Lotus Elan Central

by **surfboardfiller** » Sat 09.12.2006, 19:52

Red Rum.

by **surfboardfiller** » Fri 15.12.2006, 22:14

I took the car to the Lotus mechanic to check it over to report any faults.

Roof framework fault
Roof stowage pannel damage
Turbo overboosting slightly
Antifreeze weak
A pillar seals missing
OS Door trim missing (now at the recycle center)
OS Sun visor missing

As you can imagine I am quite pleased! (Paul W. looked after this car!)
The only surprise was the Antifreeze.

Also this week;

Installed a new (heavy duty) battery

I ordered a new rear reg plate (From www.craigsplates.co.uk/) in metal! so I don't have any melted vynl letters again.

Also ordered some polyester resin for the new B-Post caps, to arrive in Jan '07. I found some silicone rubber and will set about making a mould this coming week.

The next stage is bodywork repair, final roof shape design, sourcing a roll cage fitter, rear side glass and a paint sprayer.

by **surfboardfiller** » Mon 05.02.2007, 12:30

After a good day of sun I repaired the bodywork digging out all the car body filler (useless on a GRP body pannel) and replaced with GRP! all ready for spray paint! Or so I thought..

I stood back and looked at the front end and saw the light pod was not sitting right, I still had some time to fix it, a quick adjustment I thought. I took it out to see what the problem was and found this!:

The frame has been re bonded with about £10 worth of car body filler! WTF?!

Luckily Lotus have one on sale for a not to heafty price!

by **stevo** » Mon 05.02.2007, 12:36

whoa there horsie, thats one ugly repair. why not by yourself some glass a big tub of glass fibre and some resin, the repair would be stronger than filler and it wont go to waste by the look of the rest of the car.

by **surfboardfiller** » Mon 05.02.2007, 12:50

stevo wrote:whoa there horsie, thats one ugly repair. why not by yourself some glass a big tub of glass fibre and some resin, the repair would be stronger than filler and it wont go to waste by the look of the rest of the car.

It is terrible, I wouldn't call it a repair though, more like a Bodge job

If I had done this I would have taken myself out to the stable and had myself shot, lukily I have some sense, and a new one should be on it's way to me this week.
When I have too much time on my hands I may attempt a rescue. :wink:

by **surfboardfiller** » Mon 05.02.2007, 12:56

Some Coupe Ideas /sketches

by **GeoffSmith** » Mon 05.02.2007, 13:04

stevo wrote:whoa there horsie

PML

by **clemo** » Mon 05.02.2007, 13:28

you really need to find the 96 lotus/kia plus 2 coupe .. it was at the shanghi motor show .. in a kind of metallic red... its very similar to your design.
it was on the old site pre upgrade..

by **surfboardfiller** » Mon 05.02.2007, 13:36

clemof1 wrote:you really need to find the 96 lotus/kia plus 2 coupe .. it was at the shanghi motor show .. in a kind of metallic red... its very similar to your design.
it was on the old site pre upgrade..

I do! I had a look for it on Google when you suggested it before, have not seen it about the various Elan web pages. I'm still looking...

by **John_W** » Mon 05.02.2007, 17:36

surfer - Phil wrote:
clemof1 wrote:you really need to find the 96 lotus/kia plus 2 coupe ... in a kind of metallic red... it was on the old site

... have not seen it about the various Elan web pages. I'm still looking...

Look here.
John

PS: your design looks very nice.

by **GeoffSmith** » Mon 05.02.2007, 17:42

Nice one John. It looks like the long wheelbase Elan!

Not a patch on Phil's though.

by **surfboardfiller** » Mon 05.02.2007, 18:20

Thanks john! That's great, I know Lotus planned a +2 but stopped making the SE before it had a chance.

Geoff, I have built a new Esprit V8 Style back pannel for the lights plate etc and need some expertise on putting together a power conversion kit for LED lights. I have no clue, I can wire things up but rely on others for anything to work electrically. tis all magic to me!

by **stevo** » Mon 05.02.2007, 19:08

more than a bit of 350z going on at the front

by **chrisP** » Tue 20.02.2007, 13:18

Phil
I don't know if thse couple of pictures I came across help you with your design?

Chris

by **F1 LOTUS** » Tue 20.02.2007, 21:54

Don't recall seeing the lower one before - it's quite nasty though :shock:

by **Ekapol** » Tue 20.02.2007, 21:58

F1 LOTUS wrote:Don't recall seeing the lower one before - it's quite nasty though

Very futuristic design in the eighties fashion. Our Elan doesn't.

by **lotusgirlmarie** » Wed 21.02.2007, 07:57

Here is a really random thought: why not get a rear clam from a wrecked Elise and "massage" it onto the Elan's rear. You could split the elan's rear deck at the uppermost swage line and mould the Elise rear from there. Now that would be a stunning car. build a nice removable hard top section..... yeah baby. Hottness!!!!!!

by **F1 LOTUS** » Wed 21.02.2007, 08:27

lotusgirlmarie wrote:Here is a really random thought: why not get a rear clam from a wrecked Elise and "massage" it onto the Elan's rear. You could split the Elan's rear deck at the uppermost swage line and mould the Elise rear from there. Now that would be a stunning car. build a nice removable hard top section..... yeah baby. Hottness!!!!!!

by **surfboardfiller** » Wed 21.02.2007, 12:11

lotusgirlmarie wrote:Here is a really random thought: why not get a rear clam from a wrecked Elise and "massage" it onto the Elan's rear. You could split the Elan's rear deck at the uppermost swage line and mould the Elise rear from there. Now that would be a stunning car. build a nice removable hard top section..... yeah baby. Hottness!!!!!!

That was the 2nd idea I explored (1st being a shortened esprit), but thought the Elise aerodynamics would work against us in our front engined car. The profile shape is close but the verticle rear screen wasn't sleek enough.
Then this arrived in the showroom (I was planning on buying one until I saw the interior):

by **Ekapol** » Wed 21.02.2007, 20:39

surferphil wrote:Then this arrived in the showroom (I was planning on buying one until I saw the interior):

Please elaborate more..

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