Lotus Elan Central

The screws and plate at the bottom of the A panel.

These go rusty and then become impossible to undo when the captive nuts rotate. Im looking at getting the clamp plate made in stainless steel and the supplying as a kit see below.



At this stage just an expression of interest - I'll get back with details and a price.

1. Simon_P
2.
3.
4.
5.

Simon,
At this stage just an expression of interest - I'll get back with details and a price.

1. Simon_P
2.Woody - both sides
3.
4.
5.

Regards,
Woody

1. Simon_P
2.Woody - both sides
3.Rice crispy
4.HJ2
5.

Hi Simon,

I've never delved in to that area of the car but would it be possible to use stainless rivnuts instead of the captive nuts?
If the ID of the holes in the plate were keyed in some way as well there'd be less chance of them rotating.

Just a thought...

1. Simon_P
2.Woody - both sides
3.Rice crispy
4.HJ2
5.Mike Y

Count me in for 2 sets please Simon

RonR wrote:Hi Simon,

I've never delved in to that area of the car but would it be possible to use stainless rivnuts instead of the captive nuts?
If the ID of the holes in the plate were keyed in some way as well there'd be less chance of them rotating.

Just a thought...

Ron,

Those are called Jack Nuts and they are used because rivnuts don't have enough grip area to work with plastics/fiberglass.
Jack Nuts are available in Stainless, so maybe that would be a better suggestion? They are significantly more expensive than the zinc plated ones.

When I had my car repainted (after the collision repairs), I removed both "A" Panels so they could be painted separately with the other odd panels, It was a pain to loosen the bolts that held them at the bottom. The Jack Nuts spun no matter what I tried, so I "gently" slid the "A" Panels off using a flat pry bar and patience so I could cut off the bolt heads and then push the bolt shanks down to expand the Jack Nuts to remove them.

When I put the new (Zinc) Jack nuts in, I put a smear of wheel bearing grease on the underside of the lip to try to reduce it rusting there in the future and I use Zinc plated M6 bolts and fender washers to secure the panels. I used "Anti-Seize" paste on the bolt threads and in the nut portion threads to again try to reduce rusting in the future. I also made a tool to evenly collapse the Jack Nut so it would hold correctly. I just used a piece of 5/16" (M8) hex bar stock and drilled a 6mm hole in the center (having a small lathe helped) and then with a longer bolt, I installed / collapsed the Jack Nut nice and tight. The hex gave me a good grip on the spacer with another wrench and that kept the Jack Nut from spinning as I tightened the bolt. Then I installed the plate with the new correct bolts, washers and more "Anti-Seize" just snug enough to slide the "A" Panel back into position and adjusted it when the doors were finally re-hung.

Both sides for me please as I hope to get the car painted later this year and mine are rusty.

Russell

1. Simon_P
2.Woody - both sides
3.Rice crispy
4.HJ2
5.Mike Y
6. NewLogik

NewLogik wrote:1. Simon_P
2.Woody - both sides
3.Rice crispy
4.HJ2
5.Mike Y
6. NewLogik

7.japtojo-both sides

Just a suggestion, but if you used rawlnuts instead of the captive nut, if they ever seized, you could cut the head of the bolt off and push them through the fibreglass an retrieve them from inside the car. They would also provide a more watertight fix to the car.
ChrisP

I don't even know what the A panel is ?!

It is the panel between the door and the wheel arch (with the side marker light in it - US/Fed cars don't have the side marker lights ) . Some might call it the fender.

chrisP wrote:Just a suggestion, but if you used rawlnuts instead of the captive nut, if they ever seized, you could cut the head of the bolt off and push them through the fibreglass an retrieve them from inside the car. They would also provide a more watertight fix to the car.
ChrisP

Hi Chris, when I tried it the rawlnut just rotated rather than tightening.

1. Simon_P
2.Woody - both sides
3.Rice crispy
4.HJ2
5.Mike Y
6. NewLogik
7.japtojo-both sides
8.
9.
10

There is a minimum order which make the plate rater expensive... but I have a plan!

Simon,

To try to get a rawl nut (they are called "well nuts" over here) to expand and hold, there has to be some way to prevent it from turning. They are meant to be used where the material they are attaching is at least a thick as the rawl nut length.

Because you are only going through a thin sheet of plastic, there is no way for the outside of the rawl nut to be held by friction and prevent turning.

That is why Lotus used Jack Nuts.

To install a jack nut, You use a short piece of hex bar with a hole slightly larger than the bolt diameter and put the jack nut into the hole, then put the bolt through the hex and tighten. Once the bolt tightens the hex to the jack nut, the nut won't spin and it will collapse and lock itself onto the sheet of plastic.

This 2 minute video probably shows it pretty well: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhw5e9

Brit-Car-Nut wrote:That is why Lotus used Jack Nuts.

To install a jack nut, You use a short piece of hex bar with a hole slightly larger than the bolt diameter and put the jack nut into the hole, then put the bolt through the hex and tighten. Once the bolt tightens the hex to the jack nut, the nut won't spin and it will collapse and lock itself onto the sheet of plastic.

John,
I had a look at this very recently, both my cars have Rawlnuts in the bottom fitting of the A Pannel, reason why i used rawlnuts to replace the old ones, i had a look at the parts manual, V2 doesnt have the A Pannels in there, but V6 states Jacknuts. i suspect early cars were fitted with rubber ones and later on upgraded

John, thank you, I wasn't suggesting to use Rawlnuts, just responding to an earlier post. I think that the problem in this instance is that the hole is too big to replace with a rawlnut. Lotus used a jack nut for some reason, I'll guess they wanted a more positive fixing, but they Rawlnuts extensively on thin plastic plastic with good results.

As in the original post I'm offering Jack nuts.

8. Wortho both sides 2 sets please

I guess a set will be both sides.

1. Simon_P
2.Woody - both sides
3.Rice crispy
4.HJ2
5.Mike Y
6. NewLogik
7.japtojo-both sides
8.wortho
9.Cliff
10. Russell

Wortho & Russell added as well