Diary: March 2006

Silicon Valley Auto Group (SVAG) hosted a meeting of Club111. They provided food and information. The above picture is of a 2006 Elise, with the new LED (light emitting diode) taillights and the new attachment method for the tiny grille just outside of the lights. Notice the small screw. I removed mine and found it difficult as the grilles were formerly glued into the recess.

This is a bare rear clam with the openings for the rear taillights. Note how smooth the surface is and that it will require only a small amount of preparation in order to paint. This also shows how deep the taillight recess is.

While watching Ryan, the SVAG technician, demonstrate how an oil change is done, I noticed the transporter pull up out on the street. It was the arrival of the new Exige!

I much prefer the Exige and the more aggressive look. However, I can not justify the purchase just based on looks.

TurboXS Cold Air Intake

Nathan at TurboXS designed a cold air intake for the Elise. He said it was easy and there was no reason for the other manufacturers to charge so much. I found out about the effort late and so I looked for a way to help out, hoping it might get me an early version of the product. Nathan needed a set of installation instructions and I volunteered. It was fun, documenting the installation and trying out the intake.

I really liked the view of the airfilter through the grille-less scoop. I do not like K&N intakes because they do not provide much horsepower gain and they do not filter the incoming air as completely as paper.

(I only kept the intake for a short time, just to demonstrate the installation. However the sound it makes, when the engine gets up on the high cam, is astounding and intoxicating. I miss the sound. I might reconsider if I can find a paper element similar to the K&N air filter.)

The "slow down" sign is an effort by the Sunnyvale City to bring awareness to speeders in the neighborhood. There is a high school at the end of the block and we have kids frenquently speeding in front of our house. Hopefully the sign will make them think about what they are doing.

Maintenance Mistakes

While preparing to change the oil, I jacked up the car and was placing a stand underneath to support the car. My jack suddenly dropped a couple of inches, just as the stand was underneath the fuel tank sheer panel. The stand distorted the panel. Several attempts at bashing it straight were not effective. I ordered and installed a new panel.