Central Locking Issue and Suspension set up

[flip flop]

Hi,

Got a couple of questions on the above and one on suspension set up.

Central locking has stopped working, when you press alarm fob or central locking from inside the car you can hear the central locking try to work and you can see the knobs move slightly on the door (but bounce back as if they are stuck).

Found this thread http://www.exiges.com/ubbz/ubbz/ubbthre ... ber=128976 and the thread embedded with images to explain.

I've got to the black box ready to order the piece with Murrays on Monday.

Question 1 - anybody think I'm on the wrong track or should this be the correct fix

Question 2 - Once the right hand light switch cluster and surround was off I found a spare wire with a black 4 point connector just lying there (not in the images in the thread). Everything else seems to be working so I'm wondering what it is. Has anybody else seen this wire? My only other thought is that being the showcar lotus possibly wired the car for a push button start does this seem feasible?

Last Question - With some much appreciated teaching from Kayfur this morning we were having a look at my geo, once the wheels were off Kev commented that the suspension set up in my car seemed pretty cool with full adjustable set up including adjustable ride height and remote reservoirs etc. As the car is going into cmcl on Thurs for a full set up will they know the best set up or does anybody have the best set up to ask for, should I be lowering the car as much as possible while its in?

cheers and apologies if theres any silly rookie questions in here

Flip

[mckeann]

no idea about central locking. As for suspension, its hard to tell you what to change without knowing what its set at currently. Plus, it depends on how you drive and the type of driving you do. If i were you, i'd be tempted to get the geo checked, and either left how it is, or set to standard exige settings, but with max front camber (probably no more than 1 deg). As for damper settings, there will be a bit in the manual or online telling you what they should be. Until your a good enough driver to know better, i'd set it to standard. Dont trust murrays to know the correct damper settings either.

[alicrozier]

Do you know the type of suspension for a start? Thinking it'll likely be Lotus Sport Ohlins if it was from the factory like that.
Check the numbers on the springs (spring rates) will give a clue. If it is the standard ones I can give you some default road and track settings for the dampers...
Is your anti roll bar adjustable (drop links to a bar on the front suspension, bar will have a number of holes if it's adjustable).

Cheers,
Ali

btw you could lower it but without knowing the spring rates and arb you risk heavy wear on the wheel arch liners and even back of the headlights.

[flip flop]

Cheers guys and thanks,

neil, I had a similar conversation with kev this morning that my driving is probably causing understeer more so than the car, so your suggestion seems pretty good. I was just worried that if clcm asked me how it's to be set up I'd be silent (for once in my life).

Ali, if you got a good road/track set up that would be brilliant. I will check tomorrow morning and report back but I'm pretty sure they were bilstein with blue rotating numerical adjusters and remote resevoirs if that helps. Will check for any numbers I can find and look for holes.

Cheers

[alicrozier]

Ali, if you got a good road/track set up that would be brilliant. I will check tomorrow morning and report back but I'm pretty sure they were bilstein with blue rotating numerical adjusters and remote resevoirs if that helps. Will check for any numbers I can find and look for holes.

Cheers

Ah, sounds like you have the 'supersports' pack?
1-way adjustable bilsteins with ride height ajustable platforms, should also have an asjustable arb then.
I don't know much about these dampers but SELOC says:

(1 being soft, 10 hard)

Road
Front 3/10 Rear 2/10
Track
Front 8/10 Rear 7/10
Ride height from Factory is set at 130mm front and rear but again Lotus suggest an the optimal setting with these dampers for track use of 120mm front and rear

[flip flop]

Thanks Ali, your a legend.

I'll sign upto seloc and see if I can find the geo settings to suit, hopefully I can give them all the info and get it back raring to go. Then all I need to do is concentrate on developing my driving. Once it's alldone your welcome to a back to back test with your own to see how it feels.

Cheers

[alicrozier]

I'd go with what Ape says on the geo. Standard numbers per the manual.

Once geo is done you should have a play with the damper clicks and see if you can feel the differences, also arb (try full soft then full hard etc.)

[flip flop]

You guys are really keen on your cars, don't think I've read a car, or any manual in my puff. There's tonnes of info in that wee book!

The book says max of -0.1 to -0.5, sorry to be a pain but did neil refer to the manual max of -0.5 or is it common to go to +1.0 or -1.0 or should I do the book max set at 130 but go to 120 ride height which I'm assuming would increase the camber by .1 or so.

As above, sorry to be a pain. If I just told the guy to give me max front camber, book settings elsewhere, 120mm ride height and the suspension numbers would that suffice.

Thanks for your patience

[mckeann]

Usually on the S2, if you remove all the shims, you'll be lucky to get to -1deg camber on the front. I got my steering arms machined by Stu to give me -2.1 deg on the front so it turns in quicker/more agressively, but it makes its easier to spin if you dont know what your doing.

As it is, the S2 understeers near the limit, which is handy as you learn how to drive. I'm surmising about your driving, but the common mistake is to turn in, and get on the power too soon, which causes understeer. Then you wind on more lock, the car keeps understeering, until you lift off the throttle, the front bites, and unsettles the rear. The more front camber you have, the more it bites when you lift off, which, if your not good with putting on a turn and a half of opposite lock(and being able to get it back off again quickly) will result in spins. If your still getting used to the exige handling, and havent done a walshy day yet, i'd either stick to standard exige settings, or go to -1 deg maximum. The rest of the settings i'd go for standard exige settings. Willie at CLCM will have the S2 exige settings in his computer, so you shouldnt need to know them off by heart

[Lazydonkey]

I just put mine intto CLCM and he put it to standard and it felt awesome.

Then after i'd got use to the car for a few years i said i was doign a few more trackdays and he said "ok ill put a fast road / track set up on it"

Good thing about Willie is you dont need to know what you are talking about - you just say "make it good" and he will

[flip flop]

Hey guys,

thanks for all the help, it's booked in for Thursday so am grateful to at least be able to have a basic conversation on the subject now.

Cheers