Daveb99

OK so despite thinking it was fully working, the speed sensor wire was actually causing havoc with the GPS positioning when using CarPlay wirelessly. Spoke to a couple of people in the trade who advised to disconnect it. Works great now and despite what the manual says, no pop up messages saying it must be connected for wireless CarPlay to work. I have fitted the GPS aerial under the binnacle cover, works perfectly. I’ve also managed to customise the start / boot screen. Really happy with it all now, what an upgrade, the integration that CarPlay gives is superb, especially using Siri as well. Feels like I’ve got Emira tech in my 12 year old Evora LE 🤣

Update - the new head unit is now in and fully working! I found the VSS (Speed Sensor) wire after a search on Lotustalk. It's yellow with a pink stripe, pin 17 in the OEM white connector. I cut off the old connector on the end of this wire (it was redundant anyway), and decided to use a Tamiya-style connector to join both the VSS and the Reverse signal wire to those on the new Kenwood harness, I soldered the wires into the pins. After some tidying up of the harness, and wrapping the cables etc in cloth tape to prevent rattles, I've now got a fantastic Kenwood wireless CarPlay head unit installed - and what a transformation! So much easier to use than the old stuff, like a home from home if you have an iPhone of course. I did have to make some spacers to bring the unit forward a little when mounted, because there's less protrusion from the front when compared to the previous head unit, so it was a fiddly install, but well worth it. I've attached some photos. Hopefully this will help others in future who are doing a search on here, trying to locate the Speed Sensor wire.... Thanks for all the help & advice. @internets, in my OEM white harness connector, pin 17 is the VSS (speed sensor) wire (yellow/pink), and pin 18 is the reverse wire (green/grey). This is different to your pinout guide in the post you linked in your earlier reply above, probably because yours is an Evora 400 and mine is a very early Launch Edition NA (different head unit from new = different connector wiring probably). Regardless - thank you 👍

Big thanks to @internets and @Bravo73 for your help so far. I’m in the middle of it now and there M’s mostly good news - but one sticking point. The existing Kenwood HU was wired in well, an ISO connector has been joined onto the correct wires on the original Alpine loom. Happy days. So, other than this, and the usual aerial, sub, mic and reversing cam connections, on removing the old unit I found one long loose green/grey wire connected from the Kenwood loom to pin 18 (not 17) on your pin out diagram @internets . So it’s a little different to your diagram. The wire in that (original white) connector block is also green/grey. Turns out that’s the reverse wire - to activate the reversing cam no doubt (and it worked perfectly). No problem - I can replicate that connection with the new head unit as it also has a green/grey wire coming out of it. However - the issue I have is finding the speed sensor wire - as that’s a requirement of the wireless CarPlay functionality on the new HU. Looking at the connector block I have 3 wires in 16, 17 and 18 as per your pin out, so I thought perhaps the middle one (17) is the speed sensor wire - but it’s pink/yellow, labelled JAP with a (unused) connector on the end……! Help……everything else makes sense and is doable apart from this…..!

Brilliant. It really is superb stuff.

Thanks - much appreciated - hopefully the pins / wiring colours are the same on the pre-400 cars then (mine is an early Launch Edition but as mentioned, it has had a Kenwood head unit fitted several years ago. A couple more questions - can I remove the existing unit using the release keys only (I have them), i.e. without needing to remove any fascia etc? Also, I'm expecting to (hopefully) find ISO connectors in there, into which I connect the ISO connectors on the Kenwood loom with the new head unit. Is that correct?

I have a new head unit arriving tomorrow - Kenwood KMX8019DABS - and reading the installation guide it seems that for the Wireless Apple CarPlay to work, I need to splice one of the wires in the harness into the speed sensor wire on the car itself. Has anyone done this, I’m hoping someone is going to say yes, and that it’s easy to find......! Existing HU is also a Kenwood (but old tech) so I’m expecting the rest of it to be plug and play (other than needing to install a DAB aerial as well).

Thanks for your help. Anybody else ?

Looks good - is that Arctic Silver or white?

It’s a Lotus. What are you thinking. You know the footwells will be damp in the morning 🤣

I’m slightly underwhelmed and can’t figure out why. The black one, when moving at least, lacked aggression at the front. The interior looks good but the instrument binnacle looked like it was lacking any real shape - lacking character perhaps. I reckon sitting in my Evora with the Oyster wraparound leather is more of an event. All just my opinion of course. I don’t doubt the quality will be a massive step up, and the looks will probably grow on me, but I wonder whether Lotus played it a little safe with the styling to make it have such a wide appeal. Right now I’m pretty happy (and lucky) to have a lovely Mustard S1 Elise and Quartz S1 Evora LE in the garage. That said I’m at Goodwood on Thursday and Friday so things may change - and probably will 😂😂😂 I think the wheels on the blue one will be optional - I reckon the black one had the standard wheels fitted, they were perhaps an inch smaller too? I was expecting a 380hp i4 and 450hp V6, seems to be a lot less than that, not much of a headline grabber…

All those lost years considering another Exige Dunc, and now you placed a deposit on a car you’ve never even seen 😆

Yours is perfect as it is 😉

Scott is bang on there, I’ve seen the car a number of times and it is indeed stunning…..I’ve also followed it 2 or 3 times on local runs and it sounds immense.

If the bushes were greased up properly (bore and outer) there’s no way they will be the cause of the squeak tbh..

Haha, actually I do, but what I don’t have is much time ! More than happy to help where I can and send you photos etc 👍🏻

Great price. Also, to prevent reoccurrence, what about covering the dash with a simple custom-cut sunshade? I have two - one for the windscreen and one for the dash. The latter is a cheap Halfords £10 one which I’ve cut so it simply lays over the whole dash - it covers the centre stitching bit too as you can tuck it into the gap between the windscreen and the dash. It’s small, light and ideal for just putting on the dash if you’re not parked up for longer periods (in which case I’d fit the windscreen one instead) 👍🏻

To finish this one off ….. I bought a genuine Rover one from eBay and fitted it the other day. Cost £13.50 and I simply cut and soldered the wires, and drilled two holes for the fixing bolts as per the original one. Straightforward job - and a very cheap fix with the proper part. Thanks for all the help 👍🏻

My Launch Edition is well endowed with the usual 'early Evora' quirks and I’ve been working my way round them, I’ll be doing a thread at some stage to hopefully help others too by sharing what I’ve done. I have done loads to it over the last 3 weeks but one of the things I haven’t got round to yet is attempting to fix the rattling windows. They are fine when closed or fully open, but they rattle a fair bit when they are anywhere in between. Very irritating as I do like to have them open sometimes to enjoy the delights of the Stage 1 Sports exhaust........ I'm planning to take the door cards off soon anyway, to tighten things up, add some cloth tape etc, so is there something I need to do with the windows at the same time to fix the rattling? I did do a search but couldn’t find anything, so I’m hoping that someone knows how to fix this....

Sorry for the thread revival......which subframe bolts need tightening?? Can anyone point them out to me on the appropriate parts diagram? I have this noise (but nowhere near as bad!) on my NA. Seems to just about go away when it’s fully warmed up, but it’s still there. Frustratingly I’ve only just refitted the front undertray after fixing a couple of screenwash leaks!

Two is perfect. Elise and Evora - perfect for any occasion 👍🏻👍🏻

Ok so that was short lived. Started it again after a 30 minute break and the light has gone 👍🏻

Evora NA here, I have very thoroughly followed the service notes and other tips from here, to strip out my air box and MAF assembly completely (I also lubricated the gear cables). I fitted a K&N panel filter, reassembled everything correctly but now have a MIL light on, which I wasn’t expecting…! The car drives completely normally and the light isn’t flashing. It doesn’t go off when driving. I haven’t made any other changes. What’s my best bet in terms of a code reader to identify the fault code(s) and hopefully clear them? Any guesses as to what has triggered it? If anyone else has had this after fitting a K&N please let me know…

That looks great, I can’t believe what a transformation there is from the first post to the one above!

Hi Craig, if you give Karen Williams at Staingard a shout as per the contact details in my earlier post (15th June) she will be able to send you some - probably without needing to send a sample of the leather as I’ve done that. My order number was 142258.

Update: the Scuffmaster leather dye from Staingard / Liquid Leather has arrived and I’ve now done the drivers seat side bolster. Massively impressed with this stuff, it’s a 100% perfect match. They have even matched the sheen from the sample I sent. I applied it with a small sponge, waiting for each coat to dry before doing the next one. Tip: do it in the sun it dries far quicker…. Complete transformation 👍🏻