Side skirts, Alias 23 version

[MARTIN_S]

Got some of alias23 side skirts and finished fitting them. Took me 3 hours all in (I didn't rush it) and had fitted similar things before. (You need a rivnut kit but they're cheap on ebay).

Main time spent was just positioning them how I wanted and as I didn't want them so far out, (I moved them 3cm in from their designed position) as I wanted a more subtle look,, I reshaped

the front end slightly,  which was easy.

I had fully planned painting them, to match the splitter and rear canards but once the protective film was peeled off, they very closely matched the rear canards and very similar to the splitter so left them alone. To me they look absolutely correct to the point where my wife said she thought they had always been there when I asked what she thought.

Great service, good price, good quality and a decent fitting kit and information, thanks Imran.

Martin S

 

[MrP_]

@MARTIN_S They really make the car don't they? Whats the story with the Elise, running an Exige wing and front vents so presume there is more going on there?

[MARTIN_S]

yes, really pleased with them, a nice finishing touch.

Its not an Elise, its my daughters VX220 that's had a few light mods along the way.

Martin

Edited April 9, 2019 by MARTIN_S

[alias23]

Thanks @MARTIN_S again for the support. The car looks great especially with the rear spats.

Must say by bringing the sills in a little the design is less aggressive - Nice touch.

I think your daughter follows me on Instagram as I've seen that VX220 before with a red V6!
 

[RedViper]

4 hours ago, MARTIN_S said:

yes, really pleased with them, a nice finishing touch.

Its not an Elise, its my daughters VX220 that's had a few light mods along the way.

Martin

Dare I say it...... that looks better than the Exige. 

[Edinburgh 111s]

Hi. I have just had mine fitted this weekend after having them wrapped in Matt black. 

 

They do look great and finish the cars styling. I have noticed that there is movement on the front end beside the mudgaurd and the rear. I am thinking about applying some double sided tape, has anyone else had to do this ? 

My skirts only had five holes on one side and six on the other. No problem and was easy to create another hole using the correct skirt as a template. 

Great product. Look forward to seeing what else @alias23 produces. Front splitter please ! 

[alias23]

8 minutes ago, Edinburgh 111s said:

They do look great and finish the cars styling. I have noticed that there is movement on the front end beside the mudgaurd and the rear. I am thinking about applying some double sided tape, has anyone else had to do this ? 

My skirts only had five holes on one side and six on the other. No problem and was easy to create another hole using the correct skirt as a template. 

Great product. Look forward to seeing what else @alias23 produces. Front splitter please ! 

I use double sided tape. @Jack has also installed a set, feeding back to me that it would be a good idea to add some additional holes/fixings at the front and rear. I'll look to add these to the template for future cuts. Appreciate the feedback and its a good idea. 

IF anyone wants to add these extra holes themselves (easy to do with a drill) but want some additional fixings to match the ones supplied let me know and ill send you the additional riv nuts and bolts in the post. 

Front splitter is being prioritised, going to start work next week 👍

[MARTIN_S]

I used double sided tape just to add a softer layer between the sill and the body but left the sticky side down covered up along most of its length but, I uncovered it (so it was sticky both sides,) at the front and rear parts that did have some movement. I also added extra tape going outwards at both ends. If this doesn't work I will add extra holes and riv nuts.

With the way I positioned mine, one of the holes was where there was already a bigger hole (maybe drainage type!?) so drilled a new one, but all straight forward stuff.

Martin S

 

[Guest]

CF sills and spats purrrrrlease

[Jack]

11 hours ago, MARTIN_S said:

Got some of alias23 side skirts and finished fitting them. Took me 3 hours all in (I didn't rush it) and had fitted similar things before. (You need a rivnut kit but they're cheap on ebay).

Main time spent was just positioning them how I wanted and as I didn't want them so far out, (I moved them 3cm in from their designed position) as I wanted a more subtle look,, I reshaped

the front end slightly,  which was easy.

I had fully planned painting them, to match the splitter and rear canards but once the protective film was peeled off, they very closely matched the rear canards and very similar to the splitter so left them alone. To me they look absolutely correct to the point where my wife said she thought they had always been there when I asked what she thought.

Great service, good price, good quality and a decent fitting kit and information, thanks Imran.

Martin S

 

I second Martin's comments....very good product at a very reasonable price.  Thanks Imran.

I went with the aggressive install...not worried about slicing any passengers or pedestrians.   . Also decided to wrap the sills....this time with CF, maybe a redo in matte black when they get beat up on track.  3M (1080 wrap-film) makes  several matte blacks, one of which is a very close match to the matte black painted pieces on my CupR.

A few photos, not the best, taken right after the install was done in my garage.  I will hopefully post some better shots once the car is cleaned up and out of the garage.

 

 

 

[MARTIN_S]

Those look great with the carbon and coloured edge. Nice to see such effort being made on details.

Martin

ps The VX does look good and they are fantastic cars, one of Lotus's best.

[Lo2zz]

Martin they look great - Imran nice job again

Martin where did you get the non carbon rear spats from? Lotus don't seem to sell them

Imran are the side sills totally flat or is there an element of contouring?  The lotus ones seem to have an element of contouring ie not totally flat

Thanks

[alias23]

1 hour ago, Lo2zz said:

Martin they look great - Imran nice job again

Martin where did you get the non carbon rear spats from? Lotus don't seem to sell them

Imran are the side sills totally flat or is there an element of contouring?  The lotus ones seem to have an element of contouring ie not totally flat

Thanks

Thanks for the kind comments.

The sills are cut from a flat material sheet but the edge design is countoured if that’s what you mean.

OEM ones are also flat but the edge is countered.

Very very similar design to OEM especially how Martín has installed with less of an aggressive overhang.

[MARTIN_S]

The rear spats are from here. I specified I didn't want the red stripe which took a bit longer to get.

I used riv nuts to fit as per the side skirts and they are a very similar finish.

https://www.elise-shop.com/380-sport-rear-canards-in-grp-or-carbon-fibre-exige-v6-p-503308.html?zenid=6fb32533b43a20e0ec12d41e2d51b53d

[Lo2zz]

4 hours ago, MARTIN_S said:

The rear spats are from here. I specified I didn't want the red stripe which took a bit longer to get.

I used riv nuts to fit as per the side skirts and they are a very similar finish.

https://www.elise-shop.com/380-sport-rear-canards-in-grp-or-carbon-fibre-exige-v6-p-503308.html?zenid=6fb32533b43a20e0ec12d41e2d51b53d

Thanks Martin - I'm an idiot and remembered you sent me a link in a pm previously! Thanks again though - will get these sorted

Imran do I just buy off seloc classifieds? Have you got some skirts in the locker just for me???

[alias23]

56 minutes ago, Lo2zz said:

Thanks Martin - I'm an idiot and remembered you sent me a link in a pm previously! Thanks again though - will get these sorted

Imran do I just buy off seloc classifieds? Have you got some skirts in the locker just for me???

I've got a set packed and ready to ship to you

Check your U2Us as just pinged you a message. Thanks

[MARTIN_S]

My top tip, is to keep when fitting the skirts is to keep the car on the ground and find things that will hold the skirt in its final position but allow you to move it around (I used two 3 lots of bricks with a rubber sheet between them and the bodywork). Then I could slide it around to get the right look and once I liked its positioning, I used a paint pen through the holes already  in the skirt to mark the drilling points on the bodywork. 

To make sure I got the riv nut fitting right,  I used a piece of old fibreglass bodywork I already had and tested for the correct drill size and got the right pressure on the riv nut tool before going near the Exige.

Martin S

 

[Edinburgh 111s]

Fitted my side skirts a few weeks back. Really pleased with the look, seeing the car without them just looks wrong. 

Forgot to add I had them wrapped in Matt black to match the other parts of the car, keeps my ocd happy !

Now all I need is a new and deeper splitter ... calling @alias23 😎

Edited April 22, 2019 by Edinburgh 111s
Added text

[Dan.G]

On 09/04/2019 at 17:53, RedViper said:

Dare I say it...... that looks better than the Exige. 

I wouldn't say no

[Jack]

On 15/04/2019 at 07:48, MARTIN_S said:

The rear spats are from here. I specified I didn't want the red stripe which took a bit longer to get.

I used riv nuts to fit as per the side skirts and they are a very similar finish.

https://www.elise-shop.com/380-sport-rear-canards-in-grp-or-carbon-fibre-exige-v6-p-503308.html?zenid=6fb32533b43a20e0ec12d41e2d51b53d

Martin, your Exige looks fantastic with the alias23-famous side sills and elise-shop supplied spats. 👍

You and Imran motivated me to try the spats/rear canards.  Ordered some from Elise-parts and they showed up in the Colonies 3 days later -- great service.

I was talking to my race guru, and he mentioned that for the rear spats/canards to serve an any sort of effective aero function, they should ideally have an opening to assist in relieving and diverting the turbulent air coming off the rear tire/wheel.  I did a mock-up install of the spats with some spacers to create an opening by dropping the back down a bit.  I'll see how they look and work properly installed with rive-nuts, etc.  Reversing the spacer install will be easy.  I'm sure that any aero benefits will be subtle and incapable of being truly  appreciated with my "butt- meter".  

A couple photos of the temporary mock-up install.  In the second photo, you will notice some white tape on the tire to highlight the extent of the opening between the spat and rear tire.

Of course, I had to continue  my "orange trim" theme.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jack]

Upon further reflection, I have decided more is less, that is, less orange accent.  

Any and all opinions welcome...good or bad.

 

[NW76]

More is less in this case ... fully agree! 👍 what a great looking car! Love it!

[Jack]

3 hours ago, NW76 said:

More is less in this case ... fully agree! 👍 what a great looking car! Love it!

Thanks for the kind words.  I should have said . .....  "less is more" but you understood me. 

No orange detail on my "spats".  LOL

 

[MARTIN_S]

Looks great and less is definitely better.

Will open up the gap a tad, though as mine isn't a full on track weapon the end effect is fairly irrelevant, but an improvement big or small is an improvement.

Martin S

 

[alias23]

Another new install this time from Australia on a Jim Clark Type49 tribute... this cars running a 500bhp Harrop solution!

Crazy to think these sills are reaching all corners of the world! Thanks Guys!