{"id":332,"date":"2012-07-21T11:56:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T11:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/2012\/07\/1998-lotus-elise-s1-driving-light-replacement\/"},"modified":"2012-07-21T11:56:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-21T11:56:00","slug":"1998-lotus-elise-s1-driving-light-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/2012\/07\/1998-lotus-elise-s1-driving-light-replacement\/","title":{"rendered":"1998 Lotus Elise S1: Driving Light replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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The problem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I can’t remember how long my driving light has been broken.\u00a0 I suspect it is nearly the whole life of the car.\u00a0 It does not affect the MOT and garages say that the front clamshell needs removing to replace it, so my thinking never got further than a heavy sigh.<\/p>\n

A little while ago I got so cross with my losse engine cover that I started searching the web for a solution.\u00a0 I soon found one and surprised myself<\/a> by fixing it pretty quickly.\u00a0 Thanks to the lovely people at SELOC who had compiled instructions from their experiences<\/a> I had very clear outline of what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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First steps<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

My only issue was at the start.\u00a0 On the Elise S1 there are plastic screws holding on the grill.\u00a0 I have spares that I have gathered over the years so cut the heads off mine using a Stanley knife.\u00a0 Both (and I was forewarned after the first one) shot in to the undertray.\u00a0 At least I assume that they did because I could not find them anywhere.\u00a0 I guess they will kick around for ever like the Maglite torch that some engineer dropped when it was being manufactured and was pulled out years later.\u00a0 The clunk-clunk-clunk as I went round corners had mystified me for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Double check you remove the right lug.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

After getting the grill off, it was plain sailing.\u00a0 I snipped off the upper outer lug with pincers, and used the same tool to break off the screws in the other lugs.\u00a0 I assume that they are for a later model Elise, which is no doubt easier to work with.\u00a0 I checked and checked again that it was the correct lug.\u00a0 I imagine it comes off to make it easier to put the new one through the hole. The only step I took issue with on the guide was to put Vaseline on right at the start.\u00a0 It got in the way\u00a0 and I kept smearing it around (which annoyed me) so I wiped it off and added it at the last minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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This *just* fit the bolt, which came in useful later.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I cut the slot for the nylon screw using a junior hacksaw.\u00a0 It was a perfect fit after a little filing.\u00a0 This helped when fitting it over the screw later since it was fiddly and it helped me that the light could hold itself in place whilst I changed grip.\u00a0 I was replacing the springs with stainless steel ones.\u00a0 The springs are stiff enough that compressing them with a screwdriver is not that easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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I found it easy to replace at its full length<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The guide says that you need to cut down the lower outer screw to fit it.\u00a0 I had no problem getting it in at its full length and also found that once it was in place I could turn it with a long thin screwdriver even when the light was fitted.\u00a0 The red tape was to protect the paint from the screwdriver when the screw was far out.\u00a0 Not that the paint is in its first flush of youth after 14 years.\u00a0 The bulb in the old light appeared to be dead so I replaced it with the new one, but that didn’t work either.\u00a0 Luckily a magic wiggle of the lead seemed to sort it out.\u00a0 I hope it lasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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In this photo it looks a bit wonky, but it is fine.\u00a0 Happy days.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I fitted plastic covers to the lights which will hopefully prevent another broken light.\u00a0 I rather regret buying the full fitting kit because I could not face taking out the other light just to replace some springs.\u00a0 I had no idea what the washers were for either.\u00a0 I am very happy to finally have the car looking its proper self again. A big thank you to the people at SELOC <\/a>for their time to make the guide.\u00a0 They said it would take an hour if you took it slowly and this is exactly how long it took me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The problem I can’t remember how long my driving light has been broken.\u00a0 I suspect it is nearly the whole life of the car.\u00a0 It does not affect the MOT and garages say that the front clamshell needs removing to replace it, so my thinking never got further than a heavy sigh. A little while … Continue reading 1998 Lotus Elise S1: Driving Light replacement<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-lotus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomas.w-p.me.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}