Alias23 Intake Kit - Exige Sport 350

[GaryF]

Hi all,

I managed to purchse one of Imran's intake kits for my Exige Sport 350. The v2 one with black crackle finish, internal air straightener and Proram filter.



I picked this up from a chap on Ebay who never got around to fitting it. He had no instructions, but I have the kit fitted all bar one query - I have the Sport 350 and have the two black vacuum pipes left with open ends (see next pic) :-

- one from the supercharger
- one from the solenoid (beside the red exhaust valve vacuum pipe coming from the same solenoid)



My query is, do I block them both off with the supplied bolts and washers, or do I connect the supercharger pipe direct to the solenoid and discard the black pipe that is already attached to the solenoid? Or something different? I have watched the YouTube vid and know the idle / run-in advice but it was only clear on the V6S what to do regaridng the vacuum pipes and not the 350.

I've dropped a note to Imran, but I know someone here wlll have done this too and I need to be able to start the car!

Look forward to testing the kit and feeding back.

Thanks in advance,
Gary

PS. Imran has more kits now for sale, and all the reviews I have read have been exceptional. The quality is very good indeed.

Edited by GaryF on Sunday 19th February 14:37

[GaryF]

Hi Arun, thanks for your note. That would mean disconnecting the red pipe from the solenoid and connecting it to the supercharger. What then happens to the other solenoid black pipe and the solenoid connector that the red pipe has just been removed from? (I know you can't check just now).

Hopefully Imran will respond as I don't want to run my350 before this is resolved. If anyone has access to the original instructions, please let me know.

[GaryF]

Hi Micheal - thanks for your email. Sent you a reply back. Imran has kindly sent the instructions.

For any inquiring minds, the answer is leave the red hose in situ connecting the solenoid to the exhaust valve, and connect the other solenoid port to the charger (black pipe on my car rather than red in the instructions). Looks like I can use either of the two 'hanging' pipes from my photo to achieve this, so there will be a pipe removed completely that is now surplus to requirements.

Will feedback on my findings once I've done this, run in and experienced the results

[GaryF]

Guess what? My car does have a supercharger

To be fair, I've always known it was in there somewhere, but now it has found its voice.

Imran's figures
Before: 326 bhp, 301.4 lb ft
After: 391.5 bhp, 327.6 lb ft

Those figures are from the Litchfield dyno charts published over on the Lotus forums. Scarcely believable, but I can report that the car feels much quicker and I found it hard not to smile when the supercharger whine kicked in. Imran's figures are with the original ITG filter, whereas my kit came with the off-the-shelf Proram filter - perhaps not quite the same performance increase, but that is pure speculation.

I'd originally been thinking about a Komo-Tec 430 upgrade, but this option is really good value for money and I think the car is plenty quick enough now for the road use it will get.

I can heartily recommend Imran's Alias23 kit for both performance and sound.

Edited by GaryF on Sunday 26th February 11:10