[Cali]

Has anyone seen an aluminum AC surround for an Elise? I think aluminum that matches the rest of the aluminum tub would look nice... I'm not too into the carbon fiber or painted look... Thanks in advance.

 

[Baysailor]

I haven't seen an aluminum surround. I too don't like the surround painted the exterior color and I didn't want to pay the price of a carbon fiber surround. I ended up just painting mine the same color and texture of the rest of the dash. I used satin black Krylon Fusion paint available at most hardware stores. It is specifically designed to adhere to plastics and requires no base/primer coat. Here are a couple pictures of mine (my carpets are removed because I was vacuuming my car at the time):

 

[Doghouse]

Yep, did the same thing. (i.e. painted it black with the Krylon stuff) IMHO it looks 200% better than stock. The challenge with an alumanum piece will be the bends and the shaping. Hand cutting and shaping "tin work" in a car is more of an art than a science. Of course if you have a machine shop and/or metal stamping equipment out in your garage...

 

[Green Ghost]

Wow, I like.
Need to do too.

To me something about that part just doesn’t fit with the interior, and the carbon one I dislike more. This seems to fix it to me. Good job.

Kevin

 

[Cali]

That's a pretty good alternative to the aluminum. I agree that the stock grey plastic just looks too cheap. It's like those darn plastic carpet buttons... Thanks for posting.

 

[chuck_risen]

You might be able to get some thin vinyl with the brushed aluminum look and wrap the part. One of the graphics experts here should be able to tell you if it will be able to make the wrap toward the button area or not. It would probably have to be pretty thin but in that area it doesn't need to be bullet proof. Seems like a cheap thing to try and no harm done if it doesn't work or look good.

 

[Baysailor]

I agree that the stock grey plastic just looks too cheap. It's like those darn plastic carpet buttons...

Yeah, I didn't like the plastic carpet buttons either. I replaced them with aluminum carpet buttons available from Sector111. I purchased the ones with the concentric circles pattern.

http://www.sector111.com/products/interior/accessories/carpet_buttons.cfm

 

[Krug1]

I really like the way this looks...to remove this piece, is it just the 2 button screws under the dash that need to be loosened?

Thanks,
Andy

 

[4380r]

I really like the way this looks...to remove this piece, is it just the 2 button screws under the dash that need to be loosened?

Thanks,
Andy

No, the part snaps in. Pry out carefully from the top to release the two tabs.

The two screws hold a separate plastic piece, onto which the slotted AC surround fits. You may want to paint that too, but it hardly shows when all is assembled. If you want to paint that piece you will need to remove those screws.

 

[Baysailor]

Yep, as lotusforsale said, it is just two tabs at the top of the surround holding it in. Release those and it slides out. Be careful, as the tabs can break fairly easily. Once it slides out, you can either disconnect the electrical connections or use a stubby screw driver to remove the screws holding the face plate tin the surround.

I painted the lower piece too (the part held in with the screws). When you paint the pieces, mask off the areas where they slide together (the grooves on the surround and the rails on the lower piece that slide into the grooves). If you paint these areas the parts will not slide back together well.