Newbie question

[Andy wright]

And now with the sill covers. Driven about 150 miles today. The seats are a very nice place to be in. I’m delighted with the purchase so the battle with the seat belt stalks was worth it. Just the harness belts to fit now……..

And after the third attempt at covering the sill covers, they don’t look too bad. On really close inspection it looks as if someone has bought £10 worth of sticky vinyl with a carbon fibre pattern and done their best to cover the plastic covers with the stuff with the aid of a hair drier . There will be a reason for that impression …….

[Andy wright]

Screen ordered from Ricky Evans Motorsport. I will collect it on Thursday . And then the real fun starts . I had planned to take off the front clamshell to do the suspension rebuild so, with the dash top out too , the screen will be accessible . Still prevaricating over which coilovers, bushes etc . At the moment the car crashes and bangs every time it sees a raised grate or pothole , especially at the rear . My Golf had rigidly mounted subframes , full rose joints and never a murmur from the suspension , even on rough roads. Yes, it was still but no crashes and bangs and road noise transmission , whilst not as good as VW had intended, still hardly intrusive . However, the Elsie is a very different animal. 

[Lithopsian]

Are you planning to replace the windscreen yourself?

[Andy wright]

Having read the manual carefully, the hard work of clamshell removal, dash top removal and then , the worst job, cutting out the old screen and removing all the old glue from the frame . I plan to get that far and then may recruit a windscreen fitter to do the clever stuff and glue in the new one. The hard bit here is getting the correct profile, size and position of the glue bead, putting the 4mm spacers along the bottom edge and then positioning the screen in the frame . I have spoken to a screen fitter who is willing and able to do this . The plus side here is that they have access to the proprietary glue , cleaner, primer etc whereas if I do it I have to rely of what is available via websites , and without any real knowledge , it’s hard to tell. The Lotus manual, does specify the glue ( Betaseal ) . Anyway, first step is to go and collect the screen tomorrow . 

[winthattt]

If you are fitting harnesses and belts this kit is useful particularly with the passenger seat.

https://www.msar.co.uk/harness-fittings/harness-hardware-kit-lotus-elise-exige-340r.html

Personal hobby horse follows, harnesses are a nightmare on road as you can’t lean forward to see (why I have both on my Exige), harnesses are best used with harness hole seats and:or harnesses bolted to the harness bar. I think you can cross the shoulder straps behind the seat as another option.  Wrap round harnesses on non harness hole seats can slip off your shoulders.

 

 

[Andy wright]

1 hour ago, winthattt said:

If you are fitting harnesses and belts this kit is useful particularly with the passenger seat.

https://www.msar.co.uk/harness-fittings/harness-hardware-kit-lotus-elise-exige-340r.html

Personal hobby horse follows, harnesses are a nightmare on road as you can’t lean forward to see (why I have both on my Exige), harnesses are best used with harness hole seats and:or harnesses bolted to the harness bar. I think you can cross the shoulder straps behind the seat as another option.  Wrap round harnesses on non harness hole seats can slip off your shoulders.

 

 

Thanks. That’s a handy link and yes, I agree. I want to retain the standard belts for exactly the reason you quote. I had both on my R32 . 

[mattb130]

Worth saying if it hasn’t been said already is with poly and standard bushes you have to torque at ride height to avoid preloading or wind up of the bush. Easy to say not so easy to do if you haven’t got hubstands.  As the wheels block your access. Bearings on the other hand don’t have the same requirement and there is no change in harshness. 
 

Hubs you can get from euro car parts they are around £75 each tops for skf Vkba3511 from memory it’s from an Astra with 4 bolt wheels. 

[Andy wright]

8 hours ago, mattb130 said:

Worth saying if it hasn’t been said already is with poly and standard bushes you have to torque at ride height to avoid preloading or wind up of the bush. Easy to say not so easy to do if you haven’t got hubstands.  As the wheels block your access. Bearings on the other hand don’t have the same requirement and there is no change in harshness. 
 

Hubs you can get from euro car parts they are around £75 each tops for skf Vkba3511 from memory it’s from an Astra with 4 bolt wheels. 

Thanks for that part number. Very handy . As for bush fitting, the ride height installation is always to rub. On any car . Given that in the Elise one feels a bump when driving over a matchstick, I am tempted by bearings. Increased road noise transmission? Yes, but the bar is pretty high on the noise front, and, along with antiroll bar positive  location, enables the suspension to do its job without geometry variation. 
Anyway, clamshell nearly off, dash top removed so the windscreen and big suspension overhaul can begin 

On 18/12/2024 at 18:43, winthattt said:passenger seat.

 

 

[mattb130]

Having fitted bearings I can say there isn’t any real down sides. The oe bushes don’t have much compliance anyway not in the same way a standard road car would have. Also bearings eliminate the variable caster issue bushes suffer when they are done where the wishbones slide along them. Just get a set with decent bearings like the HPE set. 

[Andy wright]

1 hour ago, mattb130 said:

Having fitted bearings I can say there isn’t any real down sides. The oe bushes don’t have much compliance anyway not in the same way a standard road car would have. Also bearings eliminate the variable caster issue bushes suffer when they are done where the wishbones slide along them. Just get a set with decent bearings like the HPE set. 

Really helpful. Confirmed my decision . Cheers .

[Andy wright]

And now my lotus in bits . Screen to cut out. Other three corners of suspension to remove and then a bit of a shopping list to make. Oh. Dampers. A set of pristine Bilsteins with springs for my model of car came up on the Facebook Lotus spares group. And at about £480 shipped ( Florida) they seem like a good starting point. There are not MOTONs , Quatum, Ohlins or Nitrons but they are easy to change out at some point in the future if I rebuild everything else as I want it and use these as a benchmark. 

[mattb130]

When you put that dash topper back on it’s worth putting a few wraps of cloth tape around the two central pins to stop it vibrating over bumps. 

[Andy wright]

Just now, mattb130 said:

When you put that dash topper back on it’s worth putting a few wraps of cloth tape around the two central pins to stop it vibrating over bumps. 

Thank you. Top tip and will do. Anything to reduce or eliminate the odd rattle ( and there are N different sources of rattle, where N is a large positive integer ) 

[Andy wright]

And today the fun continued. Now have three of the four corners off the car and in boxes. When I bought the car I did have a good look at the suspension and knew that a rebuild was high on the list of priorities as it looked as if said suspension had been garaged in the North Sea for the last 5 years. Well, I was wrong. More like ten. At least . The rear is very crusty. So much so that the drivers side upper rear wishbone is still on the car with one bolt comprehensively seized inside the bush so that the rubber has unbonded itself . Apart for that, the rest of that corner is off and stripped . Passenger side to do tomorrow and figure out how to get the bolt out . The solution may involve and airsaw . Oh, rear toe links . From what I have read, they are a weak point and benefit from an upgrade. I have also read that some of the ‘ upgrades’ are not quite as ‘up’ as one might hope, the Spitfire kit being the notable exception. However, I am not keen on spending £420 for the sake of it, but replacing all four ball joints will cost close on £200, so £420 does not seem quite that bad . Any views or advice always welcome. I would have posted some photographs but somehow a pile of very rusty wishbones , hubs, steering arms and random other bits of crusty steel don’t make for compulsive viewing.  And it looks like I will need 4 wheel bearings. What is astonishing is that in the last ten years, the previous owner has spent close on £15k just on servicing and a few new items, and still the suspension is , err, well, how shall I put it, bloody awful. 

[mattb130]

The spitfire kit is very nice. Replacing the standard ball joints will mean they at least move freely but you’ll need to key an eye on them to make sure they don’t seize which happens typically before they fail. But and this may sway you slightly. On the exige and certain Elise’s with the stickier tyres a rose joint was used on the toe link along with a cross brace. Now that was done by lotus 10+ years ago for track work. Tyres have moved on loads in the last decade so your high performance road tyre is probably able to create and exceed the grip provided by a more focused tyre from 10 years ago. 
 

In short you’ve got piece of mind with the spitfire kit.