Lotus Elan Central

I am rebuilding my car and though I would replace some of the heavy metal or rubbish plastic with some home made carbon parts.

So far that includes:
A filler cap that actually fits the hole properly
Replacement of the hardboard under the carpet in the boot
Bonnet stay
Battery cover
Door speaker enclosures
Door blanking plates
Door reinforcement bars (only the ones that reinforce the glass fiber)
A Panels in front of the doors
Door mirror wiring cover.
Front bumper mesh replaced with single bar
front bumper lip holding plates
Headlight bracket (only the drivers side at the moment)
Door handle escutcheons (in process)

Oh and a titanium jack handle

A couple of pictures...

Someone did a group buy for CF escutcheons a while back.
I don't know where mine are (still not fitted ) but I think I may have 2 sets if you want 1 of them?

Good work - are you making it all yourself ?

I think the answer might lie in the 1st sentence

chrisP wrote:some home made carbon parts

But will the car go any faster

Wasn't it Darren that made some carbon fiber parts a few years ago?

Yes Simon, I have been experimenting with resin transfer moulding

Steve gave me an escutcheon mould two years ago and it has taken this long to get round to it!!

I hope the car will go faster Rambo - adding lightness The project for the winter is the intercooler and oil cooler frames and the soft top cover - as it is wayyyy too heavy.

Yes, Darren made some c/f bits but it was many moons ago

Don't forget to remove the spare wheel for added lightness and replace with a can of tyre spray. And remove the compressor and pipework if you have air con

Chris,
Nice work and good skills! And a titanium jack handle - cool! By the way, what does a battery cover look like? Is it the hatch into the battery compartment?

It was Wayne who made the cf escutcheons, but they were all sold a couple of years ago (viewtopic.php?f=85&t=21428&p=291710).

Darren took over limited manufacture of turbo inlet and air box inlet hoses many moons ago. I got a set second-hand about 8 years ago from PaulP, however, I am not convinced that they make any difference whatsoever. They were expensive.

John

Bollecks to this expensive cf and tit nonsense Mr. W - I'm going on a diet.

John_W wrote:Chris,
It was Wayne who made the cf escutcheons, but they were all sold a couple of years ago (viewtopic.php?f=85&t=21428&p=291710).
John

Sorry, but Wayne made up escutcheons out of ABS (Injection Molded). There are plenty of them left, if anyone is still looking...

http://elanm100.com/web-shop

Sorry, John, you're quite right. they weren't carbon fibre. Must have had a senior moment. I get them more often these days. I think it might be caused by the extreme diet Geoff and I are going on as an alternative "add lightness" method now that we are impecunious retirees.

I didn't realise that Wayne still had them available. That's good.

John

Hi John, yes it is the hatch into the battery compartment, it was nice and easy as it is flat Stronger and lighter than the cheap plastic item

Chris,

That'll be so much better than the standard part for holing the hood cover & hood up to get access to the battery - I get fed up with my plastic bit bending if there is a slight breeze, so have to carry a bit of wood with me!

Of course, the entire plastic cover in the tonneau/hood storage are in CF would be fantastic.......

It fits better as well Dave, as i radius-ed the corners rather than just the straight cuts on the original.

I will concentrate on making parts of the car in CF that are currently heavy and work backwards.. plus having space for the moulds is a problem... So i think the order will be, headlamps and brackets, then tonneau cover, then oil cooler housing

Chris

When is the carbon fiber shop opening?

If you are following the spirit of 'adding lightness', could you concentrate on the front end first please?! When I had my engine out and then did all my springs/corner weights etc, it is shocking how nose-heavy our pudgy little cars are! It might help with lift-off oversteer as well.

Lovely looking parts! How are you getting the cuts so clean?

Candles.

These parts look fantastic. I'm not convinced by the weight savings, though. Speaking for myself, substantially more weight would be saved by eating less.

Hi Jon, no shop opening, but if you need any parts made drop me a line, when I get some free time I could make them.

Hi Candles, I am concentrating on the front end, after having the car resprayed, you could see it sink on its springs as I added all the parts back on. Each headlight assembly including motor and brackets weigh in at nearly 5kg, so that where I am looking to reduce. If you haven't done it already removing the precat and replacing with stainless steel item saves 5-6kg. I forgot to add, I have made a new undertray as well the first layer is diolen, which is very abrasion resistant. and got rid of the metal chicken wire from the front bumper...

I use perma-grit tools to cut and shape the parts, they work very well and cut reasonably quickly.

I'm sure I am not going to save a massive amount of weight, but it is nice to make the components to a better quality than when they came out of the factory

Chris

Some great work going on here

I would be very interested in a pair of A-panels if you were up for doing a batch!

Yes I can probably do that, let me fetch the mould and do a trial with vacuum infusion (my were done with a wet layup as they were experiments) and I will let you know.