Pauls Exige 410 Sport

[Paul_D]

2 hours ago, Brendonian said:

My car very rarely has a roof in place, even at this time of the year! I need my hand heaters

That’s a bloody good point that I hadn’t even considered. My roof is always on. I reckon I’d also want the warm air directly in my face if the roof was off. 

[Brendonian]

Paul, you're missing out. The Exige is a wonderful experience with the roof off! Sure, this time of year, a woolly hat and driving gloves are important, but I just love the exposure to the outside world. I hope you've at least tried it!

[Paul_D]

When I had the roof off to fit the harness bar and rear speakers I took it out for a couple of drives, and it was great.

Unfortunately I don't have a soft top, so taking the roof off to go for a drive and then putting it back on when I get home is a bit too much of a pain.

[tactical lizard]

On 10/10/2021 at 15:41, Paul_D said:

I think it’s a Sealey one. 

What size hex nut have you got, 17mm or 19mm?

When I was looking at M12 x 1.5 taper nuts you could get the hex part in both sizes. I deliberately chose the 17mm version for that reason. 

Hi Paul,

Im looking at doing the stud conversion the same as you, do you have a link to the taper nuts you used? 

Are they these ones on the TRS shop? : https://www.trsuk.co.uk/shop/d95.html

Thanks

[Paul_D]

@tactical lizard

I ended up getting the nuts from Elise parts. Can’t remember exactly why, but I think they were the best option with the 17mm hex and in black. 

https://www.eliseparts.com/shop/wheels-and-tyres/17mm-hex-open-ended-black-wheel-nuts/

[Brendonian]

Paul, my car's a Roaster, but with wing and splitter added. Came with only the soft top. I did think about getting a hard top as they look so good, but soon realised I'd never want to actually fit it. My soft top is fitted whilst parked, or when it's raining, otherwise it's always off

[GFWilliams]

Funny how we’re all different, I have a soft top for my Exige, but never really like using it. I prefer the added insulation that the hard top gives, plus I get sunburnt on even cloudy days.  I also like when people look at the car, but don’t like when people look at me, and feel quite exposed with the roof off… 

[Brendonian]

@GFWilliamsyou just don't like hearing everybody hurling abuse at you!

[Paul_D]

11 hours ago, GFWilliams said:

 I also like when people look at the car, but don’t like when people look at me, and feel quite exposed with the roof off… 

Well, if you will insist on driving around naked...

[Paul_D]

This is very un-Lotus type update, but it's only a quick one.

A lot of people fit new stereo equipment and because it sounds far better than the previous setup they just leave it as is. But the decent heads units come with a fair few settings to make things improve even further. I thought I'd have a little play around and see how good the new system could get.

Firstly I set up the crossover frequencies. For the front and rear speakers this blocks out very low frequencies. For the sub it blocks out high frequencies.

To set these I first moved the fader to front speakers only. Turned up some music and then blocked out more and more of the lower frequencies until the distortion went away. The 4" front speakers are not designed to handle bass. I then did the same with the rear. As they are bigger you can allow slightly lower frequencies through. Finally I set the sub to what I thought was reasonable based on its frequency response. I ended up with these settings. 

 

Next there is an option to set the time alignment. In theory this makes it sounds as if the music is right in front of you by slightly delaying the sound from the speakers close to you. You just have to input the distance from your head to each speaker. Anyone with the same car can obviously copy these values as they should be the same.

 

The final thing to do was a bit more geeky. I used the Equaliser to tweak the frequency response and make sure the range was good all the way through. To do this I used an app called Octave RTA. This gives a real time indication of how loud each frequency is, and you can see any significant dips or gaps. You have to play something called pink noise on the stereo to do this. You're not necessarily looking for a perfectly flat curve, as it is partly to personal taste. 

After a bit of tweaking with both the EQ and the speaker levels (I had to reduce the sub, it was too far powerful) I ended up with what I think is a pretty good response. 

 

For those who wonder how much difference a tiny active sub makes, here's the response with the sub set to OFF, with no other changes.

 

Overall I'm really pleased with the result. Obviously an Exige is never going to sound amazing (especially once moving), but just sat on the drive it is actually pretty impressive.

[Paul_D]

The new head unit has an option for a reversing camera, which is something that I've always fancied. 

The trouble is that running a cable from the back of the car to the front seems like a bit of a ball ache, and quite frankly I wasn't sure if I could be bothered. I had the thought that there must be something out there that can send the signal wirelessly, and a quick bit of Googling found this:

 

I then had a look for a suitable camera. I believe this one is what gets supplied by AIM for the digital dash, but it's a lot cheaper on Amazon...

 

I fitted the receiver part of the transmitter to the headunit when I installed it, so it's just been sitting there waiting for me to fit the camera. 

I needed to get the rear diffuser off, and it was a perfect opportunity to test my new 2-piece wheel cribs from race ramps. They are expensive for what they are, but they are very light and you can get the car high enough to completely crawl underneath.

 

I fitted the camera in the usual place, on the trim piece between the reversing sensors. The camera came with the correct size hole saw included.

 

I cable tied the wiring to the existing reversing sensor cables. 

 

The transmitter is mounted to the inside of the clam near the back wheel using heavy duty velcro. If I need to try and move it around because of signal break up, I can.

 

The final job is to get power to it. Luckily, the reversing sensor cable goes straight up through a grommet into the battery area, so I pulled the cable through there.

 

The wiring on the transmitter cable is quite thin, so I soldered it to so better quality stuff which had a ring crimp for the earth, and a tap-a-fuse for the power. This easily allowed me to connect it to a source which only comes on with the ignition.

And that's it for the installation. The only part of the car you need to take off is the diffuser. 

Job jobbed.

I haven't connected the head unit to a reversing signal, so it won't come on automatically. But turning the screen to camera just involves a single button press, so that's no big deal. I can also have the rear view turned on at any time when driving along.

[Toqcars]

Nice and clean installation 👍 Love the idea that you got rid of the cable. So no issues by the wireless transmission? No engine interference? 
 

What dash do you use, could you connect it to the dash as well?

[Paul_D]

@Toqcars Well in typical fashion... while the car was up in the air, it all worked perfectly. Good connection and stable picture. I started the engine and there was no interference. Yesterday evening when I moved the car after it was back on the ground it seemed to struggle to get an initial connection, and then had the odd flicker on the screen. 

I'm going to try moving the transmitter to a different location, possibly into the battery compartment using a little extension lead. 

In theory I could have used the same system to have the picture on the AIM dash. In fact, Elise-shop sell those transmitters with the correct connector already fitted: https://www.elise-shop.com/aim-mx2e-wireless-video-connection-for-reversing-camera-p-503630.html

Personally I would rather have it on the head unit screen, as it means I can use it as a rear view mirror whilst still being able to see my speed etc.

[Paul_D]

Another cosmetic modification done yesterday, but one which makes a massive difference to the look of the car.

I was very fortunate to pick up a pair of Hell Slow Carbon Fibre mirrors second hand from Jon Seal Sportscars. These don't come up for sale second hand very often, and I just happened to be looking at my phone when the advert went up. 

Before:

To remove the old mirrors you need to take out three bolts. Simple in theory, fiddly in practice and very easy to drop the bolts inside the door. (What would be even more annoying is if you got all the bolts done, and then dropped the Allen Key in, but who'd be stupid enough to do that...)

Size comparison of the old and new mirrors:

 

Next I had to make a decision, as the mirrors only use two of the original mounting holes.

 

Some people just put a small bung in the old hole. I wasn't sure if I liked this look, but my mind was made up by the indentations made in the paint by the original mirror.

I used some 3M matt black vinyl wrap to cover the hole and the imperfect paintwork.

 

Then it's just a case of bolting the mirror on.

 

Here's a half and half photo for comparison:

 

And the finished product:

 

Now there's no getting away from the fact that these mirrors aren't cheap (high quality, low production products never are). But equally, the difference these make to the look of the car is incredible. Once Lotus got into the realms of £80k+ Exiges, this is something that they really should have produced themselves.

I was lucky enough to pay less than full price, but now I've seen what a difference they make I think they are well worth the outlay.

An added bonus is that the field of view is much better with these mirrors, so you could use a bit a man maths to justify it as a safety improvement...

 

[GFWilliams]

I'm a little biased, but they look great!!

[Toqcars]

What is the top speed after this aero/safety mod? 😂

 

Looks great on a blue car as well. Love it 👍

[Paul_D]

Had my first track day of the year at Snetterton on Monday. Thankfully it was all fairly uneventful and a great day.

Static noise test completed, and I was given a reading of 98dB which gives me a bit more confidence in the ability of my add on exhaust.

There have been two main changes to the car since my last track day. The first was the adjustment to the accelerator pedal, and I was really happy with the difference this has made. Heel and Toe on the downchanges is now far far easier. I'm not saying I've perfected it yet, but I was able to do it to some degree pretty much all of the time. 

The second change was the Pagid RSL29 brake pads. These have got FAR more initial bite than the standard pads. I was hitting the pedal far to hard at first, and kicking the ABS in all the time. They took some getting used to, but were still as effective at the end of the day as they were on the first lap. The brake did however get very 'grumbly', with some quite severe vibrations at one point. There were quite significant pad deposits on the disc. These gradually went away over the course of the day, and maybe it was caused by me not bedding them in properly? He's a photo of how the rear discs looked mid way through the day:

Other than that, the day went very smoothly. There were a few red flags in the afternoon, but mainly for mechanical reasons. This included my garage mate in a BMW who had his entire exhaust system fall off onto the track! The main problem I had was with my rear GoPro giving SD card errors, and the front GoPro accidentally being set to something that gave a weird panning effect round corners. 

A nice young bloke at the track took a few photos and sent to me. 

 

[Paul_D]

Seeing as I cocked up the GoPro setting for the front camera, thought I'd make a slightly different video using the rear camera as the main view.

 

Not a fast session, but it's my garage mate in the BMW compact race car, so thought he'd like it. (This was obviously before his entire exhaust fell off)

[Cemil Tacir]

14 hours ago, Paul_D said:

Seeing as I cocked up the GoPro setting for the front camera, thought I'd make a slightly different video using the rear camera as the main view.

 

Not a fast session, but it's my garage mate in the BMW compact race car, so thought he'd like it. (This was obviously before his entire exhaust fell off)

Great driving. The first lap was pretty fast. You will probably reach 2.14.xxx's easily in a less crowded day. What a nice video.

[Paul_D]

@Cemil Tacir Thanks. My best lap of the day was a 2:11.75 in one of the last sessions, which is slightly slower than my previous best.

There was a fluid spill at the second hairpin after lunch, so needed to be very slow through that section later on. 

This is from a previous day, and would have been in the 2:10.xxx without the traffic at the end: 

 

[Cemil Tacir]

1 hour ago, Paul_D said:

@Cemil Tacir Thanks. My best lap of the day was a 2:11.75 in one of the last sessions, which is slightly slower than my previous best.

There was a fluid spill at the second hairpin after lunch, so needed to be very slow through that section later on. 

This is from a previous day, and would have been in the 2:10.xxx without the traffic at the end: 

 

Ah yeaah. I watched this in youtube before. So thats you. It was a super great lap time. I always check out fastestlaps.com and compare lap times with the lap times in youtube. And this is clearly a near perfect lap time. Great driving and car.

Edited March 4, 2022 by Cemil Tacir

[Paul_D]

I noticed that I was getting some vibrations once speed goes above 110 - 120mph, so I popped down my local tyre place today and got them to re-balance all four wheels. They said that all four needed a bit of a tweak, so hopefully it'll be an improvement.

I also had a decided I may as well do a video of my best lap from Monday, even if the video is a bit rubbish because of the messed up settings. If it wasn't for having to brake early and gently into the second hairpin because of spilled fluid, I'm sure it would have been a personal best for me. Not braking into Coram now must be gaining me a reasonable amount of time.

You can see the rear view camera signal being a bit flaky in this video. I assume it's because of all the radio transmissions around the circuit, because there was no flickering or anything during the drive home.
 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by Paul_D

[Cemil Tacir]

2 hours ago, Paul_D said:

I noticed that I was getting some vibrations once speed goes above 110 - 120mph, so I popped down my local tyre place today and got them to re-balance all four wheels. They said that all four needed a bit of a tweak, so hopefully it'll be an improvement.

I also had a decided I may as well do a video of my best lap from Monday, even if the video is a bit rubbish because of the messed up settings. If it wasn't for having to brake early and gently into the second hairpin because of spilled fluid, I'm sure it would have been a personal best for me. Not braking into Coram now must be gaining me a reasonable amount of time.

You can see the rear view camera signal being a bit flaky in this video. I assume it's because of all the radio transmissions around the circuit, because there was no flickering or anything during the drive home.
 

 

Great job Paul. Another nice video by you👏👏

[Toqcars]

Paul, how is the life with the Pagid RSL29 brake pads after 2 weeks of driving this setup? Still very happy with it?

[Paul_D]

On 15/03/2022 at 22:07, Toqcars said:

Paul, how is the life with the Pagid RSL29 brake pads after 2 weeks of driving this setup? Still very happy with it?

Hi Mitch,

Sorry, I'd missed this comment. 

I'm very happy with the pads still. They work fine from cold on the road, and (so far) do not make any horrible noises.

I also checked the pad and tyre wear last weekend following my first track day on them. The RS29's have definitely worn less than the standard pads did. 

A single track day is not enough to get a fully representative picture, but although it's early days I would say they are wearing around 20-30% less than the OEM pads.