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Carbon rear wing protectors


Pierre Gillet

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Several considerations are going back and forth in/out of my mind.

The current stainless ones are a bit shabby after 4 years on the roads of Yvelines. They look as if they had been sand blasted. One of them shows several dents probably made by some stones.

I like the look of the carbon protectors and would like to know how they will cope with these road conditions. Are they going to last for 4 years too?

Will,according to you,this carbon appendices ruin the classic appearance of my 40 th Anniversary 1.6 K ? In fact, I want may be a bit less chrome/ss "shining" accessories. May be some CF sill protectors too.

Along this line, is it easy to spray in satin black the exhaust protector? which primer should I use?

You inputs will be as always very much welcome.

Cheers,

 

 

 

Pierre

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Pierre,

 

Carbon will keep its appearance longer than stainless as it does not dent. Be sure the wing protectors you buy are vacuum formed as wet lay up carbon is no stronger than glassfibre.

 

Regarding your exhaust, get the cover powder coated. Paint WILL scratch off.

 

 

 

Fat Arn

The NOW PROVEN R500 Eaterid=red>

See the Lotus Seven Club 4 Counties Area Website hereid=green>

 

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I think I'm going to be the loan dissenter, but I wouldn't swap them Pierre.

 

If you intend to keep the car forever more then fair enough, but I'm not convinced it'll look right on a 40th anniv. coloured car, what with its silver stripe, ali screen etc.

 

Anything non-uniform could well also give you grief with resale value (was the 40th a limited edition or just a colour scheme?). Plus, having bright flashes on a darker shade can only help visibility to other road users.

 

I also hear they are an absolute pig to fit (I have carbon wings and simply left a panel bare a la a protector).

 

All subjective of course, just my take.

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Thanks guy."I also hear they are an absolute pig to fit"

Can anyone tell me more ?

Andy, what you are telling me confirms my concern. One positive point though is that they can be replaced relatively easily thus not really taking the car's value down. Anyway, I want to keep my Seven and I a not planning to replace it. I think it is a limited edition since I was given a specific plaque to be located on the dash. In fact I have riveted it under the bonnet close to the ID plaque.

Is there away to identify a limied edition one using the chassis number?

 

Another question: are black rivets of the right size available at Caterham or elsewere?

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

 

Pierre

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Pierre,

 

I received a pack of rivets in with my carbon wing protectors from Caterham (and only fair considering how much the protectors cost sad.gif ). Exactly the right number though, so no room for errors. I am going to get some more next time I pass the place as I need some to re-rivet the panels on after I fitted my petty strut, plus some extras may come in handy.

 

Mike

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Regarding Limited Edition chassis numbers.

 

My 25th aniversary Silver Jubilee Seven says "Number 007" on the plaque attached to the dashboard. The chassis number ends J007. So one would assume the same applied to later anniversary issues.

 

 

 

Mark

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Mark, there is no number on my plaque... so that it will be hard to make the correlation you did with the chassis number. I least I know that my Seven is factory-built, so that it can only be

(hopefully) genuine.

Marius, I shall make sure I get the rivets since they are not so easy to find.

Cheers,

 

Pierre

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Pierre, the carbon wing protectors are not difficult to fit. If you use the piping (I did), the protector might flex a little, where the rivets go through. If you decide you dont want that look, fit them without any piping at all.

 

Either way, the protector is flexible enough to fix to the wing using masking tape. Then just drill and rivet one hole at a time, fixing the protector at points all round the edge, not starting at one point and going round sequentially. (Hope that last sentence made sense!)

 

You can also pull up the tape now and then, to allow the protector to re-settle, if you think it may be going wrong.

 

Nick.

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Pierre, the cf protectors *are* pre-drilled. Well mine were anyway. The drilling I was referring to is the fixing holes in the wing.

 

Looking in the Demon Tweeks catalogue, there is a picture of the stainless steel wing protector. This is pre-drilled, so I'll be surprised if the carbon one isn't.

 

Nick.

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I have ordered them from Millwood in Dursley where I saw them on the SV in their showroom. They look like the perfect solution to my knackered stainless steel ones and ideal for covering up all the paint chips around the edge of them.

 

Just had an email from them today saying they have arrived, so I hope they fit.

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