Original Chassis

[redskatejbf]

My Jan. 70 Elan is on its original chassis, but I think I could be accused of slightly cheating, the chassis was taken out a long time ago, carefully sand blasted and then hot zinc sprayed. Painted with hammerite paint and the front turret box sections boxed in and filled with resin.
Fingers crossed I have not had any problems and hopefully never will.
Regards John.

[redskatejbf]

My Jan. 70 Elan is on its original chassis, but I think I could be accused of slightly cheating, the chassis was taken out a long time ago, carefully sand blasted and then hot zinc sprayed. Painted with hammerite paint and the front turret box sections boxed in and filled with resin.
Fingers crossed I have not had any problems and hopefully never will.
Regards John.

[gerrym]

John, after all the protection added to the chassis, did you ever use on salted winter roads? If so, how did the rest of the running gear cope with that?

Regards

Gerry

[Bill]

26/0538 is still on it's origional chassis after 45 years and about 50k miles - I have two more spare origionals for S2's in my shop - still sound.

Keep your stick on the ice

Bill

[redskatejbf]

Gerry,
At the time that the chassis was out I just wire brushed the front / rear suspension, drive shafts, prop. shaft etc. and painted everything that could or might corrode with a expensive M.O.D. paint. It was used only during the summer months (6 months tax) until the road fund license became a freeby, since then I try and use it as much as I can. I have used it for two days this week for crimbo shopping, any excuse really just to use it. It probably gets used less in the summer now as we spend at least two months in France in another vehicle. If I do any work on say the the rear suspension it gets wire brushed again and painted ditto. any other bits that come off. I hav`nt as yet had a problem with salt.

Regards John.

[twincamman]

John --the salt over here disolves Buicks in 5 years -----it would eat a lotus 18 gauge chassis in a week ----Bill -----I am a man ----I can change--- if I have to ---I guess ---AMEN -ed

[garyeanderson]

Photo as picked up, looks to be well preserved under the oil, dirt and undercoating, we shall see.

After about 8 hours of cleaning and scraping it looks good from a few feet away...

Right turret looks pretty good


well not that good that it doesn't need some work


The left side isn't so pretty but I think it can be salvaged but will need to be cut a bit higher to get to the good steel by the top fulcrum pin. I think the brake hose mount may be close to the height that is needed to be in good steel.



Left side of spine at the rear of the saddle blanket has some issues too, moisture trapped in the horse hair has sat there for too long and the rot has swelled between the spot welds, this needs to be looked at more closely


There are also a few cracks but those are minor. If I had paid for the chassis I might have been disappointed. As it was, it cost a 15 mile detour on my way home from Wednesday lunch in Ayer. I would normally just replace a chassis like this but I have a couple of wrecks that need a budget chassis, besides I 'm Broke.

[robcall]

0084F is on original chassis
engine block +0

[kcrossle]

Gosh! There was paint on the chassis?

Keith

[robcall]

Gosh! There was paint on the chassis?

Keith

Red Lead and paint-those were the best ones

[garyeanderson]

I would guess that added value for an original chassis is region dependent, If you have an Elan from one of the dryer areas of the world than you are a lucky person. Most of us living in a humid/rainy/snowy climate have to deal with reality and I think a have had 2 re-usable (one from California and a 4 year elan that went into storage indoors for 40 years) chassis out of the 11 or so Elan's over the years. The first thing I account for in looking at any candidate for restoration is the chassis. So a $3000 chassis to build on is a start, lets see, if I put $15k into a nice Elan I'll have an Elan worth mid twenties, with out a replacment chassis and $12k and living in Massachusetts, I won't get a call when its time to sell.

Gary

[nhhiker]

Both of my cars are on the original frames. '69 +2 50-2164 from Fla. And S3 36-7502 from Long Island, NY. On both, I sandblasted, primed, top coated with 2k urethane.

Bill Fralick

[andyelan]

Hi everyone

While I don't want to sound like a smart ass, I can never really understand why there is so much discussions about whether or not a Lotus chassis requires replacement. To my mind the chassis on a Lotus is no different to any other component on an old car. If it's no longer servicable then it needs to be replaced (or at least repaired). If it is servicable, however, then it's perfectly ok to reuse. I do realise of course that it's making the judgement that's the problem, particually with the chassis as is very difficult to inspect properly while it's on the car. I also appreciate that after 35 years or more, it's most likely that it will need replacing. However that dosn't prove it's going to be necessary in every case.

The problem, when running old cars, is that where does it end. If things are replaced as a matter of course, just to be on the safe side, in the extreme it could be argueed that every single item is well past it's original design life, and therefore should be replaced. Even then the car would not be as safe as a modern on so should we fit antilock brakes and some air bags. Ultimatly it could be argued that the best thing to do would be to scrap all cars over 10 years old and force everyone buy brand new ones.

Regards
Andy

[ppnelan]

Ultimatly it could be argued that the best thing to do would be to scrap all cars over 10 years old and force everyone buy brand new ones.

I would suggest the opposite - scrap all new cars & force everyone to use 'proper' old ones. That way, perhaps they'd have greater feeling for the danger of consistently travelling at well over the speed limit...

Matthew