Lotus Elan Central

Why buy a smashed elan, when whitey's such a nice car ?, well always admired the JPS Lotus's & often thought of doing a M100 version of the commemorative esprit, so when blacky came up for sale, thought its now or never. Few pics of how she was when bought :-<br> <br><br>Next step was to get her to TBR bodyshop for repairs, which she went in just before xmas. After doing some brilliant repairs on the B post & associated bodywork, which i cant size the pics properly !, i had a call to say they were pretty certain the chassis was bent ( bad day ), so to cut long story short, we fetched her down here to change chassis !. New chassis acquired ( from a very nice gentleman ), we stripped her down & could see the offending dent :- <br>We then decided that this car had to have everything done that was needed, so new wishbones, prongeron, radiator,radiator mounting brkt, oil cooler, clutch & gear cables were bought & everything was painted before assembley :- <br><br>We now have the body back on , engine in & are about to put the front frame with radiator in back on, so nearly completed chassis change. Sorry this thread is a bit here & there, but it will get better from now on. So, car should be complete end of this week, then back to body shop for completion & respray, which is where i will carry on.<br>

Thinking about this even more, although i had no intention of stripping blacky down, i'm now really glad we did, because ive learnt so much about the car that i never would of !. Also there was a lot of parts either rusty or not far off, so it has enabled me to have them blasted & painted properly, or replace them, so i will know at the end of it, the car will be properly sorted, which must be a concern to anybody buying a 15yr old car in this country ?

Paul,<br><br>Good post, very interesting.<br><br>Cheers<br><br>Jim B

Paul has asked me to edit his first post to make the pictures show up...I think I've done it but my works firewall doesn't let me see awsnet images or visit the site...

Thanks Sy, just the job, will get the hang of this in the end  :-/

Paul<br>Interesting posting would love lots more info and pics

Right, with a little help from ones friends, i think ive managed to size the pics of the B post repair, so here goes :-<br><br><br><br>As you can see, the detailed repair is very good, pity we then had to take the body off to replace the chassis. Things will progress quite slowly for next couple of weeks, but i will keep you all informed.

I had a hand in building a couple of kit cars a long time ago and I really liked the stage you are at, no bodyshell on and everything there to gaze at .  It certainly looks like you are doing a "proper job", keep it up

Great story; had I know it before I would have asked you about it at Donny!  Lovely pictures; the one of the chassis is great--nothing like looking at nicely painted bits!  Keep the story and pictures coming . . .

Thanks for the enthusiasm guys, must admit there have been times ive wondered if i did the right thing  :( , & to be honest, without the help of some of you guys with parts i wouldn't of got this far, but its moving on now & i can see the light.

Is it worth having that bent bit in the chassis cut out, replaced, and having it jigged? Just thought a straight one must be a desirable commodity, and a possible way of off-setting some of your costs.<br><br>Nice job BTW. I haven't seen the JPS Esprit (only the F1 cars), so don't have much of an idea of what you're aiming for. Got any artist's impressions or anything?

[quote author=Enright13 link=board=project;num=1112101184;start=0#10 date=03/29/05 at 11:18:41]<br>Nice job BTW. I haven't seen the JPS Esprit (only the F1 cars), so don't have much of an idea of what you're aiming for. Got any artist's impressions or anything?[/quote]<br><br>Follow this link and all will be revealed:<br><br>http://www.lotusespritworld.co.uk/EModels/JPS.html<br><br>I've seen one in the [s]metal[/s] GRP and they do look good. More recently, Lotus revived the colour scheme with the "Type 79" Elise.

This is a Top interesting thread! Keep it up Paul!<br><br>PS By the way, there is a JPS Esprit for sale on Ebay<br>http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43114&item=4537064200&rd=1

En, Lotus don't recommend you do anything with a bent chassis, apparantly its made up with different strength steels, according to the different stress areas, but having said that, if you want it, to have a go yourself, your more than welcome, your not that far away ?. Saw that esprit on ebay, & got a lot of info off the esprit world site. Nearer the time i will ask for opinions on the decals i should use ?

time to order up the expensive black and gold nose badge, eh<br><br>what wheels are you going to use on the car? the ones in the top picture do not appear standard Lotus wheels.<br><br>did you paint the calipers gold as well?

Don't tell me... ;D<br><br><br>Be nice to do one of those chassis in carbon fibre...

[quote author=Paul.P link=board=project;num=1112101184;start=0#13 date=03/29/05 at 12:09:01]En, Lotus don't recommend you do anything with a bent chassis, apparantly its made up with different strength steels, according to the different stress areas, but having said that, if you want it, to have a go yourself, your more than welcome, your not that far away ?. Saw that esprit on ebay, & got a lot of info off the esprit world site. Nearer the time i will ask for opinions on the decals i should use ?[/quote]<br><br>Thanks for the offer Paul but to be honest I haven't got either the tools to sort it out, or the space to store it.<br><br>But come the time, I can certainly recommend a good supplier of tailor-made vinyl graphics. I've used them myself for motorcycle re-sprays and their work is excellent. Give me a yell when you're ready.  :)

En, already sorted local company to do decals, but thanks for the offer.<br>Brian, great minds think alike, leave it to you !<br>Doug, black & gold badge, you must mean like this one -<br> http://www.awsnet.co.uk/lec/images/MVC-002F_1.JPG<br><br>Also note the JPS leather gear knob.

Paul<br><br>This is going to look fantastic. Keep it up mate. I will be checking back here to see your progress.<br><br>BTW <br>Hang on a sec whilst I get me anorak...<br>Did everyone know that the colors yellow and green were replaced with black ages before the JPS sponsorship.  It happened in 1968, following the death of Jim Clark.<br>............Phew anorak off.

what a great project, think this is going to look stunning, keep us informed of all the progress, the guys with black cars are going to love it too bits.... ;D ;D ;D