Tail
Light tinting: One of our first ever modification was to tint
the tail light to match with the rest of the body black area of
the vehicle. We blend them in with
a special 2 pack black and clear mix.
The
black colour was used to to shade the tint in clear its quite
simple process that can be done within a few hours. As you can
see the finish is clossy without effecting original colour of
the lens (red/orange/white). the same method was used all around
the vehicle.
Thel lights got tinted from the outside of the lens and baked
in an oven for 40 minutes.
Body
Paint:
The
vehicle appeared to inherit some scratches while parked. Some
of my good friends at BBS Motors provided with the original paint
brand lotus factory used, for the facelift. We decided to completely
spay the car and not cut any corners.
The
boys at BBS took their time to get it right and 6 weeks later
the car looked fantastic. Some of the panels were fun to pull
apart from the car.... That's expected from a hand build car that
takes up to 3 weeks the factory to make..
Later
on some Carbon fibre vinal was added as seen on the photos below
Engine cover:
BBS
Motors work on the engines cover paint job as this required the
professionals to work on. However the heat shielding at the engine
bay and also the boot floor was done by us.
The
cover is made by two large pieces which they found to fail at
the joins all around the cover.
After
a good clean and removing the old thin heatshield the factory
used, we treated the joins with new fibre.
Before
we apply the new heatshield material we've sent it off for a new
pain job at the Boys at BBS. Glossy black flexi paint was used.
Note: This area of the car is getting a quite hot as the paint
must be flexible enough so it does not crack due to the high temps
produced by the engine.
Before
After
Boot
floor and Engine bay:
After
many days of research about heat shielding materials, we found
a local supplier who had a brilliant product for the job. We search
for the best local product and finally we received 3 samples to
choose from a supplier.
We
mostly used a new product of carbon fibre and heatshield cloth
combination. The main reason to protect the walls of the vehicle
is because the heat generated from the Turbo and manifold which
cause parts of the wall to peel away in some cases.
If
you would like to use any of the materials used on this vehicle
please contact us
for more information.
Boot
Floor was taken out by first disconnecting the electrical
looms and vacuum hoses to the middle and right hand site of the
engine bay then you can unbolt the floor, this assembly is quite
easy to remove. We decided while the floor was out to respray
it black, replace all the nuts and bolts on the floor and reseal
the floor with the special heatshield material. If you get to
that stage we recommend to check for gearbox leaks, gear shift
assembly for access free play, Turbo inlet hoses or anything else
you cant view properly with the floor on. It will be also a good
idea to give the engine area a good clean as you may not get this
view often. Good practice anyway.
Stock Engine open View
note
the heatshield material on the left hand site.
Door
seals : While the vehicle was getting painted we discover
the door seals had lost their shape and flexibility. These seals
are very expensive so make sure you look after them as you would
with all the rubbers on the vehicle. E.g. sunroof and engine bay.
Furthermore
we also protected the door steps with the product available now
in many deferent designs for all esprits.
Body
protection: The body may suffer some damage from the road
surface particles flicking from the back tyres to the body area
as its not protected with any splash guards. We have manage to
minimise the damage by installing head lights clear protection
as per the photo showing. This theory now has been tested for
2 years and the area is been protected successfully. (See photo
below)
