alias23 aka Kung Fu Panda - Modified Exige V6

[alias23]

At 6am in the morning the roads where silent and very little (to which I saw) speed traps in action. To be honest its one of the reasons I just didn't bother with the EVO triangle, plenty of other awesome roads which are a little more off the typical track. That said at 1pm we definitely started to see the vans come out and about especially on the long very straight roads.

[Bassman]

Interesting update and great pics. I did Anglesey and the N Wales roads including the Llanberis Pass in October 2016 and it was an epic trip in the company of some like-minded drivers (Exige S2, 2 x BMW M3, Nissan GTR, Suzuki Swift).  We did the international in the morning and the coastal in the afternoon (my profile pics are from the Anglesey day).

Our group is off to Pembrey in September this year  for a track day and a road day thrown in - can't wait!

[PaulLF1]

Great pics, ever been stopped for having no front no plates?

[alias23]

I’ve not had a problem but expect I will one day ... to which I accept will mean a fine.

[alias23]

So a brief update... another track day down and a fantastic day at Rockingham with @Turbo911 and @W31SSN. It was my first time at Rockingham and good to meet up with fellow V6 owners. It's quite interesting to see more and more of the S3 Exige range being upgraded and modified, with an SSC TVS1900 with a Reverie big wing, and a Eltech Aero packaged 350 in the ranks. For sure I have to say the quality of the carbon fibre of Eltech products has come on considerably since I first had one of their wings! 

For the first half of the day I found Rockingham hard, the surface is like nothing else i've driven on before, super abrasive but also super slippery even in the dry! The car just didnt feel right, after a few tweaks of the Ohlins the car started to feel better but quite choppy, so one click more to soften at the rear and everything started to feel better. I ran 10 bump and 11 rebound on the front, then a revised 12 bump and 16 rebound at the rear (from memory).

I also had one of my best friends join us in his newly refreshed genuine Exige S1 with a Honda Supercharge conversion. Given the power of the car and how light the S1 Exige is out of the box I dont think I did too badly. A bit of sideways action at 54 seconds in to the video

Also a little more sideways action to keep @GFWilliams happy

Through out the day I started to get the hang of Tarzan and stopped it being a 90% of the time sideways affair! However Brook was just a nightmare for me, I could be in the lead by some fair way around the track, then get to Brook and loose all advantage. For sure this is one corner I need to work on next time.

That said my best for the day (offsite and off track download post event) was 1.34.58 which I dont think is too bad given it was my first time at Rockingham.

A token picture from the day.

Also for those with a keen eye you will have seen two new updates to the car. 

The end plates on the original DJ RaceCar wing where just too big for me, maybe in the future if I made higher custom wing mounts they may make a return, but I wanted a smaller profile end plate. Using the original end plates as I guide I mocked up a new template design and Forge Motorsport kindly made me a set in 3mm aluminium which in turn got colour coded to the car. With the Pro Alloy anodised black bolts I'm very very happy with the result.

I also got a surprise present in the post from a fellow owner who i'd helped out recently... anodised black fuel cap surround. I've been reluctant to spend the money on such a small item, but it actually makes a big difference to the look of the car, very happy chappy and this picture sums the look of the car up very nicely right now!

So looking ahead to the next few weeks, all being well Anglesey Coastal on Saturday with BookaTrack. Then off to HPE Auto for a major service replacing Engine, Gearbox, Brake, and Coolant fluids, Spark Plugs, Air filter element on the CupR induction, hoping to get away with not having to do brakes, but probably will need new Trofeo tyres after Anglesey!!! I'll never get chance to save for a KT460 upgrade at this rate!

[alias23]

Quick update.... Anglesey Coastal on Saturday was epic, superb weather, I'm really enjoying the consistency of our weather this summer, it makes trips to Anglesey and long weekends into Wales easy to plan for and ensure a good time. Anglesey is fast becoming a favourite spot for me this year!

It was also great to see fellow V6 owners in attendance, a lovely original V6 Cup in yellow (CIIVY), and a special edition (70th I think) anniversary 380 Sport. As always great conversation and lots of talk about big wings! The initial start of the day I found I was all over the place, it seems to be common now, first hour I seem to be getting the car warmed up, and my head in the right place etc.. On this occasion I found I was trying too hard in the morning and came off track at Church. Frustratingly Church was my one of favourite corners from last time which I had felt I had nailed but on this day it came back to tell me a lesson and give me a tapped wrist.

Thankfully no real damaged, just my bottom rubber lip below the CupR splitter ripped off which i've got a spare after @Arun_D pussied out of installing one as 'too low.'

A quick clean up and back on track. Gently does it and over the course of the day started to get the 'feel' and get faster...

I was fortunate enough to share a pit with a chap with a Noble M400, this guy and his car where inspiring to me, owned from new, 103K miles on the clock, over 200 track days, and enjoying retirement together... On track i'd say it was probably the fastest thing out there, I was able to keep up but he constantly found opportunities to get a leading edge. As he kept reminding me "Slow In, Fast Out"

The 380 Sport seemed a tad slow if im honest, but I sense the car was still 'new' to the owner, the V6 Cup was having a great time but definitely needs a big wing now

The car for sure definitely needs its service so thats next on the list in the coming week. Also the trips to Anglesey are a constant reminder of how small the standard fuel tank is in the V6, so a new spanking 60L endurance tank from Pro Alloy arrived this morning which will also get fitted at the same time of service! 

[alias23]

Found you @C1RVY haha

[C1RVY]

22 hours ago, alias23 said:

Found you @C1RVY haha

Good find mate 😎

Enjoyed your write up too - made a good read, and you’re correct about the big rear wing. Only issue now is whether to go the whole way & get one with a 380 Cup attached to it 😜

[mcx]

Did you leave some nice stripes on your lawn excursion @alias23?

 

[alias23]

Time for the HKS CupR induction kit to get a replacement filter. I try and do this about twice a year to be on the safe side and you’ll see why in the following pics!

As you can see the filter gets dirty very quickly! Left is about 4-6 months old, right is new filter out of the box!

It shouldn’t be a surprise as the induction is positioned right at the opening of the side pod for maximum induction. Regular replacement should ensure happy motoring. 

As you can see even though the outer is dirty the internal is still very clean. However if you don’t replace frequently that internal gets as dirty and then bad stuff can happen! 

The cage that holds the filter in place had gotten a little tired so I decided to give it a once over with some high heat matte paint I had spare.

A quick tip for anyone with a CupR induction or even the SSC one, when you try and replace the filter ensure you don’t push the filter in from flat! If you do you’ll tear the filter element!

Here is the recommended way from HKS

[alias23]

Then pad out and reattach the cage.

With the new black cage ... very Super Mario!

[Crouchy]

I saw this pic earlier and thought why is his cage black and not rusty like mine. Looks like I will have to get the hammerite out now.

[alias23]

On 12/08/2018 at 20:34, Crouchy said:

I saw this pic earlier and thought why is his cage black and not rusty like mine. Looks like I will have to get the hammerite out now.

Limited Edition Mario version 🤣

So over the weekend I shed just over 0.5Kg ... a little hint

[DJW]

I always find it sensible to store scales in the house, rather than the car .  Good call

[alias23]

Test fitting... I took a different approach to going Transforged

[GFWilliams]

Yours are a lot less likely to fall off!!

[Ray32]

Holy hell, what a read! Enjoyed every bit of the 17 pages! Your attention to detail is epic and you have definitely inspired me to refresh my rather tired-looking V6 CR now 😀.

[Crouchy]

are you planning on making a stylized cover for it or leave it for that "because racecar" feel 

[Jack]

On 12/08/2018 at 06:13, alias23 said:

Then pad out and reattach the cage.

With the new black cage ... very Super Mario!

IMHO, the ITG filter is better on all counts (filtration/air supply/ram air effect/power) and will bolt right up to MAF tube, at least on the CupR.  Ditched my HKS for ITG.

 

 

[alias23]

@Jack thank you as always! Looks like I need to move to the ITG setup.

Are you using the STAB122 or the STAB99LD? Or some other version? I’ll get one ordered once you confirm

[Jack]

2 hours ago, alias23 said:

@Jack thank you as always! Looks like I need to move to the ITG setup.

Are you using the STAB122 or the STAB99LD? Or some other version? I’ll get one ordered once you confirm

Imran, don't know whether I've got the STAB122, STAB99LD or STAB99 ---I'll have to take some measurements to figure that out.  Pretty sure the outlet diameter is either 70 or 73mm and inlet is definitely 99mm, but  still need to get body width and length.  

I purchased mine from BOE, so I didn't deal with model numbers  ..... https://www.boefab.com/collections/elise-exige/products/itg-cold-air-box-rev300-400-itg-cab

Here's a photo of my foam filter element .... I have an extra so I can just swap them out quickly.  Then I can take my time to clean and re-oil the one removed at my leisure  and have it ready for the next  filter change.

 

[W31SSN]

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/itg-universal-aluminium-air-box-stab122-up-to-450bhp-stab122

looks to be this one.

[alias23]

Thanks @Jack and @W31SSN very much appreciated! After a few calls seems as though Forge Motorsport have offered to supply me a solution with one of their PiperCross boxed setups (looks near identical to the ITG) so may investigate this as an option. Anyone got any intel on ITG vs Pipercross as some what naively assuming they're all pretty much the same filter/design. 

[alias23]

I’ve always had a slight disapproval of the mirrors and mounts of the Lotus Exige. Im led to believe on the S3 the mount design had a slight tweak with a narrowing of the actual mounting to ‘streamline’ the design. That said they still remind me of this…

For a car which is £50K let alone now £100K+ Lotus truly need to stop dropping into the bulk buy of mirrors they did with Rover back in 1980 and get with designing a cleaner sleeker setup. 

With this in mind I immediately thought of going down the Transforged route, when their V1 and then V2 mirror design came out I truly thought they’d ‘nailed in.’ Regardless of the choice I eventually made with my install, the Transforged design in my mind is close to visually perfect for the Exige. 

However over the past twelve months I’ve started to become worried about the quality of the mounts. Multiple reports of ill fitment, poor manufacturing materials, unfinished products, and cracking of the mounts. Not what you’d want to hear or worry about when buying a product which commands a very high cost. 

So I’ve been looking for an alternative solution for some time and thought I’d share my research and end decision. Searching the web checking what the folks in the US and Japan had to offer brought me to two alternatives to Transforged. 

RezoSport

RezoSport use a very ‘SPA Design’ mirror housing and then custom CNC machined mountings. The package just felt too bulky for me.

APR Performance

A sleeker mount design against the door pillar vs the RezoSport option. Again very ‘SPA Design’ mirror housing and the silver bolts could be replaced easily with anodized black alternatives to improve the look. However, after quite a bit of searching, I just couldn’t find any more information and later found supply of the product had ceased. 

It became clear that there is basically very little aftermarket options available for the Exige platform. However both options APR and RezoSport seemed to use the SPA Design style of housing which on some UK orientated research seemed to be the default answer for those looking to swap out the metro mirrors for a more track orientated option.

Problem I had was that the SPA Design mirrors just remind me too much of Caterhams and the boxy style even though cleaner and simplistic than the metro mirrors still felt as though it lacks a sleekness I still wanted to achieve after seeing the Transforged design.

So back to the drawing board and I investigate the mirror housing Transforged use and after some digging and much research found the mirrors and housing come from a tuner called Magical Racing. A Japanese company that specialize in high quality custom carbon parts primarily for motorbikes and largely made to order.

They offer a number of mirror houses to which after a bit of photo comparison and ‘guess’ sizing I figured the Type 4 design was the one I’d fallen in love with on the Transforged solution.



Now came the question of how to mount. Magical Racing have a mounting system very similar to the one used by SPA Design but available in various lengths and widths.

For the base of the mount I measured out the C-Type bracket as being the best option to fit and align with the two bottom OEM holes on the door pillar. 

However the arm of the mount was unknown as to what would be best. Unsure of what size I really needed I decided to order a set of the Type 4 mirrors with the Super Long Elbow System but with an additional order for a set of Long Stem.

Note the Super Long Elbow consists of the Super Long Stem, so in theory this gave me three mounting options to test.

So impulse order placed, monies spent, and the wait began on my four week built to order lead time! 

[Jack]

Always love your analysis and attention to detail.

Long ago (like 2010), we went with APR mirrors for the 2-Eleven....they have held up well.