Lotus Elan Central

by **Giniw** » Wed 27.04.2016, 16:44

What is the process to mould EPDM? Do you have an injection press or something like that?

by **HJ2** » Wed 27.04.2016, 19:42

Oh my Jamie... What have you gotten yourself into...
I foresee an 100 hour working week coming :lol:

by **danbrown100** » Wed 27.04.2016, 20:38

You've started something big now Jamie!

I've also got a set of unfitted A-pillar seals; can I trade them in for an all-in-one seal instead?!

Nice job...

Dan

by **davidcgriffiths** » Wed 27.04.2016, 21:20

Great job another problem solved
Well done

Jamie N wrote:It's finally here! , This is a radical departure from the original setup, basically what I have done is turned the whole scenario upside down, instead of a sponge header with 2 side sections built in we now have a proper rubber seal which sits on top of the upper windscreen support (the way most modern soft tops are, inc S2000 and MX5) but the most radical part is it now has a pair of A pillar seals built in!, so its now a 1 piece seal which completly nails the Header and A pillar seal problem in one go .

On the roof where the original seal was removed, it leaves behind a mess of spongey bits which can take a fair while to clean off, after i did that i installed a small profile hollow rubber seal into the space, this has 2 functions... to make it look presentably tidy and it gives an extra bit of sealing as it lands on top of the new seal on top of the screen support.
On the section where the original side seals were i have made EPDM replacements which conform perfectly to the new seal, the originals can be modified slightly to fit also.
The hood closes onto it with a nice firm pressure and also looks incredibly neat and tidy with no "burst lip" sticking out the gap, there is also a little channel in the seal whereby water runs along and down the side of the A pillar bracket.

It's not the easiest thing to portray in pictures, looks so much better in the.... rubber .

by **lotusrepair** » Thu 28.04.2016, 00:32

We still have the all important question-----

Are you making more to sell? It looks like the interest is there.

Chris

by **Simon_P** » Thu 28.04.2016, 10:51

Neill1607 wrote:Where are the drain holes at the top of the windscreen & where do they drain to?

Under the top of the A pillar seal drains to bottom of A Panel. More details in the parts manual.

As you drive along water goes to the end of the screen by the A pillar. Brake hard and it runs to the middle of the screen due to the shape. It can't get past the seal so it spills over the mirror on the inside.

by **Steve A** » Thu 28.04.2016, 19:11

Hmmmmm nice

by **stuartm** » Thu 28.04.2016, 19:24

That looks superb. My seals are good (for now), but I'd definitely be interested to change them out for this.

by **Candles** » Thu 28.04.2016, 21:32

by **Jamie N** » Fri 29.04.2016, 10:37

I wont be able to do many of these I'm Afraid folks, 2 main problems... they are very time consuming and that is something I wont have much of this year due to other projects, the other issue is the age old problem of all our cars being "unique" , so its possible that on my Elan it could be a perfect fit but on another it might need adjustments and that could cause problems if the recipient was not a "hands on" type, the stress of that situation means I would rather avoid sending them out. I could do an odd car if it came to me to get done but thats about it.

But look at it this way.. I've given you the inspiration and shown you an alternative to NSS (nasty sodden sponge ), it can be sorted you just need determination, get yourself off to a salvage yard and see whats available, you wont find a seal that can go straight on the Elan (none that I've ever seen anyway) but you might find 2 or 3 that can be incorporated into one that will, the old saying applies heavily to this job.. If their is a will.... well you know the rest ;-)

.

As for drain holes, what you need to bear in mind is that the original header is attached to the hood and mainly "seals" against the upper windscreen ledge with pressure exerted by the latches, which is inevitably going to leak considering how its designed and the poor quality of the seal, the new seal is bonded to the ledge meaning that water cannot get under it at all, precluding the need for any drain holes, drainage takes place by any water coming over the edge of the hood running along a channel built into the seal and down the side of the A pillar bracket, and heavy braking in the rain will not have water running back and exiting by the mirror as i might do with the water filled original, with the setup above that would be virtually impossible.

by **Giniw** » Fri 29.04.2016, 11:23

Do you mean you used an assembly of several seals available off the shelf?

by **Jamie N** » Fri 29.04.2016, 12:28

There are different ways of creating seals for our cars Giniw, you could get donors from salvage and modify them to fit, or you can get extruded profiles from several manufacturers, you can get them in a multitude of designs, the ones with a U lip are especially good, they will all require adapting though, much of it is trial and error until you have a viable solution, but one piece of advice i cannot stress highly enough to anyone working on seals...wear a good mask at all times. ;-)

by **lotusrepair** » Fri 29.04.2016, 15:18

Can you tell us what you used to create this one? It is a starting point for the rest of us.

Chris

by **steve matthews** » Fri 29.04.2016, 22:12

lotusrepair wrote:Can you tell us what you used to create this one? It is a starting point for the rest of us.

Chris

Chris my starting point would be sending a deposit. :-D

by **clemo** » Sun 01.05.2016, 12:15

what an excellent piece of craftmanship .
Well done sir.

by **simonbuk** » Sun 01.05.2016, 13:05

Excellent work - looks factory finish !!

by **Sport Paolo** » Sun 01.05.2016, 17:57

I bought and fitted a pair of the a pillar seals from Jamie, they are truly excellent .
However, this moves the game on so much further, good stuff.

by **par** » Thu 05.05.2016, 23:27

For reference this is where the drain tubes for the header rail run to at the A-panel:-

They direct any water straight onto the lower A-panel fixings to ensure ther is ample corrosion to make the removal of the poorly accessible bolts as tricky as possible!

by **steve matthews** » Fri 06.05.2016, 01:10

par wrote:For reference this is where the drain tubes for the header rail run to at the A-panel:-

They direct any water straight onto the lower A-panel fixings to ensure ther is ample corrosion to make the removal of the poorly accessible bolts as tricky as possible!

:lol: