Life110 Carbon Exhaust Fitment
Discussion
*Edited to add more info as I re-fitted to ceramic-coat the carbon, diffuser and back panel, and did a better job second time round.
Fitted the carbon exhaust tip this evening without much bother, thought I'd do a layman's guide run through for anyone looking to do the same.
First up was putting the car on ramps. Chocked front wheels, low profile jack and a Renault jacking point puck.
Next was removing 24 x T30 Torx bolts around the diffuser / undertray. They're all vertical, save for one each side that are on curved, slightly front facing surfaces, just behind the wishbone arm.
Wear glasses as crud will inevitably fall in your eyes.
Wasn't too hard from here to pull the diffuser free, clean it out a bit and put it aside.
The OEM and carbon exhaust tips fit identically. There's 4 x 7mm head bolts with screw threads holding it on, and two locator pins at the top corners. To get to these I just bent up the heat shielding (and put it back obviously). There was plenty enough flex in the bodywork to allow changing over without removing the plastic section the exhaust is mounted in.
this made it very easy to switch over the end piece. I used a small dab of threadlock. I cleaned and ceramic coated the bodywork pieces and carbon tip.
Weight saving sure to save me 0.2 on the Sainsbury's run. Carbon piece is lovely quality.
I saw a couple of torque settings for the diffuser bolts quoted but they're mostly fairing style C-clips and its fairly obvious how much they need, so I was happy to judge by hand. Sliding the diffuser back in is a touch fiddly, be sure to get it over the wheel arch mesh pieces and under the locator lips at the sides, I used my knees a bit to hold it but it wasn't hard to manage. You could take out the wheel liner bolt to get it clear but I just reached and pushed it in place, tried to explain below.
Looks mega I think, I'll get some good camera / daylight shots of it when I can clean it at some point. Car is now 300PS thanks to the remap also!
Fitted the carbon exhaust tip this evening without much bother, thought I'd do a layman's guide run through for anyone looking to do the same.
First up was putting the car on ramps. Chocked front wheels, low profile jack and a Renault jacking point puck.
Next was removing 24 x T30 Torx bolts around the diffuser / undertray. They're all vertical, save for one each side that are on curved, slightly front facing surfaces, just behind the wishbone arm.
Wear glasses as crud will inevitably fall in your eyes.
Wasn't too hard from here to pull the diffuser free, clean it out a bit and put it aside.
The OEM and carbon exhaust tips fit identically. There's 4 x 7mm head bolts with screw threads holding it on, and two locator pins at the top corners. To get to these I just bent up the heat shielding (and put it back obviously). There was plenty enough flex in the bodywork to allow changing over without removing the plastic section the exhaust is mounted in.
- second time round I popped out the surround - it's on a row of plastic tabs that push out, start at the ends and work to middle. This is way easier.
this made it very easy to switch over the end piece. I used a small dab of threadlock. I cleaned and ceramic coated the bodywork pieces and carbon tip.
Weight saving sure to save me 0.2 on the Sainsbury's run. Carbon piece is lovely quality.
I saw a couple of torque settings for the diffuser bolts quoted but they're mostly fairing style C-clips and its fairly obvious how much they need, so I was happy to judge by hand. Sliding the diffuser back in is a touch fiddly, be sure to get it over the wheel arch mesh pieces and under the locator lips at the sides, I used my knees a bit to hold it but it wasn't hard to manage. You could take out the wheel liner bolt to get it clear but I just reached and pushed it in place, tried to explain below.
Looks mega I think, I'll get some good camera / daylight shots of it when I can clean it at some point. Car is now 300PS thanks to the remap also!
Edited by jonnowocky on Thursday 24th February 19:50
CliveJ7 said:
Great stuff, jonnowocky and much appreciated having just ordered one!
Of course, Sod's Law says that I gave my ramps away a few years ago - do you think there's space to do it without them?
Also, did you treat the CF with anything like polish or ceramic coating as recommended by Life?
I agree the end result is awesome, so well worth the effort!
Thank you! Update on this - I noticed a bit of play in the carbon piece, probably fine, but decided to remove it all and fit again. I've just ceramic-coated the wheels, so with your reply in mind, I went all out and ceramic coated the exhaust tip (twice), the plastic painted surround for it, and the diffuser.Of course, Sod's Law says that I gave my ramps away a few years ago - do you think there's space to do it without them?
Also, did you treat the CF with anything like polish or ceramic coating as recommended by Life?
I agree the end result is awesome, so well worth the effort!
I also put a tiny dab of thread lock on the exhaust tip screws.
The section of plastic holding the exhaust tip and reflectors on further inspection is only held in with a row of plastic push clips, and so it's as well to pop the whole thing out while you're under there. I'll edit my post with some pics, but it did allow me to tighten the tip screws with more confidence, plus clean and ceramic everything. There isnt enough resin on the carbon exhaust to make me want to try polishing it, and I think heat would abuse lacquer, so this worked out a nice compromise.
(I used carbon collective ceramic coating, very easy to apply, Gtechniq apparently more hydrophobic but a bit stickier. Still easy either way, just make sure you have lots of bright light)
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