LINCOLNSHIRESLUPOGTI

Thanks for the pictures Andi, shame it was a damp, cold day so it doesnt look as bright as it should. To answer some questions and to do a mini review please read on. Specification Elise R with MY08 touring/super touring packs combined so has the airbags, Alpine stereo system, much improved heating system and the famous cup holder! Also got the Exige seats with harness holes. Also got sport pack so it has Exige suspension, Exige geometry, front oil coolers, forged wheels (about 6kg each so very light) and also switchable traction control which is good for a young lad like me who is used to fwd...also good for wet days. So what do I think? Initially blown away with the fun of having a mid engined two seater without a roof so for the first few days I was living a dream (that I wanted to live since I was 18). I do not want to say what has been said before (or sound big headed) but it handles like nothing I have ever driven. I have had a race spec Mini (old mini) that was fast and went round corners, and obviously the Lupo but neither came close to the Elise for precision of steering and braking response and feedback. I think the Lupo handled mid corner bumps better as the Elise tends to feel uneasy at the rear (my suspension is much stiffer damped than the standard Elise set-up) and I actually think I could get places faster in the Lupo as I felt more confident driving it fast-though after 5 years and 80,000 miles I should have done really! Elise is certainly useable daily and once work sort out their carpark issues I will use the Elise in all but very wet/icy weather. Heating works, both for demisting and heating the car, it does not leak, even when hosed down and it all works apart from a slight crunch going 2nd to 3rd but this is likely the gear linkage and is being looked at tommorrow at the post running in service. Not driven it too hard yet as had to go easy for 600 miles and then a little less easy until 1000 miles. It certainly is fast in a straight line (13.0s quarter as standard) and it takes smoothish, sweeping bends with no effort at all but yet to give it full revs or full throttle until this weekend after the service and also until I have had my driver training next week at Lotus. 40mpg so far and this is likely to improve as the engine loosens up with a few more miles, my Lupo didn't stop loosening up until about 30,000 miles so I have a while to wait yet if the 'Yota engine is anything like as tight at the VW was. Do I miss the Lupo then? Yes, every day and I still question if I did the right thing. Yes the Elise is new, fast and perhaps the greatest drivers car ever for the money.....but.....and it is a big but.....it is not unique like my Gti was, I have had no input to its specification and there are lots about (alhough mine is currently the only storm titanium MY08 of my specification that has been made). I have many Lupo memories and at the risk of sounding sad, I think I enjoyed the Lupo as much after 5 years as I do the Elise after a month sop hopefully I wont get bored of Elise too soon. I know I still miss my race mini and I sold that in 2002!!! So what do I have planned...I don't leave things standard do I. 1. I had it de-badged at the factory, the Elise rear sticker, the "R" wing badges were removed leaving just the nose badge and rear letters of "LOTUS" on the rear. 2. I had Exige seats fitted from new. 3. Lotus stage 2 exhaust being fitted tommorrow at first service, apparantly this should give pops and bangs on the over-run and make some nice raspy tones. Rumured to give near 10bhp too. 4. Maybe a replica Exige front splitter and black rear diffuser in the future. 5. Small front number plate in the future. 6. Might get the Lotus coilovers when my dampers wear out so I can go the 10mm lower to make it look more aggressive. And that is all.....although I would like some throttle bodies one day

I should be able to make this to catch up with a few of you. Hope nobody will complain with an ex-Lupo owner being there.

Spacing the rears out on a Gti makes such an improvement to the look. Definetelly a good modification, you are lucky to be getting away with minimal rubbing at that offset though. IMO there is not a bad modification on this car, if I were to buy another Gti, I would be knocking at the door of the this cars owners with the readies!

On the A614 about 4pm today. You were heading away from Nottingham and I was heading towards Nottingham. Just after we passed you overtook some cars and were in a mega hurry. Was it you Mitch? Can't be many cabbies like your one.

My Gti is the best car I have ever used in terms of modulating its engine temperature. In 77,000 miles it has never given me cause for concern regarding engine temperature. Gets up to temperature quick from a cold start, always runs bang on halfway whether it is a hot or cold day and even after long periods of high speed followed by traffic jams it never overheats. I remember Tigz 1.0 overheating on the way to Trax 3 years ago (when his car was actually on the road). His fan wiring loom connector had become disconnected and the fan was not cutting in. I plugged it back in for him but the connector was not too good and didnt seem to positive in latching. Maybe the connetor is poor and can become unclipped easily??? Could the blown fuse have been for the cooling fan??? Is the fan seized and so blew the fuse due to electrical overloading of the fan circuit???

Easy peasy mate. Remove both wiper arms first. Remove the 2 foam pads and the bulkhead seal strip first (all three just pull off gently). Remove the three screw that hold the pollen filter access panel in place (passenger side of engine bay). Pull the scuttle panel out of its retaining groove in the windscreen glass. Be careful not to bend panel too much or drag it accross the wing tops. You will now see the wiper linkage. Any more instructions (how to get wiper linkage and motor off etc) or is this enough for you? I can post more if you need them. Good luck. Oh and when refitting thr scuttle panel to the groove in the windscreen glass I would clean both parts first so the scuttle seats nicely in the glass. The panel just clips in with a tap from your hand, not too hard or you may crack wiondscreen.

My prefered route. 1. Rinse with hose pipe and clean water. 2. Wash from top to bottom followed by all shut frames, wheels then engine bay.. I wash with a Meguiars wash mitt and Zymol shampoo. 3. Rinse with hose pipe and clean water. 4. Dry off with a Meguiars microfible cloth. I only do the next three steps a few times a year. 5. Apply Meguiars Scratch X to any damaged areas of paint. 6. Apply Zymol HD Clense then buff off. 7. Apply Zymol carbon wax then buff off.

Slight side note mate. If it is the rubber hose that has been rubbing on the belt them possibly may need to get the hose replaced (or at least take a look at it). There were a couple of Gti's on here who suffered power steering hose splitting after it came out of the plastic clip on the chassis rail and chaffed against the side of the auxiliary drive belt.

All done now. Just worked out the required sweep angle of each wiper arm. For reference (and it is kind of obvious really) the passenger arm moves through a greater angle than drivers arm so the drivers arm has the longer crank arm.

If the oil is very overfilled there is a chance of increased oil pressure and blowing an oil seal. To be honest this is quite unlikely but I would still take some oil out if it is very overfilled (to quantify "very" lets say half the difference between min and max over the max mark). Sump drain plug is at the back of the sump towards the drivers side slightly. Usuaully when you remove the sump plug you fit a new one as they have a soft washer on them that deforms to create the seal on the sump. This deformation is a once only operation and sometimes if used more than once the sump plug can leak. You probably wont take the plug all the way out, more like just loosen it to allow some oil to trickle past it so you will have to retain the same plug. Remember if you take the plug all the way out its bloody hard to get it back in quickly when the oil starts pouring out.

Topic seems to have appeared twice. Mod - can you delete this one please?

Taking my single wiper off and fitting standard Gti aero wipers as I want to go slightly more OEM. About to re-assemble the standard wiper mechanism and shim it up but not sure which way the spindles go in the wiper motor frame casting. Both wiper drive arms (the bit of pressed plate) look the same length but the big difference is in the end linkage (the bit that the wiper spindles are welded to). Each end piece is a slightly different length (and has a different joggle in) and this obviously controls the angle each arm moves through. I don't want to try it out as if I get it the wrong way it is a pain to strip it all down and swap them over again. Can anyone help please or better still does anyone have a photo of the mechanism (under the plastic scuttle panel) so I can re-assemble the wipers. A picture from EKTA or ELSA (the build book) would be useful too. Please, please, please.

I have a Gti throttle body and inlet manifold from my car. £50 sound reasonable??? I have no idea what they are worth.

Today the passenger door locking has gone funny. Works exactly as it should with the remote so no problem here. When inside and I press the "lock" button on the drivers door, everything locks then the passenger door lock immediately unlocks. Tried this several times, opened and closed door a few times then tried locking again...still broke! Stripped door down tonight and thoroughly cleaned door handle mechanism, adjusted the door pull cable (was a little slack anyway and exterior handle was not opening the door until nearly full travel) unplugged door locking motor and cleaned all connectors (they were spotless anyway). All back together and no difference. So I now believe it is a relay fault. Can hear it actuate behind fuse box and then re-activate to cause passeneger door to unlock (the fault). 1. Any suggestions, relay buggered maybe??? 2. Is the relax behind the fuse box or is the noise of it working just sounding like it is there?

Sorry but I can't tell you. I went straight in with the spacers and never tried without. I can be pretty sure that it won't rub without them on as it only occasionally rubs on big bumps with them on now.

I think it is 95mm lower all round. I have 30mm ground clearance, the same as the black bit of the Gti key! Front camber is still as it was, -2.5 degrees negative. No surprisingly! There is about 6mm of threads left to go but wheels go right in arches so cant get it any lower. I had one the first set of FK in the country (over 4 years ago) and I am sure they have more adjustment as still got lots left on the front threads too.

Sme more showing off my Zymollin' efforts. border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" class="linked-image" />

After I had got rid of as many swirls I could I started with the Zymol. Used the HD Clense first and then the carbon wax. Nearly bought the Ebony wax as it is for black paint but it is only for non-clearcoat black so went for the carbon wax. I am a design consultant sevice company. I work for engineering companies doing design work for them. It was Fin's car that convinced me that 17's were the way to go when I first got the car. Maybe I also had a little bit of chav in me back then too. I think have seen the light...at last. style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> When I frst got them I was a little disappointed as I hoped they would be deep dished. As they were special order I could not send them back (and after all the hastle it took getting them). Once they were on the car though my view changed and I love them just as they are, they seem to have just the right stance for the width of the arches.

Lupo has been pretty neglected recently. Since starting my own business last year and then moving house recently it has covered about 5,000miles since the last MOT (11 months ago) compared to the 20,000 a year it usually does. Only been polished once in the last 8 or so months and just been sat in a garage mostly. It got the new wheels and a bit of attention then got moved to the garage at my new house and laid dorment again. Got close to selling but after chats with Tigz and Tom and some time on Clublupo the Lupo love is strong again and it is staying with me. Just spend about 20 hours giving it a full detailing session finishing with some Zymol. First time I have used the stuff and it is in a different league to the polishes and waxes I have used in the past. 80,000 mile service in a week then off for MOT and a check over the ECU's to make sure all is well and that the throttles are balanced. Hopefully then I may get some playtime if it stays dry. A couple of post-Zymol shots taken on my phone so not amazing quality. border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" class="linked-image" />

Toyo Proxes mate. I don't really hammer it around that much so the power is not too much of a factor in tyre life.

Freefall - Skydive. That song brings back memories of younger days cruising with my mate when he bought a brand new 106Gti just as they came out. Still one of my all time favourite songs.

IIRC the only panel the Gti shares with the non-Gti is the bootlid. The roof is the same but the aerial hole is drilled further forward on a Gti. Thats a properly special top line model for you. No stick on bodykits and a set of sets here...ala other popular hot hatches.

-2.5 on the front. Been like that for 60,000 miles. I usually get 6000-8000 miles from my front tyres. -0.75 on the rear. Been like that for 60,000 miles. I usually get 10000-12000 miles from my rear tyres.

Looks nice. Shows how a few small choice mods can do so much more for a car than a mega bucks stick on bodykit. A subtle and cheap modification that would look nice would be the Aero rear wiper arm and blade a few of us have done. Practical and smooth. *Off topic but you are only a few miles from me as I have moved to Shepshed recently. Maybe see you around when I bring my car out on a nice day!

Followed you yesterday morning at about 5:45am. I was in my old Mercedes 190. I blasted up behind you as I wanted to follow and watch how much a standard Gti rolls and bobbles on the bumpy A50 compared to mine. Hope you didn't think I was odd as everytime you overtook I followed you!