Back in a Lotus - 2006 Exige S
Discussion
Brilliant write up so far Kyle thoroughly enjoyed reading that as I am in a very similar position to yourself. Indicentally I bought the red exige s from Jon Seal (with 7k on the clock) and considered your very car, small world.
Not made anywhere near the progress you have yet but I have a fitted a 2bular 7" backbox (sounds great but seriously considering a sports cat/decat for a few pops and crackles) and have spitfire rear toe links and their variable rate steering arms to go on.
Feel like the standard bilsteins are well suited to the road but inevitably I think I may put a set of road biased Hoffman spec Nitrons on.
Keep up with the great work.
Sam
Not made anywhere near the progress you have yet but I have a fitted a 2bular 7" backbox (sounds great but seriously considering a sports cat/decat for a few pops and crackles) and have spitfire rear toe links and their variable rate steering arms to go on.
Feel like the standard bilsteins are well suited to the road but inevitably I think I may put a set of road biased Hoffman spec Nitrons on.
Keep up with the great work.
Sam
The Fonze said:
Brilliant write up so far Kyle thoroughly enjoyed reading that as I am in a very similar position to yourself. Indicentally I bought the red exige s from Jon Seal (with 7k on the clock) and considered your very car, small world.
Not made anywhere near the progress you have yet but I have a fitted a 2bular 7" backbox (sounds great but seriously considering a sports cat/decat for a few pops and crackles) and have spitfire rear toe links and their variable rate steering arms to go on.
Feel like the standard bilsteins are well suited to the road but inevitably I think I may put a set of road biased Hoffman spec Nitrons on.
Keep up with the great work.
Sam
Hi Sam, small world indeed - especially considering our forum names! Our cars formed a 'brace' within Jons' place for a while and were both my top 2 choices of colour. Luckily I didn't have the funds to purchase when the red one was for sale so it somewhat made the decision for me!Not made anywhere near the progress you have yet but I have a fitted a 2bular 7" backbox (sounds great but seriously considering a sports cat/decat for a few pops and crackles) and have spitfire rear toe links and their variable rate steering arms to go on.
Feel like the standard bilsteins are well suited to the road but inevitably I think I may put a set of road biased Hoffman spec Nitrons on.
Keep up with the great work.
Sam
I find the bilsteins are a little stiffer than my Elise ones (maybe my imagination, not even sure if they're a different spec or not) and if anything I would like it a little softer for the road, as I remember the Elise being a little more compliant day to day.
G111MDS said:
Really nice Exige, and in a great colour too!
I picked up my first Lotus on Saturday - an S2 Exige S in Grey.
Thanks and congrats - great choice!I picked up my first Lotus on Saturday - an S2 Exige S in Grey.
Bob-iylho said:
Lovely car. I have a JPS Esprit and on the strength of this thread I've just bought the exact same trolley jack and axle stands, looks like good lift height with low start.
Cheers Bob, SGS is good stuff - had plenty of bits for them now, feel they're fairly priced too. Not even maxed the jack out yet - scared my car will roll over if it goes any higher!!How you getting on with the noise?? New exhaust made all the difference??
I'm still not sure which way to go with mine, Love the raw noise when "driving" but as you know its hellish on the commute to a track or "fun" roads... especially with the quaife, Jubu, and just a single skin panel between me and engine!
Did someone mention some fancy ear defenders on the meet??
Has your Supercharger belt ever been changed? Mine snapped on me on Sunday at Kielder (the last time I went there was in the Zenos and that also broke down!)
I'm still not sure which way to go with mine, Love the raw noise when "driving" but as you know its hellish on the commute to a track or "fun" roads... especially with the quaife, Jubu, and just a single skin panel between me and engine!
Did someone mention some fancy ear defenders on the meet??
Has your Supercharger belt ever been changed? Mine snapped on me on Sunday at Kielder (the last time I went there was in the Zenos and that also broke down!)
likesachange said:
How you getting on with the noise?? New exhaust made all the difference??
I'm still not sure which way to go with mine, Love the raw noise when "driving" but as you know its hellish on the commute to a track or "fun" roads... especially with the quaife, Jubu, and just a single skin panel between me and engine!
Did someone mention some fancy ear defenders on the meet??
Has your Supercharger belt ever been changed? Mine snapped on me on Sunday at Kielder (the last time I went there was in the Zenos and that also broke down!)
Yep new exhaust is much more suited to me, though I can see why the previous owner fancied something louder - this one isn't quite so "occasion car" like in its behaviour.I'm still not sure which way to go with mine, Love the raw noise when "driving" but as you know its hellish on the commute to a track or "fun" roads... especially with the quaife, Jubu, and just a single skin panel between me and engine!
Did someone mention some fancy ear defenders on the meet??
Has your Supercharger belt ever been changed? Mine snapped on me on Sunday at Kielder (the last time I went there was in the Zenos and that also broke down!)
I did my own supercharger belt a few weeks ago as the car had no history of it. How did you sort that out at the trackside? Tow home?!
Fonzey said:
Yep new exhaust is much more suited to me, though I can see why the previous owner fancied something louder - this one isn't quite so "occasion car" like in its behaviour.
I did my own supercharger belt a few weeks ago as the car had no history of it. How did you sort that out at the trackside? Tow home?!
The local Lotus hero Lee came and towed me home, he will be fitting new belt at weekend...I did my own supercharger belt a few weeks ago as the car had no history of it. How did you sort that out at the trackside? Tow home?!
I am going to try and get to Anglesey for the Exiges day on Easter Sunday as there are very little noise restrictions from what I'm told. Which will mean sourcing a trailor and trailor it down and make a weekend of it.
Fonzey said:
Yep new exhaust is much more suited to me, though I can see why the previous owner fancied something louder - this one isn't quite so "occasion car" like in its behaviour.
I did my own supercharger belt a few weeks ago as the car had no history of it. How did you sort that out at the trackside? Tow home?!
How did you get on? Is it a simple job in the garage? I did my own supercharger belt a few weeks ago as the car had no history of it. How did you sort that out at the trackside? Tow home?!
I paid Allon White to do mine last year and I got charged £130. According to the service schedule it should be changed ever 2 years. I'm not paying that again, I'd rather do it myself.
Pretty easy, see my post from 27th Dec.
You'll need a breaker bar to move the tensioner, but mine with a hex socket on it was too deep to fit between the engine and the subframe, so made one from a smaller socket and a curtain pole.
Something like this looks better, as the socket would push on flush to the bar: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TEKTON-1695-8-Inch-12-Inc...
Just make a drawing of where the belt goes, piece of cake - belt itself is £25 or something.
You'll need a breaker bar to move the tensioner, but mine with a hex socket on it was too deep to fit between the engine and the subframe, so made one from a smaller socket and a curtain pole.
Something like this looks better, as the socket would push on flush to the bar: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TEKTON-1695-8-Inch-12-Inc...
Just make a drawing of where the belt goes, piece of cake - belt itself is £25 or something.
Fonzey said:
Pretty easy, see my post from 27th Dec.
You'll need a breaker bar to move the tensioner, but mine with a hex socket on it was too deep to fit between the engine and the subframe, so made one from a smaller socket and a curtain pole.
Something like this looks better, as the socket would push on flush to the bar: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TEKTON-1695-8-Inch-12-Inc...
Just make a drawing of where the belt goes, piece of cake - belt itself is £25 or something.
Nice one. I thought it was just a matter of letting the tension off. You'll need a breaker bar to move the tensioner, but mine with a hex socket on it was too deep to fit between the engine and the subframe, so made one from a smaller socket and a curtain pole.
Something like this looks better, as the socket would push on flush to the bar: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TEKTON-1695-8-Inch-12-Inc...
Just make a drawing of where the belt goes, piece of cake - belt itself is £25 or something.
You just need to get to it under the car don't you? Can't imagine its easy from the top.
Nice looking car in that colour, mine was the same year and had some stupid loud exhaust on it that rattled off the heatsheild when warm-only on the over-run though. It annoyed the living daylights out of me but sounded so good otherwise I left it as it was.
Having said that if I started chasing every rattle around the car I'd have driven myself nuts! DOn't even mention the time the nephew spilled a whole bag of M&Ms in there-never did find them all
Mine was an AU06 car too-think that made them all Lotus owned cars? Mine was a Silverstone experience car-most likely ragged senseless from the day it was born! Remember part exchanging it in '08-09 and the salesman said "oh must have been a Jersey or Isle of Mann car, wasn't UK registered for the first year or so"
Having said that if I started chasing every rattle around the car I'd have driven myself nuts! DOn't even mention the time the nephew spilled a whole bag of M&Ms in there-never did find them all
Mine was an AU06 car too-think that made them all Lotus owned cars? Mine was a Silverstone experience car-most likely ragged senseless from the day it was born! Remember part exchanging it in '08-09 and the salesman said "oh must have been a Jersey or Isle of Mann car, wasn't UK registered for the first year or so"
Quick update, I took the car to Track Torque to get my work checked over and of course setup some alignment.
I've been to these guys a few times now across three cars and have always enjoyed the setups that Craig configures for me. Without adjustable dampers he was limited to what could be adjusted, but at least would get my toe and camber in line.
We took some of the shims out of the hub/upright assembly to add some camber at the rear and minor tweaks to the front and correcting the rear toe that was way out after my installation.
Couldn't really push it on whilst coming home, it was just starting to snow so it was back into the garage ASAP, but the instability at the rear was certainly fixed.
Stopped by at a familiar spot for a a photograph, shame it wasn't cleaned!
I've been to these guys a few times now across three cars and have always enjoyed the setups that Craig configures for me. Without adjustable dampers he was limited to what could be adjusted, but at least would get my toe and camber in line.
We took some of the shims out of the hub/upright assembly to add some camber at the rear and minor tweaks to the front and correcting the rear toe that was way out after my installation.
Couldn't really push it on whilst coming home, it was just starting to snow so it was back into the garage ASAP, but the instability at the rear was certainly fixed.
Stopped by at a familiar spot for a a photograph, shame it wasn't cleaned!
Fonzey said:
Hi Sam, small world indeed - especially considering our forum names! Our cars formed a 'brace' within Jons' place for a while and were both my top 2 choices of colour. Luckily I didn't have the funds to purchase when the red one was for sale so it somewhat made the decision for me!
I find the bilsteins are a little stiffer than my Elise ones (maybe my imagination, not even sure if they're a different spec or not) and if anything I would like it a little softer for the road, as I remember the Elise being a little more compliant day to day.
Really is quite the coincidence, nice to know there are other like-minded people out there, I feel I am ever more in the minority within my own group of friends. I think you made the right call, took me 2 days of machine polishing to get most of the swirls out of the paintwork due to a poor washing routine by the previous owner. Looks stunning now though I must admit, need to try and resist all the carbon goodies!I find the bilsteins are a little stiffer than my Elise ones (maybe my imagination, not even sure if they're a different spec or not) and if anything I would like it a little softer for the road, as I remember the Elise being a little more compliant day to day.
They definitely don’t flow along an undulated B road quite as well as an Elise, maybe the tyres don’t help. Hoffmans have recommend a good 46mm setup for mainly road use coupled with a set of AD08R’s the only thing that puts me off is that they come in a 205 width rather than 195 as with the standard A048’s. Looking forward to having a play with the variable steering arms as always felt lotus’s standard rack isn’t quite quick enough for spirited driving.
I had the same fitment ZZRs on my Elise but I also had Gaz Mono adjustable dampers, so was able to soften them up nicely.
It's easy to be harsh on the ride of the car right now because I can't really use it properly, they come to life a bit when you're pushing on which the conditions are just no good for! Pending any issues with the OEM suspension i'll leave it alone this summer and get a season of trackdays out of it, then maybe consider something over next winter to give me some adjust-ability.
It's easy to be harsh on the ride of the car right now because I can't really use it properly, they come to life a bit when you're pushing on which the conditions are just no good for! Pending any issues with the OEM suspension i'll leave it alone this summer and get a season of trackdays out of it, then maybe consider something over next winter to give me some adjust-ability.
I've been collecting bits and pieces for a couple of weeks now and have started dismantling the car for the next phase of the project. I'd planned to do a single big update at the end but it's just taking too long, and will end up missing bits or getting the sequencing wrong so figured I'd document to date and then finish off later.
First up the easy bit, spending money:
Baffled sump, oil and filter, gearbox oil and a multi gauge.
I'd wanted a baffled sump before my first track day since the start, and this came with a blanking plug to take a thread for an oil temperature sensor... and what better time to get one of those fitted than before the sump is on the car! That meant grabbing a gauge.
I'm not particularly happy with the gauge, it was a rush job to just get something which would include the 1/8npt sensors for oil temp and pressure which I could test fit and install which ALSO had off the shelf fitment options for the Exige dash. Longer term I'd like to switch to a Spa Designs oil pressure/temp 2 in 1 gauge but this will require an adaptor to be made to allow for a vent fitment... so a job for later.
In the meantime this multi gauge was cheap enough and comes with all the bits to allow me to get this up and running before the sump is swapped. It also includes a boost gauge which I don't really see much point of in the longer term, but i'll plumb it in anyway whilst I've got it.
Job one was to identify a good gauge position. There are some off the shelf brackets that hang down from the dash but I find them far too low and my knee also blocks them off in pretty much all circumstances. Next option is vent fitment which I much prefer.
I first tried out this position, based on the fact my hands would block the nearer ones whilst on the wheel:
The adapter ring would later be painted black, but this position didn't work as it was too far away from my face and such the viewing angle blocked off half of the gauge.
Next up was the vent by my right hand, slightly obscured by my hand at 10-2 but much better visibility and actually looks a little more subtle as it's tucked away in the corner.
Once fitment was decided, it was onto wiring. I hate wiring, soldering and anything related but I've had a good go before on the gauge setup for my Subaru. I was looking for wiring for:
Battery +
Battery Ground
Switched +
Illumination
My gauge position was right above the lighting switch panel so surely all of this should be readily available - but a lack of documentation left me a bit stuck and I'm not confident enough to go poking around with a multi-meter to find my own connectivity.
I then switched focus to the head unit, I knew all those wires were available there and so I bought a £3 autoleads ISO adaptor that was simply male to female (a mini extension lead for ISO) which I could hack up away from the car. The pinout for it is well documented, but also when it arrived I found the wires to even be labelled! Idiot proof
I chopped the wires and crimped on some piggyback spade connectors. Added a blob of solder to each to keep them together then insulated the crap out of it:
Next up I had to extend the gauge wire so it would reach over to the head unit. This was some of my finest soldering to date, but only ruined by the fact I rested the soldering iron on my (plastic) box of heatshrink which managed to weld shut the box which later needed dremmeling open so that I could get into it!
Then the final product, makes my install completely reversible and at no point have I risked damage to the cars existing wiring.
Sure enough I've tested it, and I correctly get white illumination on the dial during the day time which switches to amber when my car lights come on to make it less of a glare during the night (and kind of somewhat matches the illumination from the dash binnacle).
On the note of the dash gauges, I have an issue with the car which came up a couple of weeks ago but I thought it was just a fuse issue. The sidelights and dash stopped lighting up. When I finally looked at the fuses and found them to be OK, I googled it and found lots of suggestions that the switch pack module was probably dead. I could hear clicking from the relays so assumed not, but still sent it off for repair.
I got that back this week, and whilst the dash was off it was an easy install back into the car - and it fixed the problem a treat. It seems like the switch pack module and CDL module that I replaced when I first bought the car are cut from the same cloth. Both prone to failure!
I took this photo at somepoint looking like the car has been bombed.
My next phases are waiting for other people, I took the sump to a local engineering firm to have them drill and tap the 1/8npt fitting into it for the oil temp gauge. Hopefully I can collect that today.
The rest of the wiring for the gauges is with an autoelectrician who I've asked to extend for me. Clearly the gauge is intended for a front engine car so they have no chance of reaching the boot from the dash. I went to a proper sparky because I can't be bothered making another 24 odd solder connections but also because I want the wire properly insulating all the way down.
If I get the sump back today, I'll get the two oil changes done this weekend then it'll just be a case of connecting up the gauge to the sensors once the wiring is back.
For the boost gauge, as it's likely to be temporary I'm just going to replace one of the intercooler silicone joins with one that has a boost take off in it. There's no vac hoses to tee into on this engine layout so this is the next best non-permanent option that I have.
First up the easy bit, spending money:
Baffled sump, oil and filter, gearbox oil and a multi gauge.
I'd wanted a baffled sump before my first track day since the start, and this came with a blanking plug to take a thread for an oil temperature sensor... and what better time to get one of those fitted than before the sump is on the car! That meant grabbing a gauge.
I'm not particularly happy with the gauge, it was a rush job to just get something which would include the 1/8npt sensors for oil temp and pressure which I could test fit and install which ALSO had off the shelf fitment options for the Exige dash. Longer term I'd like to switch to a Spa Designs oil pressure/temp 2 in 1 gauge but this will require an adaptor to be made to allow for a vent fitment... so a job for later.
In the meantime this multi gauge was cheap enough and comes with all the bits to allow me to get this up and running before the sump is swapped. It also includes a boost gauge which I don't really see much point of in the longer term, but i'll plumb it in anyway whilst I've got it.
Job one was to identify a good gauge position. There are some off the shelf brackets that hang down from the dash but I find them far too low and my knee also blocks them off in pretty much all circumstances. Next option is vent fitment which I much prefer.
I first tried out this position, based on the fact my hands would block the nearer ones whilst on the wheel:
The adapter ring would later be painted black, but this position didn't work as it was too far away from my face and such the viewing angle blocked off half of the gauge.
Next up was the vent by my right hand, slightly obscured by my hand at 10-2 but much better visibility and actually looks a little more subtle as it's tucked away in the corner.
Once fitment was decided, it was onto wiring. I hate wiring, soldering and anything related but I've had a good go before on the gauge setup for my Subaru. I was looking for wiring for:
Battery +
Battery Ground
Switched +
Illumination
My gauge position was right above the lighting switch panel so surely all of this should be readily available - but a lack of documentation left me a bit stuck and I'm not confident enough to go poking around with a multi-meter to find my own connectivity.
I then switched focus to the head unit, I knew all those wires were available there and so I bought a £3 autoleads ISO adaptor that was simply male to female (a mini extension lead for ISO) which I could hack up away from the car. The pinout for it is well documented, but also when it arrived I found the wires to even be labelled! Idiot proof
I chopped the wires and crimped on some piggyback spade connectors. Added a blob of solder to each to keep them together then insulated the crap out of it:
Next up I had to extend the gauge wire so it would reach over to the head unit. This was some of my finest soldering to date, but only ruined by the fact I rested the soldering iron on my (plastic) box of heatshrink which managed to weld shut the box which later needed dremmeling open so that I could get into it!
Then the final product, makes my install completely reversible and at no point have I risked damage to the cars existing wiring.
Sure enough I've tested it, and I correctly get white illumination on the dial during the day time which switches to amber when my car lights come on to make it less of a glare during the night (and kind of somewhat matches the illumination from the dash binnacle).
On the note of the dash gauges, I have an issue with the car which came up a couple of weeks ago but I thought it was just a fuse issue. The sidelights and dash stopped lighting up. When I finally looked at the fuses and found them to be OK, I googled it and found lots of suggestions that the switch pack module was probably dead. I could hear clicking from the relays so assumed not, but still sent it off for repair.
I got that back this week, and whilst the dash was off it was an easy install back into the car - and it fixed the problem a treat. It seems like the switch pack module and CDL module that I replaced when I first bought the car are cut from the same cloth. Both prone to failure!
I took this photo at somepoint looking like the car has been bombed.
My next phases are waiting for other people, I took the sump to a local engineering firm to have them drill and tap the 1/8npt fitting into it for the oil temp gauge. Hopefully I can collect that today.
The rest of the wiring for the gauges is with an autoelectrician who I've asked to extend for me. Clearly the gauge is intended for a front engine car so they have no chance of reaching the boot from the dash. I went to a proper sparky because I can't be bothered making another 24 odd solder connections but also because I want the wire properly insulating all the way down.
If I get the sump back today, I'll get the two oil changes done this weekend then it'll just be a case of connecting up the gauge to the sensors once the wiring is back.
For the boost gauge, as it's likely to be temporary I'm just going to replace one of the intercooler silicone joins with one that has a boost take off in it. There's no vac hoses to tee into on this engine layout so this is the next best non-permanent option that I have.
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