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External Modifications

1. 2002 Rear Valance Conversion  

Rear light conversion used the single panel supplied by SJSportcars. The attraction of that panel is that it requires no cutting of the rear bodywork. Sadly the panel is a very poor casting, it took my paint guy much longer than expected to prime and prepare for painting, and then fitting it to the car.

New 2002 V8 rear centre-exit valence was purchased from Lotus. I did not like the original alloy finish so arranged for it to be powdercoated Satin Black. Fitting was straightforward. Luckily the rear bumper had been take off fairly recently which meant that all the old nuts came undone without any difficulty.

2. 2006 Rear LED Lights  

I have recently replaced the older style Elise Mk1 lights with the very latest 2006 Mk2 Elise LED lights. This upgrade works well with the newer cars with the Heyes-Delsey ABS system. It is NOT Lotus approved to fit these lights to the older cars with Delco-Moraine ABS system as the the impedance of the LEDs will trigger an ABS check light.

 

 

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3. Centre Exhaust System  

 

 

 

 

 

 

New custom turbo back stainless steel exhaust system. It is fabricated from 3in stainless pipework, mandrel bends, no CAT. The endpipe is polished chome, available from Jetex Exhausts.

Full details of the centre exhaust system can be found here.
4. Stainless Steel Grilles  

Stainless steel mesh as used on the Jaguar XK8 was fitted to replace the mild steel front intake and side grilles.
5. LED Brake Light  

A high level LED brake light has been fitted. This was a relatively simple to do as the car add a live feed on the tailgate gas stut. It is fitted to later MY cars but they must have included the live feed in the standard wiring loom on non Federal cars several years earlier.

 

6. Custom Decals  

 

 

Custom decals were designed with the generous help of Richard Wise a fellow Esprit owner. We wished to capture the original decal design used by Lotus for both the S4 and the Sport 300 (as many on the internal components used on the engine rebuild were originally fitted to the Sport 300).

 

 

 

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window decals
7. Clear Front Lenses and Side Indicators  

The clear front indicators are available from PUK or Reproglas. These were supplied by Marcus at PUK.

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The clear side indicators and amber bulbs are made by Autoart and are available from either Demon Tweeks or PUK. The fitment is equivalent to the Renault 5 side indicators.

 

 

 

 

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clear indicators
8. Roof Aerial  

Aerial

Short stubby, flexible roof aerial, it looks like a Honda S2000 antenna but the bottom is smaller in diameter so it will fit flush onto the standard base. This aerial was sourced from Enfig in the US.
9. Tyres  

Standard S4 wheels are shod with 215/40 (front) and 245/45 (rear) tyres. I had Bridgestone SO-3 PP fitted for the past 2 years. The rear had now worn down to the wear bar markers so it was time to replace them. I would have been happy to fit another pair of Bridgestone SO-3 PP on the rear but they are now no longer made by Bridgestone !

The options for this size front and rear are fairly limited. Dunlop S9000, Bridgestone RE040, Continental SportContact, Toyo T1-R are available.

 

After a bit of research I decided to go for the new Toyo- T1-R's all round.

 

 

 

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