My 07 Exige S

General Owners Cars
1

Hi everyone. Here is my ‘new’ car.
To say I’m pleased with it is such an understatement. I’ve probably, like many of you on here, had various ‘performance cars’ over the years I’ve had my license. From humble beginnings with my first car, a Fiat Strada 105tc which when you’re a 17 year old lad is in your imagination a fire breathing GTi, all the way through to today with this chrome orange S 220. I’ve had a few Loti on the way, an azure blue S1, two red rover S2’s and a blue 220 SC Elise prior to this. The very first S1 was like nothing I’d ever driven, and that connectivity with every input on these cars is just as alive in this Exige.

Here are a couple of pictures of when i got her home, sadly work and the weather have conspired to prevent me given it is maiden TBM wash and wax.

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Hopefully that’s worked.

I’ll put on some of the progress pics for the ‘details’ i want to address.

Any comments or advice gladly received…Pete

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Pete,

Images look great!

Looks fantastic in that colour.

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Cheers Andy. It’s not exactly undercover is it!

First little thing was the state of the gearknob.
One of a few reasons for not entering the bonds of marriage (though nothing i hold against anyone :laughing:) is they give you this ring you wear to display the fact. This ring then tears up the interiors of cars with sufficient use.

Exhibits A&B m’Lord

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Some cleaning and a liberal application of daughters black nail varnish, stick it in the lathe and attack with all the grades of wet n dry

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And a bit of autosol and we’re there

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Nice :blush:

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Nice touch, this will be another project thread to subscribe to !

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Good start, I did exactly that on my 111R as the knob was knackered. Came up great.

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Lovely car Chigmuss!!!
Congrats on an Exige, sounds like you are no stranger to the brand. Do you miss the extra lightness of the S1?

That orange colour looks amazing. I didn’t have the cojones to get an Orange Alrhough a part of me wanted to, but these cars look fantastic in the bold bright colours.

P.s. impressive nob polishing :laughing:

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Lovely car - enjoy. An Orange exige will always be special!

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There’s definitely a further rawness (maybe not the right word) to the S1, let’s face it, the Exige has the touring pack so half carpets, it’s slightly more refined. But the DNA is still obvious for sure.

I think i can safely say though that my 6/10 driving skill level makes every journey in any Elise/Exige an event. There’s still a nervous buzz in anything but bone dry conditions that it can bite you. And i like that. You don’t get that in many other modern cars. I think getting some track tuition is a must for me to at least get me to a 7/10!

I think all of us on this forum, whether it’s an S1/2, an Elise or Exige are in these cars for that connection that isn’t always there with other machinery. perhaps the fanfare of the new Emira makes me realise that they truly are now a finite resource that will at least keep its value for years to come. There’s not allot else out there for the money that can match the feeling. And i kinda feel for the ‘yoofs’ who will be raised on EV’s in years to come who might not get to feel that buzz the first time you drive a Lotus of this era.

That said, my daughter bangs on that is the likes of me who are destroying the planet with fumes, so they might not actually care😆

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The fannying on continues… not happy with the poor state of the inside door handles I thought I’d have a search about and find some new ones.

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They couldn’t be expensive surely, it’s just a chromed bit of handle? Hmmm… it seems they can be expensive. About £55 expensive, each, from De Roure from memory. The handle is part of a plate with the mechanism built into it.

A scour of wiki pages etc didn’t reveal a fat lot. I’d started to think it was just me who gets bothered about pretty irrelevant sh*t like this and I should just leave well alone. But sometimes things eat away at your thoughts…where would Lotus have sourced them from? They can’t be a bespoke part? Of course, the MG parts bin.

And bingo, Rimmer Bros have the left and right for £12.50 & £16, same looking part as the Lotus one. So, like you do when you impulsively press the pay by PayPal button, what started out as about £28 magically transforms into £43 with some shipping and a bit of VAT for the empty public coffers.

They arrive in the post a couple of days later. I’m chuffed. Out I go to fit them in what I imagine might take a few hours…

Hang on. Stone me. Spot the difference.

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The bleedin plates are not the same. Gutted I was. Here’s me thinking I’ve scored a blinder, only to get scuppered at the final hurdle. Well, I thought about returning them, compared them, pondered my options. And yes, broke out the grinder.

I ground the end off the pin holding the handle in on the old and the new, ran it through with a 4mm bit and popped in a long M4 set screw and two washers to lock things up. The silver finger plate hides the ugliness. I know it’s a bit of a ‘bodge’ but it’s not too heinous a modification and they both now work perfick and look mighty fine.

All told it was less than an hour. The hardest part is getting the awkward little panel screw out from the leading edge of the door panel. I found I had to rotate the panel down to the floor after disconnecting the 'leccy window switch and work like that. The pictures hopefully illustrate that point.

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Finger plate has 3 fixing, top left is another panel screw, lever the screw out then pull out the expanding stud thing, the other two are just normal screws

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You can see here my DIY replacement pin, M4 bolt, 2 nuts

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The original set up is below but the finger plate hides it all anyway

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Hopefully if anyone has a burning desire to rectify some nasty handles and wants to do it on a budget this is of some use. :thumbup:

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Excellent work. Always satisfying to avoid lotus-tax.

I replaced a dash vent a while ago via an Alfa Romeo, saved me $$

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Tell more. I have a dead one …

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ALFA ROMEO 156 2.4JTD 100KW 2000 DASHBOARD AIR VENT GRILL DASH TRIM 224706 :thumbup:

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Enjoyed that, it’s good seeing what bits you can get away with (Andy, I had no idea it was an Alfa air vent btw).

Well that’s how I read it anyway. No doubt you’ll not be the first to have uttered that phrase. :wink:

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:open_mouth: and that’s what happens when you skim read your post!!!

Indeed, i didn’t resort to a dubious ‘dating’ site. But i shall leave it unedited for comedy value :laughing: