drive to the hospital where the kids get to come out to see all the cool cars and receive toys. This event keeps getting bigger and bigger and should be an awesome turnout this year!

 

[VL3X]

Met some other green cars at the food drive charity car event and we snapped a few pics together in front of the Eagles stadium.

 

[virtualmacho]

Met some other green cars at the food drive charity car event and we snapped a few pics together in front of the Eagles stadium.

"Green cars"

 

[VL3X]

Quick update - Last week I attended a charity event that I've been wanting to participate in for years: The Annual Nemours Children's Hospital Toy Drive! Really great event that raises toys for the kid's stuck in the hospital during the holidays. The event keeps growing every year and it was quite the experience having part of I95 blocked off by state police for our exotic car rally to deliver the toys. Once to the hospital, some of the kids were able to come out and check out the cars while we unloaded the trailers. Here are a couple pics and a video of the event:


*Spot my Evora ~53s and ~2m49s marks

 

[eriegz]

Quick update - Last week I attended a charity event that I've been wanting to participate in for years: The Annual Nemours Children's Hospital Toy Drive! Really great event that raises toys for the kid's stuck in the hospital during the holidays. The event keeps growing every year and it was quite the experience having part of I95 blocked off by state police for our exotic car rally to deliver the toys. Once to the hospital, some of the kids were able to come out and check out the cars while we unloaded the trailers. Here are a couple pics and a video of the event:


*Spot my Evora ~53s and ~2m49s marks


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Wow, looks like you had a twin "brother from another mother" Artura in the back too!

 

[VL3X]

Wow, looks like you had a twin "brother from another mother" Artura in the back too!

That's actually my buddy's new toy! I was so excited to see it since I didn't know he ordered Napier Green until he showed up!! Napier is up there as my favorite paint.

There was an awesome 765LT in green there too. You can sorta see it in this pic (I'm the only one with "poverty spec" doors ).

 

[hagen111]

What a great read during Xmass this topic! There will be many Emira's, and very very few Evora's in a few years. It's the car to have! And what a spec! One of a kind. You went the right way! Man I would love to have that Evora in my garage! Happy for you!

Keep the updates coming!

 

[VL3X]

Today's project background: The OEM Evora GT oil pan is baffled and has 5 rubber gates, which require replacement every 2 years (per the official Lotus service manual). The gates keep oil in the center of the pan (around the oil pickup), which is essential during long high G turns where oil can shift to the far side and away from the pickup. Cool design and all, but overkill for a street car and a major PITA to replace the rubber flaps every 2 years. Dropping the pan means unbolting the exhaust Y Pipe and prying off the Toyota FIPG (RTV) and potentially damaging both the pan and block. Your options are to either replace every 2 years, ignore them (and hope they don't become brittle, break off, and clog the pickup), or go aftermarket.

Since this is my dream car, I opted for the ultra fancy (and expensive) aftermarket option from Moroso. It's all aluminum and features metal hinged gates that don't require any maintenance. The pan also increases oil capacity to 6.25qts (better cooling) and has fittings predrilled for temp sensors and oil feed/return lines.

Pulling the stock pan was a bit of a struggle (especially on my back in my tiny garage), but it's finally off and tomorrow morning I plan to install the Moroso pan. The OEM rubber gate flaps looked fine (just over 10k miles total on my GT). And no worries, the Emira First and Base edition pan is not gated like this! I expect a future GT or R Emira will be though. Anyway, here are some pics...

 

[Time2Fly]

Looks like a nice piece of kit! I especially like the maintenance free aspect. For those watching, what part number is this? I wonder if it will work on the the Emira

 

[Porter]

Wow is the factory pan a gasket PLUS a whole mess of RTV? That's wild.

 

[VL3X]

Wow is the factory pan a gasket PLUS a whole mess of RTV? That's wild.

No gasket. Just RTV. I believe they actually used Toyota's FIPG (formed in place gasket) on the GT pans (Emira pans are sealed from Toyota and left untouched by Lotus). I actually used the o ring that came with the Moroso pan plus a small bead of FIPG when installing the new one. I spent a lot of time cleaning the mounting surface first.

The pan ended up being a much tougher job than I expected, but it's finally on. The toughest part was threading on 3 of the tiny 10mm nuts onto offset studs inside the pan (you can see the 3 access bolts on the bottom of the pan). That was especially nerve-racking knowing I had just rtv'd the pan up and it'd be a total nightmare scenario if one of the nuts fell inside.

Anyway, here are some progress and final installed pics before reinstalling the aero tray.

Mounting surface cleaned and before extracting the 2 factory studs. Both came out easy with small vice grips. This pic shows how the exhaust Y Pipe is in the way of dropping the stock pan. The pickup tube sits inside the pan in a way that requires the pan to tilt more than it can with the Y Pipe installed tightly. I had to remove 2 lower 15mm bolts and 2 upper 15mm nuts and that gave me enough flex to get the pan out.

New studs installed with Loctite Blue:

Moroso pan mounted (18 nuts torqued to 10nm):

 

[VL3X]

Looks like a nice piece of kit! I especially like the maintenance free aspect. For those watching, what part number is this? I wonder if it will work on the the Emira

Part # 20971. It should work on the Emira, but there's a chance the Y Pipe might be a little different than the Evora.

 

[kitkat]

How did you remove all the rtv?

 

[VL3X]

How did you remove all the rtv?

Started with a razor and brake clean.. After an hour struggling with that method I switched to a little polishing wheel attachment on my drill. Worked like a charm and took everything off in less than 10 minutes without damaging the mounting surface. They came in a kit for ~$10 from Harbor Freight.

 

[kitkat]

Started with a razor and brake clean.. After an hour struggling with that method I switched to a little polishing wheel attachment on my drill. Worked like a charm and took everything off in less than 10 minutes without damaging the mounting surface. They came in a kit for ~$10 from Harbor Freight.

Great, a baffled pan has to be one of my first changes. Sounds like it’s not going to be fun, so anything that makes it easier.

 

[VL3X]

Great, a baffled pan has to be one of my first changes. Sounds like it’s not going to be fun, so anything that makes it easier.

It'd be much easier with a lift and climate controlled garage (and my write up ). Loosening the Y pipe should be cake on a new Emira. Just be prepared for those 3 offset nuts. Me and a friend had to get creative with a spring to get them threaded on. It'll be easier if you have an extremely short 10mm socket.

FYI, the dealer wanted ~$900 to do it with me supplying the pan and oil.