So you're one the happy few driving a Lotus Elise and even having headlampcovers?

Getting unhappy because of all that dirt and stains that sits under thos nice covers? You're not alone!
If you have an Elise without those marks with standard covers (and their fixing method) stay happy and look at those covers as much as you can because you'll be quite unique!

When you get irritated, you'll start figuring another fixing method. Doublesided foam isn't really watertight isn't it? Doublesided tape? mmmm.... isn't watertight either, certainly not on the long run... Siliconeglue? mmmm.. ever thought of what the man in the paint shop will do to you when he finds out that you glued them covers with painters enemy number one..silicone? naahh... there must be another way...

We do agree... those screws of that kit offered by Thielert are not the best sight... but... you can quickly release the covers, clean them, put them back on again etc... no steam, no dirt, no stains...hmm... sounds interesting afterall!

Here's a guide on how to fit them...

The picture at the right covers almost all the tools you'd need to fit the Quick Out Kit:
- Two Component Glue
- Heavy Masking Tape
- Measuring Tool
- Custom Tool to stick under the cover
- Phillips Screwdriver
- Drilling Machine
- Drills (Measure the pin and counterpart before drilling!)
- Cutoff knife (long blade Stanley)
- BitHolders
- Degreasing fluid
- At least two 5cm long 5mm diameter sticks


First of all, to prevent scratches, cover the edges from the headlamp cover to the clamshell with masking tape.

Figure out where you want to have the holes in the covers and the clamshell. Try to do it as symmetrical as possible where you might consider taking the highest and lowest corner point of the cover. Also take your time to measure the exact middle of the dark line which is already attached to the cover.

Use a small hot drill or 1mm round piece of hot metal to mark the holes. DO NOT USE A HAMMER!  ;-)

Don't just think the overlap in the tape used on the covers will be the center... they're not!

Take the drilling machine with a 3mm drill and use it at high revs to prevent pieces of clamshell flying around. You can now drill the two holes per cover..

When the holes are in the cover, it's time to remove the covers from the clamshell.
Originally, the covers where stuck on the clamshell using some sort of double sided sticky foam or tape. Some come different.... as you will see...

You will need a piece of metal or some sort of hard plastic to jiggle between the headlamp covers and the clamshell.
Try to do this as gentle as possible. Depending on the way the covers are stuck to the clamshell, you will need some more force to jiggle the tool in..

Appearantly in this case, a personal computer was stripped down to be used as a car tool.. hmmmmmm...

When the tool is in between, start pulling the cover GENTLY and use a second tool to keep the cover from snapping back all the time.

One thing to be remembered at any time: pull gently!! Pulling too hard means breaking the cover... means.. will cost you a lot of money!

When the cover is removed from the clamshell, you can safely remove the masking tape. As you can see, there will be some material left on the clamshell.
To prevent strange fitment of the cover, take your time and try to remove as much as you can by using a flat breakable knife (the Stanley knife which you can break every time you'd need a sharp knife again...)

The Azure Blue example Elise was equipped with a 111S front clam and appearantly, the people responsible for fitting the headlampcovers were not completely aware of what they should use...

We made it up as some sore of windowglue, but not the real thing.. A pain to remove but not good enough to keep the headlampcovers tight!

Again, take your time! A scratch is easy to make and hard to remove (invisible that is!)

The black windowglue (or whatever it was) did tighten the headlampcovers so much that some force had to be put on them.
Even with the heavy masking tape used, it resulted in some scratches in the paintwork, which obviously are nothing compared to the stone chips on the front of the car :(

When your Elise is equipped with the standard fixing material, these damages will not appear (as long as you do it all gently...)

Now the time has come to stick the big drill in the bodywork. Be sure to measure the outside diameter of the receptable. Drilling a hole which is too big will end you up in tears (or anger..). Try to keep the drilling machine at high revs and don't really push. Just let the drill do it's job..
The result should look like the pictures below (prefferable without the scratches at the right picture)

When you fit the receptables in the bodywork, you should have a good look if it really fits tight (also at the lips). If everything fits like it should, you can start mixing the two component glue...

When the glue is ready to be used, put some on the sides of each hole. (so that the lips of the receptable will fall into the glue) Don't put too much glue on the bodywork as you will have a hard time getting it off again..

Push the receptables in the glue and place a stick (we used a bitholder for a drill) in the receptable. Put some tape over the stick in all directions (as the below pitcure at the right shows) and see to it that there is some pressure on the receptable. (to prevent it from moving and to force it to stay in the right angle for the Quick Out Screw which you have to be able to fit in the receptable.)

Leave the sticks in the receptables for a few hours so that the glue can het hard..

While you are waiting for the glue to get hard, you can drill the holes in the headlamp covers.

Again, first measure the size before drilling!! In this case, it's the size of the small horizontal stick that counts...

Try to find a steady underground to put the headlampcovers on before drilling and when you start, take your time! Let the drill do the work, don't push it!

Now you can also finally clean the inside of the

 headlampcovers. You might also consider to put anti fog spray on the inside of the covers. This might help preventing the things from getting foggy again. Also some anti-static spray would be nice to stop the dust magnet function of the covers...

After a cup of coffe (or two, depending on the glue you've bought) and a few hours waiting, you can remove the tape and the sticks and clean the inside of the headlamp area (if you didn't already do that.)

To prevent the headlampcovers or the bodywork from beeing damaged you can attach some self adhesive foam on the inside of the cover edges. This will prevent the cover from moving whilst driving the car.

And finally..stick the headlampcovers on, put the screws in the receptables, twist them 45 degrees CCW and your car should look like below picture... (the color might be different :)

There's one remark left for the Thielert people: "Why don't you deliver black Quick Out Kits???" that would look a lot better....