Yea the scary thing about the cam problem is on the Lotus forums guys have had it happen with as little as 600 miles. Some of the Celica guys have seen this but not very many. Nether do the MR2's or the European Lotus owners. It seems to mainly be a problem for the US cars. Those ore the only ones with oil coolers, two of them up front. we will see what happens.
Cold oil, high RPMs, no ZDDP and a flat tappet cam are a recipe for disaster - I think you're on the right path. ZDDP was an ingredient in oil for decades to prevent wear on flat tappet cams, all modern cams are roller so they don't need the anti-wear of ZDDP -except this one it seems, with it's combination of rollers and flats. Those of us with classic cars of all stripes know about ZDDP - it keeps our engines alive. When I rebuilt the engine in Buzz - my 1980 Clubman Estate - the first thing I found was a knackered cam - due to running modern oil. Using the correct oil meant the next 25K went trouble free.....
Double whammy for old LBC cars. Wear the cam out due to modern oil & valve recession due to no lead gas. Luckily both are relatively easy fixes. Yes Lee is on the right track. ZDDP & oil temp before wailing on that bad boy.
And thank you, I do take the blame, but it appears we all wanted to live in your Lotus. Take care, do it right, 2k on a cam, I think BS too. Sounds like you need to talke with a Lotus guy, anyone you can contact at the factory about the engine. Good to have a sympathetic contact or maybe a guy who races in SCCA local or National would do! Enjoy it and updates when available. I will try not to repeat my blame game again. Don
Today I finally got the car together and running. I went for test ride but it started raining so I only got a block or so before I had to head home.
It wasn't the car, which is from England [a land where rain is as common as grits to a southerner]. It was the driver.
Well the smart driver left the top at home. The Exige has a hard top that bolts on, when you take it off there is no place to put it in the car. Go figure
A small update. I have driven the car only a hand full of times. I am surprised how long it takes the oil to get to 200F. Its at least 15 min or maybe 20, this is with the thermostat installed. Normal running temp now is water about 195 oil 200-205 It turns out I have an aftermarket aluminum oil pan with baffles. The stock pan takes 4.5qt. This one I think takes 5gal. Ok maybe not that much. I had it out a few days ago when it was cool mid 70's I believe. There were a few times the oil temp dropped about 5deg. When winter comes I may have to make covers for the oil coolers. I have noticed several other Lotus owners also have Minis. I learned today that a first and second Gen mini has a lower CD than the my Exige. Mini .33 Exige/Elise .44. I haven't found numbers for the Helmet I don't know if the windshield being racked back would lower the numbers or not. I reached out to the owner that did all the mods (one before the guy I got it from) to see if he still had a list of what he did and where all the parts came from. He pointed me to his build thread but it is vague, he defiantly did it right but still not the info I want. He does want to sale me all the left over parts though. I have taken it to 7000 RPM a few times and to the shift light once 8500. The ECU adjusts it depending on the temp of the car there is no redline on the tach. So in a day or two I will pull the valve cover and make sure every thing is still good.
This is from a couple weeks ago during the SCCA Track Night America. Full disclosure I changed the sky.