Pauls Exige 410 Sport

Pauls Exige 410 Sport

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Autobantz

26,140 posts

222 months

Thursday 28th December 2023
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Enjoyed reading this thread. I’ve just been watching your YouTube vids, Paul. Great pedaling!

I just joined the Lotus fraternity after a lifetime of the usual German stuff.



Haven’t really used the car much, but I do live next door to Yas Marina GP circuit, so I’ll have to remedy that. Already. I’m looking at some Komo-Tec upgrades. The one thing I hoped for was a tiny bit more shove (I have a motorbike addiction also).

Have you upgraded the performance of your car? Any particular upgrades that you’d recommend?

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Thursday 28th December 2023
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Shnozz said:
Some great attention to detail in your work.
Thanks mate. There’s not really much that ‘needs’ doing to these, so it’s more just bits of personalisation.

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Thursday 28th December 2023
quotequote all
Autobantz said:
Enjoyed reading this thread. I’ve just been watching your YouTube vids, Paul. Great pedaling!

I just joined the Lotus fraternity after a lifetime of the usual German stuff.



Haven’t really used the car much, but I do live next door to Yas Marina GP circuit, so I’ll have to remedy that. Already. I’m looking at some Komo-Tec upgrades. The one thing I hoped for was a tiny bit more shove (I have a motorbike addiction also).

Have you upgraded the performance of your car? Any particular upgrades that you’d recommend?
Thanks for the comments. 🙂

No, I haven’t really made any performance upgrades to the car.

The only performance related upgrade I’ve really made is changing the brake pads to the Pagid RS29’s. I found the OEM pads a bit lacking in bite, and the Pagids also last much longer.

I’d certainly recommend getting the suspension alignment tweaked if you’re planning track days. Mainly more camber on the front.


Shnozz

28,013 posts

279 months

Friday 29th December 2023
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Do you know how to go about painting the gear surround and the harness hole inserts in body colour?

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Friday 29th December 2023
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Shnozz said:
Do you know how to go about painting the gear surround and the harness hole inserts in body colour?
I don’t I’m afraid mate. It’s not something that I’ve ever looked into, although I do have a vague recollection of reading that it’s very difficult to remove the harness inserts without breaking them.

DamnKraut

482 posts

107 months

Friday 29th December 2023
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Paul_M3 said:
I don’t I’m afraid mate. It’s not something that I’ve ever looked into, although I do have a vague recollection of reading that it’s very difficult to remove the harness inserts without breaking them.
Recall a recent post some weeks ago in the Elise/Exige subforum re the removal of the trim around the shifter. That's the easy one. Also recall vaguely that the inserts in the seats are glued and nigh impossible to remove without breaking.

Shnozz

28,013 posts

279 months

Friday 29th December 2023
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DamnKraut said:
Paul_M3 said:
I don’t I’m afraid mate. It’s not something that I’ve ever looked into, although I do have a vague recollection of reading that it’s very difficult to remove the harness inserts without breaking them.
Recall a recent post some weeks ago in the Elise/Exige subforum re the removal of the trim around the shifter. That's the easy one. Also recall vaguely that the inserts in the seats are glued and nigh impossible to remove without breaking.
Yes - thought I would raise the question here but I have seen several references to wrapping them in situ for that reason.

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Wednesday 27th March
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Well spring is here, and therefore it's time to start thinking about car stuff and track days again.

The MOT a couple of week ago showed I've only done 2275 miles in the last 12 months, mainly due to work and being away a lot of last summer. Hopefully it'll be a bit more this year.

I gave the car a bit of love over the last week or so;

Brake fluid change with some fresh Castrol SRF



While the wheels were off I gave the arches a good clean, and cleaned and coated the brake calipers





The wheels also got given a proper deep clean and then a fresh ceramic coating with Gtechniq C5



The next change was quite a significant one. At Snetterton in November I got my first warning for noise there, with me hitting 91.7dB on the drive by against a limit of 92dB. Apparently they check at different locations around the track, and on this day it was obviously very borderline for me even with my DIY silencer. Subsequent to this, I was reading on facebook track pages that people were getting sent home from Donington who had previously passed. When they questioned this, they were told the noise meters had been recalibrated and were now accurate. All of this worried me, as I really don't want to be getting sent home. I considered a Mk2 version of my DIY exhaust, but also had a good look at the official options. That was when I came across a the newest option available from South West Lotus. I messaged James at SWL who was incredibly helpful, and also spoke to Eddie who has got one but hasn't fitted it yet. I felt encouraged, and decided to bite the bullet.



The exhaust appears to be very well made, and is very good value for money. The cost was £900 + Postage. Except by sheer luck I saw it on their eBay page and I just happened to have a 10% discount on car parts through eBay at that time. So a brand new track exhaust cost me £810 plus postage. 

So it was off with the old....



And this was where I hit a snag. There's a 90 degree bend which needs to be transferred to the new exhaust. The plan was to do this along with the clamp holding it on. Except it turns out that clamp is spot welded to the OEM exhaust. Unfortunately I needed to car to be operable so had to put everything back together. Offending parts...



With the a fresh clamp obtained, the entire job then took less than an hour from start to finish. The new exhaust is noticeably lighter than the OEM one. I got some scales out, and I think there's about a 4kg weight saving, with the new exhaust being around 11kg. The fitment was perfect, and the tips lined up perfectly in the centre of the grill cut out.





After first start up I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't really WANT to fit a quiet track exhaust and I was worried it would sound rubbish. But it still has a nice tone, a burble at low revs and sounds sporty. It was also noticeably quieter than the OEM exhaust at high revs. I decided to do some comparison testing and make a little video of it. (And yes, I know I sound like a farmer....)

https://youtu.be/lBU3ChkaHL8

Since then I've been at Snetterton and got some 'real' noise test results. It was 96dB on the static reading (well below the 105dB limit) and I didn't get any warnings for drive by. Overall I have to say I'm very happy with, and James at South West Lotus has been brilliant to deal with in all respects.

Clean and shiny ready to get on track:



Snetterton was very busy, fully booked up with 80 cars. It was a lovely day though with nice weather, lots of interesting cars and decent driving standards. A couple of obligatory videos below. One rear view only to show the new exhaust noise, and another of a full session with my mate who came along to his first ever track day.

https://youtu.be/8igMCXUqSOQ?si=AxRt_PgEw521JqsL

https://youtu.be/bIabK3dE178?si=JCfcRd5FdReez4O8

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Wednesday 27th March
quotequote all
One other thing I forgot to mention in case any one was thinking it (as I was), was whether the new exhaust resulted in any loss of power.

I looked at my AIM data from when I was there in November with the OEM exhaust, and yesterday with the SWL one. This shows the acceleration / speed down the main back straight in 3rd, 4th and 5th gear. Green is November, Brown is yesterday. You can see the 4th gear traces perfectly align, and although my gear change was different, 5th gear traces follow the same curve. I think this gives a pretty good indication that there is no loss of power.



Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Sunday 9th June
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Thought I'd just do a little update to this...

After Snetterton I decided to book a track day at Bedford Autodrome. I'd been there once previously in the Exige, but had to keep lifting off past the noise meters even with my old track silencer add-on fitted.

I thought I'd give it another try, although to be honest I was still partially expecting to trip at least one of the noise meters as they are so strict there.

It was a nice day weather wise, and there were a few other Exiges there.



I started off short shifting past the worst noise meter, and gradually increased the revs each time I went past to find the 'limit' of what I'd be able to do. I was pleased to discover that I could go fully revs and full throttle past every noise meter with the SWL exhaust which makes it more enjoyable. A lot of people don't like Bedford, but I think it has a nice mixture of corners and enough run off to let you push harder than at some other circuits.

It's a long circuit to learn and try and perfect, but I was starting to get there by the end of the day. I definitely want to go back and try to improve further now I know I have no noise concerns.

I also ended up giving a fellow Exige owner a lift home after he had a coming together with a BMW.....

A couple of clear laps from the day:

https://youtu.be/OdMQtsWLozI?si=pdAj7PA2548OHJJD

Next on the agenda was Cadwell Park, one of my favourite circuits. Complete opposite of Bedford, with lots of undulations and plenty of armco barriers in close proximity.

This ended up being one of the least enjoyable track days I've had for a while unfortunately.

Firstly, the day was incredibly busy. I've never really needed to queue up waiting to get out on circuit before, but I certainly did on this day. That aspect wasn't helped by the second issue....red flags. Lots and lots of them. And it was for all sorts. Cars breaking down, spinning on their own oil after a leak, a Mini caught fire, a BMW had a wheel come off, and finally a Clio t-boned a Toyota Corolla after the Corolla spun. I haven't seen car to car contact in 15 years  of track days, and then it happened on two consecutive events!

After lunch I was hoping to actually get a decent amount of laps in. On my second afternoon session I pulled out of the pit area and then everything suddenly got very loud in terms of exhaust noise. I cruised back round to the pits, and began to investigate. This is what I found:



I was relieved to find that the exhaust pieces had just separated at the clamp. At this point I was hopeful to be back on track shortly. Unfortunately, although I managed to get the clamp back in position ok, as I was tightening the clamp back up one of the bolts seized. Subsequent removal has shown that the thread had picked up on the bolt and made a mess of itself. So unfortunately I didn't want to risk going back out on track. That meant an early pack up and a careful drive home. The Javelin photographer did manage to get a few nice shots though:









And a video of one of the sessions:

https://youtu.be/jcN0kJIFDWg?si=gpCTFZo_tdQ18Nvt

Yesterday I intended to fix the exhaust but the discovery of the stripped thread on the clamp bolt initially put a delay on that. (It seems to be an M11 x 1.75 bolt. Stupid size, nobody has those)

However, whilst have a general poke around under there I also spotted this:



The bracket has snapped off the y-pipe section. I don't know if the extra movement now possible contributed to the pieces pulling out of the clamp or not, but I need to get it sorted.

Other than that, the car hasn't missed a beat. I've currently got two more track days booked. One at the Lotus test track at Hethel, and the second at Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. I'm really looking forward to Brands. I love the GP circuit but had a few issues there last time (including failing the drive by noise meter). Fingers crossed this time will be better!

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Friday 28th June
quotequote all
Last Saturday was Hethel, and this may have been the quietest track day that I've ever been on. I didn't count exactly, but around 15 cars would probably be a good estimate. Weather was lovely, and it was a nice chilled atmosphere. As it's the Lotus test track and factory, the rules were initially no photography of any kind. But then the guy from Lotus said you can take photos towards the track, and "If you have a GoPro in your car, keep it on narrow field of view". Which meant I got a rare opportunity for footage of the Lotus test track. The car performed faultlessly all day. 

Short video of a clean lap...'threading the needle' between the 'orange cone chicane' got faster and faster as the day went on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlXGH2006Nc

Then yesterday was Brands Hatch GP. This was a sessioned day with the 20 minutes per hour split between Lotus on Track, a Caterham club, and general MSV drivers.

The weather was beautiful and bumped into a few track friends. 



The first 20 minute session included sighting laps, so after those it was a just a few minutes of getting a feel for the track before it was time for a break.

The next 20 minute session unfortunately had a red flag due to a brake down, which effectively turned it into a 10 minute session.

At 11am we finally had a full clear session, and it was great to try and get back into the rhythm at Brands GP, it's a fantastic circuit. That session finished, the car felt good, and I was looking forward to lots more laps and trying to improve.

And that was when it all went wrong. I parked up, and put my number plates back on to drive to the petrol station to top back up. During the journey I noticed that the ABS and TC lights were on, and I couldn't select Sport or Race mode. This is a relatively common fault for these cars, and is often the brake switch, but could also be an ABS sensor or even steering angle sensor.

I got back to the pits, and turned the car off. Left it a while, and turned it back on...fault still present. Checked the codes with my generic OBD reader but as expected nothing was showing, as these would be Lotus specific fault codes. A couple more ignition cycles did nothing, so unfortunately that was my day over after just three sessions, only one of which was decent. The curse of Brands Hatch continues for me. I wasn't going to risk going around Brands GP like that, but at least the car could still be driven home I suppose.

After getting home, and having a drink and a bite to eat I thought I'd go for a drive round the block with the data logging running to see if there was anything giving an obviously incorrect signal. I started and the car....and the fault was gone!!! I may have said some naughty words at this point. 

I looked back at the data for the final session where everything was fine, and there are no weird readings. All wheel speed sensors align, steering angle looks good, and both brake switches are working, with the ECU switch clearly operating more sensitively than the brake light switch.



My guess is that out all of those items, if something was going to play up intermittently it would be the brake switch. I removed it and had a play on the work bench.



It all seemed to work fine. For the info of anybody who needs to test theirs - Fully depressed is how it sits when the brake pedal is not being touched. The ECU contact is closed, and the 'brake light' contact is open. Releasing the plunger is the same as pressing the brake pedal. Release the switch slightly and the ECU contact will open. Release the switch further and the 'brake light' contact will close.

The contacts all seemed to change cleanly and had low resistance.

As a point of note, my switch was set to 4 clicks out. Generally people seem to suggest that 5 or 6 is the sweet spot.

To set it up properly you ideally need Lotus software. With the pedal not being touched the switch should be fully depressed so that the contacts are as per above. Stage 1 should activate with minimal pedal pressure and virtually no movement. This is the ECU signal. The second stage for the brake lights should activate with more pedal pressure and ABS line pressure of 2 to 6 Bar. Obviously I don't have that, but I do have the AIM dash so that I can at least set it up to view when the switches are operating. I initially set the plunger to 5 clicks instead of 4, wondering if over time 4 clicks has it operating right on the limit of where it needs to be. 

I refitted the switch and selected the AIM page I'd set up to test it:



Although I can't see ABS line pressure, this didn't 'feel' right. The ECU switch would operate with a fairly light touch, but I could immediately stop the car from a gentle roll without initiating the brake light.

I set the switch back to 4 clicks and everything seemed to operate at the levels of pedal movement / braking I would expect. So that's where I've left it for now. What I don't know is how critical it is for the pressure to be between 2 and 6 bar when the second stage operates. I imagine this could even change over time, if your brakes needed bleeding and had become a bit spongy for instance (you'd need more movement to get the correct pressure).

So this has left me in a situation where the switch seems fine, and is set back to where it's been forever with no issues. My only other possible explanation is that it got sticky. The service notes refer to a service bulleting about lubricating the plunger, and mine was completely dry. 

For now I'll see how it goes, but I have ordered a spare switch that I will keep in the car at all times. It's a 5 minute job to change it, and most of those minutes are spent getting my 6ft chubby body in and out of the footwell.

Anyway, here is a video of the only full session I got that day. Lots of cars, including some GT Porsche, a Noble, an Atom and many Lotus. Some traffic heavy parts, but clearer laps towards the end.

https://youtu.be/5rnARmjT5Q0?si=BChU32XxvCgFt1sk

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Wednesday 10th July
quotequote all
Just to close out the latest issue, I needed to pop out somewhere last night so I thought I take the Exige.

The TC Fault which had previously cured itself suddenly popped back up. I hit the Data Record on my AIM dash and carried on my journey hoping that this time I'd be able to definitely confirm the issue.

Just checked the data, and the answer is 'yes'. Rear Left wheel speed sensor has given up the ghost.




braddo

11,288 posts

196 months

Friday 12th July
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Paul_M3 said:
...
Anyway, here is a video of the only full session I got that day. Lots of cars, including some GT Porsche, a Noble, an Atom and many Lotus. Some traffic heavy parts, but clearer laps towards the end.

https://youtu.be/5rnARmjT5Q0?si=BChU32XxvCgFt1sk
Enjoyed that. smile I've only done the GP circuit once, in my old Caterham on the same LoT day a few years ago - I absolutely loved it. I really, really want to go in my GT3 but I need see if I can squeeze under the noise limit with my bolt-on silencers.

TurboRob

325 posts

181 months

Saturday 13th July
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Great thread and very interesting - thanks for putting the effort in

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Saturday 13th July
quotequote all
braddo said:
Enjoyed that. smile I've only done the GP circuit once, in my old Caterham on the same LoT day a few years ago - I absolutely loved it. I really, really want to go in my GT3 but I need see if I can squeeze under the noise limit with my bolt-on silencers.
Thanks. I love the GP circuit, so it's really annoying that I've had issues there both times I've taken the Exige. Noise is definitely an issue on the GP circuit, it was one of the problems I had on my previous visit.

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Saturday 13th July
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TurboRob said:
Great thread and very interesting - thanks for putting the effort in
Thanks mate, glad you've enjoyed reading it.

hypermark

87 posts

113 months

Wednesday 7th August
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Great update Paul; thanks for sharing. Had exactly that same issue at Hethel last year with the culprit being the rear nearside wheel sensor.....

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Thursday 8th August
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hypermark said:
Great update Paul; thanks for sharing. Had exactly that same issue at Hethel last year with the culprit being the rear nearside wheel sensor.....
Thanks mate.

Bloody annoying having an expensive track day ruined for the sake of a £30 sensor.

Even more annoying that it didn't happen at Hethel a few days before, which was relatively cheap and didn't involve a longer journey and hotel stay....

C7steve

1 posts

156 months

Saturday 19th October
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Paul_M3 said:
There was one downside to fitting the carbon mirrors - every piece on the car was now carbon apart from the side scoops. They started to really stand out to me as being the only non carbon piece. At this point of basically 'all in' with making the car 'mine', so decided to change them for carbon ones. The choice was then which ones to get. In the end I went for the Aerie Performance ones. Partly because they were a bit cheaper, and partly because you don't have to do any irreversible modifications to the car. I do prefer to be able to put the car back to standard if I wanted to.

I fitted them today, and I'm really pleased with how the car looks now with all of the cosmetic modifications.






Paul,

Was your original passenger side air intake pop-riveted onto the air duct going to the air box and did you have to take off the rear wheel and arch liner to access the bolt which has the head in the engine bay?


Steve.

Paul_M3

Original Poster:

2,420 posts

193 months

Saturday 19th October
quotequote all
Hi Steve,

Yep, there was an elbow pop riveted to the original intake, and then a hose connected to the elbow.

I drilled out the rivets and transferred the elbow onto the new side scoop and reattached the hose.

But yes, all that was done with the wheel arch liner off.

Cheers,
Paul