New Toy! Lotus Elise S1
Discussion
After 15 years of Westfield ownership I decided it was time to move onto something a little more practical, anything can be considered practical after a car with no windscreen.
Lots of internet browsing threw up this car, one owner, in the right colour, complete with Nitrons, suspension refresh, aluminium radiator, Elise Parts toe links, Mintex pads, stainless exhaust, air filter and best of all the Sport 135/160 close ratio gear set. I went to view and one after an hour so of poking around, broke one of those unwritten rules of car buying, don't buy the first one you see, whoops...
Anyway here are the pictures after I arrived home from the three hour collection drive:
The stickers have been removed already (Sorry Keith if you read this, but they just had to go, it will be worth it though!)
The next job was to tidy the interior a little. The gear knob was well past it's best after many happy gear changes, and the coating was coming off the gear lever, but the car came with a quick shift that hadn't been fitted. So, new gear knob, quick shift, a good clean and check for signs of floor corrosion was yesterday's job.
The interior before I started:
Seats removed. Remarkably clean considering some of the pictures I have seen for what gets under Elise seats:
The only thing of any note was a *very* rusty 2p, wonder how long that had been there for:
Centre console and rubber floor coverings removed, yep, it's corroded:
A good clean up with a scrapper reveals it is not as bad as it first appears and there are very few marks of the floor:
A go with a sanding block and the ACF50, Christ that stuff is good, brings them up lovely:
Gear lever stripped, cleaned, greased and assembled with new quick shifter:
The finished article, with carpet mats to prevent a reoccurrence of the corrosion:
And an arty shot of the new gear knob to finish off:
Next on the to do list is some new/refurbed wheels and a good clean and wax on the outside, including a lick of paint on the front and rear grills. Although the rust on the rear grill fixings could make that a real challenge!
Lots of internet browsing threw up this car, one owner, in the right colour, complete with Nitrons, suspension refresh, aluminium radiator, Elise Parts toe links, Mintex pads, stainless exhaust, air filter and best of all the Sport 135/160 close ratio gear set. I went to view and one after an hour so of poking around, broke one of those unwritten rules of car buying, don't buy the first one you see, whoops...
Anyway here are the pictures after I arrived home from the three hour collection drive:
The stickers have been removed already (Sorry Keith if you read this, but they just had to go, it will be worth it though!)
The next job was to tidy the interior a little. The gear knob was well past it's best after many happy gear changes, and the coating was coming off the gear lever, but the car came with a quick shift that hadn't been fitted. So, new gear knob, quick shift, a good clean and check for signs of floor corrosion was yesterday's job.
The interior before I started:
Seats removed. Remarkably clean considering some of the pictures I have seen for what gets under Elise seats:
The only thing of any note was a *very* rusty 2p, wonder how long that had been there for:
Centre console and rubber floor coverings removed, yep, it's corroded:
A good clean up with a scrapper reveals it is not as bad as it first appears and there are very few marks of the floor:
A go with a sanding block and the ACF50, Christ that stuff is good, brings them up lovely:
Gear lever stripped, cleaned, greased and assembled with new quick shifter:
The finished article, with carpet mats to prevent a reoccurrence of the corrosion:
And an arty shot of the new gear knob to finish off:
Next on the to do list is some new/refurbed wheels and a good clean and wax on the outside, including a lick of paint on the front and rear grills. Although the rust on the rear grill fixings could make that a real challenge!
Edited by Megaflow on Saturday 6th July 13:22
Edited by Megaflow on Thursday 18th July 07:58
Very nice looking car - interesting read as I've been through almost exactly the same process this year! Even down to the tyre pressures being way out.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
For my grills the screws had to be ground off. Same for the rear number plate light fittings. I chickened out and got the garage to do it for me.
Loving the car though, they're bloody good to drive aren't they?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
For my grills the screws had to be ground off. Same for the rear number plate light fittings. I chickened out and got the garage to do it for me.
Loving the car though, they're bloody good to drive aren't they?
Very... The Westfield was there for the first year too.
The gear knob came from Elise Shop:
http://www.elise-shop.com/black-gearknob-slanted-w...
The gear knob came from Elise Shop:
http://www.elise-shop.com/black-gearknob-slanted-w...
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff