Pauls Exige 410 Sport

Pauls Exige 410 Sport

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apn

302 posts

284 months

Thursday 28th April 2022
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Cheers!

Paul_M3 said:

GaryF

970 posts

253 months

Thursday 12th May 2022
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Paul_M3 said:

The second issue once fitted is that the dust cap no longer fits. A larger one from ebay has been ordered to try and resolve that.
Hi Paul, I've followed your thread now for sometime and want to thank you for taking the trouble to document all your upgrades. I've now got my Sport 350 and have started to make improvements - many of which you have already done, so this is my go to thread.

On the LED upgrades - did you get a pair of suitable dust caps from ebay? If you did, do you have the details/link? It looks like there are LED caps where the 'arse' (technical lingo) of the bulb is designed to poke out through the cap, presumably to allow cooling for those large heat sinks.

The standard headlights are rather dim to say the least...

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Thursday 12th May 2022
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Hi Gary.

I got these dust covers off eBay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203635542633?mkcid=16&a...

They are big enough that they go over the bulbs and still leave a small amount of space for the air to circulate around the heat sink. I was concerned that the bulbs might get too hot, but they seem ok so far.

GaryF

970 posts

253 months

Thursday 12th May 2022
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Fantastic mate - thank you thumbup

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Tuesday 14th June 2022
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It's been a little while since I updated this thread, but not much has really happened other than a couple of track days.

I did make one further tweak to the rear view mirror, as there was still parts of it that were pointless height wise. I basically masked up a bigger mirror so that the size perfectly matched the area worth looking at. The best comparison of original, version 1, and version 2 is stills from my track videos, as the camera is always in the same place. Forward visibility is much improved, and I can see just as much behind as I could with the OEM mirror.





I went to Cadwell Park on 24th May, and it was one of the quietest track days I've ever been on. There were only around 30 cars present. Weather forecast was terrible, which may have had something to do with it. In the end, it only started raining properly at 5pm. I had loads of clear laps, and managed to improve last years time by over 2 seconds.

https://youtu.be/WXZ8eFd363o

Last week I was back at Snetterton. This was a very mixed day weather wise. Wet, dry, wet and then dry again. No problems all day, and I managed to improve my Snetterton best by a fraction.

https://youtu.be/28O9bAhgJpg

As it was a Javelin day, I've got a few photos with needing to pay an arm and leg for them.









I met up with my friend Viren who I met last year at Donington. He's got an Exige 350 with Alias23 intake, 1-way Nitrons and Cup2 tyres. We had a few good sessions together, and I don't think there's much speed difference in a straight line between a 350 with Alias intake and 410! Our sessions together were in mixed conditions, getting drier as each one went on.

https://youtu.be/Yg4yWW7T-SY

https://youtu.be/5E76PL-jsCI

Other than that, not much to report. Car is working well, and I'm having lots of fun. Next week is Brands Hatch GP circuit with Lotus on Track. I'm hoping for good weather, as my rear Cup2's are now down to around 3mm of tread...


Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Sunday 13th November 2022
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I haven't updated this for a while, as not too much of interest has been going on.

I did a track day at Brands Hatch GP which was a bit of a disaster really. The car went into limp mode, I got black flagged for noise, and I also felt really sick. rolleyes
The limp mode issue turned out to be related to my charge coolant reservoir leaking. New one fitted and issue hasn't reappeared.

The following track day after that was back to Cadwell Park, and I had a great day with no issues at all.









After Cadwell I just had one more track day booked, and that was in November. Although my rear tyres still had a little bit of life left, I thought I'd play it safe and replace them. The risk of heavy rain and just over 2mm of tread on CUP2's was the deciding factor.
It was nice to see how evenly the tyres had worn though, suggesting that my geo settings are working well.



Last week was my final track day of the year, and my first time at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit. I'd had this booked for ages, and I'd always wanted to do Silverstone. I took the risk of booking a November date as it was half the price of a summer date. Luckily the weather was cloudy, dry and about 13 degrees. in other words, the best I could have hoped for.

In actual fact, I've been hugely lucky with the weather all year. I think every track day I've done has been fully dry or partially dry. No fully wet days.

Lots of lovely cars there, and my mate brought his fairly rare Evora GT430 along. Was also nice to meet Eddie Cain and see his Exige back to its former glory.





I loved the circuit, and as the day went on I managed to build my speed up to a fairly respectable level.

This was a fun session before lunch with me, my mate, and Charles in his Exige 420 Final Edition.

https://youtu.be/wr6M90ObIg8

It got a bit quieter towards the end of the day as usual, and I managed to get a nice clear lap in. 

https://youtu.be/VcGaHFqQsgQ

The was no static noise testing, and amazingly I went all day without needing to fit my additional silencer. (The same couldn't be said for the Evora, which has a Komotec kit fitted)

And so that's it for this year. I've done 9 track days in total, which is more than I've ever done in a year before. The car has been basically faultless with the exception of the coolant reservoir and I still struggle to imagine a car which would be better for what I want. Drive to a circuit in relative comfort, leave the car parked outside a hotel if needed, have loads of fast fun on track, and then drive home again with the air con on and Apple Carplay running.

The Pagid RS29 pads I fitted at the start of the year are still in the car, so they've lasted 9 days and still have some material left. I'm not sure if they'll do a 10th day as I haven't looked closely yet. They have also been kind to the discs, which show no obvious wear and no cracks.

The only thing I still want to do now is give it a good clean and spray a load of ACF50 anti corrosion around the suspension.

Oh, and I'm also toying with the idea of removing the headlight surround decals, as I'm starting to think that cars look better without them...


RevsPerMinute

1,876 posts

221 months

Monday 14th November 2022
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I had always assumed the headlight black decal was paint as per the rear light panel no?

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Monday 14th November 2022
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RevsPerMinute said:
I had always assumed the headlight black decal was paint as per the rear light panel no?
Nope, it's just a black decal.

Item 29.

https://www.bellandcolvill.co.uk/deroure?qs=1&...

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Friday 10th February 2023
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Did a little bit of work on the car last weekend.

First job was brake pads. The old ones had done 9 track days and were starting to get a bit low:



Now in reality I probably could have done one more track day with these, and certainly with the rear ones. But at this point I decided to just go ahead and replace them anyway.

I decided to stick with the Pagid RS29s as I've been more than happy with them. Good performance (including from cold), No noise, and seem to be relatively kind to discs. In terms of wear rates, averaged out, the front pads had worn at a rate of 0.92mm per track day, and the rears were 0.83mm per track day. 

New ones ready to go on. To try and reduce noise as much as possible I always chamfer the edges, fit 3M anti-squeal rubber shims and use Ceratec brake grease.



Next job was one I'd been looking forward to doing, fitting some side skirts. I'd seen a few cars with skirts fitted and I am a big fan of the look.

Got the car up on the Race Ramps and then used my jack to position the skirts in place whilst marking the holes. Fitment then involved drilling some holes and fitting rivnuts. I did have a bit of a panic when I though I'd drilled into a coolant pipe, but it must have been rain water which had somehow entered the sill and got trapped.



Skirts are held in place with M6 bolts and large washers. When people fit these they go for different levels of 'aggressive' in terms of how far they stick out. I spent a while messing around with this before deciding on the final position, and I'm really pleased with the outcome. I think it compliments the front splitter nicely.









Now I'm just waiting to do my first track day of the year, which will be at Snetterton on March 12th. 

keo

2,060 posts

170 months

Friday 10th February 2023
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Side skirts look great mate

Tom4398cc

257 posts

34 months

Friday 10th February 2023
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keo said:
Side skirts look great mate
+1

GRC70

133 posts

171 months

Tuesday 18th July 2023
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Paul_M3 said:
Minor update.

Sorted out a couple of annoyances that I had.

The OEM wiper is too long. It's pointless. At least two inches is visible in mid-air when you look at it from inside the car. So I fitted a smaller one.

Before:


After:


Next was my carbon mirrors. I didn't like the stainless cap head screws used for the arm connecting plate. I kept looking at them through the window. So I ordered some black button head ones and fitted instead.



Then it was on to a tyre / brake check before my next trackday at Bedford Autodrome on 21/03/22.

The tyres still look in great shape. The Pagid RS29 pads definitely appear to have a better wear rate than the OEM pads, but it's a bit early to be too definitive by how much. Either way, the car was in good shape.



Finally, you can't turn up to a track day in a dirty car, can you? Decided to dust off the snow foam lance as well.



All ready to visit Bedford for the first time in 12 or 13 years, and that was the only time I'd been. I'm treating it as doing a new track!
Hi Paul, really appreciate this thread and all the useful info. Can you remember which wiper blade you sourced to replace the standard one? I have a 390 and would like to do the same. Thanks, Gordon

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Tuesday 18th July 2023
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GRC70 said:
Hi Paul, really appreciate this thread and all the useful info. Can you remember which wiper blade you sourced to replace the standard one? I have a 390 and would like to do the same. Thanks, Gordon
It was this one I think mate: Bosch Wiper Blade Aerotwin AR22U, Length: 550mm − Single Front Wiper Bladess https://amzn.eu/d/h1Cj38x

GRC70

133 posts

171 months

Tuesday 18th July 2023
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Paul_M3 said:
It was this one I think mate: Bosch Wiper Blade Aerotwin AR22U, Length: 550mm ? Single Front Wiper Bladess https://amzn.eu/d/h1Cj38x
That’s great, thank you!

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Sunday 3rd December 2023
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I haven't updated this for a while, but seeing as it's cold and wet outside and it's the end of the year....

Unfortunately I've been quite busy this year with work and other things, so I haven't been out in the car as much as I'd like to have been. Hopefully next year I can get back to plenty of track days and summer drives.

I think since the last update, the earliest thing I did was install some rear carbon blades from Aerie Performance. I felt like these were the final missing piece of the puzzle to go with the front splitter and side skirts.



Installation was very simple, as the mounting holes were already present on my car. One hole needed to be opened out very slightly, but other than that they just bolted straight on. One of the easiest mods yet.





I was very happy with these, and I think that's now the end of the aesthetic modifications to the car.

Next up I added some protection to the underneath of the carbon splitter. Because I'm tight, I had a look around to see what alternatives there were to the standard Sliplo installation. I came across a cheaper version on Amazon and thought I'd give it a go. At the end of the day, as long as it stays stuck to the splitter then it will basically do its job.





I did a couple of tidy up jobs such as polishing up the exhaust...



And repainting the rusty boot stay bracket....





I did have a couple of minor issues with the car during the year. It started making a squealing noise which was related to engine speed rather than wheel speed. A brief investigation suggested that one of the idler pulleys for the drive belt was the culprit. I also had a wheel speed sensor fault. It went in to Hangar111 to be sorted as well as to have the wheel alignment reset as it hadn't been done since I first got the car.

After I got the car back, within a few days I took it to Snetterton for a test run to make sure all was good. Thankfully the car performed faultlessly, and it was great day. Cold and damp in the morning, but gradually drying out. There were also only about 25 people booked on for the day.

In the garage ready to go....



The car felt great that day, with the reset alignment clearly working well. I think the damp start to the day was actually a blessing. Most of my track days so far have been dry, so getting used to the car sliding around under in the damp gave me additional confidence to push a bit harder when it dried out later.

In one of the later sessions I was chasing a Ginetta race car which was great fun and also resulted in my best ever lap around Snetterton, a nice way to end track days for the year.

https://youtu.be/FRRfUoN8_XQ?si=gExCqaeY0voLdLO-

Whilst at Snetterton I got talking to a nice chap about tyre pressure monitoring. I find it shame that there's no way to see live readouts from our sensors, as it just makes life a little bit easier. You can see how quickly pressures are going up, and also how much they've dropped at the start of the next session. The chap I was speaking to said that he got some of the cheap external sensors from Amazon and that they weren't actually too bad. Based on that, I thought I'd have a little look, and ended up ordering these off eBay for £40



They weigh around 10g, so shouldn't be too much of an issue with wheel balancing (I get heavier chunks of rubber stuck to the rims than that). Now obviously they look a bit ridiculous, but a) they will only be installed when on track, and b) they still look far less ridiculous than my track exhaust!



They transmit directly to an App on you phone, no other equipment is required. My tyres had been pumped up to 29psi front and 32psi rear with my tyre pump, but not accurately checked with a gauge. When the sensors were installed these were the readings:



So they are within 0.5psi reading of each other across axles, and potentially 1 - 2psi low overall depending on the accuracy of my tyre pump. However, for what I want this is perfectly ok. The important information is how much the pressure is increasing or decreasing. As long as I know my baseline when I've set the tyres using my gauge I'll be able to tell when I need to keep coming in to bleed some air out.

That did lead to one final area that needed addressing. Because I have wireless Apple Carplay installed, I've never needed to bother with a phone holder. But the cheap app isn't Carplay compatible so I needed the phone to be mounted somewhere and ideally easy to glance at. Trying to find a solution that was neat, solid enough for a track day, and easily removable wasn't that easy. Whilst sitting there thinking about it I thought the ideal place would be next to the headunit screen, just angled towards the driver slightly. The headunit and the LCD screen are actually pretty strong and well engineered. The screen also has a metal plate at the back.....

Thin sheet, some magnets (which don't affect LCD screens) some glue, a dismantled magsafe mount, and a tin of black paint later, this was my new phone mount.





This will do the job nicely, and to be honest it looks subtle enough that I think I might just leave it in place permanently. 



Cheap tablet photo of the phone in place:



And that is it for this year. I can't imagine that the car will move very much between now and spring. Hopefully next year I should have much more free time and will be aiming to do more track days and possibly some car meets. I think it's time I travelled a bit further afield and tried at least one track which I haven't done before too.


hypermark

83 posts

105 months

Thursday 7th December 2023
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Excellent post Paul and loads of great ideas for improvements. I also have a 410 and have done some track days this year; would you mind letting me know what your Geo set up is and if you run the Nitrons on factory settings? Drop me a PM if its easier.

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Thursday 7th December 2023
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Hi Mark, thanks for the comments.

My alignment is this:

Front
Camber: -1°38'
Total Toe: -0°08' (toe out)

Rear
Camber -2°15'
Total Toe 0°40' (toe in)

No, I don't use the standard Nitron settings on track. I adjust them when I get there (apart from Rebound as I that's a bit of a pain. I just leave that on the settings below)

I actually use settings that I got off another forum, and they were ones recommended to him by a specialist. I must admit that with my basic knowledge of what the settings do, they seem a bit strange. But I tried them and they seem to give a nice balance so I haven't really tried messing with them.

These number a clicks from full hard:

Front:
Low Speed Compression: 4
High Speed Compression: 8
Rebound: 6

Rear:
Low Speed Compression: 8
High Speed Compression: 4
Rebound: 4

I also aim for tyre pressures of 29psi front and 31 - 32 psi rear. These are hot pressures. My tyre wear seems pretty even.

hypermark

83 posts

105 months

Sunday 10th December 2023
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Thanks Paul - really appreciate that. I need to get Hangar111 to set my car up in the New Year. Currently on factory settings which seem ok but I dont have the confidence to push on corner exit as the car wants to understeer too much for my liking.

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,371 posts

185 months

Sunday 10th December 2023
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hypermark said:
Thanks Paul - really appreciate that. I need to get Hangar111 to set my car up in the New Year. Currently on factory settings which seem ok but I dont have the confidence to push on corner exit as the car wants to understeer too much for my liking.
No problem. :-)

Yeah, that was exactly the issue that I was trying to resolve too. Mine is certainly a lot better now, although it still tends towards understeer on corner exit rather than oversteer. I think that can probably be further tuned out with damper settings if I played around. Increasing rear compression or front rebound would help (I think)

Shnozz

27,480 posts

271 months

Saturday 23rd December 2023
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Some great attention to detail in your work.