Car interiors seem to never get cleaned properly I guess it’s partly down to the fact they’re always a pain to clean and there’s usually loads of places you can’t reach without removing stuff. Well the Elise interior has been superficially well looked after by previous owners but it still needed a deep clean. Some […]
After a few days and a good few miles covered on our trip to the Lotus factory and around Norfolk the Elise looked OK from a distance as the weather had been good for the whole trip. But it was pretty grubby plus I wanted to get some wax on it so time for another […]
Jem and I wanted to go for a long weekend away now the weather was nice and the Elise really deserved a road trip as the suspension refresh was all finished. We weren’t quite sure where to go, the Scottish Highlands are usually top of the list as it’s so quiet there and the roads […]
We planned a little road trip for the Elise but first it would need a little cosmetic preparation. Some no nonsense Autoglym Super Resin to give the paint a light freshen up and a little protection. Clearly removing a little bit of grime built up on the paint. Super Resin applied. Buffed off to a […]
Now the the Elise was back together, after a complete suspension refresh, it would need a wheel alignment check. I was pretty careful about setting everything up during reassembly so that hopefully everything would be about right but it still had to be checked and the front and rear toe would certainly need some adjustment. […]
While I had both front and rear undertrays and the diffuser off I thought I’d give them a quick clean. The rear undertray was pretty filthy! The Union Flag decals, fitted by a previous owner, were looking pretty untidy now too so I got rid. I have something different to go in their place. Mid […]
I obviously didn’t start the Elise during the few weeks I spent doing the suspension refresh. This was long enough for the battery to discharge so when I finally got it back on it’s wheels it wouldn’t start. I pulled the battery out and topped up the cells with some de-ionised water as they were […]
I thought I’d take a few pictures of everything freshly reassembled after the suspension refresh, as a record of it’s condition, before I cover it all with ACF-50 and it ends up with a layer of brake dust and road grime over it. Now I can get the Elise back on it’s wheels! 🙂
As part of the dismantling for the Elise’s suspension refresh I removed the wheel arch liners. Removing the fuse box from the liner was, predictably, a bit of a fight as the fixings were rusted stuck, see here for some about that. But it was worth the effort as it meant I discovered some wiring […]
Now the wishbones are on and the bolts all torqued up… …I moved on to assembling the rest of the front end. As usual with these things ‘refitting is the reverse of removal’. The ball joint plinths need fitting to the ball joints first. I used a bit of copper grease here to help prevent […]