Oh Dear – corrosion

[NigeElan]

To cut a long story short I damaged the underside of my S2, knocked the frame holding the radiator. Went to get it repaired by a local mechanic, on inspection found that the front section that holds the radiator is rotten. So agreed that he would replace this section. After two weeks, he’s has decided he can’t replace the front section and after sheering some bolts etc.. he wants me to the car take it back errrr.... Anyway, was wondering if anyone could recommend a good garage preferably in the North East / North (Darlington UK) area that I could take it to? Will also need nearside suspension bits, if you can still get them (Any new sources around?). My base case was Kelvedon, but that’s 200 miles away (v. Good but expensive). Pic below for info?

[nicowalker1]

I heard Bob Brown was doing a run of front wishbones... Looks like its been eaten quite badly! Wishbone parts are available or were from SJ sportscars. Pretty pricey though.

Best of luck

[inkitin]

I heard Bob Brown was doing a run of front wishbones...

Nige, if your front wishbones aren't too corroded (and they can look a lot worse than they actually are!) they can be weld/plated up. One of mine would have been a deffo MoT failure a few years back but was plated up for £50. Still going strong today. Can slightly depend on the MoT tester but in my case he was happy.

[rip]

I don't understand the mentality of some so-called 'mechanics'.

The number of times I have heard stories of 'It's a Lotus - I won't touch it' is just crazy.
I understand that many jobs can be more awkward than on a lot of other cars & we would therefore have to pay more for the job to be done. So what? I'm sure most of us on here understood this when we bought our Elan in the first place.

A more reasonable reaction would be to think 'awkward job, lots of £££s', refuse to quote for it & charge labour for as long as it takes to get the work done.

[NigeElan]

THanks for the responses. I do like the idea of the weld repair! I have seen some very scary prices for replacements! SJ were on the more reasonable side. Although shouldn't complain too much, I've had the car for over 12 years.... and only really had rear brake issues in the past.

[GeoffSmith]

Nige, hopefully you can weld it up, but if your TCA is beyond recovery, I am looking for a sacrificial one - see here. One of our members owns a fabrication company and may be able to reproduce them, but to do it properly, he'd like to section an old one.

[NigeElan]

OK, I'll keep you posted.

[Mike Y]

Hi
I would get in touch with Colin at Revline in Whitley Bay. He is a Lotus enthusiast who has restored all sorts of Lotus and also owns an M100.

Hope this helps.
Cheers Mike

[Rambo]

i can also recommend Colin at Revline, Whitley Bay not that I've used him before but I've met him, he has an M100 and is an enthusiast

[NigeElan]

I used revline for my last service and he was pretty good. I've actually bitten the bullet and sent it down to kelvedon, I think it's turned into more of a restoration job, which is up kelvedon's street. It's been two weeks and still not got a total price though.... : (

[NigeElan]

The work has been progressing on this, and it seems more work is required, very rusty at the front (not sure what I’ve done to it to do this much damage!), Labour is expensive, but the cost of the parts have surprised me (not in a good way). From searching the forums on here, it seems there aren’t lower cost alternatives to track arms and wishbones, but one item which seems ridiculous is the grille (mines rusted), for the 3 pieces of chicken wire it’s £270 incl VAT! I assume there must be nicer alternatives, but I’ve searched the forum and found some examples where new grille has been attached to the old one, but has anyone replaced it completely? Any recommended alternative manufacturers?
Cheers

[Faraday]

Hi Nige, the chap that did mine when it had a respray just got a piece of sheet metal mesh (zinc I believe) cut the 3 pieces to size, sprayed them black and attached them from the rear with some sort of adhesive/filler/silicone not sure what, but it looks the business. Probably would cost no more than £20 if you did it yourself (obviously bumper needs to be off first) only drawback is that the towing hitch is inaccessible without bu**ering up your handiwork, should you ever need it. Hope that helps.

[nicowalker1]

There are loads of 'sports mesh' available. I saw sjs prices and just laughed when I looked a while ago... Keep us posted as I need to remove my front bumper at some point, pics and pointers would be great!

[NigeElan]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to get some mesh (still deciding on colour - black or sliver). The bumber is already off at the garage, so this should be straightforward. I'll try and get some photos.
Cheers

[NigeElan]

Does anyone have to hand the dimensions for the grille?
Thanks

[norman lovie]

for peace of mind, before getting too serious with the bolt on bits - its worth checking a few area's on the main chassis
1) where the rear suspension legs are welded onto the bottom of the main chassis box ( you,ll see where it is double skinned onto the bottom of the chassis) - you can also see inside the rear of the box to check both sides
2) the bottom of the front bulkhead where there is a lip on the chassis where it matches up to the tub: the crap is between the back of the chassis and the tub bulkhead which you can't see - but if this bottom lip is suspect - then there is likely worse hiding there

both are double skin area's and I found rot building up between the skins - and only repairable after removing the chassis

as said - peace of mind,before spending out on the other bits - i obviously learned the hard way

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Does anyone have to hand the dimensions for the grille?
Thanks

I used the bumper to make patrterns. Remove the old grilles, hold cardboard where grilles used to be and draw from the outside the shape of the grilles. The Fed side grilles are the same size but mirror images of eadh other.

I transferred the shapes to a piece of 2x6 lumber and cut the lumber to the profile. I cut the mesh larger than the lumner and after lining the mesh up with the patterned lumner put strips of 1x2 lumber over the mesh and screwed thru the mesh to hold the mesh tightly in place. Then, I used a dead-blow hammer (large surface area) to fold the mesh around the patterned lumner and the wood strips kept the rest of the mesh nice and flat. Once finished bending, trim as needed to have a folded lip and then, when ready, reattach it with urethane adhesive like silkaflex or betaseal or whatever they are installing windscreens with around you.

I can take some pictures of my original grilles, the patterns I made and the new stainless grilles I fabricated and then had powdercoated. Sounds complicated, but very easy to do once I figured out how to keep the mesh flat as I bent it around the patterns.