While the Elise was parked up over winter I occasionally turned the engine over without starting it to keep things oiled and prevent the same valve springs being compressed for a long period. To turn the engine over without it starting I went into the boot and behind the boot bag to remove the fuel […]
Well this wasn’t something I’d planned on doing but after driving home from work one day I got out the car to find the right hand side scoop was missing. It was there when I left work so had obviously just fallen off. They had been fitted by or for a previous owner and I […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The headlamp covers had been fitted with the usual sticky black butyl type adhesive so removing them wasn’t a big problem fortunately. It just requires a little bit of heat to soften it then once I had an edge lifted with my fingers the covers peeled off quite easily. Most of the adhesive was left […]
With all the suspension components out of the way for the suspension refresh I took the opportunity to clean everything I could get to. A few years worth of grime had built up. Cleaner, warm water and various cleaning tools. After some wiping and rinsing, being careful to clean gently as I didn’t want to […]
Hangar 111 Exhaust and Surround Polish As I had the exhaust off to deal with the leaks and I was waiting for parts to fix a few faults I found. I figured it was a good opportunity to give the exhaust a clean up and clean the exhaust exit surround on the rear clam. As […]
Finding and Buying my Series 1 Lotus Elise After finishing the MX5 and enjoying the increase in power for a good while it was time for a change. So after selling it I did the usual scan through the web to see what interesting cars were available out there with particular interest in two cars. […]