Pauls Exige 410 Sport

[Paul_D]

After posting in the 'Introductions' section, I thought I'd keep a diary of my car and any upgrades I do in this section.

It's a 2019 Exige 410 Sport. 

Cyan Blue, with the interior colour coded pieces in yellow. 

It's got the Carbon Fibre seats, Carbon Roof and Lithium Battery. 

Collection day was long but exciting. When I arrived here, I'd never even seen a 410 sport in real life before, never mind seen or driven the car I'd actually just bought...

The sales woman went to grab the car from where it was tucked away, and when she brought it round for me, even my mask was barely able to hide my smile...

0

I then had a fairly long and steady drive home, taking my time to get to know the car. Didn't want anything silly to happen straight after picking it up. 

Finally a few more pictures from when I got it home:

 

I'm still waiting for my sensible 'daily driver' to be delivered, so the Exige had to be taken to work yesterday. Wasn't ideal when I stepped out of the front door to find ice/sleet on the car.

As it turns out, the Cup 2 tyres seemed to grip surprisingly well in the cold conditions. Glad we didn't have any laying snow though...

[Paul_D]

First modification carried out last night, albeit not a particularly exciting one. 

Having read all the horror stories about killing the lithium batteries and the care they need, I thought any help keeping an eye on it would be worth having. So I ordered one of these:

 

 

Obviously very easy to connect, nothing more complicated than connecting to the positive and negative of the battery. (Although for ease of install, I didn't connect the positive directly onto the battery)

 

Then download and connect to the app, and it immediately shows the battery level. It says it automatically connects and updates when you are in range. As well as the live data and a couple of tests, you can set alarms to initiate at two different battery levels.

[Bibs]

Not seen those before, great idea! 

[C8RKH]

Another parasitic drain on the battery!

Great idea though.

[Paul_D]

I checked that. The average current drain is quoted as 1mA. 

Therefore in my opinion the benefits far outweigh the negligible current draw. 

[lotus muncher]

Lovely to see this particular Exige go to a new caring owner.!!.

[Paul_D]

Just finished off a little cosmetic change that I'd been thinking about before I'd even got the car. 

I was never quite sure that the silver stainless fastenings on the wing and door cards looked right. This is obviously a personal opinion thing, but I prefer fasteners to blend in.

£15 worth of black stainless fixings were ordered.

Wing Before:

Wing After:

 

 

Door Before:

Door After:

 

 

 

I'm really pleased with the result. Plus it's my favourite type of modification: Cheap, Quick, Easy, and reversible in minutes if I changed my mind.

[Mark030358]

My "theft" tracker monitors the battery voltage all the time, not sure it alarms though when drops below a threshold. It does if its disconnected as I get a call off the tracking company.

cheers

[Ramones1234]

On 10/04/2021 at 12:50, Paul_D said:

Just finished off a little cosmetic change that I'd been thinking about before I'd even got the car. 

I was never quite sure that the silver stainless fastenings on the wing and door cards looked right. This is obviously a personal opinion thing, but I prefer fasteners to blend in.

£15 worth of black stainless fixings were ordered.

Wing Before:

Wing After:

 

 

Door Before:

Door After:

 

 

 

I'm really pleased with the result. Plus it's my favourite type of modification: Cheap, Quick, Easy, and reversible in minutes if I changed my mind.

Looks very cool Paul, where did you get the replacement fixings from as I think I may do this to my 410?
Thanks

Colin

[Paul_D]

4 minutes ago, Ramones1234 said:

Looks very cool Paul, where did you get the replacement fixings from as I think I may do this to my 410?
Thanks

Colin

It was from a place called carbolts.co.uk. 

Total cost including delivery was just over £15. 

[Ramones1234]

Hi Paul

Do you happen to have a list of the size bolts that you purchased? Looking to order some for my car now

Thanks

Colin

[Paul_D]

Be aware that if you order these you will need to cut 4mm off two of the M5 x 20mm countersunk bolts. If you aren’t able to do that, order some M5 x 16mm as well. 

[Ramones1234]

Fantastic thank you Paul

[Paul_D]

I did another little job at the weekend which was partly cosmetic and partly practical. The number plate mounting arrangement was different on the later Exiges and didn't have a mounting plinth. This meant that a) You have to drill holes in the number plate and screw them on, and b) you need to unscrew them at a trackday to fit the tow hook. Whilst neither of these are a major issue, I thought I may as well improve things where I can.

This is what you have if you unscrew the number plate - a couple of silver spire clips behind the grill

Found a bit of bar and chucked it on the pillar drill, then cut and cleaned up.

A quick test fit

A lick of paint

 

And hey presto, new mounting pads

 

 

 

I decided to use Velcro to mount the plates, to give me the ease of removal. It still looks very subtle when the car has no plate on:

And then just some velcro on the plates.

Now I can quickly whip the plate off on trackdays with needing tools, or easily swap between the show plate for photographs and stuff...

Or the fully legal plate for normal use...

[C8RKH]

Very nice. A really neat solution on and off plate.

[cuprapw]

On 08/04/2021 at 12:58, Paul_D said:

First modification carried out last night, albeit not a particularly exciting one. 

Having read all the horror stories about killing the lithium batteries and the care they need, I thought any help keeping an eye on it would be worth having. So I ordered one of these:

 

 

Obviously very easy to connect, nothing more complicated than connecting to the positive and negative of the battery. (Although for ease of install, I didn't connect the positive directly onto the battery)

 

Then download and connect to the app, and it immediately shows the battery level. It says it automatically connects and updates when you are in range. As well as the live data and a couple of tests, you can set alarms to initiate at two different battery levels.

No sure if it is something common or what they did but in the sound system in my exige 20th I get the current battery voltage

[Inversed]

That color is gorgeous, I wonder why they didn't include it in final edition options. I would probably prefer this to yellow.

[Chunkv6]

5 hours ago, Paul_D said:

I did another little job at the weekend which was partly cosmetic and partly practical. The number plate mounting arrangement was different on the later Exiges and didn't have a mounting plinth. This meant that a) You have to drill holes in the number plate and screw them on, and b) you need to unscrew them at a trackday to fit the tow hook. Whilst neither of these are a major issue, I thought I may as well improve things where I can.

This is what you have if you unscrew the number plate - a couple of silver spire clips behind the grill

Found a bit of bar and chucked it on the pillar drill, then cut and cleaned up.

A quick test fit

A lick of paint

 

And hey presto, new mounting pads

 

 

 

I decided to use Velcro to mount the plates, to give me the ease of removal. It still looks very subtle when the car has no plate on:

And then just some velcro on the plates.

Now I can quickly whip the plate off on trackdays with needing tools, or easily swap between the show plate for photographs and stuff...

Or the fully legal plate for normal use...

This looks very nice and OEM

Any chance you can make another set of these and post out?  Happy to pay for the privilege................??

[Paul_D]

6 minutes ago, Chunkv6 said:

This looks very nice and OEM

Any chance you can make another set of these and post out?  Happy to pay for the privilege................??

I'll send you a PM in a minute mate. 👍

[Bravo73]

5 hours ago, Paul_D said:

Or the fully legal plate for normal use...

Are you aware that the only real legal aspect of the number plate is the size of the letters? If they remain the same, then you can actually trim some of excess white areas from the sides of the ‘plate. 

(I imagine that would help a lot with airflow). 

[Paul_D]

Yeah, I had a plate to that specification on my old Elise. Legal font and 11mm of plate all around as per the Regs. I couldn't directly use it on the Exige as it was too narrow to reach the mounting posts. I'd also become less of a fan of the looks due to the proportions.

I did think about having one made with legal font and to my exact width requirements. For ease I just ordered a pair of legal plates and a 3/4 sized front one. 

Running the 3/4 plate daily is obviously an option, but that is illegal...

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

Might I suggest some DIY on that plate, cut the ends off so it's a shorter one? 

[Paul_D]

I know what you’re saying, but that would remove the BS mark as it’s in the far right corner and technically make it illegal. It would also make the black border look wrong. 
 

I would want to have one made to my specific measurements to have a legal shorter plate that looked ok. 

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

4 minutes ago, Paul_D said:

I know what you’re saying, but that would remove the BS mark as it’s in the far right corner and technically make it illegal. It would also make the black border look wrong. 
 

I would want to have one made to my specific measurements to have a legal shorter plate that looked ok. 

https://www.platesforcars.co.uk/designer.php?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpdqDBhCSARIsAEUJ0hMo1iMnioiewYPRhw5s1LwNlZARXJTZsmtEuf9v5xN8NQ6NEl7Mj8QaAgBAEALw_wcB

 

Thats your answer

[Paul_D]

Yep, I reckon those dimensions are about perfect. I think that would just extend past the mounting pads I’ve fitted. 👍