S3 nose cones....different sizes?

[petefoster]

On trying to lose a few more pounds from my S3, which is an ex Academy, I have tried fitting a carbon nose, the problem I have is the nose on my car appears to be taller than the standard S3 carbon one, from an 02 Superlight about an inch i.e. from the top of the cutout for the bottom wishbones to a line from the top of the aluminium side skin is about 11" as opposed to the carbon nose which is 10"

 

Also, the bottom of my friends nosecone [the bit that tucks up underneath to the bottom Dzus plates is smooth, mine had two recessed channels which align withthe dzus plates

 

Anyone else had a problem like this 🤔 🤔 🤔 or better still a solution *thumbup*

 

Regards

Pete

 

 

I plan to live for ever...so far so good!!!

[Irrelevant]

AFAIK, older nosecones have different lower wishbone cutouts depending on whether they are for the old or new front suspension (i.e. pre/post 97ish). Plus, there are a couple of really old designs that vary slightly but you don't see those much these days.

 

 

 

Edited by - Epimetheus on 18 Apr 2010 06:50:40

[petefoster]

Tanks Epimetheus

 

But my academy is a 55plate and my friends superlight is an 02, so do i have the new version?

 

On viewing the s3 nosecone on CC you can clearly see the recesses on the bottom edge, but not on the carbon nosecone for the s3....I'm all confused *confused*

 

Pete

 

I plan to live for ever...so far so good!!!

[simonpa]

I've a '55 ex-Academy car and the nose has the recessed channels for the bottom mountings.

This means the bottom mountings fit inside the nosecone - so the screw-fitting is part of the nose and the 'S' spring is fitted to the chassis.

 

I've also an older carbon nose which is flat-bottomed and was originally fitted on top of the lower mounting plates, so the screw-fitting was on the chassis and the 'S' spring was fitted to the nose.

 

The older nose does seem to have larger cutouts to clear the bottom wishbones...

This could account for your size/height differences.

 

Have you tried fitting both noses and seeing if the absolute height (floor to top of nose at a particular point) is different?

 

HTH - Simon

 

 

[petefoster]

Hi Simon

 

The problem seems to be the height of the nose, the internal dimension top to bottom in my grp one is greater than the carbon one by about and inch i.e. if you place the noses side by side the profile is fine, from the upper dzus faster over the headlight stay recess and to the point the nose curves down, however the cutout for the bottom wishbone starts an inch higher than on my grp one 😔 😔 😔

 

Pete

 

I plan to live for ever...so far so good!!!

[simonpa]

I'm a bit confused here - have sent you a BM, if case you have a pic to show the differences!

 

Cheers - Simon

 

[Irrelevant]

But my academy is a 55plate and my friends superlight is an 02, so do i have the new version?

Being an ex-Acamemy car, it's probably had loads of nosecones in it's life . . . but it sounds like you have the newest one now (as detailed by simonpa). Being a 2005 car, it would have originally had a flat bottomed nosecone I think - just. The new nosecones are about 2007->

The carbon nosecone you have is one of the older designs(flat bottom) and I guess has been fettled to fit a pre-97 car with it's higher mounted front wishbone mounts.

The carbon nosecone will fit your car, it will just look a bit naff with the extended holes - not much you can do about it really.

 

 

[SLR No.77]

Ah, confusion prevales ........ 😬

 

The chassis was modified in 1996 the biggest change being the front pick-up points for the lower front wishbones being about 1" lower. Unfortunately the nose cones were not modified for the new chassis until some time later - both GRP and CF. My car is 1999 and has the original CF nose, and it has the big gap above the wishbone mounting. Later CF noses, around 2001/2002, were made deeper to fit better with the new chassis - I'm unsure whether the GRP or CF was changed first.

There've been a number of different designs since the swap, mainly around how it is mounted along the botttom edge, all to work with the post-96 chassis. Also the shaping of the nose cones has varied massively - I'd like the updated version but I'm yet to find one that fits the chassis as well as the older style noses.

Your friends nose cone is the OLDER VERSION - if your nose fits well IMPO I'd leave it fitted until you find a CF version that fits well. Unless you're desparate for the bling factor .....

 

Stu.

[Irrelevant]

Ah, confusion prevales ........ 😬

 

My fault that . . . misread who owned what nosecone in my first post . .. . so indeed, friends nose cone is the OLDER VERSION. I'll fix it to avoid confusing more people.

 

 

[petefoster]

Thank you all, mystery solved 😬 😬 😬

 

Just one final thought, does anyone know whether the abs wings nose etc advertised on fleabay are lighter than the grp ones, perhaps a middle ground between grp and carbon and probably a tad cheaper???

 

Pete

 

I plan to live for ever...so far so good!!!

[Irrelevant]

I had some very thin glass wings . . . Defo lighter than cc wings. Identical match as well . . . Sold them a while back though and don't know where they came from. I wouldn't fuss about a few ounces.

[MXM]

Oh boy. This doesn't sound good. I think I have the opposite problem compared to Pete's.

 

I bought a second hand nosecone to replace my broken one, and it HAS recesses at the bottom. And my live axle chassis definitely has the bottom wishbone mounts at a higher position.

 

I haven't tried to fit it yet, but based on this conversation I'm afraid it wont fit! I hope I will be able to solve it by extending the lower side-openings by one inch. If some of you can fit an older cone on a newer chassis, the vice-versa has to be possible, right?