Pauls Exige 410 Sport
Discussion
I'd posted about my new (to me) car in a couple of other peoples posts, but just realised I hadn't started my own thread on here.
A couple of weeks ago I took a trip down to Lotus Bradford after having bought it over the phone. Buying a car without having seen or driven it was an unusual experience. In fact, I'd never even seen a 410Sport in real life before at this point. I was also a bit concerned about the colour as it was very hard to tell from internet photographs what it would be like. They all seemed different.
Arriving here and I was nervous and excited in equal measures...
The saleswoman told me to sit down while she went and fetched the car. When I came outside I was greeted with this and I don't think I could have been any happier.
It's a 2019 in Cyan Blue. Interior pieces painted yellow. Carbon seats, Carbon Roof, Lithium Battery, Carpets and Mats, and Cruise Control.
I then has a very careful and steady drive home, whilst getting LOTS of attention from other people on the dual carriageways and motorways.
Finally home, and few more photographs.
A couple of weeks ago I took a trip down to Lotus Bradford after having bought it over the phone. Buying a car without having seen or driven it was an unusual experience. In fact, I'd never even seen a 410Sport in real life before at this point. I was also a bit concerned about the colour as it was very hard to tell from internet photographs what it would be like. They all seemed different.
Arriving here and I was nervous and excited in equal measures...
The saleswoman told me to sit down while she went and fetched the car. When I came outside I was greeted with this and I don't think I could have been any happier.
It's a 2019 in Cyan Blue. Interior pieces painted yellow. Carbon seats, Carbon Roof, Lithium Battery, Carpets and Mats, and Cruise Control.
I then has a very careful and steady drive home, whilst getting LOTS of attention from other people on the dual carriageways and motorways.
Finally home, and few more photographs.
The first modification was a boring but sensible one.
I'd read that the Lithium batteries need a bit of TLC, and I certainly don't fancy the cost of a new one.
To help keep an eye on it, I ordered on of these:
Every day it automatically sends a notification to my phone with the current battery level. It is also programmed to send a warning at user defined battery levels. (50% and 20% in my case)
Connection was as simple as you'd imagine.
And this is the app on the phone:
I'd read that the Lithium batteries need a bit of TLC, and I certainly don't fancy the cost of a new one.
To help keep an eye on it, I ordered on of these:
Every day it automatically sends a notification to my phone with the current battery level. It is also programmed to send a warning at user defined battery levels. (50% and 20% in my case)
Connection was as simple as you'd imagine.
And this is the app on the phone:
Next up was a very cheap and simple cosmetic modification.
This is obviously a subjective thing, but I was never a fan of the silver stainless bolts in the rear wing and door cards. I feel like things feel more OEM when fixings blend in a bit.
£15 worth of bolts later, and I was happy with the result.
Wing Before:
Wing After:
Door Card Before:
Door Card After:
This is obviously a subjective thing, but I was never a fan of the silver stainless bolts in the rear wing and door cards. I feel like things feel more OEM when fixings blend in a bit.
£15 worth of bolts later, and I was happy with the result.
Wing Before:
Wing After:
Door Card Before:
Door Card After:
I did another little job at the weekend which was partly cosmetic and partly practical. The number plate mounting arrangement was different on the later Exiges and didn't have a mounting plinth. This meant that a) You have to drill holes in the number plate and screw them on, and b) you need to unscrew them at a trackday to fit the tow hook. Whilst neither of these are a major issue, I thought I may as well improve things where I can.
This is what you have if you unscrew the number plate - a couple of silver spire clips behind the grill
A bit of plate drilled, cut and cleaned up:
A quick test fit:
A lick of paint:
And now the car has mounting pads:
As I wanted the plate to be easily removable, I chose to use Velcro as my fixing method. This still looks reasonably subtle when there is no plate on the car:
Finally a bit of Velcro on the plates:
And now I can easily swap between no plate for trackdays, normal plate for road use..
Or show plate for photographs and events...
This is what you have if you unscrew the number plate - a couple of silver spire clips behind the grill
A bit of plate drilled, cut and cleaned up:
A quick test fit:
A lick of paint:
And now the car has mounting pads:
As I wanted the plate to be easily removable, I chose to use Velcro as my fixing method. This still looks reasonably subtle when there is no plate on the car:
Finally a bit of Velcro on the plates:
And now I can easily swap between no plate for trackdays, normal plate for road use..
Or show plate for photographs and events...
DamnKraut said:
Out of interest, how does the app get the data from the battery tracker?
Does the tracker itself need a sim card so the app can show data while out of bluetooth signal distance?
Or does the app only work standing next to the car?
There’s no sim or anything. You unit will log up to a months worth of data, and transfer it only when you get within Bluetooth range only. Does the tracker itself need a sim card so the app can show data while out of bluetooth signal distance?
Or does the app only work standing next to the car?
Bluetooth goes further than you think though. The car is on the drive, and I get the daily notifications when I go in a room at the front of the house.
Juno said:
Thanks Paul,ordered 
No problem. Although I did forget to mention one thing, sorry. Two of the M5 x 20mm for the wing end plates need to be trimmed down by a 4 or 5mm. I just cut that amount off. If you don’t have the tools to do that, you’ll also need a couple of M5 x 16mm countersunk bolts. Edited by Juno on Friday 16th April 22:14
Today was stereo upgrade day.
First job, same as many many Elise / Exige owners...swap the dash speakers for a set of Focals. As a side note, I highly recommend one of these miniature Bahco socket sets. Very handy.
Next up was the subwoofer. For this I chose a relatively new unit, the Pioneer TS-WX010A. The marketing blurb describes it as a unit designed for electric vehicles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gewYQm5828
What this means in practice is that it's light, small, low power consumption, and designed to be kicked when sat in the footwell. So it's perfect for the Exige.
This is the rear of the sub:
I decided I wanted to Velcro it to carpet, same as people normally do. I probably could have stuck the velcro on directly, but made up a little mounting plate instead.
If you remove this cover, you can route the cables along the channel behind.
Taped up the cables with some felt tape to make it all look a bit neater.
Then finally mounted the sub in the passenger footwell. There's a little step about halfway up, so I mounted it here to leave as much legroom as possible. Then cable tied the cabling to any convenient points.
After doing a bit of testing, I made the decision to power the sub from the head unit wiring. Neither the Sub or the head unit draw that much current in reality, and I am pretty confident that I will not suffer from any nuisance fuse blowing, even with the standard fuse only being 7.5Amps. The fuse should always protect the cabling anyway, and that will be rated to handle over 7.5 amps continuously.
With the sub mounted in the location I chose, you can't even see it when you're sat in the seat.
Finally I fitted the new Pioneer SPH-10BT head unit and boxed everything back up.
I only had a very quick play, but it all sounds really good and I'm very happy. And it's another job off the list.
First job, same as many many Elise / Exige owners...swap the dash speakers for a set of Focals. As a side note, I highly recommend one of these miniature Bahco socket sets. Very handy.
Next up was the subwoofer. For this I chose a relatively new unit, the Pioneer TS-WX010A. The marketing blurb describes it as a unit designed for electric vehicles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gewYQm5828
What this means in practice is that it's light, small, low power consumption, and designed to be kicked when sat in the footwell. So it's perfect for the Exige.
This is the rear of the sub:
I decided I wanted to Velcro it to carpet, same as people normally do. I probably could have stuck the velcro on directly, but made up a little mounting plate instead.
If you remove this cover, you can route the cables along the channel behind.
Taped up the cables with some felt tape to make it all look a bit neater.
Then finally mounted the sub in the passenger footwell. There's a little step about halfway up, so I mounted it here to leave as much legroom as possible. Then cable tied the cabling to any convenient points.
After doing a bit of testing, I made the decision to power the sub from the head unit wiring. Neither the Sub or the head unit draw that much current in reality, and I am pretty confident that I will not suffer from any nuisance fuse blowing, even with the standard fuse only being 7.5Amps. The fuse should always protect the cabling anyway, and that will be rated to handle over 7.5 amps continuously.
With the sub mounted in the location I chose, you can't even see it when you're sat in the seat.
Finally I fitted the new Pioneer SPH-10BT head unit and boxed everything back up.
I only had a very quick play, but it all sounds really good and I'm very happy. And it's another job off the list.
alscar said:
Paul , are those Front speakers a direct replacement ie undo and simply replace job for a relative imbecile ( ie me ) and is the difference with the head unit worth doing it for ?
Yep, they are a direct replacement. You change the actual speaker, and then refit the original Lotus plastic ring and grill on top of it.It's just a bit of a pain, rather than difficult. You need to get the grills off first and they can be a bit stiff. You need to poke something through the holes in the grill to enable you to pull them upwards. The screws for the speaker aren't tight, but are awkward to get to. My tiny ratchet set was a godsend for that part of the job. Then finally the speakers themselves are a little bit stuck to the dash. Again, it's just a case of finding something to lever them up without damaging the dash.
The connectors swap straight across, but I found them a bit loose on the new speakers. I simply closed the connector up a bit using some pliers and all was good.
I can't really comment on the difference with the head unit as I hadn't listened to old one much. The main reason I wanted to change was so I could have some sort of integrated Sat Nav. The SPH-10BT acting as a head unit screen and phone holder seemed like a nice solution.
Next on the list of things to do was change the way my exhaust worked.
From early on, the car had been fitted with the Komotec remote control exhaust override kit. This let you choose either permanently closed or permanently open from a key fob. I wanted to get rid of this for a few reasons. 1) It seemed to be playing up a bit, and would keep randomly closing the exhaust when it should be open, 2) it's a bit risky as the exhaust will not open automatically at 4500rpm to protect the engine, and 3) fumbling for the key fob and pressing a button is not the most user friendly of activities.
I ordered the standard Lotus Switch and fitted it to the cowling.
The next step was to go to the engine bay and figure out the komotec kit and how to reverse it. Once I removed the plastic covers, this was what I was met with:
The right hand solenoid is the Komotec one which had been attached alongside the standard one. T-Pieces had obviously been added to the vacuum piping to supply it and the output tee'd into the tubing going to the exhaust. "This should be easy" I thought, "I just need to remove the pipes from the Komotec solenoid and blank them off.
I did exactly that, then fired up the engine. Pressed the button on the dash, and got 'EX OPEN' displayed. No change in exhaust note though. I could hear something happening in the engine bay when I pressed the button though, so I knew the switch and ECU were trying to do something.
The exhaust works by having vacuum pressure applied to the actuator. When you want to open the valve, you remove the vacuum. But you also need to vent the pressure, otherwise it will be trapped and nothing will happen. I removed the solenoid from the car and blew into each port. At this point I realised it was bottom port which is vented to atmosphere when the solenoid is closed. As you can see from the photo the exhaust tubing had been attached to the top port at some point. I refitted the solenoid back to the car, swapped the top and bottom tubes around and everything now works perfectly. (The noise I could hear in the engine bay when I pressed the button was the vacuum tank being vented to atmosphere).
The plastic covers I removed were looking a bit tatty, so while they were off I gave them a good clean, and a coating of CQuartz Lite to rejuvenate and protect them.
Before:
After:
From early on, the car had been fitted with the Komotec remote control exhaust override kit. This let you choose either permanently closed or permanently open from a key fob. I wanted to get rid of this for a few reasons. 1) It seemed to be playing up a bit, and would keep randomly closing the exhaust when it should be open, 2) it's a bit risky as the exhaust will not open automatically at 4500rpm to protect the engine, and 3) fumbling for the key fob and pressing a button is not the most user friendly of activities.
I ordered the standard Lotus Switch and fitted it to the cowling.
The next step was to go to the engine bay and figure out the komotec kit and how to reverse it. Once I removed the plastic covers, this was what I was met with:
The right hand solenoid is the Komotec one which had been attached alongside the standard one. T-Pieces had obviously been added to the vacuum piping to supply it and the output tee'd into the tubing going to the exhaust. "This should be easy" I thought, "I just need to remove the pipes from the Komotec solenoid and blank them off.
I did exactly that, then fired up the engine. Pressed the button on the dash, and got 'EX OPEN' displayed. No change in exhaust note though. I could hear something happening in the engine bay when I pressed the button though, so I knew the switch and ECU were trying to do something.
The exhaust works by having vacuum pressure applied to the actuator. When you want to open the valve, you remove the vacuum. But you also need to vent the pressure, otherwise it will be trapped and nothing will happen. I removed the solenoid from the car and blew into each port. At this point I realised it was bottom port which is vented to atmosphere when the solenoid is closed. As you can see from the photo the exhaust tubing had been attached to the top port at some point. I refitted the solenoid back to the car, swapped the top and bottom tubes around and everything now works perfectly. (The noise I could hear in the engine bay when I pressed the button was the vacuum tank being vented to atmosphere).
The plastic covers I removed were looking a bit tatty, so while they were off I gave them a good clean, and a coating of CQuartz Lite to rejuvenate and protect them.
Before:
After:
RevsPerMinute said:
great shout, just ordered some black bolts for my spoiler. I have already changed my fuel filler ring, I have also ordered the black bolts for this too.
That's great. Would you mind posting a photograph of the filler ring once you've got the black bolts fitted?(Where did you get your black filler ring from? Is it OEM in terms of fitment, i.e. no issues with the actual filler being stiff to remove or anything like that?)
RevsPerMinute said:
Tbh I'm unsure if I will swap the bolts out on the ring as the silver bolt heads currently match the silver Key hole in the cap centre and offers contrast.
Yeah, I think you're right. That's why I was interested in seeing a photograph.Thanks for the info on the black filler ring, I've just ordered one.
Juno said:
Ah that’s interesting I have the silver button on my column which manually opens and closes the valves and as you say comes up EX Open or EX Shut on the dash
Do lotus do the full kit to open the vales manually as well as the switch.
I also have the same switch on the other side which scrolls through the trip info
My friend has just bought the Green 410 from Rybrook and I can’t see the switch in the photos
I thought this was standard kit
None of the 410’s came fitted with the switch from the factory as far as I’m aware. The 410 owners manual ‘add-on ‘states this I think. Do lotus do the full kit to open the vales manually as well as the switch.
I also have the same switch on the other side which scrolls through the trip info
My friend has just bought the Green 410 from Rybrook and I can’t see the switch in the photos
I thought this was standard kit
Any 410 which has the switch, has had it retrofitted by somebody. I think all the 410’s had the wiring present and didn’t need the ECU recoding.
Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean by “Do lotus do the full kit to open the vales manually as well as the switch”?
Juno said:
I was referring to is it just the Lotus switch needed to activate the flaps or do you need an actuator kit as well (non lotus part) or if so do Lotus do one
If you’ve got the standard exhaust (which only opens the valve above 4500rpm as standard) then all you need is the switch from Lotus and you should be able to open the valve all the time. 
ecain63 said:
£150? It's about a 5 min job and a switch.
Exactly! As the switch is around £60 (a rip off in itself), that’s £90 for 5 minutes work. £18 a minute, or £1080 an hour. If anyone wants this done, I’ll happily do it for a 10% discount on the above rates.
Joking aside, if you’ve just spent a ton of money on the car I’d expect the dealer to fit it for free if you paid for the switch.
Rick101 said:
Very useful thanks. Hoping that sub will plug straight into the Clarion unit with no fuss.
Did you test the Focal's alone prior to adding the sub?
I'm wondering if it's worthwhile changing them. I'd like to keep cost to a minimum.
The standard Clarion unit has a few RCA outputs so the sub should plug straight in fine. Did you test the Focal's alone prior to adding the sub?
I'm wondering if it's worthwhile changing them. I'd like to keep cost to a minimum.
No, other than making sure that they were both working I didn’t really give them a good listening to I’m afraid.
Benyarmin said:
Ordered the bolts too. Where can you get the black out ring from?
The filler cap ring?https://www.eliseparts.com/shop/exterior-bodywork/...
Benyarmin said:
Yes, thanks Paul. Do you know the countersunk bolt size for the filler cap ring pls? Going to add those to my order in black also.
I used the original ones, but looking at this:https://www.deroure.com/diagrams.asp?TBL=12036&...
They are item 18, which is M5 x 25mm.
(It's quite a handy website for checking bolt sizes as well as looking for part numbers)
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