350 tweaks and mods

[MrP_]

So I thought I'd do a bit of a build thread now that I am coming up to the first year with the car. That and I've got some time on my hands waiting in Frankfurt airport, so I though I'd bring together some of the little bits I have been doing…

Previous to the 350 I've had a reasonable handful of Lotus's, S1's and S2's Elise/Exige with a K20 lump in an Elise and a komotec tweaked S2 Exige S, so though I had done my time in them. But for some reason decided I want to get back into the fold. After looking around for several weeks, I decided to order what I wanted. I know financially not the most sensible decision, but I thought I would get what I want as each previous time I'd settled on a colour and spec and always wished I got something else.

This isn't going to be a thread about monster build (yet anyway), but general updates and tweaks I've done and am doing as people seem to find it helpful.

So after plenty of umming and arring over what model etc. I settled on a 350. Reason behind it was I didn't feel the power was enough to justify the 380, and the 430 was north of £100k at the time which was more than I wanted to spend. I also knew I'd be tweaking and changing things, so paying extra for carbon and power on the 380 made no sense, if I was changing parts and going down the Komotec route eventually then it would again be wasted money.

So car was ordered early 2018, and arrived April. Dark Metallic Grey, usual extras like aircon, stereo, NVH, carpets, 2-piece discs, yellow stiching, interior packs and brakes, and carbon access panel. Some would say I should have gone for a shouty colour, but it's just not really me.

Car was delivered, and was getting PPF but when I went to look pre PPF for the nose there was micromarring in direct sunlight, so I went back the next day to polish the front end and remove the marring. All done and it looked a bit like this:

 

So car delivered and after a days driving, the first thing to do was to add in harnesses, stick on a 2bular, add reverse camera, satnav headunit, and a sub. So put away in the garage and start stripping it.

It spent the first night in my possession having the interior taking out, floors off etc.

The exhaust was a lightly used one I picked up way before the car arrived - 2bular track non valved. It arrived looking like this:

and after a day of conference calls one Friday looked more like this after I'd been listening and going through plenty of Peek, wire wool and rags (pointless I know, but I was bored and once I got started I needed to finish:

50/50:

Finished:

Then installed with fresh gasket and bolts, just incase.

Nicer sound, and much much lighter

Then I installed the reverse camera, flip out head and sub as well as swapping the speakers for focals.

Head unit:

Also added a remote stereo control for when using harnesses and not wanted to use a pen:

I won't repeat everything, but there are the full fitting guides here:

 

And here:

 

Finally fitted the harness bar, and harnesses. I used the Lotus MS version, as I preferred it being behind the roll hoop rather than using the v-force that mounts to the top seat belt mounts. In previous Eliges you would tighten the harness par through the speaker holes, but since Lotus started chopping bits out I don't have them. So getting the harness bar on, tightened, torqued and panel back on was an absolute nightmare - but I didn't want to hack the panel. So after lots of pulling, bending, poking and very very bruised arms they were all fitted. It would be far easier to fit and remove the v-force bar however - and if I hadn't done it a few times already cutting and the back panel to fit the bar would have been something that would put most off.

Note to anyone else, if you are doing this just cut holes where the speakers should be and get covers, or if you do it the hard way - DO NOT let the interior light cable fall behind the panel so you have to take it out and do it again!

Anyway, harnesses and sub in place:

For the new seat subframes (they don't wobble :)) You mount the harnesses different, you do not need the mounting kit I've previously used , the existing hardware works. I found this out after having the kit obviously…

Normal belts retained

 

Finally put it all back together, then added front towing eye (colour changed to yellow),and a shortened number plate plinth for a smaller but still legal number plate.

Then a couple of days of polishing to correct all the imperfections (buffer trails everywhere, some sanding parks but nothing major).

The paint (as it always seems to be with modern Lotus's) takes a while to find the right pad combo, as the paints so soft. In the end it was major correction with M105 and Menz 2500 on a green Rupes pad, stepping down to Menz 2500 on a Rupes yellow. Before a yellow pad with Menz 3800. Going to a softer pad introduced plenty of marring, so remember to keep the slightly harder pad.

Then full ceramic coat (Gtechnic CSL and Exov3)

[Mark030358]

And you got it from a top dealer too

[alias23]

Great first write up! Looking forward to reading more! Excellent effort with the exhaust looks brand new.

[Edinburgh 111s]

Brilliant post. Love reading it. Look forward to more updates 

[MrP_]

21 minutes ago, alias23 said:

Great first write up! Looking forward to reading more! Excellent effort with the exhaust looks brand new.

There’s plenty more just got to find the pics... I know the exhaust was a waste of time as no one sees it, but it kept me from arguing on the non stop conf calls!

[MrP_]

After waiting for what seemed like an age, finally I got my Komotec rear wing. I went for the straight one, rather than curved if I'm honest for aesthetics.

It's adjustable for a bit of variation in downforce/drag, although the curved wing does offer less drag for the same downforce.

The curved wing for reference here:

And the straight wing:

Komotec actually did some wind tunnel testing as many of you will know, so it does have actual effects and its good for once to actually see some of the variations they go through. It also went to show the need for an extended splitter, which will be coming later…

The wind tunnel tests can be found here: https://komo-tec.com/Blog/en/komo-tec-im-windkanal-von-mira-in-england/

It required quite a bit of fettling as the bases were not contoured enough and didn't lie flat. Nothing extreme but wanted to warn people it's not plug and play, not if you want it perfect. If you use a body shop for this sort of thing, then it's their problem.So mounts were shaped and adjusted, especially around the front end, and I made up a gasket to add a bit more protection to the paint and seal the boot a bit better (standard wing has this so I replicated it).

There were missing bolts also so I needed to get some more. And the lacquer finish was not what I would hope for, there are no before images I have to share but it required wetsanding, compounding and polishing - not something I was expecting from Komotec, and combined with missing bolts, uncoated mounts not black as promised etc quite surprising. But all correctable and not worth waiting for new ones

Reshaping the uprights (with tape to protect the tailgate for trial fitting):

All taken off , wing ceramic coated and uprights anodised black as they always were meant to be:

I'll probably get some other endplates made up for road use, I know smaller plates won't help with drag but it should be fine on the road. I'll work on some of those later.

Carbon covers added in the engine pay as it was ugly without. If you have a later car, they took away the brackets as well as both covers so you need to order the following:

• 2 x A138W6001F stud
• 3 x B120B0291F Isolator
• 3 x A120E7232F Bolt
• 3 x A132W6019F Tower Clip
• 1 x B138E0017F Engine Cover Bracket LH
• 1 x B128E0018F Engine Cover Bracket RH
• 2 x A132W5013F Bolt
• 2 x A132W5003F Bolt

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

Very nice thread, gotten so much done!
My thread looks rather sad and sorry for itself, but I just haven't done anything worth adding.

Very lovely specced car, and paintwork is like glass. Wish mine looked half as good - but one day I'll get round to having someone correct it.

Are you going for the Cup style front splitter? Eltech are now making "custom" splitters - you might have seen - like the older style 350 splitter, with the newer style winglets on the side. Matteo also offered to make it in "Cup" length, so 5cm rather than 3cm I believe. Give them a message if you're interested  

 

 

Also, the exhaust was worth cleaning/polishing. I get shit for cleaning mine, but it really adds a lot to the look of the car! 

[BatMobile]

Great write up and love the work to date.

id love to do a build thread but sadly mine would read, I paid x to do y, and repeat!

amazing job on the exhaust, I bet that comforted the ocd voices, literally looks like new. 

Look forward to seeing the next phases take shape. 

[MrP_]

11 minutes ago, RoflOnMyWaffle said:

Very nice thread, gotten so much done!
My thread looks rather sad and sorry for itself, but I just haven't done anything worth adding.

Very lovely specced car, and paintwork is like glass. Wish mine looked half as good - but one day I'll get round to having someone correct it.

Are you going for the Cup style front splitter? Eltech are now making "custom" splitters - you might have seen - like the older style 350 splitter, with the newer style winglets on the side. Matteo also offered to make it in "Cup" length, so 5cm rather than 3cm I believe. Give them a message if you're interested  

It’s retrospective at the moment, been doing various things over the winter so trying to catch up. 

Splitter update next...

11 minutes ago, BatMobile said:

Great write up and love the work to date.

id love to do a build thread but sadly mine would read, I paid x to do y, and repeat!

amazing job on the exhaust, I bet that comforted the ocd voices, literally looks like new. 

Look forward to seeing the next phases take shape. 

It’s getting there, plenty more to come. 

Several jobs I’ve done would have been far easier to outsource, but the changes are a hobby in itself and part of the reason I came back to Lotus 😀

[GFWilliams]

Got to say, I absolutely love your spec!  Engine bay looks great too with carbon covers, just need a badge from @alias23 to finish it off

Edit to add, I think the Komo-tec wing is the nicest looking wing. Interesting that you post a link to the wind tunnel testing blog post, they talk about it being boot mounted, but the pictures look like their chassis mounted wing.

[MrP_]

14 minutes ago, GFWilliams said:

Got to say, I absolutely love your spec!  Engine bay looks great too with carbon covers, just need a badge from @alias23 to finish it off

Edit to add, I think the Komo-tec wing is the nicest looking wing. Interesting that you post a link to the wind tunnel testing blog post, they talk about it being boot mounted, but the pictures look like their chassis mounted wing.

Don’t worry plaque ordered 😃

If I’m honest I wasn’t too swayed by the wind tunnel tests, but was encouraged they’d actually looked into it. It does look nice though 😎

[MrP_]

So onto the splitter. Never having really liked the front splitter with all it's waves, and looking a bit weedy. I looked out for another splitter. I wanted it to be deeper, but I couldn't go full CUP R depth as I have a hump at the bottom of a small hill coming into my house which limits the car thanks to the long overhang already there.

I was going to make get a custom splitter made, but as I was ordering the rear wing enquired with Komotec if they had anything. Just by luck that week they were adding a slightly shorter splitter that looked and performed much better than the standard splitter, but was 2cm shorter than the Cup R dimensions.

Again after a very long after ordering wait it finally arrived. It comes with Cup R splitter infills which need riveting on. So if you don't have rivets and a gun, you'll need to get out and shopping. All mounted up it looks a bit like this

One of the few features I wanted to get from the 380 was the rubber lip. First to protect the splitter in the event of a speed bump (likely as I return home), it should help the splitter work better, and most importantly it looks far, far better. So after way too much googling for rubber angles, rubber extrusions and various other variations, I settled on this:

This is then mounted onto the underside with mesh tape to hold it in place, and screws every 10cm or so. I could pick the splitter up by the tape alone, adding the screws meant it would take a bit more abuse in the wet, between the two it should be fine etc

In theory it mounts to standard mounting holes, but if you have see the standard mount points they are just spire clips into the GRP - the added pressure from the splitter means these easily get ripped through, but I ordered a strengthening plate after speaking to Komotec. who advised the clam would be put under strain on track.

The strengthening plate was two pieces of metal you bolt into. Again I had to modify this as it didn't fit correctly. As before it was modifiable and as I'm generally working away, Komotec are never in the office when I am with the car so just cracked on.

After recutting splitter was trial fitted, and it all worked. But I didn't like how much it had been hacked up so after coming back to it I went to a local sheet metal shop and got another cut that looked far neater

Then remounted with s/s bolts

Looks much better than standard so happy with that

Also changed the badging to yellow as it was the only bit of red on it

 

 

[alias23]

We have matching lips  Just a slight word of warning, I used screws as you may know, but after an off at Anglesey where the lip was trailing on return back to the pits with lots of screws sticking out, I decided to go back to just super strength double sided tape which has been fine... even down Hangar Straight at Silverstone!

The Komotec splitter looks really good, I was planning to release something in a months time with a similar design, using my own CupR splitter as the template. Debating weather to make in carbon or marine wood... 🤔

Excellent work @MrP_ the car is truly becoming its own!

[MrP_]

5 minutes ago, alias23 said:

We have matching lips  Just a slight word of warning, I used screws as you may know, but after an off at Anglesey where the lip was trailing on return back to the pits with lots of screws sticking out, I decided to go back to just super strength double sided tape which has been fine... even down Hangar Straight at Silverstone!

The Komotec splitter looks really good, I was planning to release something in a months time with a similar design, using my own CupR splitter as the template. Debating weather to make in carbon or marine wood... 🤔

Excellent work @MrP_ the car is truly becoming its own!

Fair enough, might change it then - didn't fancy the lip being pulled off so the screws can be easily removed. 

The sensible thing for creating a splitter is marine wood, but carbon does just look good so it's never going to be a simple choice!

Edit - just looked back at your thread, yep we do appear to have the same lip - would have saved me a bunch of searching if I'd remembered yours. At least the minimum length you have to buy means I have a spare 😁

[MrP_]

Black filler surround added, with black  bolts

[BatMobile]

really like the black filler cap - where did you get the surround from?

[MrP_]

13 minutes ago, BatMobile said:

really like the black filler cap - where did you get the surround from?

Had a spare one anodised, but you you can get them from Elise Shop: https://www.elise-shop.com/black-fuel-filler-surround-elise-s2-exige-s2-p-502065.html or Elise Parts: https://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/16/66/s2-black-fuel-cap-surround/

Black bolts here: https://www.carbolts.co.uk/products/black-stainless-steel-socket-countersunk?variant=9204034883 You need M5 Countersunk 25mm

[Mark030358]

What a brilliant thread 👍

as your close to me can you do my reversing camera 😂

keep it up!!!

cheers

Mark

[MrP_]

16 minutes ago, Mark030358 said:

What a brilliant thread 👍

as your close to me can you do my reversing camera 😂

keep it up!!!

cheers

Mark

Happy to help if you want, it's pretty easy once you get used to it, I've just done it all again to improve the cable routes 😂

[Mark030358]

5 minutes ago, MrP_ said:

Happy to help if you want, it's pretty easy once you get used to it, I've just done it all again to improve the cable routes 😂

OOOoohhhh.... might take you up on that in summer 👍👍👍

[Dan.G]

@MrP_

Please do some modifications to my car, loving your work!

[Edinburgh 111s]

On 18/02/2019 at 13:41, alias23 said:

We have matching lips  Just a slight word of warning, I used screws as you may know, but after an off at Anglesey where the lip was trailing on return back to the pits with lots of screws sticking out, I decided to go back to just super strength double sided tape which has been fine... even down Hangar Straight at Silverstone!

The Komotec splitter looks really good, I was planning to release something in a months time with a similar design, using my own CupR splitter as the template. Debating weather to make in carbon or marine wood... 🤔

Excellent work @MrP_ the car is truly becoming its own!

Hi Imran,

what tape did you use for the splitter? I would like to add a rubber lip but didn’t fancy using screws as don’t think it would work on the standard splitter ...

[alias23]

3 hours ago, Edinburgh 111s said:

Hi Imran,

what tape did you use for the splitter? I would like to add a rubber lip but didn’t fancy using screws as don’t think it would work on the standard splitter ...

The CupR splitter has a flat bottom so reasonable contact area. The standard splitter may not be flat and hence may not have such a good contact area. 

I used 3M VHB Tape.

[MrP_]

1 hour ago, alias23 said:

The CupR splitter has a flat bottom so reasonable contact area. The standard splitter may not be flat and hence may not have such a good contact area. 

I used 3M VHB Tape.

Standard splitter has a flat area, but a lip, so you you will get a stepped effect. If you add a 5mm strip between the metal plate and splitter it will be fine.

I used Kraftex mesh, with 3m adhesion primer, supports picking up the splitter by the lip and much more 

[MrP_]

Hmm pics don't seem to be working, will post again later