Newbie question

[Andy wright]

Shiny blue doors collected today . Photographs to follow when I pull  my finger out and start building them up. The only fly in the ointment are the cheater seals which I really need to replace . At £300 for the pair they are buttock- clenching lay expensive . 

[DeanB]

2 hours ago, Andy wright said:

Shiny blue doors collected today . Photographs to follow when I pull  my finger out and start building them up. The only fly in the ointment are the cheater seals which I really need to replace . At £300 for the pair they are buttock- clenching lay expensive . 

You're not wrong.  Everyone has had a moan about the cost of them. I need some too but they will have to wait.

[Andy wright]

1 hour ago, DeanB said:

You're not wrong.  Everyone has had a moan about the cost of them. I need some too but they will have to wait.

Oh.Forgot to say . I will give you a shout when I start to remove my doors so that you can come over and see if any bits are of any use to you. 

[DeanB]

3 hours ago, Andy wright said:

Oh.Forgot to say . I will give you a shout when I start to remove my doors so that you can come over and see if any bits are of any use to you. 

Cheers Andy

[Andy wright]

This afternoon the door replacement saga began. Old doors off and one very nice 2019 Exige door bar now in place . And no wear in the hinge . Sweet. Lots still to do to fit out the replacement door , hang it, adjust it and then repeat on the other side . 

[Andy wright]

Door build progressing. And it looks as if I am going to have a complete set of spare doors with all the fittings . The shells are in good shape but have had smallpox, especially the passenger side . And the cheater seals are past their best so I have gritted my teeth, given my Barclaycard a dose of fresh air and ordered a new set from Elise parts . £307 for the pair. Absolutely bonkers . 

[Andy wright]

Passenger door completely rebuilt and fitted . Putting one of these things back together is a bit more time consuming than pulling one apart. . Anyway., pleased with the fit and finish and I like the S3 250 cup door card. Just got repeat the entire process for the drivers side now. 

[Andy wright]

Drivers door now hung and neatly fitted out . Looks like I will have one good spare cheater seals and waist seals for both sides. 

[Andy wright]

Update. It looks as if I will have a spare set of waist seals and 3 cheater seals, . Will 

post photographs for anyone interested.

[Andy wright]

Internal bling update. I was very pleased with the door cards that came with the 2019 250 cup doors. So I used them. I had to get one switch mounting panel as the drivers side was missing ( thank you Bell and Covill: their parts site is brilliant ) and then paint both the new one and the existing one blue ( thank you Paintnuts) . The yellow stitching works, quite by accident , with the yellow detail on my Momo wheel. So, when a yellow stitched leather tunnel cover shot out of my iPad screen and hit me in the face, I had to buy it. The instructions said’ glue into place over the plastic tunnel’ . What it didn’t say is the to make it fit, the tunnel first needs a lining glued to it to act as a backing, then the cover needs trimming to fit and then the handbrake holes and gear lever holes need changing as they are both too small and in the wrong place. Apart from that, fits like a size 9 glove on a size 7 hand .  
Now done . 

[Andy wright]

More interior bling nonsense . I thought I would attempt to fix some of the 146 rattles and deaden 1% of the noise . Sound - deadening stuff now underneath the front carpets, the rear carpets and the bulkhead . I suspect that the result will be a car that is 5kg heavier, has 145 rattles and is 0.0001% quieter . The much bigger problem was the rear roof seal. The previous owner had repaired said seal with some first class black silicone sealant. So apart for squeaking and leaking it did a cracking job. Said seal also torn in places on the ‘B’ post and along the sill bottom where it acts as a door seal. But nothing to worry about as Eliseparts have a new one ( well, ‘had’ as I am now the proud owner ) .And the snag , dear reader ( note the singular and thats optimistic on my part ) is the price. An absolute snip at £490 delivered. Which has buggered up my suspension plans for some time as the damper upgrade fund has received a really good kick in the nuts .

These first two photographs are of the rear plastic trim with edging strip. I think that in places the raw edges of the trim are the cause of a bit of rubbing and squeaking . I will find out. I also enlarged the harness bar cut- outs to make it easier the fit and remove said bar without removing 50% of the skin from my knuckles . More photos to follow when they finally decide to upload. 

[Andy wright]

Well Sound deadening, rattle purge and weather seal install all complete. Definitely reduced the rattles by at least one , doors shut nicely onto their new seals ( and at £490 they damn well better do ) . The sound deadening has made a small positive difference so not a complete waste of time. The one really annoying rattle that is a major irritation sounds like it is coming from inside the RHS sill. Driving over a cats- eye gives a really sharp and single metallic knock. Not the suspension, so still a bit of a puzzle. 

[Andy wright]

Update. A longer drive today. Definite positive improvement in overall noise levels. Almost feels refined except for the door rattles ( Eliseparts striker pins might help) and the other 145 squeaks , groans and clunks. 

[Andy wright]

The never- ending saga continues( well, of course it does or the opening phrase would be irrelevant ).Several months ago I advertised my 16” and 17” wheels complete with tyres as I had a plan to get some much lighter flow- formed Konig Decagrams and go down in size to S1 ( 15” and 16” ) . Somewhat to my amazement, said wheels were bought last Sunday . Decagram arrived today with photos to follow. Fronts are 15x7.5 and rears are 16x8, both with et of 35mm . Rears fit without drama and the fronts need a 5mm spacer to clear the caliper . Some hubcentric 15mm spacers on their way to me. My plan is to turn them down and machine a new spigot to suit the 73mm wheel and retain the 56.5 inner to suit the hub, and so do away with the need for spigot rings . 
Oh, tyres . Decided to have some of those too. My friend with his race Lotus Elise had some spare Nankang AR1’s so that’s what is going on in the next few days. Yup. They will be exciting in standing water so I will do my best to avoid that. For the winter, I will get something sensible , like AD08RS . More to follow . 

[DeanB]

Ooh that's interesting. What's your thinking going down an inch, is it purely weight?

Have you calculated the difference in contact patch?

And have you weighed them and compared the weight to the oem wheels? It would be interesting to know how much lighter 15 and 16 inch tyres are too.

Love to hear how you get on with them, and see the pictures 😊

Dean