750 replies to this topic

[haggi961]

New oem water pump as mine was just leaking slightly.


Motorsport gear cables

[haggi961]

Rubber mounts for the abs holder, new charger and USB cable for my tablet which will be getting mounted to the dash at some point so I can play around with the software.


Leather Exige door trims but I've bought a set of carbon fibre version which I think I prefer.

[haggi961]

Exige Carbon fibre center console that's going gloss


New turbo middle under tray


Built in Baffled catch tank powder coated black.



Exige boot carpet set

[haggi961]

New front lights and Indicators



Ls4 Tb


Exige mesh set for front clam and the engine cover. Lotus special big washer for the side vents and access panels


Front rubber mudguards


Elise parts power pack

[haggi961]

Exhaust wrap


I also bought traction control which I still need to fit.


Dash camera


Carbon fibre dash ends

[haggi961]

Next stage was to source all the body work so a big thanks to Junks and Jonny boy. So around Christmas 2014 I set about collecting all the body work I needed for the conversion. I travelled down to my Dads house to collect his van and then set off to junks house to collect the Exige rear clam, engine cover, sills, doors, side vents, front access panels and front hinge panels all oem body work with no damage and as many seals, brackets nuts and bolts as possible. The reason I went down the OEM route is because I didn't want any poor copy clams making it harder to fit than it already was. I then set off to Jonny boys place and picked up my 2010 front clam, splitters, and roof from him. The parts he makes are as good as, if not better then OEM and a weight saving over standard is a plus. I then dropped the bits off to Dan where it was at his for 7 months and out came this poorly done Exige conversion.

[haggi961]

This is where the project now started for me as I had to do everything again just about.

I sanded and prep the lotus rollover bar and painted with por 15 paint. This had to be changed due to the vx roll bar not working with the lotus roof. Dan had fitted this but I had to remove this again and make some spacers up to push the rollover bar in the right direction for the flip up rear clam to sit properly on the roll bar. Lucky enough he hadn't bonded the bulk head on properly which made it easier to unstick.






Flip up rear clam in action. Well worthwhile mod in my eyes.

[haggi961]

My new header tank came from Dave which I had a slight glass fitted for easy reading and I must say it looks perfect.


I then started stripping my charge cooler header tank, coolant pipe bracket, header tank bracket and rollover bars stays off as the stays were supposed to be powder coated but instead some paint was slapped on over the rust which looked rubbish. I stripped all the paint and rust off and etch primed everything that needed it and used por 15 gloss finish but managed to achieve a matt finish with it.

[haggi961]

So new header tank, charge cooler tank and cap, header tank bracket, pro alloy gear box breather and roll bar stays painted and all fitted.


Wrapped my fuel lines in cloth tape to hide the braided hoses. I also took the crappy back electric tape that had been fitted and redone all my wiring loom in cloth tape


I then started to make a bracket for my catch tank so it could be mounted in the arch and easily seen with side vent to see the oil level.


Rivnuts, grommets, lotus Exige fuel filler neck epoxy putty


Silicone, hi temp glue etc. Heat proof cloth.

[haggi961]

I then made a start on repairing my bulkhead panel which Dan had fitted but for some reason a million holes had been drilled in it, rivnuts were spinning and nothing lined up and it just looked a complete mess. I filled all the holes in on the Dave panel with metal putty and covered in in a heat proof cloth. I then spent ages filing the bulk head hole to get it nice and level and filled all the holes on the bulkhead and started again with brand new stainless steel rivnuts.



Everything nice and level and how it should be.


Next I took the supercharger off and inlet manifold so I could take the silicone out of the head that I had blocked off for the PCV and also cut my spacer to align the channel with the head.

[haggi961]

Fitted a weather strip to the bulk head hole to stop water getting into the cabin.


While the supercharger was off I tidied the bulk head carpet up and then fitted the heat shield cloth over it to give a nice finish. I didn't want to remove the carpet as its good sound proofing so this stuff works perfect by sticking it over the top.



Next job was to rewrap my manifold and fit a new gasket, nuts and studs. My old wrap was getting past its best now.

[haggi961]

My new rear poly carb window replaced by Dan after he smashed mine


My parts arrived from autovaux which was exhaust manifold gaskets, Inlet manifold gaskets and valve, header tank clips, brake fluid reservoir, seat belt clips and alloy caps. I also got Elise parts stainless exhaust brackets and new rubbers.



New exhaust studs and gasket installed.


New inlet valve vs old


Spacers and one of the gaskets trimmed up as 2 are needed with the phenolic spacer.

[haggi961]

More parts from lotus. Exige radiator housing, shims for the doors and front hinge panels. Door rubber seals, indicator seals, door stickers, sill trim panel, engine cover trim panels.


Painted my lotus fuel filler neck with por 15 paint


Carbon fibre gear knob


Painted my alloy caps and a black edge around my poly carb window.



Supercharger all fitted back on along with new gaskets and valve with a stainless steel dipstick holder. I did use a tap and die kit on all the bolts and holes in the engine for the inlet manifold both sides and supercharger with the same size taps and dies to freshen everything up.

[haggi961]

New brake servo hose


Also painted my catch tank bracket I made.


I bought a stainless steel hose clamp set and changed all the hoses in my engine bay with SS version.

Had to buy a lotus filler neck and pipe in the end to get it to work with the vx and lotus clam. The vx one doesn't fit and it had been modified by Dan with melting the vx one which looked rubbish.
Vx vs lotus fuel filler setup


Both of my doors were not working properly and once I investigated I discovered that both doors were missing bolts inside and also the door open push was broken due to forcing the vx rod to work with the lotus door. The vx door rod is shorter than the lotus one so these have to be swapped over. I had to strip both doors done completely and rebuild build back up replacing the bolts that was missing and cleaning everything else up and replace any rusty bolts. I will be stripping the doors down again at some point ready for the respray so didn't get any pictures as I was just seeing what the problem with them not opening was.


New door and roof seal


New Exige rear lights

[haggi961]

The next bit was a right pain in the arse as the lotus sills hadn't been fitted even on both sides and the rear clam wasn't lining up. Dan had used washers trying to pull the rollover bar on one side to line the sill with the rear clam which was putting stress on everything. So I had to unstick the sills in places and stick back down again. While this happened it changed the way the sills sat with the vx bulkhead so I had to cut and file the edges down again to match it with the vx bulk head and the extra fibreglass that was used to bridge the gap. Lotus brackets that are riveted onto the sills and then bonded onto the chassis took me ages to get hold of.




I then rebonded the whole bulk head back to the roll bar and chassis and spent ages getting a perfect finish with masking take. Also the poly carb window was bonded back in.

[haggi961]

Next I took the old silicone off the chassis in the arches and painted in the black paint like they have used with the OEM stuff on the chassis.


My exhaust heat shield had been cut too short by Dan so I had to make another and add an extension onto it.


Next job was to get my exhaust to fit and also for it to work with the Boe clam hinge bracket. In the end I made a cardboard template of my Chris Tullet exhaust to get the right angle of where I wanted to tail pipe to sit. It was then sent down to Chris Tullet for the modification.




A couple a brackets made for my lifeline fire extinguisher kit and fitted one of them to the top of the bulk head and directed at the engine. This is not yet plumbed in so will get pictures once I do this job.

[haggi961]

I then finished off the fuel filler setup as the bag of stainless steel hose clamps came as I doubled clamped all the ends from the tank to the filler neck and also fitted my rollover over valve again as this had been removed for some reason. All modified and looking OEM again.



Next was to plum in my catch tank as I've gone he same route as Chills car with the vacuum and return setup. Hoses all hidden underneath the engine and fitted with a p clip to the bulk head.



I also fitted a Jegs filter to the end of the setup just in case any oil did make its way TB but I don't think it will. Fitted it so I can see it through the engine cover to see if it did start filling up.


Dash 2 ready to fit. It's all wired up and ready to plug straight into the vx wiring harness. This should now give me a real reading of my revs, speed and fuel gauge once I fit a pro alloy tank. Plus I can run everything else through this like oil temp, pressure etc., so there is no need to clutter the dash with loads of gauges.

[haggi961]

Exhaust came back from Chris Tullet. All fitted and working with the clam and bracket. It's now been sent off again to get coated in a special black paint as you can see the stainless steel has tarnished and this can be seen at the back with the Exige rear clam.




My new 650bhp ITG filter came with the custom G60 foam fitted to give better filtering properties. This reduces the filter to about 550 to 600bhp which is still more than enough for me as I won't be hitting that power any time soon.

[haggi961]

Next was to sort my new motorsport gear cables as Dan had fitted them but they weren't working properly. The motorsport cables are not designed for the quick shift so they were not sitting right and the end kept popping of in certain gears. I stripped the cables off out at the engine side and discovered loads of washer to space the bracket out which Dan had fitted and was making it worse. I took the washer and fitted the rod end from the vx gear cables which fitted perfect and did the job as the motorsport rod end is just crap. I also bought a new quick shifter bracket.

I still wasn't happy with the setup and after talking with Steve about his he gave me the idea of a rose joint. I bought the rose joint, stainless steel spacers and nuts and bolts needed to make it work and the finish in the end is just perfect an no problems with it ever coming off again.





Video clip of it working smoothly.


The next problem I'm having with the car is trying to find suspension to fit with the custom wishbones at the rear as its just too close to the CV boot and subframe. So my Gaz shocks didn't fit, I bought some Nitron shocks which didn't fit and need also to sell if anyone is interested? In the end I bought Ohlins shocks which fit perfectly.

Edited by haggi961, 02 October 2015 - 11:46 PM.

[haggi961]

My air filter doesn't fit with my ecu so I had to make a bracket to move the ecu and also extended the wiring on the ecu to move it out of the way.


Roof seals from Jon.


Some more new parts from lotus which are door seals, new tab washers for the rear wishbones, more shims for the hinge panels, and gasket for the spoiler, lotus fuel cap and l shape seat spacer as Dan has lost mine


More A4 stainless steel nuts and bolts.


Powder coated foot rest fitted


Silicone reducer for the air filter and the catch tank all fitted.